fattie92

It snowed a good......foot maybe lastnight....this morning i was on my way to get my friend, and then go to school. Well first there was a bus picking up kids that i TRIED to stop for, no such luck, just slid in the direction of a tree, so i let off the brake and she straitend out (84ta),,felt bad to drive by a bus that was pickin up kids, you never know when a kid is gonnna come running out of nowhere on you. good thing there wernt any in my case.well after that happened, i get my friend and pull out of her driveway, i go about a 1/4 mile down her road, and im only doing abut 5-10mph cause of the crappy roads. all of a sudden, the car just starts pulling to the riight, i turn the wheel slowly to the left, feathering the brakes, she keeps pulling. I told my friend to hold on, were headed for the ditch(deepest ditch on her block ) well we go right in the ditch, not hard due to our speed, kinda just glidded right in. Well i get out to inspect what iv done, i burried my self in this ditch pretty damn good,, but all i was really worried about was the damage.Due to my speed and the angle i went in,, there was no damage!!!:lala: no dent or scratches!!! wahhhoo...but i was still in a damn ditch! well i finaly got pulled out by one of them huge Ford F-150 desiel dulie pick ups. i got out and drove away, parked the car at home and got rides for the rest of the day. I was thinkin bout y this happend on that road...could it be that the road was paying me back for getting away with 43mph in a 25mph speed zone?? lucky i pulled into my friends driveway(her dads a state trooper and his car was there) ...any one else get away with something on a certian road before,, then the road pays them back for it??? kinda ironic how that worked out....well,, i hope everyone that has to drive in this crap, does it without a problem..unless you drive a mustang!jk...i know its not fun to be in a ditch at 730am....please drive safe!

ryan

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

See sig.

Tires make a huge difference. I've had my current ones on for about a year now - much, much better than the Sears Roadhandlers that were on the car when I got it.

blue91rs

I loved my rs in the snow. I swear by rear wheel drive, its soooo much more predictable. Its all about your tires, get some decent ones, all around. No matter what car your driving, you just gotta take it slow. Front wheel drive sucks in the snow!!!! (and most other times also!!!)

camaro6spd

what are you smoking?!! front wheel drive cars are the best is the snow next to full time and part time 4x4. I have determined this, from driving my camaro, S10(which has 4x4 but left in in 2x4 for the hell of it), Ford contor(FWD) and the Lumina (FWD). both FWD car did MUCH better in the snow then the other rear wheel drive.....the Contour even had a bald tire...well almost.....oh and they are not snow tires.

ChevyLuva3

Well my advice to you is get new tires. With a nice tread, I got nice ones but theyre not name brand, but they kick ***! In the rain, nothing ever happeneds, I stay in a straight line, unless of course I purposely throw the rear end around hehe. And just go easy on the car, slowly put in the gas, give your self room between car in front of you. If ya got auto, keep it in OD, if ya got stick, try to keep it in the highest gear ya can. The higher the gear the slower the wheels move accelerating wise. Thats why when you start spinning with stick shift, up shift and it will slow down the spinning tires, gaining traction. And brake a lot earlier, and slower. Also I noticed that you said you "feathered the brakes while you were sliding"... never do that, you are sliding, your wheels dont have traction, the last thing ya want to do is have the wheels totally stop moving and just glide across the water. Just let go off gas, and try to get the car under control.

---Oh hell yeah, now my posts equal the size of my engine. 350th post.

Stormshadow GTA

1.Light rear end
2.Posi
3.Wide tires

My car will never ever see snow again just too dangerous

bzznczzn

Personally, i think these cars handle snow very well, you just have to know how to drive in those conditions. I was amazed how well these cars are in the snow, but i guess it just has to do with what your used to driving and under what conditions your used to driving in.

blue91rs

well, nothing lately.. Serously though, rear wheel drive has more control in the snow, IF you know what you're doing. I own both FWD and RWD drive cars, and with rear wheel drive, if you have a full tank of gas, and good tread, ( not nessicarly snow tires) its just as good if not better. RWD is just more predictable to me. The balence is just right.
On my Rs I had goodyear eagle GT 2's on all four corners, they had about 8k on them before winter. In the most difficult weather I never had any probs at all. 1.5 feet of snow, ice and slush, no probs.

Mark A Shields

Our cars weren't designed for snow, mine doesn't even like the rain. I agree that FWD are better in the snow. Guess that's why I left my car at home and we brought my GFs Blazer back up.

87transam5.7tpi

no offense man but were you holding the brakes down or were you pulsing them? at first I didn't do that with my car but that makes a big difference in stopping

fattie92

its not that i dont know how to drive in the snow. i live in waukegan, illinois (northern illinois), and i learned how to drive in this crap in my moms 86 caprice. that car wnats to fishtial around every damn corner. I will admit,, the TA isnt that bad, i just hit a bad spot in the road where it wasnt plowed good,, and bamn, in the ditch.i will admit i DO NEED FRONT TIRES!!! iv been putting that off for too long now, i need to get up and do it. that was the biggest factor probly. i wasnt going fast,, 15mph MAX...this might help you comprehend how bad the roads are,, but im sure everyone knows how it can get,...fresh snow, slick out... i saw NUMEROUS cars on the side of the road. just not cars,, but 4X4's as well.. my friend went into a ditch in his 4X4 doing 20 down the same road i was in the ditch on, and a FWD car went in the ditch right behind me 5 min after i did...i never drove a FWD,, i like my RWD,, like Blue91rs said,, its more predictable. i know whats gonan happen in that thing,, and what i can and cant correct and how to correct them,, this wasnt a thing i could correct...unfortunatly

87transam5.7tpi

like I said man, I didn't mean that like you don't know how to drive, I just know alot of people don't even think of that.

fattie92

87transam5.7tpi...sorry i didnt even seee your first post,, my fault. i didnt plus them cause i wasnt even really on them, i didnt wnat to pulse them cuase i didnt want it to swing the front end of my car in at more of an angle. i knew i was gonna end up in the ditch, and the angle i had was perfect for the slope of the ditch. i think if i pulsed or pressed harder,, i would have locked up, swung the front end to the right more,, and then went in the ditch at a ****ty angle messing my front end up....thats just what i thought.. maybe it would have worked... who knows

ChevyLuva3

Hey Ryan, btw what type of rear brakes ya have? Are they drum or caliper? Cuz my friend has a 91 firebird, 6 cyl too. He's got drums and he says his lock up if its like raining or whatever. But I got caliper, and mine never lock up, atleast I don't feel them locking up.. I guess I never have to press that hard.

SSC

The reason our cars suck in the snow is, the rear end weighs almost nothing and the front is heavy.
I dont drive my cars in the snow they suck when it come to wet slipppery conditions. Good tires help BFG advantage GT's are great all around tires BTW.
A few tricks I learnd for driving in the snow came from years of gokart riding.
1. never speed 25mph max on a fairly clean road, 10mph on an icy/snowy road.
2. Never ever lock the brakes or even push harder than 1/4 for any reason. If you need to stomp the brakes its already too late. So plan your stops way ahead of time even stop before you have to, this lets you know you will be alble to slow down before you really need to stop.
3. When sliding always turn into the slide, even if you think your going to hit somthing. It gives you more of a chance to gain controll of your car and avoid an accident.
4.Take corners at a very low speed 2mph max.
5.Remember that if you rear end someone its your fault no matter what, but if they hit you even if you stop before you need to (for safety) its thier fault and you get a new paint job and lost wages

Our cars suck on the snow so dont drive unless you have to. Sand bags in the back dont help. If you need to drive in the snow just go very slow.

SSC

BTW 4x4's arent any better in the snow driving or stoping they just take off better.

cfabe

sorta off topic, but in regards to what ssc said.

While its absolutely true that 4x4 does nothing to help winter stopping distance (in fact the extra weight probably makes it marginally worse) it defintaly does help in stability and taking turns. The time I felt this advantage the most was driving a ford excursion in alaska over roads with about 1" of really slick mud on them. Driving at a constant speed (about 40mph) turning on the 4x4 made a noticable difference in stability. It also made corners less iffy. The reason for this is that each tire has a set ammount of force you can apply to it before it looses traction. If you can distribute the driving force of the engine to 4 tires instead of 2, this lets you apply more turning force to the back tires, so you can corner harder without fishtailing. You'll find that in winter driving you'll usually loose traction on the driving tires first, which is why FWD cars usually understeer and RWD cars usually oversteer in reduced traction situations.

fattie92

iv got alaround disk brakes on this thing.They like to lock up on me sometimes. the brakes have toataly been redone on this,, new master cylinder, 3 new calipers...i need some rotors too but havent had the extra cash for it...just a question..i heard that if you have all a all disk brake trans am from 84,, thats included in the WE6 package (i think thats what its called)...is this true?? so my car might be a WE6 equiped?

ps..i just thought 4x4s were just more stable traction wise(as long as the person knows how to drive it). i know that the breaking wouoldnt be anybetter.

Scarebird

What??? Weight in the rear well does help quite alot, especially biased to the right side. Iv'e done this with Camaro's, GTO's, 442's, and light trucks- all the same result, and much more effective with studded tires.

SSC

Well yes/no, sand bagging the rear does help but it isnt a magic cure all that everyone thinks.
If you can honestly say it helps alot than you haventy been in many harsh winter driving conditions.
I am a tech (nerd) who is on call up and down the front range (basicly all of colorado)rain/shine Drive, drive :lala: (drive home and work on my cars). Sand bags will not help you stop any better, studded tires dont help you stop either. All of these items are solely to help you gain starting momentum in the snow, not keep you on the road. All and all the best thing for improving driving is chains, they do help a person stop and go on the snow but they arent going to keep you from sliding into a ditch.

SSC