Snow Driving Fun

[Kogarashi]

So we didn't get hit quite as hard as some of the other areas of New England and NY/PA/NJ, but we still got a fair amount of snow. Enough that on streets less-plowed than ours, we had to shift into four-wheel drive and go slow to keep from sliding around.

Hubby and I went to deliver a fruit basket to someone after church yesterday, and on our way home, decided to take an alternate route after seeing one car we would've otherwise ended up behind.

We came to an intersection where we had to stop, and watched as an SUV slooooowly crawled up the cross street we were planning to turn onto. The street had a somewhat shallow incline, enough that the slow going was understandable. What had me scratching my head was the fact that the SUV's rear tires were spinning like crazy the whole way, while the front tires just plodded along. Front-wheel, rear-wheel, four-wheel, I couldn't tell. Somehow they were making it up the hill despite the spinning out. Regardless, we didn't want to get behind the Amazing Snow-Spraying SUV on the way home, so we took an alternate street.

[Chromatix]

An SUV usually doesn't have a set of locking diffs, at best they'll be limited-slip diffs on the axles and an open one between them. Only a proper off-road vehicle will have locking or limited-slip diffs all around.

So it will have the same problem as a two-wheel drive car, but magnified - one or two wheels will lose traction (in this case the rear ones may have been more lightly loaded), and the other ones then don't receive any torque.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Speaking of 4WDs and snow, I saw a funny one on Sunday. This was the day after the big storm. Officially 16.4 inches for the area, but there was at least 2 feet of the stuff at my house. Anyway, as I was shoveling off the driveway, a station wagon came down the street. I heard the sound of spinning tires, looked around and saw that he managed to get stuck. I watched as the front wheels spun. Then the rear wheels spun. Then both the front and rear wheels spun. After that he started moving again.

[Kogarashi]

I guessed they were using 4WD at the time. If they were on rear-wheel, I would think the spinning would keep them from moving, and if it was front-wheel, then the rear tires shouldn't be spinning like that, right? So I guessed 4WD, with the front wheels successfully pulling them along while the rear ones spun out. Still, didn't look like they knew what they were doing, and we could go faster than them through the snow without spinning like that, so we took the alternate route.

Speaking of 4WDs and snow, I saw a funny one on Sunday. This was the day after the big storm. Officially 16.4 inches for the area, but there was at least 2 feet of the stuff at my house. Anyway, as I was shoveling off the driveway, a station wagon came down the street. I heard the sound of spinning tires, looked around and saw that he managed to get stuck. I watched as the front wheels spun. Then the rear wheels spun. Then both the front and rear wheels spun. After that he started moving again.

::laughing:: That's highly amusing.