FWD Winter car control tips?

"Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD" (300korbust) 01/07/2016 at 18:40 • Filed to: None

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I just hit a curb tonight on some slick roads and I need some help! What do I need to do in order to control understeer? Getting a car back in control? What not to do? Anything, really.

Rally Evo for your time.

bob and john > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:46

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drive slower.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > bob and john 01/07/2016 at 18:47

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That’s a start. Still, I was only going like 15 mph. Slower still?

Berang > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:48

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Do you have snow tires?

CB > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:49

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Look where you want to go. As Pete said, drive slower. Winter tires are your friend.

Most importantly, if you don’t need to drive in shitty weather, stay home.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > Berang 01/07/2016 at 18:50

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All seasons.

bob and john > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:50

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if your slipping that badly and your going that slow, then 1 of 3 things:
1: snow tires
2: studded snow tires
3: realize that the honda just aint cut out for THAT amount of snow. get something else.

if ti was just slick ice in ONE particular corner, then avoid tht corner

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > CB 01/07/2016 at 18:50

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I could only get all seasons this time considering I only have one set of rims. That might change soon now.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > bob and john 01/07/2016 at 18:51

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Honestly, I think it is the tires. The last set I had, which was some Falken all seasons, handled everything pretty well.

zeontestpilot > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:52

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If your tires can’t get a good grip, drive slower. Brake slowly too, braking too fast means your car will still carry its momentum. Plan ahead, and keep lots of space between you and the car ahead of you.

Straight lines are easy in snow, turning might kill you; so always be cautious. If your car starts acting crazy, ride it out.

CB > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:52

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Swapping between rims is usually cheaper than repairing damages.

jariten1781 > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:53

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Yes, if you slid into a curb you were going too fast. There’s a limit based on your equipment, conditions, skills, and experience.

Sometimes that limit is zero and you shouldn’t even be out there.

Go practice in a safe environment. Once you’ve figured out your limits drive on public roads like you never even want to get close to them.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > jariten1781 01/07/2016 at 18:54

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That seems like a plan. Still, is it wrong to ever try to make the car’s rear end slide out in order to throttle your way out?

jkm7680 > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:54

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stop hitting the vtec so hard

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > CB 01/07/2016 at 18:55

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True that. My car seems to drive okay for now, but I’m pretty sure a tie rod or control arm is bent. Is it ever okay to purposely engage the handbrake to make the rear end slide out in order to throttle your way out?

CB > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:55

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I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re a rally driver.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > zeontestpilot 01/07/2016 at 18:56

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It was really wet snow... like, I’m pretty sure you can make some hard snowballs with it and possibly a snow man. Also, the snow earlier was melting as soon as it landed on the ground, but now the snow is sticking meaning there could be ice now.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > jkm7680 01/07/2016 at 18:57

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LOL if I had VTEC

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > CB 01/07/2016 at 18:57

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Oddly, I have tried it in the past and it has worked. Maybe I should approach this method with caution.

jkm7680 > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:58

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then stop hitting the whatever you have.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:58

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Learn to handbrake/slide the car. You can always bring the nose back in line with throttle on FWD. Hang the ass out. Get comfortable with it. Find a parking lot, get some slippery conditions, and slide until you can save it or at least control yourself to a stop. For a FWD car, the rears can lose traction AND YOU ARE OKAY. But when the fronts are gone, YOU HAVE NO HOPE. By learning to swing the rear and use weight and momentum to keep your front tires doing something, you can easily control FWD in slippery conditions.

lone_liberal > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:58

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It’s hard to describe, you just kind of get a feel for it after a while. Increase your traction as much as you can via tires (I insisted on snow tires with FWD), control your speed and anticipate the front end not turning. Also don’t overcorrect. Basically slow, steady and smooth.

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 18:59

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Keep thinking that way and your screenname won’t make it to 366k.

Textured Soy Protein > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 19:08

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The biggest most important thing to remember when trying to avoid winter fwd understeer is to avoid braking and turning at the same time.

Your front tires only have so much traction with the ground. Braking needs traction in one direction, steering needs more of the same traction to change the car’s direction. So if you start turning while you’re still braking, you may not have enough available traction to make the car actually change direction.

Basically, brake first, completely slow down, finish braking, then turn in, and only apply the gas once you can feel that the car has started changing direction.

If you find the front end of the car is pushing, you can try grabbing the e-brake, since it works on the rear wheels, but if you’re not careful it can whip the back end of the car around.

Textured Soy Protein > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 19:09

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Adding throttle in a turn in a fwd car is not going to give you oversteer, it’ll give you more understeer.

Berang > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 19:19

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Even with snow tires, you have to slow way down on ice. You were just going too fast for that corner with what you have.

shop-teacher > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 19:23

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The problem with FWD is you really have no remedy for under steer except throttle out and pray. Get some snow tires and slow down.

smobgirl > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2016 at 19:24

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I would star this a hundred times if I could. This this this this this.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > shop-teacher 01/07/2016 at 19:27

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I might have to get new tires. Throttling my way out this time was a terrible option with these tires.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire 01/07/2016 at 19:27

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My car is at 366,3XX right now.

jariten1781 > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 19:28

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There are lots of techniques to control cars in extremis. You get good at them by being coached and practicing. The internet is not the right place to learn stuff like that. There are car control clinics set up specifically to teach if you want to avail yourself.

The deal is, though, you don’t need them to drive safely in public. Drive slow and smooth. You should not need ebrakes, scandanavian flicks, TC off digs, or anything of that sort. If you do, 1. you’re driving too aggressively to be sharing the streets with people, 2. you’re going to keep hitting shit and at some point you will do serious damage to your car, yourself, or someone else.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2016 at 19:28

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I starred this. This is probably the best advice. I’ll do this!

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 01/07/2016 at 19:29

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I usually do this and look where I want the car and make it so. That has usually saved me. I might have to start doing this again.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > lone_liberal 01/07/2016 at 19:30

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I might have to get another set of rims and do some winter tires.

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 19:32

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It was a joke, man. Take it easy on the poor car.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 19:38

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I love driving in snow, but you said you have all-season tires. Get winters.

I would’ve died already if I kept my all-season Pirellis on; I’ve switch to Bridgestone Blizzaks and they don’t give a fuck about snow. Even the cheap Hankooks I used before were decent and certainly better than the all-seasons I had at the time. The difference is immediately noticeable and well worth the money. The only time you might get away with all-seasons is if they’re brand new, but even then it’s still worse than dedicated winter tires.

Otherwise, AtlasM already described the best way - slow into turns, fast out once you’re confident in the grip of the tires. When I say fast out, it’s all relative - you always want to ease onto the throttle.

Handbrake turns are always fun but I would never recommend this in any sort of traffic. I do it when I turn into my driveway but that’s at a minimal speed with no cars or people around. Doing racey stuff on public roads is just a disaster waiting to happen, but I’ll admit that on drives home at night, if there’s a fresh snowfall and an empty parking lot, I’ll probably do a few sweet skids before heading back home.

shop-teacher > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 19:51

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Understood. I’ve been there with FWD and inadequate tires. It’s not fun.

zeontestpilot > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 20:02

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Ice is a different ball game completely, you can’t prevent it nor avoid it, so you have to ride it out. The idea is simple, you need grip, right? My philosophy is this, the less grip i have the slower I go. If I don’t have a good grip, controlling the car becomes more difficult. If the road is iced over, you need to get a better grip, so drive partially off the road if possible.

Consequentially, I wrote my own personal winter driving survival guide. I have a shovel I keep in the trunk during wintertime. I started putting it in the car after i got stuck in snow 10 ft after leaving the house, -_-.

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/winter-car-sur…

Rico > jariten1781 01/07/2016 at 20:09

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Lol what? You mean I don’t need to Scandinavian flick my car around every corner?

thereisnospork > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 20:36

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Too much steering angle on a loose surface like snow and your car will just plow - to recover straighten up the wheel to regain traction, very, very, gently brake and more gently turn the wheel back into the turn.

Proactive use of weight transfer from braking can help with traction/turning, but the more interesting examples (eg Scandinavian flick, left foot braking) are often too aggressive for street driving.

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > thereisnospork 01/07/2016 at 20:48

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Noted. Won’t do either.

LOREM IPSUM > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 22:44

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Fwd: Lift throttle, steer, zzzzzzzz.

Rwd: Add throttle, oppo, wheeeee!

Awd: Scandinavian flick it. Flick it real good. (Preferably not off the side of a mountain.)

yitznewton > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD 01/07/2016 at 23:51

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I tried a handbrake turn in the snow once in our then Ford Tempo, in a great big intersection with nobody around, to see how it would go.

Never again.

Hi there > RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire 01/18/2016 at 23:44

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It’s not that poor, I’ve got almost 505,000 miles on my ‘91 hatchback 5spd. Not much really goes wrong unless it gets wrecked hard enough, and rust. I bought at 224k miles for $900 and have changed the entire suspension, exhaust, one valve readjustment, new headgasket, idle air control valve, cleaned the fuck out of fuel tank and installed new fuel filter and pump and fuel lines and fuel injectors, new throttle body gasket, oil pan gasket, every pressurized component of the air conditioning system, fixed the high beams not turning on with some wire and a soldering iron and heatshrink, fuel pressure regulator, radiator, all hoses and belts (4 timing belts since 224k), two timing belt tensioners, 2 water pumps, and a pushbutton starter I installed in the radio shack parking lot when the key ignition shit itself and would prime the fuel pump and turn on accessory power but not actually start the engine.and an oil pump last time it was somewhat apart for maintenance. Starter works by using the key to get in, turn key til you hear the fuel pump, wait a second, then hit the red button on the dash until it turns over 3-5 times depending on temperature and how long it sat/is running.