Re: Advice for snow driving

[gadd@csn.net (Will Gadd)]

---------------------
>
>From: ScottB2460@aol.com
>Date: Sat, 6 Jan 1996 20:48:23 -0500
>Subject: Advise for snow driving
>
>Newbee greetings from snowy Carolina!
>
Hi to you and all Audi-heads from a newbie in Colorado.

>Well, us North Carolians don't experience much snow, but as I post this, we
>have been getting 5+ inches today. This is the first snow I experienced in my
>200tq, and had to run an errand after about 3 inches had fallen.  Coming home
>in the unattended neighborhood streets, I took the turn into my culdasac in
>1st gear, and ended up sliding into the curb.

Did you down-shift without revving up as you went into the turn? That will
start the car sliding, from which point it's much more difficult to recover
than having traction.
>
>I have Dunlop D60 A2 with only about 10K on them, Now, I may have taken the
>corner too fast (thought I was going appropriately slow)

If you were going slow enough, you wouldn't have lost traction on the
corner and whacked the curb. Bummer, hope all you need is an alignment.

 but take that
>possible reason out of the question, do I have crappy M&S tires?  I recall
>them being having an "A" rating in that catagory.

I think any tire is as good as the driver steering it. If you do something
that the tire won't do and crash, I think it's because the driver was
messing up, not the tire.

On the other hand, wet snowpacked roads are horrendous to drive on--I'm
from Canada and remember the first time it snowed in Colorado. I, believing
that most snow was similar, rapidly learned that snow at -20 and snow at 32
are very different beasts.
 
Should I press the quattro
>button between the seats for most/any snow travel below the 20 something MPH
>threshold it automatically disengages?

I drive a 4KCS, so the system is a little different, but having the 4wd
"in" on almost any car helps substantially, even (especially) with higher
speed driving. However, watch out for turning too tightly in a corner with
the system on. My wife crashed our Subaru at very low speeds that way...
With the wheels set for a tight corner, the front wheels are pulling at a
very different angle than the back wheels are pushing. Nothing I know of
will spin a car faster at a lower speed (I like this front-end pull,
especially when driving fast on dirt). On pavement I think there's enough
drag that a center differential works, but on snow, who knows?

I would go to a snow-covered parking lot with as few obstructions as
possible and rally for an hour--your on-snow driving will improve
dramatically, it will be a really good time and you might get to know your
local law-enforcement people better. An officer once tried to write me a
ticket for learning how to drive my new (to me then) 4kCS in a lot. Said it
was "careless driving," how could it be careless driving when I went there
at 11p.m. when there would be no cars, was trying both settings on the Q,
never had a slide mark closer than 50 feet to a curb, and was
sober/seat-belted? He backed off eventually, but that was the first time
I've ever been stopped for doing less than 20 mph :)! Seriously, learning
how to drift a car, turn an understeer slide into an effective turn,
recover from a spin, etc, are key to anyone who actualy wants to enjoy
sliding, I mean driving, in the snow/ice. Winter is FUN! 

You're probably getting pounded right now by the storm that came through
Colorado over the last serveral days, I hope you have a good time.

-Will Gadd

currently:
86 4kcs (most fun of all cars I've ever owned)
88 gl coupe (boring, very stable in snow)
95 nissan 4x4 (truck, good for getting places/hauling junk)