Car struggling in snow!

Wheel spin

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• snow
• cold
• car
• wheel
• spin
• freeze
• ice
• accident

[lumoruk]

if they didn't rev the engine it would grip

[janipewter]

higher gears are better genius that's why you're supposed to start in 2nd in the snow, less torque = less likely to wheelspin

[timb901]

@l337pwnage Yea the modern autos aren't too bad, especially the ones with trans coolers. It isn't that mountainous but some people just have no idea about using engine braking when descending the hills. We actually have a high automatic ownership rate (New Zealand) but I think the main reason for that is we have a lot of Japanese imports.

[l337pwnage]

@timb901 Where I'm from, the hills are not big enough to be dangerous, so that is why I did not understand your point of view. I understand your concerns if you live in a mountainous region. I would think automatic transmissions, in general, would not be popular in terrain like that due to the possibility of overheating.

[timb901]

@l337pwnage I suppose 1st is low to try and get good acceleration from standstill.

And at your other comment, about some Fords not changing to 1st on the selector, if you ever needed to shift into 1st, you definitely have a problem such as brake failure, hence why it is dangerous.

[timb901]

@l337pwnage A few weeks ago my old man was driving his Hilux in snow down a mountain pass following about three other cars. Because they were all going so slowly, he wasn't concentrating and changed into 1st a bit early. He wasn't in 4wd at the time and the back locked up and took off sideways. He flicked it back to 2nd and pulled it into 4wd and regained control, but the idiot in the van behind him was following too close and when Dad skidded, he slammed on the brakes and ended up in the ditch

[l337pwnage]

@timb901 Ok, I found something on Wiki about it. While Wiki is certainly not most reliable source of info, I'll take it for something this trivial. ;)

"Second (2 or S) This mode limits the transmission to the first two gear ratios, or locks the transmission in second gear on Ford, Kia, and Honda models. "

I guess I can learn something new once in a while. ;)

[l337pwnage]

@timb901 For a gear ratio reference, the 1978 Oldsmobile I had at the time shifted from 1st to 2nd at 45 mph at WOT. Probably about the same as what 2nd gear is on most new automatics.

If you want to hear about a weird tranny, '80's Corvettes had a 4+3, or 7 possible gears. They combined a 4 speed manual with an automatic 2 speed overdrive transmission behind it.

the gears you had were R, 1, 2, 2OD, 3, 3OD, 4, & 4OD.

Not a very popular transmission. ;)

[l337pwnage]

@timb901 I can share an interesting experience I had in an '84 Chev Camaro 4 speed auto which you could shift into all four gears. One of the first 4 speed autos I rode in. We were downshifting it manually just to see what speeds each gear was "comfortable" in. At 15 mph we dropped it into 1st, this locked up the rear end and the car skidded on dry pavement until the engine had enough time to increase rpms to match the wheel speed at that gear ratio. I was surprised 1st was so low.

[l337pwnage]

@timb901 My personal reason why I think some Fords were like that is that interior was not designed for the 4 positions of a 4 speed yet and the cars then used either 3 or 4 speeds depending on the model and options. I think instead altering the interior, they just didn't let the shifter go all they way down to 1st.

4 speeds back then had very low 1st gears, they often weren't used at speeds much over 20 mph, if you need compression braking at that speed, you have problems. ;)

[timb901]

@l337pwnage Na the govt doesn't specify anything like that, I was just using it as an example of other vehicles that can do similar things but the Toyota is mainly designed for off roading in low range where first is too low or you want to take off smoother. I know it is unusual but quite a good idea. I don't know what Fords you are talking about but I would think that that would be bloody dangerous not being able select 1st - if you need engine braking for what ever reason.

[l337pwnage]

@timb901 Does it work like that in other gears, or just 2nd? I"m assuming it probably has at least 4 gears plus a locking torque converter.  Most modern cars do.