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NickDanger3di t1_j1ifxj5 wrote

Lived in New England for over 50 years, and the number of assholes who would tailgate you during a nor'easter was a pet peeve for me. The ones with 4wd vehicles were the worst.

LPT: your 4wd truck/car can slide on snow and ice the same as a 2wd sedan.

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ArchdukeOfNorge t1_j1ihbq8 wrote

LPT #2: if you start sliding in your AWD/4WD, throw it in neutral and it helps stop you immensely. If you keep it in drive you have power actively being applied to the wheels that you’re trying to stop—in neutral that is not happening. Has saved me from a fender bender or two living and driving for work in the High Rockies.

Unsure how this works for RWD/FWD, though.

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GenitalFurbies t1_j1jdl7h wrote

No, that is not how that works. The limiting factor is the tire/road interface. Brakes are significantly more powerful than an engine at full throttle, let alone idle. Think about how hard you have to hit the brakes to keep the vehicle from moving at a stop light. It ain't much.

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happyscrappy t1_j1jfv96 wrote

That's not really how AWD works. It shouldn't work any different than FWD or RWD. And all of them will be overpowered by the 4-channel ABS and so won't make any difference.

4WD (with some diffs locked) could be massively different. An automatic 4WD car will unlock the diffs when you press the brake so the ABS can work better. But an older style/simpler system where you put it in "4H" and locked the center diff will not do so.

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limonade11 t1_j1ir62d wrote

yes ! i will just take my foot off the pedal and let the car find it's own equilibrium. learned this living in the northern plains. Just an intuitive thing, but it works for me -

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ArchdukeOfNorge t1_j1is3lo wrote

That too! I coast a lot in the winter when going down hills. Pedal/throttle is your enemy in ice or snow.

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Botboy141 t1_j1ixqww wrote

Throttle is fine with 4/AWD.

Brakes in snow don't exist. The only real thing you need to know to drive safely in snow/ice is to never put yourself in a position where you have to brake (especially brake hard).

And obviously don't lay on the throttle if you don't have traction...

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lvlint67 t1_j1l302j wrote

> where you have to brake

**Or quickly change direction.

I've seen several pickups go ass over tea kettle on the side of the road after trying to swerve to get around someone they thought was a bad/slow driver.

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limonade11 t1_j1nplbt wrote

oh yes ! pride goeth before a fall, as they say. I have also seen many wrecks on the side of the road from this. We have snowy, cold mountainous regions here and a lot of proud pick up drivers

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Hundertwasserinsel t1_j1itc7d wrote

This really bad advice right? The only way to get out of a slide is to get your wheels spinning again. Braking makes it worse.

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Anarchistcowboy420 t1_j1jidgo wrote

Actually changing the speed of the wheels at all will cause the little traction you have to be used up it's best to accelerate and brake as little as possible during a slide

When you start to slide it's best to let off the throttle gently turn the wheel in the direction you want to be going until your car is facing generally in a safe direction then straighten the wheel and gently press the brakes until you feel the traction giving out when you feel that slightly release the brakes to regain traction then press brakes again continue pulsing brakes like this until slowed

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Op3rat0rr t1_j1iwge4 wrote

Nice thing about driving AWD manual is that you have to switch it to neutral anyways when having to stop or quickly slow down on the road. No on the track, however 😁

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KittyKat122 t1_j1lox50 wrote

You absolutely do not need to have a manual in neutral to slow down and stop. The best thing to do is down shift which will slow your car without using brakes. As far as driving in regular conditions you can break in neutral it's just not necessary.

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irkli t1_j1l3p49 wrote

Tires do not grip roadway in snow. All the talk of tech, motors awd and brakes, the limiting factor is there is no tire grip.

If you must drive in snow like that, 25 mph is far too fast. There is no tech above the tire tread that can fix it.

Assholes are all driving waaaaay too fast.

You have drive at the speed that you can safely stop. That's not much above walking speed in fresh snow.

Boston and rural SE Mass trained driver here. You have no fkn idea how fast I can drive in reverse.

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KingGidorah t1_j1jq19a wrote

Won’t slow down…. no matter what ffs

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