Must drive in ice tonight. Need help.

4hi is helpful on icy roads for reasons mentioned several times already. However, don’t drive too fast and leave more distance than you normally would between you and the vehicle in front of you. 4wd isn’t going to help you stop any quicker.

 

That, and watch for banked sections of road. Momentum is your best friend when the road is banked, if you slow down too much youll get sucked in!

 

4hi. go slow. no abrupt stops turns or gassing it. tap the gas dont rev it anticipate whats coming up next and plan ahead. this is out west driving in the mountains. if it is ice rink status sleep in your office.

 

Also, if you DO start to spin remember that the only way to correct a spin is countersteer and apply throttle. Braking will make things MUCH worse at that point.

 

I wish I were as smart as you...
I live in snow country. We very seldom get solid ice, just snow. I have been down south (near Atlanta) though when the roads go from wet to solid ice in a matter of minutes. They never get much snow down there, just ice, like in the videos. That was what I was referring to. No, I didn't tell him to drive in 2WD. I told him to get close to the side of the road where he can get a bit of traction. 4WD helps in almost all cases, but there are times where it does not make a lot of difference. Driver skill means everything, as you brag about in your post. The OP apparently does not drive in the slick stuff much so the skill goes out the window. I was trying to help the guy out, not wax nostalgic about how good I am at driving in the snow and powersliding on parking lots.

Now, the reason the Sonata made it up the hill was simply momentum. Physics at work.

 

God that Jeep is hideous. Looks like it’s wearing a Freddy Mercury jacket.

 

The sonata made it up the hill because the DRIVER knew to keep momentum.

I don't understand why you're even trying to argue my original point then. In more words I said "4wd helps in all aspects of driving in low traction except stopping distances", that's common knowledge to anyone whos driven on ice, so I guess I'm asking you if you disagree with me... then on what part?? Is 4wd not superior traction wise?? What about for correcting inputs?? What about for turning?? What part of that specifically do you think is wrong?

ANY situation on ice outside of emergency braking you are better off in 4wd than 2wd... its a simple fact and I'm still dumfounded people are trying to argue it lol.

 

From someone who has driven on icy roads their entire life, it's mind boggling to me too. 4HI, leave space, go slow... you'll probably live.

 

THIS guy ^^^^ Loves to talk about snow. He’s a snow scientist. From SoCal.

 

Actually I'm from Washington but yes I moved to San Diego and never leaving

 

Snow driving is more about performance driving experience than anything else. If youve had to correct oversteer before then driving on snow should be a cake walk whether you live in snow country or not!

 

This! On ice, I always try to drive (slow) with the passenger side just off payment so I can get better traction in the gravel or dirt.

 

I disagree. I was known to say “if I can skateboard and surf, snowboarding should be easy AF” it wasn’t as easy as I thought. Having experience correcting a spin out is nice, but doesn’t compare to the experience of “yawn. Ugh. I guess I’ll get up and drive to work through snow AGAIN. As usual. And then Home, in snow ah shit I forgot to get groceries, out I go again” daily grind. That’s where the real skills develop.

 

Yeah I am definitely not saying that practice doesnt help on snow, it absolutely does like with anything else. But if youre trying to drive on snow for the first time, apply the same rules as performance driving at a lower speed. If you start to spin, give it gas to get more traction and pull out of it. If you oversteer, countersteer, if you understeer then gas and oversteer before its too late... that sort of thing

 

Having taught about a dozen friends how to board, ones that grew up surfing and skateboarding do in fact pick it up MUCH faster. People with no boarding experience stick to the bunny slopes all day or even the entire first weekend, people with boarding experience I take down the bunny slopes ONCE, then its to the top of the mountain and ride or die, 80% of the time it works every time. The other 20%? Meh they probably sucked at skateboarding too

 

Well of course, such an astute snow scholar as yourself.

 

Because - this thread was to help the OP! Not talk about experience and how good you are! It's about helping the OP get home last night - in one piece. Whoever said 2WD is better knows nothing, just like the guy who wanted to argue manual hubs were better, yet he had never had to lock them in when it's zero degrees outside. lol.
He was down south. No real snow, just ice. You can't help him get experience over the internet, but you can offer sage advice on the best method for driving on ice, such as those videos I linked. Put it in 4HI, get close to the edge, go slow but keep momentum. Keep far away from vehicles in front, allow a lot of room to stop. KEEP VSA ON. That kind of advice.

No, the Sonata got up the hill because the vehicle had momentum. Who the hell knows if the driver knew anything...he could have just been lucky. Or, he could have been a professional rally driver from Sweden. Who knows.

 

If you are on an interstate with a milled rumble strip "Zipper" on the edge, keeping your right tires close, or even on the zipper will give you a bit more traction on really slick roads.

 

Ditto, December 31st, 1980, had a F250 and came around a bend and hit a sheet of ice and t-boned a car and it was not pretty, and the bigger the tires the faster they travel, just like balloons on the ice...

 

I'm on 4Hi all winter long here, had a 2nd gen before and was also on 4hi all winter long, never had any problem.