**E: I ment the last one without chains, sorry!**
Hi! So basically the title. Watched a clip from top gear and all those questions popped up.
Cheers! 🙂
In: Engineering
The number one thing to keep your car safe and on the road in snowy conditions is snow tires. A 2 wd car with snowtires is far better than a 4wd/Awd car with all season radials.
If you use chains, then it doesn’t matter what tires are under them.
If you use chains, you must go slow because the chain or cable will make the wheels vibrate. If you’ve ever driven a car (or sat in one) with chains on, you’d never want to driver very fast. It’s like driving over a corrugated steel. The whole car buzzes.
I don’t know about keeping your wheels spinning. You SHOULD keep your car moving forward so the forward momentum helps get your wheels through the snow. The second you stop, it’s hard to get any traction to build up any forward movement. Deep snow is where 4 wd might help if some of the wheels are just not grabbing onto anything.
Source – Canadian. Also a winter Lake Tahoe visitor. I have many sets of snow chains.
If you visit a snowy place on occasion, then you should buy snow chains. If you live somewhere that gets snow, you should buy a set of rims and put snow tires on them. Swap them just before the first snowfall, then swap them back after last predicted snowfall. 4WD is typically not needed for street driving even with deep snow. 4WD is only good if you are STUCK somewhere. They do not help with controlling your car when it’s already moving, ie; steering and braking … that’s what snow tires are for.
Snow tires are made of softer and “stickier” rubber, with wide grooves to clear snow from under them. They aren’t great in the spring and summer as that rubber gets worn down quickly. They are good in the rain though, but not worth keeping on your car all summer as that’s just a waste.
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