Snow!

[j17sparky]

That didn't last long Whereabouts are you @j17sparky?

The sun's out in my bit of Kent now and the snow has all gone.

Up North, near Middlesbrough (half way between Newcastle and York). We're in a massive valley surrounded by hills, moors, Pennines, north sea, so it takes a lot to get any real snow down in the valley.

[mthomas08]

We had snow that started at 7:50 sharp when I was walking to work, stopped about an hour ago. Was laying pretty well too.

[john]

Main thing stopping it snowing is the Bursar's decision to buy a 4WD minibus to ensure that pupils can be bussed to school.

That is why its not snowed yet here in the part of Yorkshire I live in, I sold the nice and sport Golf GTI for a very practicle 4x4 over a year ago, last year we had slush and ice, this year nothing so far yet other areas around have had snow. I said now I've got rid of the sporty car it will never snow, especially as this one has Snow Tyres as well....

[GeeHubb]

This morning's 40 mile drive to work took 3 hours. Essex CC have admitted that they didn't mobilise the gritters until 6:45, by which time the roads were pretty much grid-locked. There were, apparently, 80+ accidents before 11a.m., with 13 injured, one seriously.

Now, I am used to driving in all weathers and I've been doing it for nearly (not quite!) 40 years but I need some advice from the petrol heads about driving in snow and ice (and probably floods). I have a new Toyota Yaris HYBRID, which has a full automatic transmission. I have previously owned two hybrid Prius (priuses/prieii?) which were automatic, and one manual Yaris, but this Yaris seems to be very unhappy on snow and ice and I wasn't at all happy that I had it under control (though saying which, I did get to school in one piece without hitting anything!).

Any hints please?

[CAM]

A little snow didn't used to bring the country to a grinding halt:



When this was filmed my dad was delivering coal in a very snowy Newcastle [he is not in the video BTW]

That can partly be attributed to how the railways have changed. A steam train will plough it's way through nearly anything, is a mobile furnace and a minimum of three staff one of whom spends the entire day shovelling anyway. By comparison, modern trains are single crew, much lighter and fragile and suffer from ice forming a barrier between the 'shoe' pickup and the electric rail/overhead wire. If your train breaks down in snow, odds are it's electric.

[jinnantonnixx]

......
Any hints please?

All season tyres. A two wheel drive with all season/winter tyres is better than a 4x4 with summer tyres. My dad had some from BlackCircles, delivered to his local tyre fitter who installed them for a couple of quid. He had Bridgestone A001; they weren't that much more expensive than his regular summer tyres.

[elsiegee40]

All season tyres. A two wheel drive with all season/winter tyres is better than a 4x4 with summer tyres. My dad had some from BlackCircles, delivered to his local tyre fitter who installed them for a couple of quid. He had Bridgestone A001; they weren't that much more expensive than his regular summer tyres.

Agreed. My sister lives in the Peak District and uses winter tyres on her car.

[X-13]

That can partly be attributed to how the railways have changed. A steam train will plough it's way through nearly anything, is a mobile furnace and a minimum of three staff one of whom spends the entire day shovelling anyway. By comparison, modern trains are single crew, much lighter and fragile and suffer from ice forming a barrier between the 'shoe' pickup and the electric rail/overhead wire. If your train breaks down in snow, odds are it's electric.

So, what you're saying is that we need to go back to steam engines?

I can live with that. [Should provide more jobs too. Electric = 1 person, steam = 3]

[j17sparky]

Any hints please?

All season tyres...

I wonder if he has these super eco fuel saving life costing tyres. Yeah they save you money in the short term but they have about as much grip as lego wheels.

Also wondered if the weight distribution in that type of car is different to what you are used to. Could be completely off here but is there less weight over the driving wheels, more evenly distributed? FWD, lego tyres, no weight over the driving/steering wheels...

You could lower the psi in your tyres. Run at the minimum limit of the spec as defined in the handbook. Just remember you can't drive it at high speed... Prius, high speed, lol

[sted]

I wonder if he has these super eco fuel saving life costing tyres. Yeah they save you money in the short term but they have about as much grip as lego wheels.

Also wondered if the weight distribution in that type of car is different to what you are used to. Could be completely off here but is there less weight over the driving wheels and more evenly distributed? FWD, lego tyres, no weight over the driving/steering wheels...

actually eco wheels tend to be narrower so should actually be better on snow ice as there is a smaller footprint so the weight is more concentrated so more traction

[Ghostgame]

So, what you're saying is that we need to go back to steam engines?

I can live with that. [Should provide more jobs too. Electric = 1 person, steam = 3]

Nah, they will just put in some quantum self-charging AI controlled locomotive and cut people out altogether.

On the plus side it did snow again here XD

[GeeHubb]

Thanks all, I was wondering whether winter tyres would make any difference, but you all seem to agree that they do, so I will investigate that. I was pleasantly surprised they don't look to be hugely expensive, though I guess they will be detrimental to the fuel economy! However, I'd rather feel safer driving it than squeezing a few extra mpg! It does have eco-tyres and I suppose their very nature is to create less traction to aid fuel consumption.

The hybrid battery is not held in the engine compartment, it resides under the rear seat and is a pretty large component, so it could be something to do with there being more weight towards the rear of the car I suppose. Perhaps I should try a bag of cement in the passenger footwell The Prius, however, went through snow and ice rather like that train above, but it was an altogether heavier car than the Yaris.

Neither the Prius, nor the Yaris Hybrids are the fastest cars on the block, but I do get the satisfaction of knowing that less of my money goes into the Governments pockets as fuel tax! I do 20,000 miles a year, so I generate more than enough in fuel tax thanks! And driving fast on the A12 in rush hour has never been an available option anyway!

Thanks again.

[DaveP]

Looking like we might have a light covering again tomorrow morning. Perhaps heavier further north.

[CAM]

This morning I have this weird low sun turning everything orange whilst grey snow clouds sit on the horizon in a rather threatening manner. Looks a bit doomsday-ish.

[synaesthesia]

actually eco wheels tend to be narrower so should actually be better on snow ice as there is a smaller footprint so the weight is more concentrated so more traction

How so? After all, one of the handy tricks is to let a little air out of your tyres to *increase* surface area in contact with the road and therefore increasing grip.
As for narrower tyres - I know it's a smaller scale but can't compare with cars. We have two child buggies/pushchairs. One has wheels that wouldn't look out of place on a toy (width). The other is more, well, serious. The former barely moves if there's more than a stiff frost on the ground.