Tyre Teacher | Tips for driving in the snow

If you don’t have to drive in the snow, then don’t.

However, if driving is unavoidable, please remember that grip and vision are everything in such conditions, so keep a close eye on your car’s tyres; condition and inflation settings should be at the top of your list of priorities.

Tyre type should also be of concern, as summer types could see you slither out of control into an unpleasant situation. Winter tyres or all-season tyres will help you through, but if snow is likely to be on the ground for lengthy periods of time, dedicated snow tyres might be worth a thought.

Your car’s parking spot can also be pre-prepared by laying some road salt and grit, to help you on your way.

In your car, carry a good, strong torch, a shovel, some filling snacks, a thermos full of something warm and nourishing, and some water. Also, ensure that your car’s fuel tank is topped up and that the cooling system has sufficient antifreeze installed. All lubricant levels should be correctly set, and the washer bottle should be filled with winter-grade fluid.

As I write this, I have just experienced my first morning commute through snowy conditions. I could have made life easier for myself by doing a little preparation when I parked up the evening before, but it’s hard venturing back out to cover the windscreen with a sheet of old cardboard, after getting into a warm house.

There’s my first tip – a sheet of old cardboard, held under your car’s wipers will help to keep frost and snow off the windscreen, thus avoiding scraping the frozen obstacle away. If you don’t have a dedicated scraper to hand (get one), use a little-used store loyalty or bank card to clear away the layer stuck to the screen, having first removed any heavy snow deposits by hand.

Don’t be tempted to simply jump in and switch on your car’s wipers. They may be frozen fast to the screen, and the result may be damaged, and therefore useless wiper blade rubbers, or even damaged wiper arms, a blown motor fuse, or even a burnt-out wiper motor.

Clear the side and rear windows, too. At acute angle junctions we often end up viewing the road we are joining via the rear side windows of our cars, so ensure that they are clear. Give your car’s door mirrors a scrape too, unless they are heated, in which case skip to the next bit of advice.

You’re now ready to enter the sanctuary of your car, which may be very chilly if it doesn’t have a pre-heating system. Don’t be tempted to start your car before commencing clearing its windows outside. It’s sad to say, but opportunist thieves might brave a chill, jump into a ready-to-go car, and make off with it.

Start your car’s engine and allow it some time to warm up. Switch on window and mirror heater elements, too. Setting the heating system to recycling for a couple of minutes will help the cabin air to warm up more quickly, but it will also become carbon dioxide heavy from your outward breath. As a result, your car windows might steam up in the stuffy atmosphere, so don’t forget to reset the air intake to ‘outside’ air. The setting device features a picture of a car with a wavy arrow flowing into it for fresh air.

Set your car’s headlights on to dipped and pull onto the carriageway only when it is clear in both directions (on a single carriageway road). Don’t forget to use fog lights if conditions dictate.

When driving on snow, the whole idea is to avoid a skid, either via locked-up, and therefore stationary wheels, or via wheels spinning at high speed due to lack of traction. Moving away from a standing start is likely to be the first occasion that wheelspin will enter the scenario. To avoid this, select a higher gear, for example, second instead of first, and try to pull away gently using a bit of clutch slip with a manual gearbox car, or by selecting a higher gear in an auto-box. The latter may feature a ‘winter’ setting. If so, select it.

Yes, slipping the clutch will cause additional wear, but wheelspin means that you are not fully in control of the car, so there’s the payoff. Drive slowly in as high a gear as possible, and don’t be embarrassed by leaving a huge stopping distance between your car and the vehicle in front of you. It’s essential that you do.

When braking, do so lightly and smoothly. If you feel your car skidding, gentle on-and-off depressions of the brake pedal may help in cars without ABS (Automatic Braking Systems). ABS is designed to prevent wheels from completely locking, and it does this many times faster than a human can possibly achieve. It is the ‘graunching’ noise that you might hear when you apply brakes heavily in an emergency. Don’t worry, it’s the ABS doing its job. It will be combined with a weird, vibrating sensation at the brake pedal. When this happens, your car is trying to assist you in avoiding whatever you are trying to avoid, be it a tree, car rump or pedestrian. Let it do its job.

Please remember that other drivers may be totally unaware of how to drive in snowy conditions, so despite your best efforts, you might find the automotive equivalent of a balletic elephant on buttered shoes hurtling toward you, with all the ensuing unpleasant consequences, which brings me back to where I came in.

If you don’t have to drive in the snow, then don’t.