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How to drive in snow and ice, for dummies...

Volstock

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When I drove RWD vehicles I always carried 2 (maybe 3) 25lb. bags of kitty litter in the trunk. That extra weight was great for traction right over the rear axle, and I could always crack one open if necessary and pour it under the tires to get me moving if I got really stuck.
Growing up in Minnesota was were that knowledge came from. Got my license in a 72 Buick Electra 225.
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The Fixer

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Growing up in Minnesota was were that knowledge came from. Got my license in a 72 Buick Electra 225.
Nice - lots of snowy winters up that way! I took my road test in my mom's '87 XJ, but my first car was a '76 Chevy Monte Carlo. After that I had a few '80s Monte Carlo SS's, an '86 Olds Cutlass Salon, and a '96 Impala SS all as daily drivers over the years. My most recent RWD car was a '16 Charger R/T (leased right before my JL). The Charger was the only one I actually put snow tires on; the rest I ran (gasp!) all-seasons because those other cars did not make a ton of HP.
 

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give room for everything. longer to stop, longer to slow down, longer to react (if you brake suddenly, you could lose control), longer for others to act and react. Drive slower, brake gently, on icy hills, use momentum to carry you up, slow going down. do not accelerate hard or fast.
 

NBB

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Grew up in MN, 100's of 1000's on snow and ice. My #1 piece of advice is to TEST and never assume what your traction is. When it's safe to do so, slow down to a speed you know you can recover from a spin at, move to the middle of the road a bit so you stay out of the ditch - and incrementally slam on the brakes. Now you know. Backroads or interstate - same thing. Sometimes 20 mph is recklessly fast, sometimes you can go faster, but you'll never know until you test. Next - test often. Just because 20 other cars around you are going 2x as fast means nothing. If you really want to learn to drive on ice, get out on a frozen parking lot or lake and do some figure 8's, see how fast and tight you can get them.
 

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Mabar

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All great advice. What about the "Traction Control" button. Should traction control be turned on or off in snow?
Absolutely it should be left "on" during normal snow/ice driving! Now if you are stuck and stationary, you probably want it turned off in most circumstances.
 
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Storminā€™ Moorman

Storminā€™ Moorman

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Austin23

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Nice - lots of snowy winters up that way! I took my road test in my mom's '87 XJ, but my first car was a '76 Chevy Monte Carlo. After that I had a few '80s Monte Carlo SS's, an '86 Olds Cutlass Salon, and a '96 Impala SS all as daily drivers over the years. My most recent RWD car was a '16 Charger R/T (leased right before my JL). The Charger was the only one I actually put snow tires on; the rest I ran (gasp!) all-seasons because those other cars did not make a ton of HP.
Learned to drive and passed my test in a 78 Monte Carlo. If you could parallel park that, you could parallel park anything.
 

Austin23

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Iā€™m in Canton TX weā€™ve got ten plus inches here. The Jeep has been our daily driver this week! Had to pull 3 people up hills this morning during my short trip to town. We go to SW Colorado several times a year so I have decent experience driving in winter conditions, however most people here have never seen this much snow let alone drove in. Definitely take it slow and watch out for the other people on the road.
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Great pics. Are those Ridge Grapplers? How do you like them in the snow?
 

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BullMoose1776

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All great advice. What about the "Traction Control" button. Should traction control be turned on or off in snow?
Leave Traction Control on in snow or ice on the road.

Turn it off if you are doing doughnuts on the ice in the church parking lot.
 

Wixo

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No braking or hitting the gas hard on bridges. When it gets icy here my 6 mile drive to work there are sometimes 10 vehicles in the ditch right after bridges. A lot of them are 4x4 trucks.
 

Hound Dog

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I think it's all figured out looking at his latest post......
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