mat (01/14/83)
Having the engine over the drive wheels DOES help pull through snow MOST of the time. Here is one situation where it is probably at least a partial liability. If you drive in the city ( in NY City, for those who don't live around there ) you will find that after having parked in a snowbank in the evening ( there is often nowhere else to park ) the heat from the engine will have melted the snow under the front end, and after the engine has cooled the snow has re- frozen. All those blocks and chunks of snow that the plows piled up while you were parked are now glazed ice, and you will very likely have to either dig or rock your way out while rear-wheel drive cars just drive away! hou5a!mat
markm (01/14/83)
There is an alternate way of handling skids which I read about in Car & Driver a year ago. I have tried this and it does work. The technique is to basically lock the brakes and then steer out of trouble. Most American brakes are really out of alignment, so stopping smoothly in a limmited traction situation is real dicey. If all the brakes lock together, you will slide straight ahead. Then, once speed drops to where steering works again, let off the brake and simply steer around trouble. This is of course, an emergency action and will not help you when barreling through icey curves. Mark S. Miller GenRad, Concord MA
vtl (01/17/83)
Yet another way to slide around in a fwd car is to apply the brakes and accelerator at once. This is a trick used by one of Sweden's (and the world's) top rally drivers. Obviously it's hell on the brakes, but it can be used to bring your tail around in the same manner a power skid does for a rwd car. I've tried it a few times and it does work. To get out of the skid, release the brakes and drive into the skid. Best done in *big* icy parking lots than on skinny country roads. Vic Lee -- St. Olaf College
mark (01/17/83)
#R:grkermit:-27000:zinfandel:3200011:000:82 zinfandel!mark Jan 17 11:57:00 1983 Perhaps you should back in when driving a front-wheel drive car? Mark Wittenberg
nyles (02/01/83)
#R:grkermit:-27000:zinfandel:3200014:000:589 zinfandel!nyles Jan 26 15:43:00 1983 A quick and dirty fix for out of alignment brakes (at least on most American cars): Find a spot where you have good traction, and a lot of room. An empty street is just fine. Get going about 10 MPH backwards, going straight, and jam on the brakes. If your tires squeal a bit, you did it just right. If you thought that was fun, do it again. That usually evens out the brakes on my Maverick. I have tried it on other cars, and it works there, too. I got this trick from a mechanic back when I was pumping gas for extra money... Nyles Nettleton decvax!sytek!zehntel!nyles