Re: SUVs in Chicago's Snow

[harrison sapir <hsapir@earthlink.net>]

> Heel and toe to the next lower gear and let
> the engine slow the car down.

VERY important, rev that engine. Just downshifting can cause you to lose
control, especially in a turn. I learned that the hard way.

harrison

>  Need to go down an icy hill?  Put it in
> first gear and let it creep down the hill without touching the brakes.
> Only use the brakes with _very light_ pressure when you are going very
> slow  <5mph to slowly come to a halt on mostly flat areas.  Otherwise
> you will just go thru the intersection with wheels locked at 5 mph and
> end up stopping 50 ft. later (or you run into whoever is stopped in
> front of you).  The later examples were not from personal experience in
> case anybody is wondering ;) - but i did witness them.
>
> Luis Marques
> '87 4kcsq
>
> Bresof_Craig <Bresof_Craig@videojet.com> wrote:
> >
> > I have noticed that the quattro does a great job of slowing the car
> > down when downshifting.  I have heard conflicting responses of HOW
> > quattro works when the car is downshifted / vs. how it works (if at
> > all) under neutral, at least in a manual tranny.  The braking on snow
> > pack and even fresh drift is pretty poor with mt 8000s ( new A4,
> > latest quattro system ).  In fact, I actually smacked someone over the
> > weekend, up in Wisconsin. I had the brakes locked and simply
> > panicked!! I didnt do too much damage to either car, but foolish just
> > the same.  Anyway, the car is much more predictable with downshifting
> > and I can notice ALOT mor grip when downshifting vs, applying the
> > brakes at all.  My suggestion to all with sport type tires, with large
> > blocks....let the quattro do the work until alternate tires go on, and
> > then, try it anyway, and see what happens.  I don't know if you should
> > try this in the Suburban, but if that thing loses traction, I dont
> > wanna be anywhere near its path!!!
> >
> >      CAB