Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 11:38:38 EST
Reply-To: Sean Bartnik <sbart7kb@WWW.MWC.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon mailing list <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From: Sean Bartnik <sbart7kb@WWW.MWC.EDU>
Subject: Re: WINTER DRIVING
In-Reply-To: <19971110.094210.7191.0.alangondry@juno.com>; from "Alan S
Gondry" at Nov 10, 97 9:44 am
>
> Hi all,
>
> I have not had the privileged to drive any VW van in the snow. I have an
> '83 water cooled. Are there any problems or suggestions?
>
> alan
>
Alan,
The Vanagons don't seem to do as well in the snow as the late Buses do,
as less of the total weight is over the rear wheels; it's more evenly
distributed.
An important part of safe driving in snow is the tires. Make sure you
have good ones.
When you get the first snow, take your van to a big parking lot and
drive around crazily, slamming on the brakes to make it skid, flooring
it around a corner to make the back end swing out, and practice
recovering from these events. Also learn the van's limitations in the
snow from these exercises. You don't want to push it so that this
happens on the road. Notice that if you lock the front wheels when
braking, you WILL NOT be able to steer at all. The van will continue
going in the direction it was going before the wheels locked, no matter
how much you turn the steering wheel. This is true on snow, rain, ice,
or dry pavement, but it's much easier to lock up the front wheels on
snow and ice. So be conscious of that. Always apply the brakes with a
slow steady motion, not abruptly. Leave plenty of distance between your
car and the car in front and travel slow enough so that you can apply
the brakes slowly and steadily.
Likewise with the steering, don't make any sudden moves. This can lead
to a loss of traction, and then you're sliding.
Recovering from skids: well, if you lock the front wheels up and try to
turn, you won't turn. As soon as you let up on the brakes the front
wheels will unlock and then if you've got the steering wheel cranked all
the way over, the van will make a violent turn in that direction,
possibly leading to a loss of control. So again, slow and easy and
don't panic if you lock your front wheels, simply reduce the pressure
you are putting on the brake pedal while turning GENTLY.
Likewise, if you find your back end trying to swap places with the front
end of the van (likely to happen most around corners), DON'T slam on the
brakes. That makes it worse. Let up on the gas slowly and turn in the
direction that the back end is sliding. If the back end slides left,
turn the wheel left.
And of course you sometimes may lose traction when you try to start off
from a stop, leaving your back wheels spinning while you don't go
anywhere. If you're on a hill when this happens, you're pretty much
screwed and will have to drift backwards down the hill until it's flat
again and start from there. If you're on the flat, it sometimes helps
to try starting from second gear instead of first. That way, less
torque gets to the wheels and you're more likely to start moving instead
of starting the wheels spinning uselessly. Again, with this starting
from a stop, you want slow and easy motions. Give it as little gas as
possible to keep the car from stalling when you let the clutch out.
That way, the rear wheels are less likely to spin.
And if you're driving up a hill, whatever you do, don't stop (if it can
be avoided). You need to keep your momentum up. I've had to go up
hills in, say, second gear, and I'll get halfway up and the rear wheels
will start spinning every now and then, and the back of the van will go
right or left a little. In this situation you want to let off the gas a
little but not completely so you can keep your momentum and correct the
back end with steering as you go. It requires a feel for how the van
responds to correction, which you can practice in that parking lot I
suggested above. But if you stop on the hill, you will surely get
stuck.
It's a lot to remember, but just remember slow and easy, no sudden
moves, and you'll probably be OK. Just make sure you practice in that
parking lot at the first snow.
Sean
And the most important thing here is to GO SLOW. Especially if the
roads are winding or there is a lot of traffic around.
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