Post by wannabe on Mar 2, 2018 0:22:29 GMT
So... I have faaaar too many years' to mention of experience driving FWD, relatively warm/hot, hatchback things, and am basically confident in all weathers, at all times of day/year, at all speeds and on all roads (perhaps even too confident...).
I think the only time I've been concerned is during drives through deep fresh snow and going up and down very steep beach roads / mountain passes with first-gear hairpin bends and cliffs to fall off.
However, in the 5, my first RWD car, I am a nervous mess in inclement weather, especially the snow
This evening my usual tiny-back-roads route had sections of drifting fresh snow piling up by perhaps a foot in places across the road, but clearly still passable as there were fresh tyre tracks through them. I think I managed perhaps an eighth of a mile of this, maintainng slow but steady momentum, sometimes feeling a bit like I was surfing over the top, before my nerves got the better of me and I had to pull into a driveway with just an inch of snow on it to 5-point-turn round while telling myself to stop panicking and get a grip, so I could drive back to the main road along that short section and go on the well-gritted road (which still had drifting snow in places!)
Why am I being a wuss??? Is it just because I fear loss of control and not being able to get it back (because my snap-oversteer-at-10mph-into-something-hard on the previous week of ice has me living in fear)? Is it because I don't feel in control because the play in the rack and/or track rod ends means the front wheels veer and jink their own path while I hold the wheel in the same place, meaning I can't make delicate inputs and am constantly fighting the wheel? Is it because one skidpan session focussing on very low speed skid control and drifting at under 15mph does not provide me with the skills to catch an unintentional back end slide at 40+mph, which is made even harder by steering that does its own thing when you try to make an input and feels like you're on the very edge of grip on turn-in all the time because the play feels like the wheels going light on ice? Is it because I once almost got stuck in about 8in of snow in a FWD and all this 'OMG!!! Don't go out or you will DIE!!!' news reporting has me petrified I'm going to be immovably stuck the very first time I bog down in snow? Or is it actually because my fears are well founded and I'm a fool for trying to drive in such conditions (even if the scandiwegians deal with it 6 months of the year)??
I know it's very likely just more practice needed and, really, winter tyres, but the rears are 8mm+ tread depth brand new summer tyres so should be at least half decent in snow!! I feel like perhaps I just need to get stuck and then dig myself out so I can face my fear...
Is it just me with these issues?!?
I think the only time I've been concerned is during drives through deep fresh snow and going up and down very steep beach roads / mountain passes with first-gear hairpin bends and cliffs to fall off.
However, in the 5, my first RWD car, I am a nervous mess in inclement weather, especially the snow
This evening my usual tiny-back-roads route had sections of drifting fresh snow piling up by perhaps a foot in places across the road, but clearly still passable as there were fresh tyre tracks through them. I think I managed perhaps an eighth of a mile of this, maintainng slow but steady momentum, sometimes feeling a bit like I was surfing over the top, before my nerves got the better of me and I had to pull into a driveway with just an inch of snow on it to 5-point-turn round while telling myself to stop panicking and get a grip, so I could drive back to the main road along that short section and go on the well-gritted road (which still had drifting snow in places!)
Why am I being a wuss??? Is it just because I fear loss of control and not being able to get it back (because my snap-oversteer-at-10mph-into-something-hard on the previous week of ice has me living in fear)? Is it because I don't feel in control because the play in the rack and/or track rod ends means the front wheels veer and jink their own path while I hold the wheel in the same place, meaning I can't make delicate inputs and am constantly fighting the wheel? Is it because one skidpan session focussing on very low speed skid control and drifting at under 15mph does not provide me with the skills to catch an unintentional back end slide at 40+mph, which is made even harder by steering that does its own thing when you try to make an input and feels like you're on the very edge of grip on turn-in all the time because the play feels like the wheels going light on ice? Is it because I once almost got stuck in about 8in of snow in a FWD and all this 'OMG!!! Don't go out or you will DIE!!!' news reporting has me petrified I'm going to be immovably stuck the very first time I bog down in snow? Or is it actually because my fears are well founded and I'm a fool for trying to drive in such conditions (even if the scandiwegians deal with it 6 months of the year)??
I know it's very likely just more practice needed and, really, winter tyres, but the rears are 8mm+ tread depth brand new summer tyres so should be at least half decent in snow!! I feel like perhaps I just need to get stuck and then dig myself out so I can face my fear...
Is it just me with these issues?!?