QOTD: Snow Foolin'

by Tim Healey

Published: January 12th, 2024

There's been a lot of snow all over the country, including where I live, today. Which leads me to one of the most timeless of all QOTDs -- how do you handle the white stuff?

Yes, I mean actual snow, not that other white stuff.

I consider myself a decent snow driver, thanks to experience. For example, my tester this week is front-wheel drive, and this morning I was accelerating and felt the wheels break loose and started to slide towards the parked cars on the side of the road. No problem -- I lifted off the gas and got most of my traction back, with a brake tap and steering adjustment finishing the job. No sweat, but someone driving in snow for the first time might panic, stay in the throttle, and be calling an insurance company.

One perk of doing this job is that most test cars also come with a snow scraper/snow brush, though I think I still have a few in my condo just in case. I try to be diligent about scraping ice/brushing snow before heading out. Visibility matters!

My rules for snow driving are this: Be gentle with gas/brake/steering inputs, slow down but don't go so slow you become a rolling hazard, minimize lane changes across unplowed slush, do your best to maintain visibility, and be aware that sometimes the car will respond more like a boat on water than a wheeled vehicle on dry pavement. Stay patient and calm, minimize phone and infotainment distractions even more than usual, and just be careful.

What do you guys do? Who carries a shovel? Who shods their cars with winter rubber? Chains (assuming they're legal where you live)? Anything I am missing?

Sound off below.

[Image: Gorloff-KV/Shutterstock.com]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

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2 of 63 comments

InCogKneeToe on Jan 17, 2024

I Lock it in 4x4 and go! I buddy spent the night in this hole, I came up in the morning and pulled him out.

Winter Driving is just like normal driving, just less traction, easy maneuvers, slow down early, and watch the other guy always!

1 Reply
Carson D on Jan 17, 2024

Dead Teslas pack Oak Brook Supercharger station due to cold weather (fox32chicago.com)

The best EV is no EV.

1 Reply

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