I did one last week.
great day out  2020 Porsche Panamera Turbo Hybrid (V FAST)
2017 Range Rover Autobiography 5.0 V8
2018 JCW Mini Cooper
2018 Skoda VRS

likewise, in fact i did 6 sessions....  Cheers

James

How much snow is too much?

Okay, I've done winter offroading in Canada. Snow is usually the biggest barrier there is. When the snow gets deep enough that the car starts to try and push it, rather than drive over it, then forward progress will stop pretty quickly. Snow is heavy and, while you may be able to push through a drift, you can only do it for a very limited distance. So, look at your ground clearance. That's maximum.

I remember encountering deep snow with a friend's D2. He had VERY aggressive tyres AND snow chains. We were on a step downhill section. It took an hour with the winch to get him out. Also, snow can easily cover and hide many things you do not want to drive over. Careful.

it's too much when you need a lot of these to get out!!

http://tinyurl.com/no5ppjd

Brian wrote:

Silly question I suppose but as a complete novice to 4x4's let alone driving one I was wondering (as the title suggests) just how much snow can a standard unmodified (with normal road wheels and tyres) withstand?

Just because it's a 4x4 doesn't mean you'll have more grip in the snow... you'll have more traction, but that's different to grip.

In snow with normal tyres on your 4x4 you'll have the same amount of grip as a car with normal tyres.

But your 4x4 will take you longer to stop due to the weight and be heavier when cornering so more likely to slide off the road.
Hence why every winter when it snows for the first time car forums are full of pictures showing 4x4's in ditches.

And turn off traction control and ABS in snow if your vehicle has such a function.

^Re ABS

In DEEP snow, yes. Locking the tyres will cause them to snowplough and stop quicker than with ABS (but with less directional control). With packed snow, or small accumulations, I'd keep the ABS on.

Can we even turn ABS off in the FFRR. I've never tried.

This is a film clip in a post from a previous year, i guess you could say this is about as much water as you'd need



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XYdeZMSbjE Ian

Not strictly true, as most Range Rovers (if not all) have M&S tyres fitted from factory! Passenger cars do not!!!

Last edited by Cam-Tech-Craig on 14th Dec 2014 11:19am. Edited 1 time in total

I think there is a trick you can use to temporarily disable the abs (something about pumping the brake pedal) but it comes back on again at a certain speed but I won't be doing that What little snow we get here is already heading off and its rare we get anything more than 3 or 4 inches anyway - we do get a lot of floods though so that was more important and again don't often see anything more than a few inches to maybe 2 feet. If we get a lot of snow I'll consider buying a spare set of wheels with winter tyres on them (not fancy alloys just whatever passes as bog standard for one of these) but I'm broke after spending all my money on the car and will have to save up my penny's

I do say "in the snow with NORMAL tyres on your 4x4"

Here is my former P38 in the snow. It gives an idea on how much it can handle.
Great fun it was..

The toyota belongs to my mate.

cruise control in snow....that i dont do

but i do use cruise control in FOG

my theory is that with max distance set, and doing say 40 mph....if i see something stopped first, i can override the cruise control by application of the brakes. If the radar sees something first before me stopped up in the fog on the motorway it will apply brakes first.

or alternatively....
its very difficult on some cars to tell fog lights and brake lights apart. radar might realise car in front is braking before you do.....

Smart idea, Rambles. I've never had the radar cruise, so I've never thought about it, but that makes sense.

On the flooded road aspect, as a basic rule of thumb I gauged the rough safe depth as the top of the alloy wheel rim. Not the top of the tyre rubber, but the rim. That way it was simple to stck your head out the window and edge into water watching the water against the wheel.

There is more to wading than just that ( such as creating bow waves etc) but it's a good start V8 or else ...