Conference terri::cars_uk

>    find the fuse for ABS and pull it out. The theory being that you can
>    stop quicker in a straight line in snow with the wheels locked.
    
	Freshly fallen snow isn't it? also loose gravel.

	Brendan.

    Winter driving tips from Canada where it is -25C and snowing as I type
    (peck).
    
    *Drive More Carefully.*  Approach stops more slowly.  ABS is not a
    replacement for good driving, it is an assist for ugly situations.
    
    Brian (who loves his ABS)
    
    P.S.  Pulling the fuse for the ABS system won't help you *at all* on
    glare ice......
    

    
    following are a few tips that I have picked up from  the British road
    users....
       i) Only clear the amount of windscreen that you need for 1 eye to
          see through.
      ii) only use accelerator and brakes in a binary fashion (full ON,
          full OFF)
     iii) follow the driver in front as close as possible (presumably to
          stop all that pink rocksalt hitting the windscreen)
      iv) Fog light should only be used on clear days, never at night
      vi) in conjunction with (i) leave as much snow as possible covering
          the car roof and lights.
    
    
            :-) - 50%  (only half joking ?)
    
       Alan
     

    
    	Just one change to the previous note.
    
    ii)only use accelerator and brake in binary fashion (full ON,full OFF)
    
    I think it should be.
    
    ii)only use accelerator and HAND brake.
    
    	Andy.

I think rear fog should ALWAYS be used when driving at
night. Particularly in rain and fine drizzle.

Seriously, Driving more carefully in snow with ABS does 
not always do the trick. I must have been going 5-10mph 
the other morning when my ABS system failed to brake. I 
took my foot off the brake, reapplied it, and kept on
going. I don't knoe if they're all this bad, but the 
vauxhall system is crap.


	Ian

Never had any problems with the abs system fitted to my GSi - even in the snow,

Maybe there is something wrong with yours !

Andy

P.S.

	I think the Vauxhall system is probably supplied by someone like Bosch or
	Girling or some other brake specialist - so its probably identical to 
	many other cars !

erm... The comment about rear fog lights was in fact a 
joke! 


	Ian

    RE: .8
    
    >>Maybe there is something wrong with yours !
    
    Just how can you test that ABS is working properly - without possibly
    ending up with bald spots on your tyres or the front of the car
    re-arranged?
    
    Changing the subject I've power assisted steering (first time) and when
    I move off from home or office I have to turn fairly hard left and
    normally just as I have straightened the wheel I hear not so much a 
    grind as a something releasing is this sort of thing common or...

    
    RE:.11 It's probably your tyre rubbing on the rim/inner-wing
    
    Last night when I drove home (20:30, dark) it was raining slightly. Sure
    enough, as usual, at least 25% of the cars on the road had their
    fog-lights on. Given that these things are almost never useful, and
    almost always a nuisance (at best), I think they should be permanently
    banned. I live, you may remember, in Brussels.
    
    Laurie.

    
    Can anyone tell me what the fantastic device fitted to certain 4WD
    vehicles is, which enables them to *stop* quickly in snow?
    
    I had a nightmare journey up the M1 yesterday, made even more fun by
    watching d***heads in Land Rovers / Range Rovers / Japanese Toy Jeeps
    flying up a completely snow covered outside lane at 60+ mph. I was
    really curious to see what would happen when they tried to stop!
    
    Nigel (rant, rave, seeth, *****)
    

re .13,

at least they had some bleedin lights on.  I'm getting really p'd off
with some people, particularly drivers of neutral coloured cars, who,
for some reason, adamantly refuse to use any lighting at all.  Bearing
in mind that most of my journeys are done in the dark, often in rain
or fog, I've had several near misses because of people not bothering
to use their lights, recently.

Chris.

In the case of Landrovers it is usually the large knobbly tires that help 
them grip. As long as there is no danger to other road users then they can 
carry on.  I did part of the M3 in four inches of fresh snow at about 60 
MPH. It was quite late at night and I was one of the very few vehicles on 
the road. I tested the brakes, stopped in very much the same distance that 
I would have stopped on a damp road. I  did of course slow down when 
passing other cars.


Simon

    re .15
    
    I agree, the best bit is that having climbed from the tangled wreckage
    of their unlit car, their first words are probably "....well I could see
    you, why couldn't you see me ? " .....
    
    Graham 

re .14

	I believe the device is called a lobotomy....-)

Andy

	I looked and I looked and I looked at .6 and I couldn't see a smiley
anywhere at all, much less by the "offending" paragraph.

				Malcolm. 8-)

    
    Anchor? Don't you mean W... No, the Net Police probably wouldn't let me
    say that, would they?   8^)
    
    Nigel

    
    re: .11
    
    To test ABS, find a nice, abandoned parking lot or piece of road that
    is snow/ice covered and brake heavily enough that you would be sliding
    in a non-ABS car.  At that point, the ABS should kikck in and bring you
    to a controllable syop.  It will not necessarily be a short stop, but
    it will be controllable.
    
    Brian.
    

You want your wheels to lock on snow - it causes a snow pile to form and stop you
quicker. I guess it might be OK on ice though - like Torvill and Dean:-)

    RE: .23
    
    >>I guess it might be OK on ice though - like Torvill and Dean:-)
    
    What you mean stay in a boring 1st gear for about 20 seconds and then
    switch to a higher gear to get things moving!

    >>I guess it might be OK on ice though - like Torvill and Dean:-)
    
    >>    What you mean stay in a boring 1st gear for about 20 seconds and
    >>   then switch to a higher gear to get things moving!
    
    ...then start sliding backwards and leaping over other cars in an
    illegal move...;-)
    
    Mikef
    

    
    Nigel,
        the reason that Land-Rover drivers can manouver in the snow at
    60mph is because there is no difference to the way the L/R handles
    whether it's snowing or not. The L/R will still take 1.5 miles for
    every 20mph, the turning circle will still be the size of a 10 acre
    field and the ride will still feel like a rough channel crossing.
    Also the friction through the transmission can stop a L/R quicker than
    the brakes....  :-)
    
      Alan
    

    But at least if you have one in conditions like I have experienced over
    the last couple of days you COULD get home!
    
    Me? I've got a Subaru and I got home, even passed a snowplough that was
    stuck!
    
    Smug

You lucky lucky bar stewards !
I love playing in the snow. HONEST
Down here in London the streets may be paved with gold, but it's dead boring.
Oh for the days when a shovel, and chains, were de rigeur before setting out.
When winter tyres went on in November and didn't come off until April. When
screen washer de-icer went in neat (allright a bit exagerrated, but still mixed
pretty strong). I loved it.

TKS


p.s. mind you all this fun was had on uncongested roads, with other drivers who
knew how to enjoy themselves without endangering others (apart from 2CV van
drivers who insist on overtaking on a blind mountain hairpin !) Probably a
different game entirely in the UK. :-{

    ABS on snowy roads IS a good thing... your stopping distance may still
    be awful, but you can still steer round the object you are sliding
    towards!
    
    I go skiing nearly every weekend and therefore encounter snowy roads
    regularly and can quite honestly say that the front end of my car is
    still in its factory default state due to ABS! The point being that
    nearly ALL snowy roads have had other cars on them before you get to
    them, so the freshly fallen snow is now hard packed, icy/slushy/all
    three!! and therefore it has about as much chance of piling up in front
    of your tyres as me getting a pay rise this year!! So..... since the
    road is V. slidy, you leave a huge time gap between the car you are
    following and yourself (eg 5-secs or more) and when the need to slow
    down arises your ABS will allow you to retain control over which way
    you go.. It WILL stop you better than a non ABS car, but its' greatest
    advantage is that you can still steer whilst skidding, something
    non-ABS cars will have difficulty in doing!!
    
    But ther best tactic of all for driving on snow is .................
    
    
    STAY A LONG WAY AWAY FROM THE CAR IN FRONT AND DRIVE SLOWLY AND
    SMOOTHLY!!
    
    Digging a car out of a ditch takes quite a while!!! A lot longer than a
    slow drive!!
    
    
    
    

>but you can still steer round the object you are sliding
>    towards!

Unless you are driving towards a junction of a main road

    >Unless you are driving towards a junction of a main road
    
    In which case, select the object that will cause least damage to you to
    slide into !! 8-)
    
    
    Dave

    .....just drive *more carefully*.
    
    Brian