I used to have a Lexus with a button marked "snow". I pressed it. It didn't.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
ESP is a form of traction control. Look it up on Wikipedia, and you'll see that the main function isn't traction control, but maintaining stability in a swerve situation. The handbook should tell you to turn it off in snow, gravel and other low-traction situations. I've had mine off for the last few days, and had no problems getting around.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
ESP = Electronic Stability Program. Crudely, it applies braking to individual wheels when it thinks the car is 'out of shape' according to it's computer brain. They vary in how intrusive they are but if you can handle a car well leave it off since then it at least reacts in the way you expect.
Each manufacturer programs their ABS and Traction/stability control differently. Most are designed for grip in the dry and stability when cornering hard of for the odd whell slipping in the rain. VERY FEW are designed for grip in slippery situtions. You need to read your manuals very carefully to see if they say to turn it off or on in snow and or ice
ABS will lengthen stopping distance in soft snow as it doesnt allow a snow wedge to build up in the front of the tyre. On ICE or hard anow it makes no difference at all if its on or off as there is no grip anyway
Most peoples driving in bad weather is so bad that they may as well leave tha abs/esp/tc on and get all the help they can even if its not the optimum. Very few drivers have the skill or practice to use that 5% advantage yoiu may get by playing with the settings
On many cars the ESP/traction will help smooth power and ease you pulling away on limited grip, it wont help you stop or steer. Watch the Top gear test videos of cars on an icy slope, that cant move until they turn esp on. ESP will not help you steer though
Land Rovers are about the only cars I know who have traction control programmed to help in really slippery conmditions, the freelander is a great snow and ice car if driven properly. But if you drive like a prat even that wont help. BMW despite buying Land rover to get the technoloy failed abismally to impliment any of it in the X series as anyone who drives off road regularly will know (always a laugh watching X's. Cayannes, VW's etc trying to drive on wet grass)
You cant beat locking diffs for really slippery conditions
ABS will lengthen stopping distance in soft snow as it doesnt allow a snow wedge to build up in the front of the tyre. On ICE or hard anow it makes no difference at all if its on or off as there is no grip anyway
This of course is a load of ballcocks if you have proper tyres. My Conti Winter Vikings do a very fine job of stopping on ice. Even having shed a whole load of studs the tread pattern is very effective - e.g on my 4hr drive home from the Norwegian mountains on Sunday in treacherous conditions. But the ABS scares the bejaysus out of me when it decides to pump my locked on brakes. I locked them on for a very good reason, goddammit!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
squawker, FYI Studded Tyres are illegal in the UK. madmole, is correct in saying that without any form of mechanical grip, ABS is ineffective.
After all it is free
After all it is free
madmole wrote:
the freelander is a great snow and ice car if driven properly.
Wash you mouth out with soap. We don't mention Gaylanders here.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
madmole wrote:
Land Rovers are about the only cars I know who have traction control programmed to help in really slippery conmditions, the freelander is a great snow and ice car if driven properly. But if you drive like a prat even that wont help. BMW despite buying Land rover to get the technoloy failed abismally to impliment any of it in the X series as anyone who drives off road regularly will know (always a laugh watching X's. Cayannes, VW's etc trying to drive on wet grass)
You cant beat locking diffs for really slippery conditions
We have a BMW with fat tyres and an Isuzu pickup truck (cos we live in the country and we need one...... honest. 2WD, 4WD, locking diffs, whatever you need to get out of a muddy field with a cow in the back) - After posting on here last night, I had a laugh this morning. I am off work minding the kids this week, so was having a lie in while her indoors left for work at 7.01. She has been taking the truck all week, so I didn't feel the need to go and babysit her to the main road. She calls me at 7.04 to tell me that she is stuck on a hill up the road. I wonder where she has found a hill steep enough to challenge the truck. I look out the window to see the the truck sitting in the drive :confused: - Drag the kids out of bed, throw a pile of stuff in the back and head up the road to find that she has made it about 95% up a steep hill, ran out of momentum and gone sideways several times sliding back down, with the car parked about halfway up the hill, back end in a ditch, and about 10 other cars stuck in various shapes on other bits of the hill (with associated drivers huddled together to avoid hypothermia..... and extreme embarrassment. Cruised up beside her, hooked up the tow rope and pulled her to the top of the hill. Got out and I asked her why she took the Beamer..... "There was no diesel left in the truck when I got home yesterday" - typical. Anyway - My wallet was in the beamer, and she was going to get presents for my parents after work, so she needed my credit card <ahem>, but I needed money for diesel. She lifts out my wallet, takes out the cash and says "How much do you need" - me.... "sixty quid" - Takes the cash and the tow rope and decides that while I am up anyway, I might as well help the other people who are stuck. Reverse down the hill, ask the front driver if he needs a hand, tow him up the hill, stop to retrieve the rope and he comes over and says "Thanks mate - I've been stuck here since 4.00 AM. We have a deadline today that could make or break the company and I would probably have been sacked if I had called in claiming to be stuck, reaches me some cash, jumps in his car a drives off. I didn't check the cash, merely thinking.... that'll get me another case of beer, assuming it was going to be a fiver or a tenner. Rescued the next car, more cash, more thanks, (more thoughts of beer) and the next car, same again. This had taken all of ten minutes. Got to the 4th car and the girl said, "I don't have sixty quid, but I could pay you at lunchtime."
Now I am very confused.
Me: "What do you need sixty quid for?" -
Her: "The second guy you towed told us you charged the first girl sixty quid. I didn't have the cash and didn't think you would take Switch, so I called a tow company - they wanted £170.00 to come out. I can't afford to pay them £170.00, but I promise you will have the money by lunchtime"
Me: <severely> "What???" <slowly> "No - You have this wrong - I am not charging to tow, I am just here with all the tools required.... hang on" <checks> "Look, don't worry about it - some day someone will do me a favour when I am stuck"
Towed her up the hill and she asked for my address. Gave it to her a towed the rest of them, explaining that there wasn't a sixty quid charge. Most of them gave me something anyway, as they couldn't believe that someone would just help them out for nothing.
Got back home at 7.45, checked out the cash and I had £341.00 (don't know what mean git gave me a quid) - Then at lunchtime, towee number 5 (the one with no cash) shows up at the house and gives me another 60 quid.
So - towing people out of trouble can make you £800.00 an hour. I was thinking that with this new development in my life, all I need for happiness is more snow and steeper hills......... hang on.......... nothing has changed :confused:
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Thornyhill, great story!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Thornyhill, I was happy if somebody just said thank you, a few quid is nice though. I towed 30+ cars on Monday night, so that's 30 x £60 = £1800
I could by another Landy with that.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
One bloke I towed just sat there in the car, did absolutely nothing, while I rescued him, got him to safety, he didn't even say thank you and drove off. I felt like driving after him and knocking him off the road, the ungrateful scumbag.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Quote:
he didn't even say thank you and drove off
Don't you just hate people like that.
The car must have been stolen.....
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Spyderman wrote:
madmole wrote:
the freelander is a great snow and ice car if driven properly.
Wash you mouth out with soap. We don't mention Gaylanders here.
Nothing wrong with a Freelander that a lift and some armour wont cure. Shame cant be said for most of the drivers.
Oh yes, one other trick for grip on snow and ice, Sipe your tyres
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
madmole, there's a Fifth Gear vid with Tiff where he claims ESP helps steer: http://youtube.com/v/wR1SSxpKitE - 6 mins in for the ESP section but the rest of the vid is worth watching.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Spyderman wrote:
Thornyhill, I was happy if somebody just said thank you
I was happy to do it just so that i felt good. Thankyous and cash were not required,...... but I made enough yesterday and today to maybe sneak in a cheap visit to the mountains. I had a big downer this evening though when they gritted the road
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Quote:
I had a big downer this evening though when they gritted the road
Thornyhill, Is that the 21st century version of being a Cornish wrecker?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Tip: if you hit someone's parked car - like someone hit my son's last night, leave a bloody note instead of just driving off
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Thornyhill, you should've claimed salvage! Oooooh arrrggghhh
maggi, a lorry drove into my old car when it was parked up and then drove off. Two people who witnessed it left notes with details
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Any driving tips for Porche Cayene drivers
My perfectly parked Nissan was hit by a Parisian Porche driver last night, resulting in damage to the rear of my car and extensive damage to the front of the Porche. Perhaps if he had fitted winter tyres to his car he might have got a little more grip
Leave it a home or better still sell it and buy a Range Rover.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Quote:
Any driving tips for Porche Cayene drivers Puzzled
Go back to school and learn some common sense
After all it is free
After all it is free
and get your guide dog to drive...
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Sharkymark wrote:
Thornyhill, you should've claimed salvage! Oooooh arrrggghhh
Nooo...... Don't even go there. I used to have a very small boat with a very large engine designed to do nothing other than propel you across the water at 80+ MPH. It was useless at everything other than flat calm straight line, which was awesome for water skiing and terrible for about everything else. We were about about to launch in Lough Erne one day and a guy swims in to the marina in a wet suit, runs up to me and says, "we have a boat with dead engine and the guys are holding it off the rocks... can you help us out" (middle of February, so he was limited on choice, it was us or no-one) - Dropped the boat in and took off post haste to help them. When we got there one of the swimmers gave us a rope and we got hooked up and towed it in. It was a complete beast of a boat - a 26M Suncruiser that had just been in for a refit, before the owners took it down the Shannon for a trip to the Carribean. To me it felt nothing different than helping someone to stand up on the piste. The guy who swan into the marina was eternally grateful and spent a day buying us dinner and beer, paid our site fees and paid for my boat to have a clean, valet and service (about 400 quid all in)
About 6 months later I went to see a client who was a marine loss adjustor. While talking about boats, and in an attempt to build the empathy I told him the story. He asked me if I had claimed salvage and when I told him that I didn't he was horrified. I worked out that I had probably blown a couple of grand due to my lack of knowledge. I was just a bit pissed when he told me that insurance companies would pay around 60% of the value in salvage fees, that I had every right to claim salvage on the boat, providing I agreed it with the Captain (the guy in the wet suit swimming) and that the boat was probably worth.........
............
....... as a rough estimate......
.....
....
two million quid.
So can we just not talk about salvage,
at all,
ever..... if you don't mind?
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
If you need to chain up your truck regularly to get up the hill, it's easier to get a couple of spare wheels/tyres, put the chains on those, rip the wheels off a trolley jack, stick it all on the roof, then just swap your wheels over when needed.
4wd stops being 4wd if you put snow chains on two wheels. Best combo I reckon for really rough days, is diamond pattern on the front wheels, and ladder pattern on the back, with diffs locked - lets the back slide around a bit still so won't stress the transmission as much. But front wheels is fine 90% of the time or unless you're coming down a really steep slope.
If there's a good amount of fresh snow on top of ice, 4wd, chains, winter tyres, locked diffs etc etc doesn't make any difference. The only thing that will stop you is a solid object, so aim at something that won't hurt too bad. Always worth having a box of beer in the boot to bribe a friendly bully driver for a tow if this happens.
There's no friends on a powder day, so don't give anyone else a lift
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
