Up to my dads this morning to give him his eye drops after his recent cataract operation.
His driveway is halfway up a steep hill and cuts off at right angles.
I climbed the ice covered Hill in the X1 with its Cross Climates and turned into his driveway and parked up. Did my duties , back into car and started to reverse out. He has a hedge so you need to reverse out slowly until you have sight of the road and any traffic. As my back end just about reaches the pavement it starts to slide down to the hedge. Instinctively I slammed on brake but I should probably have flicked into Drive and floored it.
Too late. Back wing is now in hedge.
I put into drive but every touch of the gas results in the front sliding down as well. Till I end up full-side of car in hedge.
What do I do now? Can’t go forward. Can’t get out car to try and apply grit as I think the car could still slide.
Only option left to me was to reverse and run the car down the side of the hedge. Which is what I did.
But as soon as rear end got clear it started sliding down the hill. So to try and correct the slide I hit the hill descent control. Not sure if it works in reverse or just going forward. Much as I tried I couldn’t take foot off brake and let it do it’s thing. Instinct wouldn’t allow me.
So I eventually slid/reversed down the hill, against the kerb of the pavement and came to a halt at the T junction at the bottom. The other side of the T junction is the railway…..
Have had a busy day so haven’t forensically examined the car but it looks like I may have got off very lucky. Being a white car in this weather it was very dirty so dirt has been wiped off with big scrape marks which may be no deeper than the dirt. No trim damaged(I flicked the mirrors in just as I hit the hedge). Wheels also seem to have escaped damaged even though I came down against the kerb. Tyres must have taken all the rubbing.
I learned a few lessons today that’s for sure!!!
|
Yeah, HDC is deffo not intuitive
|
>> Much as I tried I couldn’t take
>> foot off brake and let it do it’s thing. Instinct wouldn’t allow me.
I learnt as a trials driver you just have to do that. When you can't get up a hill, you just have to pull on the handbrake and STEER. It doesn't matter if the back wheels are locked, if you stamp on the footbrake, then the front wheels are locked and you have no steering!
|
Ironic thing is the weather has been bad all week with some snow that then froze over, topped up with rain last night that froze over.
Been up at my dads every day and have used the HDC each time (obviously in a controlled manner going forwards downhill). In fact I discovered by using the cruise control speed controls, can actually reduce the HDC speed down to 2 mph (starts at 5).
Still not sure if it works in reverse!
|
"Still not sure if it works in reverse!"
You could revisit this tomorrow when you go and give us an update. :) There may be a thaw overnight though.
|
As mentioned in another threa, I was disappointed in the Crossclimates we had on the old Qashqai. They didn’t seem much different to summer tyres when conditions got severe. Maybe they were measurably better, but they certainly slipped and slid on snow and ice.
The full on hairy chested winter tyres I have on the Merc grip much more assuredly in the same circumstances. Noisier things though when the roads are dry.
|
When it comes to sheet ice, only studded winter tyres will give you grip. I’ve had full winter tyres before that were as good as a chocolate tea-pot on sheet ice
|
Wife's Tiguan has full winter tyres on, and 4Motion with Haldex to rear.
I'm not convinced the Haldex still works (it's common for them to fail around 40K miles which is spot on what the car's done) so in snow - quite unusual here on the Cheshire Plain - the other morning I did a full throttle start with wife watching to see if the rear wheel spun too. Car just took off like it was on dry tarmac!
However - braking was a different matter. Slightest touch of the brakes and the ABS went mental and it took a fair old distance (this is on a flat road) to stop. I also noticed as I went around a bend along the road that lateral grip wasn't great either.
Certainly good to know the limits of these tyres - it would be very easy to get over-confident based on how they'll let you pull away. I'm sure it woudl drive up a snowy slope no problem, but I wouldn't be at all confident about coming down one.
|
Maybe worth checking that the tyres are fitted correctly. The general 'v'-shape of the tread would normally face backwards at the contact point to maximise braking. The tyres will have a rotation direction arrow.
|
Thanks - they're not directional.
|
The last fortnight has probably been the longest serious cold snap since we moved here (Northants) 30 years ago. Not much snow but there is significant ice on untreated roads and while some areas are cleared when the sun heats the surface others, particularly on north and east facing slopes, stay icy.
I have however had no issues at all driving. Speed low, gentle accelerator, observation and anticipation and letting throttle control speed rather than braking all help.
I've considered X-Climates in the past but, tbh, don't think they'd bring much to the party down here.
|
>> The last fortnight has probably been the longest serious cold snap since we moved here
>> (Northants) 30 years ago.
Really? What about the 2009/10 and 2010/11 winters? I recall they were much colder and for longer.
|
>> Really? What about the 2009/10 and 2010/11 winters? I recall they were much colder and
>> for longer.
I don't remember either having that much impact here or for as long.
But I did say probably!!
|
They are a compromise and do not have an optimum sipe structure for gripping on snow. From experience, better than a summer tyre but not even close to a proper winter tyre.
|
Out of curiosity, anyone any experience of Peugeot Hill Assist Descent Control ?
Two friends in the area own 2008s, but I haven’t seen them since the snow and ice arrived, and suspect they’ll be on factory fit tyres.
Make that 3 friends, but he and wife have gone to Oz for 3 months so missed the cold snap
Last edited by: legacylad on Sun 18 Dec 22 at 13:24
|
I would be interesting to see the performance of all season tyres against that of a mid range summer tyre.
In the south of the UK snow is rare - unless you do a critical job (doctor, vet etc) or live up a hill in the countryside (Dartmoor, Exmoor, Quantocks etc) winter tyres seem an indulgence.
The extra cost of all seasons if matched by performance may be worthwhile simply for the wet, mud, leaves etc which are more of general hazard.
|
Anytime I have bought Crossclimates they really haven’t been any more expensive than an equivalent branded summer Tyre.
|
Update: just washed that side of the car and doesn’t seem to be a mark on it! Unbelievable! The dirt and wax did the job :)
|
What is this “car washing” of which you speak?
It’s not Spring yet is it?
;-)
|