Snow and Ice driving

[DRFVDR]

Well guys it is that time of the year

SOOOOOO

I thought I would tell u what works and what doesnt....

Now before I start I will explain my experiance

I am a professional driver (bus)

I have been driving on Mt Ruapehu Professionally for 20 years

I drive bascially an AWD turbo Diesel Hiace Minibus...

Ok things that Work

try and keep off boost rapid horse power changes are bad and will incite loss of traction

keep off brakes as much as possible(use gears and yes even in an auto the van i drive is an auto and i barely touch the brakes coming down)...

take things very very slowly,depress brake/throttle slowly dont stomp on it...

If u lose traction release wot ever u have depressed and try and gain traction back

KEEP SPEED DOWN the snow is not going anywhere

If u make a boo aim for the snow bank usually a wee bit safer than on coming traffic...

Things that dont work

drifting round corners,racing,passing unless u know exactly wots going on because 9 times outta 10 u are going from the traction side to the no traction side

Pissing me off(never a good thing ) :)

any tire and rim combo wide than 205 really(especailly 20's and they dont have chains to fit either) nor to lowered hard suspensions...

AND REMEMBER JUST BECAUSE EVERY ONE IS HEADING UP DOES NOT MEAN THERE IS NO ONE HEADING DOWN usually me

And if all else fails call me and I will get u up and down safely

[dubbedup]

nice, worth reading

[T.Rev]

Cheers.had fun last year around July 7 in the big snow up at Mt Ruapehu..heaps of cars crashed off carriageway as we made our way around from closed SH1 to Natioanla Park via SH 47? ..came to an intersection... the Prado just skated for 20 plus metres..sideways. managed to collect it all etc but it was a moment...

Good advice.

[Guest]

 DRFVDR said:

keep off brakes as much as possible(use gears and yes even in an auto the van i drive is an auto and i barely touch the brakes coming down)...

Ruapehu cant be very steep cos when im coming down Mt Hutt in the forester i have to be on the brakes a lot, even when im taking it really really slow

[DRFVDR]

Turoa is very very very steep in places , but yes brakes have to be used but not all the time,what gets my goat is the people who you follow down the road and their foot does not come of the brake for the whole 17k journey and you start to smell the brakes after the first 2k :)

[cpt kernow]

So in an AWD manual Forester, I've got some chains but which end do I chuck em on? I hear mixed pointers on this and I don't think I'll need them on all corners for a short drive from the gate to the top?

[nztintin]

chains on front, awd you will get drive to front and brakes and steering, i've only had to use chains on my foz once, i've been first 4wd with no chains to go up ruapehu once and was really surprised at how much grip i had with no chains and only 4 peices of rubber on snow and ice, also amazing how quick you can loose traction when getting a bit right foot happy (i tested the limits of traction on snow for future reference and to get rid of the bloody 4wd comodore thing that was trying to park in my boot on the way up)

slow and steady wins the race (on snow anyway) and also give the car in front of you some room if it's a sketchy day, if shit turns to shit for either of you, you want room to avoid them, pushing them off the road won't make that much difference to the lift ques!

[Joker]

also get used to the feeling of ABS on snow

[Guest]

 JoKer said:

also get used to the feeling of ABS on snow

Or better still pull your fuse out so you dont have ABS

[Guest]

its definately a case of dont get on the brakes or accelerator too hard/too fast.

I mainly try to use the engine to slow the vehicle down....for which reason i do prefer to drive a manual up the mountain.

You definately want your chains on the front of an AWD vehicle.......if it came to a choice between steering/traction and more traction id take the former anyday of the week and twice on sunday!

To be honest most of the time you will not require chains for a 4wd, but its always better to be safe than sorry.

ALWAYS carry chains. Period.

[cpt kernow]

Cheers. All sounds good. I thought front, but the US sites say rear only.

after last year when I had to rent chains a couple of times for the Pulsar, I snapped some up in the summer to use this year. Looking forward to sailing past the hour long chain queues this year in my AWD.

[Guest]

gah.

Ok hire your chains BEFORE you go up the mountain....at a ski shop the night before or some shit.

You pull over, put em on and 5 mins later you are driving past the chumps waiting for people to put chains on.

Seriously it isnt hard.

[nztintin]

also try trade me for chains, i picked up my set for cheaper than hiring a set for a day, and they are the same chains that you hire!

on a side note anyone used those rubber chains?

[Koom]

This is how you drive in the snow

 Rossmnz']

[quote name='DRFVDR said:

keep off brakes as much as possible(use gears and yes even in an auto the van i drive is an auto and i barely touch the brakes coming down)...

/quote]

Ruapehu cant be very steep cos when im coming down Mt Hutt in the forester i have to be on the brakes a lot, even when im taking it really really slow

Yeah Hutt is alot steeper than the Ruapehu roads but it also a totally different road surface. The worst thing about the Canterbury fields is people in 4WD's that don't use chains, compacting the snow into a thick layer of ice and making it harder for those in light vehicles (even with chains) to get traction. The steep bits of Hutt are often still just gravel though which helps alot for traction.

[DRFVDR]

Chains on front

have not tried "rubber" chains but certainly don't hold much cop for them

the traditional "chain" are by far the best but saying that u need the "diamond" type AVOID the ladder type at all costs they are dangerous and can cause untold damage...

If u have rubber on your car that is wider than stock avoid chains as they can rub against the strut/brake lines and well u can lose your brakes....

DO NOT disconnect your ABS ever,learn to use it to your advantage

My Minibus is as said AWD and also ABS and I have never thought of disabling it in any way, goes back to gaining traction a turning wheel has traction a spinning/sliding does not

oh and further to my experiance at last add up i have done over 500,000 k/m on the ohakune mountain road.

I also do runs into the Tukino skifield in a 4wd bus (real 4wd as well rear diff lock and lever activated 4wd) with it fully chained and full of people(28) and usually at about 11pm in a snow storm I love it and dont stop smiling for days

[subieboy]

 nztintin said:

also try trade me for chains, i picked up my set for cheaper than hiring a set for a day, and they are the same chains that you hire!

on a side note anyone used those rubber chains?

They dont last really, and not really any quiter either

In the courses I have done where we used chains (mostly HARD 4WD in very poos muddy conditions) we were advised to put them on cross axles, i.e. right front and left rear...

Yet to get stuck doing it that way.

As for taking out the ABS fuse - If you are an average driver (read if you are not Michael Schumacher or his mates like Loebb etc) leave it in, its there for a reason, generally ice follows snow round the mountain and other areas

1700 Unimog's in 4WD going down hitting ice is fun BTW

[off2harrys]

geez my eagerness to get to the snowfields has withered now,all you fullas have got me scared,only started snowboarding last spring dont think i wanna cruise up when its winter now,far missus poor lil car smelt like it was gonna blow to bits goin to turoa last year we even had to pull over to the slow lane goin up to whakapapa to let all the trucks pass us (piss of shit mirage).note to self never go to mt hutt sounds ridiculous

[Guest]

 DRFVDR said:

DO NOT disconnect your ABS ever,learn to use it to your advantage

Why not just learn to how to drive without it?

[Koom]

 off2harrys said:

note to self never go to mt hutt sounds ridiculous

haha its not really all that bad. I've never actually driven my Subaru up there but used to take my Ford Laser (Ghia model, cause thats how I roll ) up there every weekend. Wack some chains on it and it would get 3 (struggle with 4) people up there easy as. Just couldn't lift off the go pedal for one stretch thats about 5kms long or else we'd be stuck in 1st crawling the rest of the way at less than walking pace.

[DRFVDR]

 off2harrys said:

geez my eagerness to get to the snowfields has withered now,all you fullas have got me scared,only started snowboarding last spring dont think i wanna cruise up when its winter now,far missus poor lil car smelt like it was gonna blow to bits goin to turoa last year we even had to pull over to the slow lane goin up to whakapapa to let all the trucks pass us (piss of shit mirage).note to self never go to mt hutt sounds ridiculous

it is easy as pie

ring 0800ski123

and I will pick u up take you up drop u at the steps and pick you up laters

quick easy safe no hassel :)

[Guest keltik]

can we pay an extra $10 to go up slideways in the RX?

[DRFVDR]

funny you should say that

my fastest ever trip was a few years ago

it was on my day off

and it was in my first gen RX coupe

it was a chains required day

and it was a total of 12 minutes from the Junction ski shop to parked in the top car park putting on boots....

i drifted both hairpins and was losing traction from the second hair pin to the top.....

it was an awesome run and no up hill traffic to contend with.....

[Treecrusher]

I've done two full seasons to Mt Hutt in a GTB (at least 40 days each season) and this season will be doing it in a v5 wrx.

IMO if you feel your ABS you have probably hit the brakes to hard for the conditions. Everything should be done lightly and smoothly in icy conditions. If it is really slippery you want to brake very lightly to avoid the ABS activating.

I have felt my ABS once last season when stopping to pick up a hitch hiker. I decided to stop at the last minute on a patch of ice and the ABS activated. The scary thing was once the ABS started it was if someone had just turned the brakes off. I had to take my foot off the brake and apply it again very lightly to stop.

[Guest]

I just hate ABS full stop I hope the hitch hiker was a hot chick to be doing sudden breaking manourves like that in icy conditions ;D

[Guest]

dont worry hutt is fine.

Set off early brother, then you are up early whatever happens. I totally hate the tools that pass you flying up the mountain in their new 4wd thats never seen offroad lol.

When we go up in the forester i just take it easy and usually set off early enough so that we are ready to rock @ 9am!

When we take my mates isuzu trooper(he picked it up as an ex repo for 1000) we just bomb up there and shake the fuck out of it.

It goes hard...shit i wish i had one.