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depends on the snow... Posted by Snowmobile [Email]  (#686)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Snowmobile) on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 05:46:39
In Reply to: Traction vs ground clearance in snow driving, IanC   [Profile/Gallery]
, Sat, 11 Jan 2014 20:21:01
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Light fluffy stuff you can just plow through even if it is way over the clearance. A c900 can easily plow through a foot or more of dry powder. Wet heavy snow is more of a problem because it packs and is harder to push. I still would regularly drive through narrow snowbanks of wet stuff or plowed snow in the c900 but it can be hard on the car (eg 2-3 feet wide by 2' deep of plowed mess on a paved median, or to park or get out of a driveway)... It's never really a problem as you can pretty much always back out if you get stuck... The only time I really got stuck in a c900 was fooling around in a partly plowed empty parking lot, that had been plowed by front end loaders and used to dump snow. The snow depth wedged from 3" to about 10" from one end of the lot to the other, it was wet, partially packed, and over a thick sheet of glare ice... after several successful loops, I did one a bit further + faster, and the underbody floated up on the deeper snow, and then sunk, compressing into every detail of the underbelly. When I tried to back out, there was so much weight of snow that there was not enough traction, the wheels found the ice below the snow and I had to spend an hour shoveling the concrete consistency snow from under the entire car before I could back out (I actually broke the shovel in the car and had to go get a second shovel). With AWD, I might have had enough traction to get out? maybe with less shoveling? but it was nasty. don't do that!
Mostly, I think ground clearance matters more than AWD. I generally can go anywhere in a c900 that an Impreza can go, but probably not as deep as a Forester can manage (mind you I would hate driving a Forester the rest of the year, at least the new style ones). Vehicle dynamics, tire width, and tire model matter more. Our 1989 c900 has Hakka4's no abs, no TCS, but it drives better in every respect in winter conditions than our 2004 9-5 with HakkaR's and TCS on (that car is almost hopeless with TCS off). Oh yeah, and it depends on incline also. I've never used chains. If I could I would use studs. Studs improve ice traction and allow you to use a more open snow tire and still achieve good ice traction... the more open snow tire can mean more snow traction... of course, studs can be loud, but I'll take that to be able to corner at speed uphill on inch thick glare ice.
enjoy winter!
, Sat, 11 Jan 2014 20:21:01
, Mon, 13 Jan 2014 11:30:05, Mon, 13 Jan 2014 12:50:50, Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:33:12
, Mon, 13 Jan 2014 13:17:46, Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:50:42, Sun, 12 Jan 2014 10:33:16, Mon, 13 Jan 2014 19:25:15, Tue, 14 Jan 2014 06:59:55, Sun, 12 Jan 2014 05:46:39 <-- Viewing This Message
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