Tips for driving rear wheel drive in frost

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pator

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Hi would anybody have any tips or links for driving rear wheel drive in frost or indeed for driving a rear wheel drive vechicle in general?
 
drive slowly. My car is rear wheeled drive, great craic on the ice. My vans are also rear wheeled drive, not so much fun when they drift around corners.
 
Always use the highest gear you can to prevent the back wheels spinning. Slow down so that when you go round corners, there is no excess sideways force. Stay well back from the car in front, best to double the normal recommended distances if you suspect ice to be present. Keep you tyres in good condition and at the top of the correct pressure range. Don't pour hot water over the windscreen or door handles in the morning. Plan your journey to avoid any known icy blackspots. Normal practise if the back end get away from you is to steer into the skid but best to keep the front wheels pointing where you want to go.
 
Caveat said:
Pator, do you have traction control by any chance?
Click to expand...

Yes. Why?

Finnz said:
Normal practise if the back end get away from you is to steer into the skid but best to keep the front wheels pointing where you want to go.
Click to expand...

Could you expand a bit?

Its just is this a contradiction? (ie steering into the skid and keeping the front wheels pointing where you want to go)
 
Keep the traction control on. If it senses that the wheels are losing traction it automatically compensates by applying brakes/transferring power to other wheels. Best advice though is to drive slowly as all these things are great until they break down.
 
High gear on hills and corners where there is any ice, keep the power off for any bends and use a smooth acceleration on the way out of a bend.
 
According to Roadcraft:

1 - declutch and release the accelerator (do not declutch in a vehicle fitted with traction control)
2 - Steer in the direction of the skid until the rear of the vehicle stops sliding and the tyres regain grip
3 - Gently steer the car back on course - do not over-react or the vehicle may skid in the opposite direction
4 - When it is safe to do so, gently apply power
 
Two 25kg bags of sand in the boot, one over each wheel well will improve traction in a rear wheel car in icy/frosty conditions.
 
Park it in the garage and get a 4wd or go on an advanced driving and rally driving course
 
Get a set of winter tyres. The difference they make is quite astounding even with rear-wheel drive.
 
pator said:
Yes. Why?



Could you expand a bit?

Its just is this a contradiction? (ie steering into the skid and keeping the front wheels pointing where you want to go)
Click to expand...

Keeping the wheels pointed in the direction you want to go would be steering into the skid but not to a great extent. The mistake most people make when they are in a slide is to immediately overcompensate which results in the car taking a completely unexpected direction when traction is regained.

When I lived in the north of Scotland, I always put a shovel in the boot on 1st November which greatly amused my wife, until we had to dig the car out of a snowdrift 3 weeks later.
 
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