Anyone have any tips for driving in the snow in 5th gen accords. I'm still new to driving ( 17) and this is my first winter driving. I can honestly say any tips would help as i almost crashed and slid off the road a few times today with about 2 inches of snow on the road, unplowed. I have good new tires, but everytime i apply the brakes the car just skids and i don't have ABS. Its an auto. I know shifting into 1st helps, but i still skid. Anyone with tips please post. Thanks.

 

They should have taught you in drivers ed, that you never just slam down on the brakes if you don't have ABS. You have to press and release, repeat, to avoid locking the brakes. The hardest thing to remember is when you start to slide, use the gas and stear in the direction of the slide, not the brakes to correct yourself.

 

yeah i know about skids and how to correct them, i ride go karts, which i think helped me not go off the road. I live on a hill so its hard to remember to pump the breaks. I will try that next time. Anything else?

 

Get a set of Blizzack snow tires and always give yourself plenty of time to get where you're going. Nothing is worse than trying to drive faster than the conditions allow.
Good luck!

 

never drive to fast. always take it slow. i am new to driving (16) but i have driven through 2 winters so i kinda have some experience.

 

You've driven through 2 winters and your only 16?

 

accords have a 2nd gear start which is great when starting out on ice. when you put the trans into second gear the car will start off in second allowing the car to get rolling without breaking traction due to the higher gear ratio versus first gear.

 

i love winter driving, i cant wait for ice on my neighborhood roads so i can go sliding around haha, its real fun if you live in areas that get iced over alot because you get used to handling your car on the ice, black ice is what you need to worry about, neighborhood road ice isnt bad but when you hit that patch on the highway going 60 you need to watch out, avoid the sides of the roads as much as possible where water builds up and freezes. Get some De-Icer/Rain X windsheild wiper fluid, your car windshield frozen over, spray your fluid to the windsheild and it wipes away, really nice to have.

all i can tell you for tips driving wise, from experience, if the ground is even wet, especially if frozen, keep atleast 2-3 car lengths from the car infront of you, definitly if you dont have ABS, i was driving on a rainy day, truck slammed on breaks infront of me, i slammed on breaks, breaks locked, and i just glided 30mph into the back of the truck

 

ive driven through 2 winters cause i started driving right before one started.

 

hmm thanks for the tips

 

The following tip USED CORRECTLY can save your life!

Learn how to use your handbrake. Emphasis again on using it CORRECTLY with LOTS AND LOTS of practice IN AN ABANDONED WIDE OPEN AREA.

On a front wheel drive car you can almost instantly pull a car from a spin/slide with proper technique and a level head.

1. Don't drive like an idiot, don't tailgate, and brake BEFORE you need to...especially with snow/ice.
2. Only when necessary (and after lots of practice) HOLD THE BUTTON OF YOUR HANDBRAKE DOWN and pull it. Hold it up only as long as needed till you feel it start to spin around/break the rear tires loose and then release it.
3. SIMULTANEOUSLY STEER with the wheel and LIGHTLY press on the gas.

This can save your butt when you slide into someone else's lane etc. It helps you maintain control, IT DOES NOT HELP YOU STOP. Stopping before sliding into a curb or someone else come's down to common sense and your driving ability. The fact that you don't have ABS only emphasises this point. You need to again experiment until you get a feel for when your tires have broken loose. You then need to brake, release, brake, release, etc to simulate ABS and be able to stop while at the same time maintaining control.

Another tip is let your car warm up so you don't slip your timing belt (cylinder head is starved for oil and lags behind). Also when parked overnight pull your windshield wipers up so you can scrape off the windshield in the morning quickly. Also apply Rain X (I think it must be warmer than 40 degrees) to your windows, it will majorly cut down on how much you have to scrape.

If your rear defroster doesn't work fix it. You can repair the little black lines that heat up. Its a lengthy pain in the *** process to find the cuts with a voltmeter but it can be done.

 

Keep the rpm real high, and use the ebrake around turns.

Joke aside. Stay home if there is fresh snow on the ground; no need to go out there. Give it a few hours or even day until the snow is cleared.

 

Pay attention to traffic patterns ahead, anticipate your bottlenecks such as road conditions and advisories from your local authorities, and equip your vehicle. tune engines by checking the wires, cap and coil output. check your anti freeze. Inspect your hoses and belts. Change gear oils if necessary. Inspect your tire pressures and exhaust system for holes and freaks.

 

If you have to go out at all.....
Seriously increase your following /stopping distance
easy acceleration, easy braking
use higher gears as much as possible [less torque = less wheel spin]
let car warm up and clean ALL the windows for max vision
leave early...you'll get there when you get there.

 

Take a tip from the P_Adams driving course;

Every chance you get, find a Big 'honk'in' Snow Covered Parking Lot (no Obstacles) and practice skids, slides and spins.
I know it sounds crazy, but figure it this way: The more you Know how to do this, the better you'll be in either avoiding or controlling this when it happens.

P

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by P_Adams &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Every chance you get, find a Big 'honk'in' Snow Covered Parking Lot (no Obstacles) and practice skids, slides and spins.
I know it sounds crazy, but figure it this way: The more you Know how to do this, the better you'll be in either avoiding or controlling this when it happens.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep

Did that the last weekend when it snowed with my girl and her Jimmy. She hasn't driven in snow before let alone in a rwd car. So we found a parking lot and she practiced getting the car loose and then what was needed to be done to correct it. It helps because you train yourself to react the right way when something happens in a split second on the road. She felt much more comfortable driving in the snow after that. I figure we'll keep doing that throughout the winter so she gets a good feel for how her car reacts to situations.

Other than that...

leave plenty of time to get where your going
increase your stopping distance
pay close attention to road conditions
don't drive faster than conditions allow
no ABS, go to a parking lot and practice pumping the brakes

also, if you don't have PS you can really feel the difference in road conditions. My hatch doesn't have PS and when I go around a turn and it's slippery, the wheel turns extremely easy. I feel this before the car ever begins sliding giving me time to adjust and keep things under control and going where I want.

 

That's what I'm saying dude, besides sliding is just so damn fun! Got the first snow of the season today and I slid through every single turn on my way to school!

Checking your antifreeze is always a good idea, forgot to mention it. You can get testers for the antifreeze concentration...I know Prestone makes them.

Bought a new battery yesterday too. I've been coaxing it for a couple weeks now and I live at the top of a hill but the other day she wouldn't start back up after class and it was time to replace. Call me crazy but I purposefully bought a crappy battery at Sam's Club cuz I used to work there and I know there is no way it will ever get off the free replacement warranty and I keep all my receipts! I'll never have to pay for a new battery again...

How does the Accord drive without PS? Might be worth taking the belt off during the winter for better control...hmm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Schmitey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How does the Accord drive without PS? Might be worth taking the belt off during the winter for better control...hmm</TD></TR></TABLE>

not sure how an Accord would handle without PS, mine had it when I had the car. Was thinking of removing it but never got around to it.

I don't know how it would work if you just removed the belt though. Reason being you would be pushing the fluid through when you turn the wheel making it harder to turn the wheel. My hatch has a manual rack, I've never driven a car with PS but w/out the belt so I don't know how hard it is to turn in normal conditions but I'm sure the wheel would turn easier on icey/slippery roads.

 

thanks for the great tips guys

 

iM so glad i live in the Bay area CAli. Where snow is as rare as a gay, albino, jewish, woman.

Ive only seen snow seen snow once or twice in my life

 

you are missing out crazy d. a fresh snow and an empty parking lot equal a ton of fun. thats how my friends and i started teaching ourselves how to get out of slides. that and spinning out in a parking lot is fun as hell.

 

lol drive with snow chains for a while.....

 

So you're saying it's a winter-wonderland over there, huh!

Just messin with ya...

 

i live in illinios, almost as far north as you can go int he state. we get halfway decent amounts of scow and alot of ice so i have alot of fun up here. my town has quite a few empty parking lots with no light poles or anything. we had about 3 inches of snow on saturday and a crap load of ice, which came at a bad time becuase i was driving the 5 ton work truck all day. a very interesting day it became when it started snowing.

 

its FWD, its not that hard. just dont slam the brakes. u can have ur rea end going sideways and still be drive straight down the road, its fun