Originally posted by garrick:
We're talking winter driving here, right? If you've already lost traction on snow/ice and are sliding, the front tires aren't going to magically gain traction when you "give it some gas" with the wheels pointing in the direction you want to go.

Look at it this way... If you're rounding a tight corner on a snowy road in your FWD car and you gas it enough to break the tires loose, will your yaw rate increase? Not hardly. Once the front tires break loose you lose your cornering force, and the nose of the car plows straight (massive understeer) until you get the front tires rolling instead of sliding again. On a dry road, the coefficient of sliding friction is high enough that you might luck out and slow down enough to regain some directional control before going off the cliff, but again, we're talking about winter driving here.

The lesson? Once you break loose in a corner, cranking the steering wheel farther into the desired turn won't do a whole lot of good on the white stuff. If anything, try straightening out the wheel to get the fronts rolling again, and then try to re-establish your turn. Of course, if you were going fast enough to get in big trouble on the snow in the first place, you're probably already burined in the snowbank by then.



Yes that maybe true, but how many of us have had enough time to straighten the wheels let them roll then cut back again... by then you should be worrying about your cars front bumper cuz you would've hit the snow by then. What you have to do is cut it in the direction you want to go and feather the gas. becuase if you have the wheels cut the wheels will still roll foward. just at a different angle, so less forward motion of the wheel. And I say feather it because if you hold down the gas you never get any traction. Feathering it gives the wheel a chance to roll and gain traction.

Originally posted by Mad_Medeiros:
as for the ebrake ordeal, it has saved me many times, if I'm getting massive oversteer I will slight pull it up to break out the back end, feather the gas pedal and usually pull out



I think you mean understeer (or as us NASCAR fans like to say... its really tight! )

Steve

Steven. L. Benthal Jr. 98 Mystique: Meshed Grille & Pioneer Sound System