That may be, but I’m not comparing ABS with non-ABS. I’m comparing squeezing with ABS to slamming with ABS.
As I have never seen snow, I have no idea.
Like Telemark said, sometimes, locking up the brakes works better than ABS. I learned this the first time I drove my Wifes new car when the ABS kicked in when slowing down for a turn I had done thousands of times before. Ended up going right by it (snow covered gravel road) .
VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control [traction control]) has it’s limits too. There are a few turns (switchbacks) on my way into work where I want the rear end to slide out in snow. I’m tempted to turn it off for those.
I do turn off VDC to get up my drive. The littlest bit of slippage and it way, way reduces power to your engine. That moment of less RPM and it’s recovery to full power totally screws up the momentum I need to get up the drive.
It’s all about -
- Not driving too fast for conditions
- Properly equipping your car if necessary
- Recognizing when conditions are simply not wise for driving
#3 is a bigger one than most people realize. Driving on dry snow with appropriate snow tires is trivial. Driving on machine-groomed streets is no problem. Because of this, even a snow-driving novice like me can drive safely in boreal winters. People don’t realize that it doesn’t work the other way around. Minnesota driving experience will not help you drive on a winding snow-covered Georgia road which has melted and refrozen overnight, and is untreated by salt trucks (because there aren’t any). And of course you don’t have snow tires, because there’s no sense installing them when it may not even snow that year.
Every time it snows down here, I have to pity the northern transplants who boast about how they’re unconcerned about driving in our lame snowfalls. Typically they come back with unnecessary dents in nice cars, which is just a shame.
I don’t understand . . . are you saying that if you squeeze the brakes with an ABS car, the wheels will lock?
Nope, ABS does not let you lock 'em up. Sorry to be unclear. There are conditions wherein I would like to lock up the brakes though.
That’s ok. The point I was responding to was the statement that one should be very gentle with the brake and gas pedals while driving in snow (or ice).
It seems to me that if you have ABS, slamming the brakes is potentially ok when driving in snow and ice.
What’s funny is that we get a lot of people down here that “know how to drive in the snow” who are apparently idiots when it comes to driving in the rain. And by rain I don’t mean that wimpy stuff you get up north, but sheets of driving rain and lots of water standing on the road. You’d think it would be obvious that you slow down and become cautious of spots where water gathers. It’s not, or so all of the folks that smash their cars when we get some rain here attest.
The hand brake isn’t a bad option is it? It should just lock the rear wheels.
Amen. One of the most common errors I see in snow driving is poor accelerator management. One one side you have people who jam their feet down like they’re stomping on a roach and spin the wheels uselessly; on the other, those who become afraid of using the gas and blow their momentum or let the tires lose their grip on the pavement.
In fairness, different cars allow much greater degrees of control and feel over traction and acceleration. Somewhat counterintuitively, I find our Santa Fe gives me much better feel and sense of traction in show than my parents’ Le Sabre. The cheaper Santa Fe seems much more responsive to acceleration, and I have a better sense of how the tires are gripping. But that can be a tradeoff; my previous car, an Elantra, had great feel as well, but it was small and light and just wasn’t very good in snow no matter your skills.
The only thing that scares me is ice. Snow is hard to drive in, but you can do it with good instruction and practice. Ice will kill you.
I would say don’t go there. If you don’t already know how to drive on snow, the last thing you want to do is create a slide with the hand brake.
I pulled my first car of the year out today. Chevy Trail Blazer. My Pathfinder has about 700 pounds on him, but we could not get him out until a ¾ ton Dodge pick up hooked up to my SUV as I was hooked up to the stuck vehicle. I was in the middle. That’s one of the reasons I like SUVs that are based on a TRUCK frame. Hook up and go. We got him out.
The stuck fellow that we pulled out gave me a pie.
When get stuck give pie.
Heh. I’m gonna go have a piece of pie. Looked like apple.