Winter Tips Part 3

Wednesday, 9. November 2011

What should you do if you are stuck in the snow or on an icy road? First of all get yourself down to Halfords, Wilkinson or other DIY centre and get yourself a travel/snow spade to carry around in the back of your car. So often you see a little pile of snow in front of the drive wheels after clearing the snow off the screens and the driver then attempts to start off over what is a little slippery hill, madness. So make sure that the road in front of the wheels is clear and you can get a bit of traction in order to get some momentum.

When pulling off, if you have traction control in the car leave it switched on and try to pull off in a high gear, say 2^nd or 3^rd, easing your foot off the clutch very gently. Don’t spin the wheels, this makes matters worse very quickly.

If you are not quite getting grip try ‘rocking’ the car, put it in 2^nd or 3^rd gear and blip the accelerator, let it roll back by releasing the accelerator, then blipping it again. When you feel the tyres grip accelerate a little harder.

If the traction control is a little fierce try switching it off and accelerating very gently. Another tip if leaving your car parked on packed snow over night is to carry a bag of course salt in the boot and spread some in front of the tyres once parked, by the time you leave in the morning, except in extreme cases the salt would have melted the snow and possibly stopped any further snow from settling. By Graham Hill