OMG SNO KAOS - pics or stories?

[cort1977]

Snow but no Kaos in Aberdeenshire today. Pleased with this because the X5 wheels and winter tyres I just fitted yesterday seem pretty good.

[warch]

21 hours ago, volvov70 said:

How is it that cars and people got everywhere before winter tyres were invented?

2 litre cortina, 4 25 kg bags of sand in the boot got me and my brother to school from the shires to Aberdeen pretty much every winter I can remember.

of course I am old

 

I think narrow tyres like wot most old cars used to have were much more effective in snow and ice. My Minii (plural term I've just invented) were righteous in snow or ice, as was my old Vauxhall Nova (iirc all three had 155 or 165 tyres). Nearly all modern cars have at least 205 tyres and usually much wider. 

The other problem is the amount of traffic about, you could drive a 4wd these days and still get stranded miles from home because someone in a queue ahead of you is sliding backwards in first gear.

[clayts450]

A57 Snake Pass closed. Police also said avoid A628 Woodhead Pass....and then half an hour ago

I quite often get jobs over the weekend from Nottingham up to the NW, so guess I'll be going the long way round then.

[Lacquer Peel]

There is or was a festering Vauxhall Viva close to Grantown on Spey with winter tyres on it, it must have been sitting there since the early 80s at least. They aren't a new thing. 

As above, wide, low profile summer tyres are hopeless in the snow.

[clayts450]

I took the day off today (apart from a little local pick up for delivery on Monday to Cov) given the sheer inability of people to drive in inclement weather.

Pissing stair rods yesterday, so you can well imagine what the M1, M11, M25 was like.  Add OMG SNO KAOS into the mix today and I decided to snuggle up with the cat on the sofa rather than get stuck behind some bimbling cockwomble on the A1 (other snowbound roads are available).

[sutty2006]

1 hour ago, warch said:

I think narrow tyres like wot most old cars used to have were much more effective in snow and ice. My Minii (plural term I've just invented) were righteous in snow or ice, as was my old Vauxhall Nova (iirc all three had 155 or 165 tyres). Nearly all modern cars have at least 205 tyres and usually much wider. 

The other problem is the amount of traffic about, you could drive a 4wd these days and still get stranded miles from home because someone in a queue ahead of you is sliding backwards in first gear.

Nail on the head there. Wide low profile summer tyres with 2mm of tread go no where in the snow. I’ve overtake my brothers old BmW in the Mercury in the snow because tall thin tyres. 

[yes oui si]

2 hours ago, cort1977 said:

Snow but no Kaos in Aberdeenshire today. Pleased with this because the X5 wheels and winter tyres I just fitted yesterday seem pretty good.

Which ones? Can't tell from the angle... 

9 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Here's one from a few years back when I had my Escort Turbo.

Here it is on a warmer day.

Bonnet's open

[Tenmil Socket]

6 minutes ago, yes oui si said:

Which ones? Can't tell from the angle... 

Bonnet's open

Fashion...

[stuboy]

0430hrs then 0652hrs 

[yohan]

35 minutes ago, stuboy said:

0430hrs then 0652hrs 

Exactly the same as here just outside Aberdeen. 
I did get a bit of a surprise to see some lightning at 4am though.

[yohan]

2 minutes ago, volvov70 said:

Nope, they are a not new thing, decent winter tyres have always existed. But they were a very specialised thing used for winter rallying in the north of Scotland. The Vivas tyres are  probably Colway mud and snows, the road ralliest choice back in the 70’s/80’s. 

Remoulds but brilliant for purpose 

Shame the evolution of shite outside uk cheap remoulds has killed Colway off

When I was 18, I had an old bmw with near bald summer tyres and ended up overtaking an astra and various other FWD cars going up hills as they were slowing down and getting stuck in the snow and despite going past them pretty much sideways,  I knew I had to keep my momentum going or else I would get stuck too. I only once got stuck but to be fair the bumper was acting as a snow plow at that point. My younger brother had been given a clapped out old rusty merc on its last legs as his first car at the same time and we got some ancient colways which we put on and it conquered all the steep hills and drifting snow that we could find.

[Jimbob McGregor]

Whilst the snow wasn’t that bad up here in Upper Weardale today I had to do a 25 mile drive over the top into Allendale to get my kids from school in the 205 with old summer tyres and <2mm tread. The floods lower down were something else.

[Jimbob McGregor]

Same place in March, opposite direction. When the wind blows the snow drifts badly here.

[loserone]

2 minutes ago, Jimbob McGregor said:

Same place in March, opposite direction. When the wind blows the snow drifts badly here.

IMG_4289.MOV

XC90?

[Jimbob McGregor]

54 minutes ago, loserone said:

XC90?

Yep, nothing like as much fun or involvement as the 205.

[bunglebus]

I saw a Romanian registered Aldi with actual studded snow tyres in a Basildon car park today, must make a right racket!

Many moons ago I had lots of fun* taking the Supersport RS wheels off my MK1 Fiesta and putting the digestive biscuit sized 12" steels with 145 tyres on, so I could actually drive anywhere. This was done in the road, at night, on packed snow, using a bottle jack, and I managed to squash my thumb trying to free the jack after it caught on the panhard hard rod/bit of angle iron that runs next to the rear axle. That hurt like a bitch when I was defrosting my hands over my mum's gas fire

[Lacquer Peel]

9 hours ago, volvov70 said:

Nope, they are a not new thing, decent winter tyres have always existed. But they were a very specialised thing used for winter rallying in the north of Scotland. The Vivas tyres are  probably Colway mud and snows, the road ralliest choice back in the 70’s/80’s. 

Remoulds but brilliant for purpose 

Shame the evolution of shite outside uk cheap remoulds has killed Colway off

I had Kingpin winter tyres on one of my 405s, they were quite good but sad to see they've stopped retreading tyres now. 

[Six-cylinder]

For the last 20 years I have always be able to muster a Range Rover or two at snow time. Living in Buckinghamshire it a very rare for us to have massive everything stops snowfall so when we have enough to cause chaos there is nothing I like better than to put a tow rope in a Range Rover and look for stuck cars. Not for money you understand just to work the RR and over the years there have been quite a few. The heaviest was this flatbed fully loaded with steel who had pulled partly into a field gateway to a let a van past and was now stuck in snow/soft ground. Not a chance said the driver when I offered to help, but humoured me anyway and attached the rope I had provided. I was on snow and he was heavy so I had to throw my 1 3/4 tons with some vigour but he came out in the end. 

[MJK 24]

On 12/4/2020 at 11:12 AM, stripped fred said:

Or do what I did, buy a ford with a heated windscreen that only clears the passenger side!

The front screen has two fuses I think.  One for each side.  Might be worth a look...

[MJK 24]

Going back to getting about in the 70’s in a cold snap vs today...

Back in the olden times, your Cortina etc probably had 165 wide tyres and an engine that put out 100lbs ft of torque at 3,500rpm in a car that weighed 1,100kg.

The ubiquitous 320d to keep the rwd link is sitting on 235 wide tyres and it putting out 150lbs ft of  torque at 1,200rpm in a 1,400kg, 8 speed automatic package.  The BMW has everything against it in poor weather.  
 

If you were revving a Cortina to 3,500rpm and trying to let the clutch in on snow, people would think you were a bit retarded.  But the BMW is doing that without you realising.

The fact that some drivers seem to use the throttle like an on/off switch doesn’t help either!

[SiC]

Plenty of chaos and cars being pulled in these 80s news reports:

 

[JeeExEll]

Around 1994/95 I was passenger in a mate's Sierra XR4i one very snowy night, approaching a narrow traffic-light-controlled hump-bridge.  Lights changed to amber so mate floored it, and lights then changed to red. Coming over the top of the bridge mate briefly dipped the clutch and flicked the steering for a bit of the old sideways driftin' action. Unfortunately he over corrected the full throttle drift and the Sierra swung the other way and slid up the road sideways, only stopping when the rear passenger quarter wing connected with the front of the first car waiting at the traffic lights on the other side. It was a police Vauxhall Senator. 

[sutty2006]

I went up Buxton last night in search of snow. Found some 

[sutty2006]

Got a call this morning from a work colleague stuck on the A500 trying to get into work. So went to his aid. That’s what you get for selling an RS4 to buy a Range Rover then selling that to buy a BMW m140i. He’s kicking himself. 

[twosmoke300]

I’d imagine in an m140i you would be stuck if you parked on two crisp packets 

[Floatylight]

Looks like very little gritting has happened around here, picture stolen from local fb group, Jag adopting its usual position on A518 Weston Bank

[MJK 24]

A mere dusting here!

[catsinthewelder]

I'm sure it'll cause a bit of chaos here.  My job for tomorrow has been delayed as tree surgery in slippy conditions seemed inadvisable.

No idea how we're going to get the Corsa down the hill so my girlfriend can go to work tomorrow.

[sutty2006]

They’ve gritted last night before the snow came. Problem is, it came down so heavy it settled ontop of the grit and with little traffic about to smush it in its had little effect. Roads round stoke aren’t too bad now everyone’s been out and got stuck and worked the grit in.

[goosey]

Clent hills early yesterday morning,

my jeep and my sons Jimny