Re: abs

[Mike Mulholland <meyeke@netinc.ca>]

zsolt, i moved to the niagara area from vernon bc in the spring and from
march to april 98 made three trips vernon-toronto- return. my problem arose
on the first trip around rogers pass. i had just been exhilerated by the
cars handling on the twisty downhill section when i hit a hard turn which
should not have been a problem....however the sand trucks had been out and
there were inches of loose sand before, after and in the turn....initially
the car understeered terribly, so i turned in harder....as soon as i did
this the rear end was parallel to the direction of the car and wanted to
lead...applying power and turning to compensate for the skid only took me
closer to the edge of the road and disaster . the better option was to spin
so i turned so as to help the spin and stopped in my lane only with the rear
end towards the ditch and the front on the centre line. i put her into first
and drove into my lane and continued while trying to figure out what i had
done wrong....i asked the list and was told...lock the centre diff for _fun_
driving, be geared correctly to apply decent power when needed ( i was
overgeared for the situation)...and when in trouble apply power and steer
into the direction you want to go. i was too shaken by the experience to try
reproducing it last winter ...but this winter i'm ready to learn. oh yes,
use winter tires and they must all be the same brand and model and must have
similar wear.

hth

mike
86 5kcdtq


At 08:29 AM 11/17/92 -0700, you wrote:
>Thanx again mike. I'm in Edmonton, and it does get pretty bad here time to
time.
>Our road conditions varry from a lot of ice and snow in 30 below celsius to
only
>having ice at intersections. When that's the case I still believe that abs is
>the answer, however I agree with you 100% that the quattro is different
from any
>other car and I'm going to have to learn it. Actually now that you
mentioned the
>wheel swap "the front and rear of the car_really_ wanted to swap places.." I
>remember reading an article when the firs quattro came out, and they were
>testing it. The article said that they could not make the car slid, but when it
>happend there was nothing to do. When exactly is the quattro getting out of
>control? is it during turning on slippery surfaces when pushed hard?
>
>Mike Mulholland wrote:
>
>> zsolt, where do you live?
>>         without the centre diff locked, my experience when the traction
>> limitations of the car were exceeded, was that the front and rear of the car
>> _really_ wanted to swap places....and did. it actually felt as though the
>> rear wheels were turning in opposite directions. the resultant spin happened
>> within a second or less...turning into the spin just directed me towards a
>> cliff edge so i just sat back and enjoyed the spin...then changed my
>> underwear :>( . i was advised that if i had kept the centre diff locked and
>> applied full power i could have probably driven out of the situation. i am
>> not a novice driver. in more than 40 years of driving vehicles as varied as
>> an mci motor coach, a lada and jag xk 140s and lotus super 7...i have never
>> before spun a car. when i lived in northern quebec the seven months of snow,
>> and wide open spaces gave lots of room to play and practice...non of the
>> learning applied to the audi quattro's handling characteristics in a skid or
>> slide...so do as you are advised. btw, many of the listers felt that abs was
>> of no benefit in ice snow or loose gravel.there are also many rallying
>> experts here who don't even have a centre diff.....those who do, lock them
>> when driving under extreme conditions. learn from the list experience so you
>> don't have re-invent your own experience with a new car needed or worse.
>>
>> hth
>> mike
>> 86 5kcdtq
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