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On 10 Jan 2004 at 18:02, lindgre wrote: > Also many people do not understand that low speed causes problems as well, > momentum is often needed to get up steep hills on snow. Exactly right! Sometimes I think that everyone who wants to drive should have to pass a physics course first. ;-) > A 4wd like my Audi quattro actually will stop a little bit better, because the > 4wd system will even out the braking power to all 4 wheels. The difference is > marginal, but noticeable for a driver *who knows how to drive a 4wd passenger > car in snow* Are you talking about what happens with AT cars when the drive wheels are still trying to drive while you're trying to stop? Quite a few years ago I discovered that I got better control when braking under marginal conditions if I put the AT in neutral. > I would also like to mention something that I have mentioned before, I have > experienced that rear engined VWs are a little bit prone to premature lockup > on the front wheels because they only have approx 35% weight on the front > wheels. There is always some weight transfer to the front wheels when braking, but the amount of transfer depends on the deceleration. Under slippery conditions there will be less transfer than for dry pavement. I suspect that the brake balance for our cars was worked out for dry pavement, so you're exactly right again. OTOH, this would apply in different degrees to any car, not just ours. Interesting, I had never thought about this. > Finally we have the issue of proper snow tires. It is my understading that > snow tires (either studded or studless) still isnt very common in USA. I > really dont understand this! From my experience on other (Audi) discussion > boards, the people who have "discovered" sow tires are never going back to all > season tires, and also wont believe the difference in traction. Here inNOrway, > it is illegal (I believe) to drive on non M+S marked tires in teh winter. And > those who actually do so, are totally stupid. I have experienced driving on > regular "summer tires", as they're called here, on snow, and that is about the > most frightening thing I have done in a car, ever! Studded snows are now illegal here in most states. If someone lives in a state that still uses them, I have one (sorry, just one) that I'd love to sell. They were banned maybe 20 years ago because they ate up the pavement. I used to keep a set of (2) snow tires on separate rims and swap those wheels onto the car every winter. I haven't done that for years. Part of that may just be lazyness. Part may be the fact that I'm older now, so when the weather is bad I just stay home. Part is due to the fact that I find modern tire treads to be enough better in the snow that I don't need the extra traction. I think that modern "All Season" tires are significantly better than the old summer tires were. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org