Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

Flights canceled, cars slide in snowy South - Weather - msnbc.com

Welcome to Georgia, where it snows once in a decade. Commenters are recommending different things, but I have a few questions.

1. What is a snow plow, and where can the city purchase one, or a dozen?

2. What type of chains should you put around tires? Should they have a plastic covering to keep from puncturing the tire? Would a length of chain from a swingset work?

3. How much salt should I poor on the snow to clear the driveway? A tablespoon? A cup? A gallon? A barrel? Since most all of the stores are closed, salt may be hard to come by.

4. Any recommendations for driving on ice?

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

1: a Snowplow is a Kinda of Dump truck with a massive plow on the front with, sometimes a dispurser with sand in the back, depends on the area. Sand increases the grip your tires are able to get.

2: If your going to get chains, get proper ones from an auto store, no a chain form a swingset wont work, as its not conditioned for that. And no, you dont need them to have a covering, Tires are tough. And dont get chains for just 2 tires, if you get chains, they need to be on all 4.

3: Shovel it off first, always shovel it off first. Once you have cleaned it the best you can by shovelling, take the salt and dispurse it in any trouble area's, or where there is ice. One bag of Salt should do a normal sized driveway for atleast 2 snow falls, and no, Table salt wont work.

4: Yes, drive SLOWLY, make sure you have control. Turning will be harder, so do it generally and slowly, turning sharply will just cause you to slid. Also, start slowing well before you usually would, as your stopping distance will increase, since your tires have less grip.

Finally... try not to go out in General!

Love,
A Canadian :P

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

You only need chains if you have close to a foot of snow on the ground and you have to drive through it. I have never used tire chains, no one in the area that I live in has ever used tire chains. The area I am in gets 3 feet of snow a year.

You don't need to learn to drive in the snow, you just need to realize that you can do a speed faster than 10mph but slower than the speed limit. You also need to realize that you have some grip(%25-30 which is enough to drive) in the snow, but none of ice

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

It's a plow, that you put on the front of a vehicle, for plowing snow. You can stick them on almost anything, even little dinky jeeps. Used to be the case, at least in the UK, that farmers would come out and help clear the roads with the plows on their tractors but now you need public liability insurance to do that so they don't bother.

Where can you buy one? Quick google search shows:
THE BOSS Snow Plows | Municipal Plows

They also have a dealer locator.

You need to buy a set from a car store - they come as a sort of lacework/web of chains that go around the wheel. Bugger to put on and take off, but frankly, especially on icy roads, I'd rather have my drive wheels snowchained than be in a 4x4.

Winter tires are also rather good.

You want to clear the driveway of snow first and then put rock salt down. A sack should be far more than you need. A cup's worth will cover a couple of square meters.

Use larger safety distances, be gentle with your brakes. Your car will take much longer to react; lowering your speed both reduces your chances of skidding and increases your thinking time. Try to plan ahead rather than driving off the car in front, assuming you don't do that anyway.

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

Practice :) And watch other cars, often people who are not used to driving on snow start to panic and do silly things.

Also, if you have a manual transmission you should use the second gear if you don't have enough grip to get your car moving. Automatic transmissions probably have a corresponding setting (for starting on hills or something similar).

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

I am assuming that is a joke.

Like the Admiral said, go out and buy a real pair. Most tire chains nowadays are not real "chains" like you might think.

Again, shovel it first, if you put the salt on top of regualar snow it will melt it a little, but when it freezes again your even more screwed then before becuase you have a layer of ice on top of all the snow. How much you need depends on the driveway size. Big driveway, maybe 50 pounds, small driveway maybe 10 pounds. That's probabley a very high estimate.

Be gentle on the gas and brakes, go slow and don't turn hard. If you start to slide around don't slam on the brakes just let off the gas. When you start going on snow or ice don't spin your tires if at all possible. If it feels like you aren't going anywhere don't slam on the gas, you will just dig yourself holes for your tires.

Good luck.=p

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

Never used chains on my car personally, but if it's deep slush I'd recommend it.

Tips for decent snow driving:
1. Take it slow, you will get there.
2. Relax, panicking will cause overcorrection and other bad things to happen from you not thinking clearly.
3. if you slide, you slide, just relax and attempt to straighten out.
4. If you get stuck in a ditch, it is not shameful to call a tow company.
5. Leave yourself enough time if your car cannot catch traction on a turn.
6.. I can't say it enough but, relax, become one with the car <insert yogic OHM here>.
7. Don't do anything stupid that you wouldn't do if there weren't snow.

Also salt, only on ice, and I'd recommend spreading about a cup.

Love, a Lifetime Alaskan.

Good Luck!!

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

1. Any Truck can be a snow plow, but it needs a shovel on the front.

2. Normally you need to buy a set of wheel chains, since just wrapping your tires in them if not done correctly will damage your car or truck.

3. Table salt isn't a good choice, actual snow salt is the best choice, but for a drive way with table salt, maybe 3 gallons.

4. Slowly, don't make sharp or fast turns as you will fish tail or turn side ways, and if possible put something heavy in your trunk(150 kg atleast)

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

Yes it was.

It doesn't snow in most of Georgia, definitely not south of Atlanta, so most areas are not prepared for this weather.

As far as mountable snow plows and wheel chains go, you can't buy those south of Atlanta. If you can even get those in Atlanta.

I didn't even know there was a "snow salt". There is nothing available this far south called "snow salt". I guess the cities have an emergency supply, which may last a couple of days.

As far as driving goes, 98% of the population south of Atlanta has never driven in snow. The cities have shut down to protect the citizens from their bad driving. 90% of Georgia has little, or no public transportation. The cities are spread out, most have to walk 15-30 miles to the nearest grocery store, and 5-10 miles to a corner store.

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

Large salt granules basically, sometimes treated with chemicals such as Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride to speed up melting time and or stay around longer then plain salt.

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

Slow down. 30-40mph should be your top speed on snowy or icy roads, especially if you not used to driving on them.

Take turns much slower. If you car/truck is rear wheel drive, be very careful about accelerating out of turns as the back end will spin around very easy. Like said, if you start to slide, don't panic and slam the brakes or anything, that will just make it worse. Simply let off the gas and counter steer.

Brake well ahead of time. Don't just slam your brakes either, all that will do is cause you to start sliding. If you slowing down on a hill the best thing to do is down shift ahead of time before hitting the brakes. Shifting to a lower gear will let you slow down much easier and faster on snow or ice. Works with automatics as well.

Leave more room between other cars. You never know when the person in front of you could start sliding.

Accelerate slower. Mashing on the gas will get you nowhere. Literally. All you will do is sit there and spin.

The plow trucks our township has here are fucking awesome. The state trucks are just regular dump trucks with a plow mounted to the front, regular road tires and everything. The township trucks sit much higher, have bigger plows, have massive snow tires, and are four wheel drive. I didn't even know four wheel drive dump trucks existed till i see these beasts.

lol. Up here in the north east road salt (or snow salt to you) is the number one cause of vehicles rusting out.

You don't need tire chains. Trust me. Unless your planning a arctic expedition with your car or something that is.

lol. Its completely opposite here in PA. We are all used to driving in the snow (and lots of it!) just as much as driving on clear roads.

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

I am from the midwest, and my street is the last to get plowed so I have a fair amount of experience driving on snowy/icy roads.

1. If your car is light in the back end fill it with something heavy such as a few bags of sand.

2. Do not over correct, if you start to slide don't go turning your wheel way to the left or right instead slowly correct.

3. When you feel traction coming back a bit easy on the breaks. Also if your anti-lock breaks don't work pump the breaks.

4. Practice, me, and a lot of my friends use to always play around spinning our cars out on the ice, and now when our cars actually start to slide its not a big deal.

Re: Need driving lessons apparently, snowed in.
 

I live in Pittsburgh. We got 3 inches of snow today and the whole town went crazy. Half of the people in the area can't drive in the snow.

This works if you car is rear wheel drive. If it is front wheel drive the extra weight won't make a difference.

This reason is why I love having a manual transmission rather than an automatic. Feathering the clutch allows you do control exactly how much power you are putting to the wheels.