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In Need of Winter Driving Tips- Please Read...

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starein2myeyes

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 10, 2007
Messages
74
I have a question for you guys. My 98 CSVT that I own right now is the first manual car that I have ever owned. We just got 3 inches of snow tonight, and I wondering if you all have any tips for driving in heavy snow- ie, when to shift, what gear to keep the car in, and so on. Thank you in advance. All responses will be greatly appreciated.
 
1) always keep the car in gear, no power to wheels = no tracton.
2) if your car starts to drift while keeping a continuous speed, downshift and if you dont regain traction lightly brake
3) keep the revs low, on a DOHC motor max horsepower happens when the secondaries open up so keeping the revs below even 2500 is definitely a plus
4) think further ahead, double or even tripple your stopping distance, and if road conditions are really bad, downshift while slowing down.

I am a master at driving in the snow, its my favorite thing to do during the winter, I have it down to a science.
 
Great. Thank you for your advice. When I downshift to a lower gear to slow down, should I heel-toe to match the revs? Thanks again.
 
sometimes when i downshift the front tires want to slow faster than the car causing the front to drift in the snow. that can be scary. just be careful and drive slow.
 
One more thing that I am worried about is getting stuck on a hill and rolling back as I let the clutch out. I am very good at doing this, and I can do it so that I barely roll backwards, but I am worried about my front tires not grabbing. I don't want my car to start rolling backwards and my front tires be spinning forwards. Any suggestions as to how to reduce/eliminate this? Thanks in advance.
 
I was going to get some snow tires, but I live in the St. Louis, Missouri, so its hard to know whether we are going to get snow or not. I went ahead and got some Falken Azenis ST115's which is what I have on there. I was going to get some Bridgestone Blizzaks, but that didn't happen. Anyway, the Falkens seem to do well in rain, but I have never driven on them in snow and ice.
 
Also, practice when you have plenty of open space to not worry about hitting anything. It is certainly not a bad idea to see how the car performs in the snow when you have a chance. Open highways, empty parking lots come to mind. Also, get used to the ABS on the SVT. I usually find that avoiding having the ABS kick in is the best way to stop, but if the ABS kicks in you want to be prepared for what the car is going to do.

BTW, Snow tires are definitely a plus. I just got back from work and we just got probably 3-4" of snow in the last few hours. I had to take a buddy home whose heater core just went in his truck. Without the snows, I definitely wouldn't have wanted to give him a ride (it's about a half hour drive in normal conditions each way).
 
starein2myeyes said:
One more thing that I am worried about is getting stuck on a hill and rolling back as I let the clutch out. I am very good at doing this, and I can do it so that I barely roll backwards, but I am worried about my front tires not grabbing. I don't want my car to start rolling backwards and my front tires be spinning forwards. Any suggestions as to how to reduce/eliminate this? Thanks in advance.
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Use your parking brake and let it out after you gain traction.
 
Also, keep from driving at very slow speeds and burning out the clutch. If you get caught in traffic, don't be afraid to stop completely just to give yourself distance from the car in front..
 
Don't pull the ebrake at 45mph. Costly mistake :laugh:

Just be cautious. It's not really all that bad.. FWD is really easy to drive in the snow.. just give enough braking distance because ABS likes to kick in at the worst moments.

8 inches tomorrow, can't wait. Peace!
 
Don't stop on an uphill. Don't want your car to slide down (on a reverse).

Slow down on a downhill and way before you reach the intersection. You don't want to bump the car at the intersection if it is icy. If it is thick snow or icy, you will need snow tires. Even brand new All Seasons won't help you on a downhill slide :blackeye: .
 
AliasJerk said:
heel-toe/rev matching, IF you have the time to do it, as it is better for the clutch.
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Heel-toe? The person who taught my how to drive a stick never mentioned this :confused:

I just read up on this and I never rev-match and neither does my father... Am I going to kill something before its time is up by doing this?
 
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Just do like I'm going to do, get a 4x4 truck and call it a day. I have already had problems with this whole front wheel drive thing so I'm going to remedy the problem.
 
BoSoxBruin said:
Heel-toe? The person who taught my how to drive a stick never mentioned this :confused:

I just read up on this and I never rev-match and neither does my father... Am I going to kill something before its time is up by doing this?
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no, its just fancy footwork that extends the life of the clutch very minimally.

its just blipping the gas pedal before you let the clutch out when you down shift, so the revs are closer "matched" to where the speed of that gear corresponds to the engine speed. Doing this makes it so you don't have to slip the clutch into gear, and makes your shifts faster.

A lot of high performance cars with Flappy Paddle gearboxes have this built into the shifting software, down shift a gear and the computer blipps the gas pedal to match the revs. You will find that mainly in a Ferrari
 
From my experience today, a brand new pair of all-seasons and ignoring first gear like it doesn't exist gave me no problems. I start in 2nd, and I NEVER down shift if I'm on a hill. Personally I felt safer with it in neutral and going nice and slow down a hill. If you down shift into too low of a gear the front wheels will be so restricted by the engine that you WILL break traction and start sliding. Which is why I chose to just go into neutral down the hills and gradually applying the brakes to slow it down if it started to accelerate without applying them to the point where I would start sliding.
 
hey gang.
in SE Michigan (downriver), we just got a foot of snow!!!
oh what fun!:laugh: i had a blast driving in it this morning.
I have stock rims & all seasons and this is what works best for me:
when taking off..........start in 2nd gear up to 20 mph then go straight to 5th gear. good traction all the way!! BUT, do not floor it when taking off......keep around 2k to 3k rpms in 2nd gear.
I have no ABS so when stopping on snow/ice, I go from 5th to 2nd.
if you feel your front is drifting, tap gas a little to get back in line and you should have no probs!
99Mystique had a great idea, practice in an empty parking lot and learn your/your cars limitations. This will allow for more confidence and less panic when you get in real life situation.

BTW........this car is a great drifter!!!!!!!!!
snow driving is the BEST!!!!:laugh:
 
Pen_Two said:
I chose to just go into neutral down the hills and gradually applying the brakes to slow it down if it started to accelerate without applying them to the point where I would start sliding.
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I do exactly the opposite, since I tend to lose traction when applying the brakes down a hill (no matter how gradual). I always use engine braking in the snow and to me it is the best advantage of driving stick in bad weather.

starein2myeyes, please also check out this thread in NE-CEG which covers many points for winter driving and preparations.
 
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