414bhp, four wheel drive and 6" of snow

Post by **P_G** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:22 pm

sonny, I think your suggestion works in fresh uncompacted snow. FIA Rally teams use skinny tyres, admitedly with spikes to have a higher weight per square inch value to bite through the compacted snow.

Post by **iluvmercs** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:41 pm

I went out in mine yesterday! We had about 3-4" of snow, though.
Traction on or off, the car was fantastic!
Didn't get stuck once and even managed some 4WD "Fun" in an empthy car park last night

When I first picked up my car from the dealer, it was in snowy conditions, but this is the worst it's driven in. Even on summer tyres, the car takes it in it's stride!

Darren

Post by **Contigo** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:47 pm

Always dig this clip out at this time of year as it's some pretty cool snow drifting.

http://videos.streetfire.net/flash/a6cc ... e/play.swf

Post by **MarkyMark01** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 2:26 pm

The bloke doing the drifting in the vid wants to learn to be a bit smoother - then you can get good old 3rd gear loooooong drifts, not silly little see-saw at the wheel slaloms
Fun though!

Post by **psg001** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 4:07 pm

car has been pretty good in the snow, we only had a few inches but this was ontop of some frozen icy roads overnight, within 30 seconds of driving I encountered a young lad pacing around his clio, he had stuck it into a lampost on a straight road..

great take off and grip in the RS4, as stated tho, braking needs to be anticipated and planned well in advance

Post by **Iain_S4** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:20 pm

ditto the comments about great grip to get moving but braking needs to be planned well in advance.....why does that seem to escape drivers of LR Discovery's and the like.

I've not encountered any more than a couple of inches of snow with the RS4 but a few years ago with the S4 had more off a challenge - see pics. Only got it stuck because it was beached as the snow got deeper underneath it. Then once I got onto a clear dual carriageway, found I couldn't get much above 50 becuase of all the unbalanced snow stuck in the wheels.

Thought I was going to get beached again when following an artic on a single carriageway road when we came to a bit that was filling in with drifting snow from the nearside. Oncoming traffic meant the lorry moved to the left into the snow which then displaced most of it into the middle of the left hand lane. I thought I was going to get stuck as the centre berm of snow got higher and higher but kept her going and made it through much to my relief and surprise.

Post by **HYFR** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:47 pm

i nearly lost it today on an un treated road

dont get complacement, 4 wheel drive still means 4 wheel slide

Post by **MarkyMark01** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 3:57 pm

The car has been great, not that I can say that about a 53 seat coach I had to go out in last night, which while turning round lost grip on all 6 wheels and slid sideways narrowly avoiding a post box!
Anyone who was anywhere near Surrey last night will know how bad things get when melting slush suddenly freezes at rush hour!
5 hr commute

Working from home today!

Post by **adsgreen** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:12 am

reducing tyre pressures only works with specificaylly designed tyres with massive tread.
What you are trying to do is spread the load of the car over a wider area and reduce the amount you sink into the snow and digging in.

For normal road tyres (summer or winter) this won't make the slightest difference and you run the risk of overheating a over deformed tyre.

I've got autosocks in all our cars as they are brilliant - only good up to 30 mph but don't travel that fast on proper snow anyway.

But with ice it doesn't matter - without spikes you are a passenger so always got to keep alert.

Applying power with a light brake applied can help but I know the rs4 has a cut out for that scenario

Post by **adsgreen** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:16 am

P_G wrote:sonny, I think your suggestion works in fresh uncompacted snow. FIA Rally teams use skinny tyres, admitedly with spikes to have a higher weight per square inch value to bite through the compacted snow.

yup - the spikes/studs are the key. They work better the deeper into the snow they go so with skiny tyres the extra pressure give much more grip.

There's pretty much zero chance biting through snow on unspiked/studded tyres - even a cm can be difficult to get through.

Post by **Konrad** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 9:28 pm

adsgreen wrote:
P_G wrote:sonny, I think your suggestion works in fresh uncompacted snow. FIA Rally teams use skinny tyres, admitedly with spikes to have a higher weight per square inch value to bite through the compacted snow.
yup - the spikes/studs are the key. They work better the deeper into the snow they go so with skiny tyres the extra pressure give much more grip.

There's pretty much zero chance biting through snow on unspiked/studded tyres - even a cm can be difficult to get through.

Regarding regular tyres (not off-road or racing special) studs are mainly of use on ice, not on snow. Studless tyres with softer compounds are better on loose snow, studded tyres (usually tougher compunds to keep the studs in the tyre) on ice regardless of it being on tarmac, compacted snow or a lake.

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414bhp, four wheel drive and 6" of snow

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