snow driving

[doctahjones]

So over the last couple of days i've been playing in the snow.

yesterday we were doing just regular road driving through the mountains that had a light dusting to light layer of snow. about 30 minutes into the drive my steering felt strange. there wasn't any kind of weird noises or anything, it just felt like my tires were on mounds in the road so the slightest left or right movement on the wheel would turn into the wheel kind of turning on it's own (not that it would just turn, it's hard to describe).

i thought maybe it was just some ice/snow accumulation in the mud flaps, but there wasn't any there that was even close to touching the tire.

i looked underneath and saw alot of snow/ice accumulation around the steering and lower linkages. i tried to knock some of it off, but it didn't work too well (and i forgot my long ice scraper)

we went out again today in much more snowy conditions to play around, and it started doing it again, although not as bad.

so this time i grabbed a pic (front passenger side tire visible), and i'm wondering if anyone else has this weird steering feeling when driving in alot of snow/ice?

[Heisenberg]

Holy carp, that's a lot of snow (ice?) packed in there!

We've yet to see the first signs of spring, and the deep-snow driving opportunities have been frequent . Can't say I've had that kind of build up under the vehicle. The wheel wells did become a little choked at one point, limiting steering, but not affecting "caster" (I think that's what you were describing?).

It also seems like you would need wet snow or slush with well-below freezing air temperature to achieve your look?

H.

[doctahjones]

Holy carp, that's a lot of snow (ice?) packed in there!

We've yet to see the first signs of spring, and the deep-snow driving opportunities have been frequent . Can't say I've had that kind of build up under the vehicle. The wheel wells did become a little choked at one point, limiting steering, but not affecting "caster" (I think that's what you were describing?).

It also seems like you would need wet snow or slush with well-below freezing air temperature to achieve your look?

H.

yeah, it's been wet snow and slush with sub 32F (16F currently) temps over the last couple of days. so it's not just solid snow.

and honestly i'd have to say it would be more camber than caster. like both wheels camber (driver/pass) neg/pos or pos/neg in unison when the wheel is slightly turned

[disallow]

Yep I wouldn't worry about it.

[disallow]

also that is freaking awesome... Love having a 4x4 in this weather!!

[doctahjones]

Yep I wouldn't worry about it.

so you get the same look underneath and feeling in the wheel when doing alot of snow/slush driving?

[doctahjones]

also that is freaking awesome... Love having a 4x4 in this weather!!

i know right?!?!

i also like that most of the people that get out in the snow-ish stuff here in denver area also have 4x4, so there's not as many idiots on the road (well, at least 2wd idiots).

back in texas if you got out in this stuff you'd find hundreds of idiots that got stuck because they only have 2wd. people just don't know how to drive in it and stuff.

i gave the wife some driving lessons the other day in it. once in my 4x4, and once in her fwd volvo. we'll be trading it in soon to get something that's 4x4/awd hopefully before next snow season.

[disallow]

Yep. Letting it freeze overnight might cause some weird noises in the morning. Specifically I saw your CV boots, but I don't think ice can accumulate on these as the water just beads off.

t

[doctahjones]

Yep. Letting it freeze overnight might cause some weird noises in the morning. Specifically I saw your CV boots, but I don't think ice can accumulate on these as the water just beads off.

t

cool, thanks for the info.

it's garaged 99% of the time at night (unless we stay somewhere overnight, but that hasn't happened yet), and by morning i don't see any more ice/snow....just a dirty ass pathy!

[disallow]

also that is freaking awesome... Love having a 4x4 in this weather!!

i also like that most of the people that get out in the snow-ish stuff here in denver area also have 4x4, so there's not as many idiots on the road (well, at least 2wd idiots).

back in texas if you got out in this stuff you'd find hundreds of idiots that got stuck because they only have 2wd. people just don't know how to drive in it and stuff.

Speaking of idiots, here is my Facebook status from 2 wks ago:

To the idiot who thought it was a great idea to ride my bumper this morning while travelling at over 90kph in lousy conditions (and there was someone in front of me who I was not tailgating): I'm sorry that my slowing down caused you to steer onto the shoulder and spin out. This was not my intention. I just wanted you to get off of my butt. Your inability to react should tell you something! Dang tailgaters..

Was driving along at 90kph on a snow covered road, following someone and NOT being an idiot, and this guy in a Nissan Sentra was literally on top of me. I tapped my brakes a bunch of times, to no avail. Finally, after checking for oncoming traffic, and seeing there was nobody really behind him, I braked sharply, slowing from 90kph to about 50kph. He bailed onto the shoulder, and then spun out about 3 times on the highway.

Its one of those things that makes you feel really good, and really bad at the same time. God forbid that this guy got hurt, or worse... But I hope he realizes what an idiot he was being. One could hope, anyways...

[doctahjones]

Was driving along at 90kph on a snow covered road, following someone and NOT being an idiot, and this guy in a Nissan Sentra was literally on top of me. I tapped my brakes a bunch of times, to no avail. Finally, after checking for oncoming traffic, and seeing there was nobody really behind him, I braked sharply, slowing from 90kph to about 50kph. He bailed onto the shoulder, and then spun out about 3 times on the highway.

Its one of those things that makes you feel really good, and really bad at the same time. God forbid that this guy got hurt, or worse... But I hope he realizes what an idiot he was being. One could hope, anyways...

better for him to have spun out while there was no traffic, rather than while he was being an idiot around other cars and spinning out into someone else!

nice job, i would have totally done the same (if there was no traffic).