4WD Speed Limits

how do you drive 65 - 70 on the highway SAFELY on the snow???? the X is like a brick as is, handling wise.. but put it on snow and its even worse at high speeds... i dont want to start a pissing contest but that isnt very safe at all....

What would you consider slick? IMHO, it's snow and its slick. Do you have a snow slickness scale in the back?

might want to look into your own mental level....

In the 2ndGen 4HI is 100KmPH and 4LO is 50KmPH.

I use 4wd all the time on snowy / slick highways and I regularly use it for passing at 130-140km/h with no issues. Seems like there are a ton of guys on here that follow the manual like it's the bible or something. If you haven't lived in a snowy area then you won't get it people don't drive 30mph just because it's slick out.

Hey I'm right there with Ty. I'm that guy in the fast lane you swear at as I fly by you! I bet you lean foward over the wheel on those days, right? With your flashers on? I rest my case!

I love knowing how to drive in inclement conditions...lived in Canada for 8+ years, learned to drive there...I can drive on snow

No pissing contest here, but ya'll need to chill out. I don't drive like a maniac...I do, however, drive like Dave so stay the HELL out of my fast lane with your flashers on!

I'm chilled but answer this honestly....

How many times have you ditched? Spun? crapped your pants?

I'm sure the roads are different where you are.
In the city, theres usually salt/ice/water/slush under the snow making it worse. Just got our first snow for the year here a week ago. Drove to work in the middle of it and 4wd was a must and braking was shite. No more than 30 the whole way to work.

I have to agree there is a huge difference between snow and ice. And especially the patchy stuff we get here. Even I have taken mine up to about 65 mph if conditions are not that bad.

Honestly? Not once have I crapped my pants, ditched my truck, or spun it. Unless I was messing around in a parking lot and trying to go past the limits. I drive carefully on ice, but the vast majority of the snow we get here, trust me when I say I'm fine driving the way I do.

The only time I've ditched a vehicle was I had my VW GTI 1.8T and I was young and dumb, trying to power slide around a gravel circle and I misjudged how quickly I could do it.

ETA: Denver is a city...the only time it gets bad is when the days are just above freezing and sunny and then it drops to almost zero that night, then it's fun.

I drive about 65 or so when there is snow on the ground. I have the same conditions you do BPC. I am not far from you just a little south. The snow we had last week had me slow to 55 only because of the white out conditions. The only time I ditched or spun a truck was my Taco with the first icey day we had and I was not used to the rear wheel drive at the time.

Guess I'm just overly causious. Stems from an accident I had in the rain when I was about 18.

I'll be the one in the right or middle lane taking it easy

See, I didn't have all the information! That'll do it! Bummer bout an accident that young, but the effect is understandable

i was messin around on the ice/snow 2 winters ago and was fish tailin and lost it in a snow covered rocky bank(on the side of the road) thats how i lost my brush guard, turn signal, bug shield, etc. i have driven as fast as 50 on the interstate with snow and slush down. 4hi of course. gota keep up with the tractor trailers so you dont get splashed. i have slid through intersections, and spun around on snow, but that was when i had stock tires. just air down some and take it easy.

Other than the fact that in 2WD the back end can get squirrelly easy, and 4WD improves the handling. A couple of years ago I had to drive home from the Adirondaks in the middle of a blizzard, and when I got to NJ I learned they had declared a state of emergency and private vehicles were not supposed to be on the road. 40 to 45 mph on the NY thruway was safe and manageable in 4WD, but with the light back end I would never have gone that fast in 2WD. Your mileage may vary.

k_enn

Here's the thing, guys: you are all getting pissy about this shit.

1. Snow covered roads in CO may be different than roads here. If it's straight medium-packed snow then you can safely drive faster. Here, however, you don't see much of that.

This is what people do here: Dump shitloads of snow piles from the driveway onto the road, creating a snow pile that can spin you outa control if you hit it with one side only (as it usually happens). The pile slows down one side of the vehicle but the other keeps going - you spin.

We don't get much hardpack here. It's either fresh powder or plain slush. You can't safely drive in either at even 50 mph. You get pulled into someone's tracks in half powder - half slush and it can easily spin you out.

The last snow storm we had here it was safe enough to drive around 40 on open roads. Slushy highway was not more than 50.

Wow thanks for totally hijacking my thread. Can't a guy just be curious about something?

I meant, 62.5 in High, and 12 in Low w/the locker on. Forgot to add that part. I think it's 35 in 4Low without the locker on.

So, tell me again, why can't the X go faster than that? What damage could be done?

And for the record, I would never drive 75mph in the snow - that's a death wish. But I'd easily drive 80 in the rain.

I would even do 70 in a foot of snow back and forth from the bridge to Syracuse, regularly, in my old Saab. Why? Becuase I know how to drive in snow. Lake effect is also different than "slick" snow. It's crunchy!

It does not matter if you can drive in snow or not, a lot of that is some comfort level.. My question is can you safely stop from 65 MPH in the snow when the ass-munch in front of you hits the breaks or get swirly and spins out? 4wd or AWD is great but it dont help you stop any better. I have seen that a bunch coming off of Mt Hood here in Oregon.

Told ya

Seriously, though - unless you start to get a bad vibration or something I don't see any reason that it would hurt to use 4WD all the way up to the maximum speed of the truck (preferably while running over small children - they smooth out the ride )

I'm gunna have to agree with Alpine on this one. I've done about 55 - 60 in the snow out here; driving and turning are two different things. Knowing where Alpine drives, there ain't a lot of turns to be made, there are huge sections of 285 that are dead on straight. Even that speed doesn't pose too much risk when there is nothing but open fields on each side - no trees, no other cars, nothing to wrech yourself on. Sliding off a road isn't what kills you, it is the tree you run into.

Snow is very different in different temps, and different packs. Unpacked cold snow has a lot of traction, packed warm snow is slick, cold snow on warm roads = bad. Nothing is good on ice, except maybe those big trucks up in the Yukon hauling over rivers and lakes cause it is the only time of year they can (going about normal highway speeds btw).

Tires and wheelbase play a big factor. My daily driver is a Wrangler Unlimited. The other day coming to work I was putting along at 30ish on a cold snow packed road, when a short wheelbase Wrangler spun out in front of me. Nearly the same rig (different wheelbase), same tires, same speed, different results.

Sorry to continue the hijack, but Alpine's right, imo.

http://www.xterraownersclub.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=37;t=003197

nuf said...

You can mod your locker to run @ higher than 12 MPG and use it in 2wd/4wd hi too...Xterraracer, if I remember correctly, runs his @ 60-70 mph over some very rough terrain

There's a lot to be said for keeping a good distance between you and the person in front of you, so you don't have to hit the brakes every time the idiot in front of you barely touches the brake petal...the way I slow down on snow/ice is I run with the OD off shift into 2nd and 1st if necessary, with the breaks thrown in for good measure. So I don't break my shit.

Edited to fix the spelling of brakes for Kaiser spelling nazi

I don't know what these 'breaks' are that you're talking about - but they should design them better so that they aren't always breaking.

Hmmm... maybe you were talking about the BRAKES... but nah... How could anyone make that kind of obvious mistake several times in one post? :p

I was thinking about my TJM front bumper a lot after my frozen fun yesterday

Colorado snow is usually dry and grippy. Driving in a straight line is easy. Its changing speed or direction that makes it tricky. If the road is open and the snow is nicely packed you can easily do 60.

If there's traffic, slush, ice or the need to change direction quickly, then you drive slower.

I lived in the Springs for 8 long years and does anyone here wonder why the first vehicles upside down in the ditch are 4x4's??? Because you idiots think you can drive the posted limit (or close to it) in bad weather. Just because the stretch of road you might be on at one moment isnt bad doesnt mean black ice or slick spot wont happen. Plus im not sure its changed much since i lived there but CDOT does a pretty shitty job of clearing the roads....granted the idiots of CO wont vote to raise their taxes to hire more drivers and buy more trucks but we have a 4x4 so fuck it huh!!!!! Driving 60 plus on snowy roads.....write me into your insurance policies...i need the $$$$

Tim

Most times the first vehicles in the ditch ARE 4X4's because people buy them, but don't know how to DRIVE them. They "Ease up on the gas and turn into the skid..pump the brakes..and so on" INSTEAD of hitting the gas to give the wheels power. They don't keep their hubs locked in the winter and so can't use their 4 WD system in an emergency situation. It can't help you unless you use it. Just my $0.02

Actually the proper method for skid recovery is very very simple. Look where you want to go and steer in that direction using a hand to hand feed method using NO BRAKES and steady on the gas.

Let me explain......

Traction can not be measured like Bhp or Torque. Traction is a relationship between the road surface and your tires. Lets say perfect dry roads and good tires are a fictional 100 units of "traction." Adeversely affect the road and that number will drop.

There are only three dynamic commands a car can perform. Acceleration, deceleration, and steering. All three of those functions will use the cars suspension to shift the weight dynamically, front, rear, left and right. If you exceed your "traction" then you will lose control of the vehicle. Stay within your limits and you will be fine. This is something that comes from training and experience and not sensor in a car will help with that. TCS, ESP, etc are all nice to have but if you dont understand basic car dynamics and how to use them you will still find yourself in a ditch.

Now back to the driving part. While in a skid the driver must maintain focus on the solution to the problem. The driver will naturally steer the care into that direction. You are using maximum "traction" for steering the car. Add throttle or decrease it and the risk of losing control increases. Granted there are situations where recovery is not possible and it is not because the roads were slick or bad weather but because someone thought they could go fast in bad weather. 4x4 does not help you at all once you start to lose the vehicle, it is actually a liability as most people who buy them dont know how to use them. A 4x4 only allows you to accelerate from a stop without losing grip on the road in a faster manner and does nothing for deceleration. A car with a new set of Arctic Alpines will stop much faster than my lifted X with BFG's.

So in summary just please slow down when the weather is bad. There is no meeting, event, or latte that is worth my familes life so you can save a few minutes.

If you want to know where I got the information above just PM me and I would be happy to refer you to a great driving school where you can learn the techniques described above that may just change your attitude and save your life.

Thanks.

Tim

I easily go 75mph to pass 18 wheelers with no problem on snow. The only time I would recommend to drive slower would be when the roads are snow covered and the ground is not frozen underneath. Beside that snow pack won't stop you from go the speed you want to go unless traffic is too heavy.

I'm originally from Chicago, a yankee. Of course winter there is different than in the Atlanta metro area where I now live (35 years). When we have snows here, yes sometimes big snows with ice, the yankees drive 50+ MPH as they would up North. The Yankees proudly boast "I know how to drive in the snow you don't, ha!".

Well, that just doesn't fly here. We sadly shake our heads, here they end up in the ditch, flip, rear ending others, crash into dividers and the like. Their ego got the best of them causing them to loose their butts. Why? We have hills also some of the snow melts during the day then at night it will refreeze. What you now have is super slick areas, black ice. On hills it doesn't matter if your driving a tank you're going to slide. Again the ego induced yankee gets on the road driving as they did up North. Oh-well it's all over but the shouting.

Yep you may be able to drive fast but you won't be able to slow down faster than any other vehicle. This is because our Xterra are over 4,000 pounds and we have inertia on our side. So brag if you will about the high speed you drive in the snow. Just remember the story about the guy that jumped off the building: as he was falling people called to him asking "are you okay", "yes" he replied "but I haven't hit the ground yet". Driving fast on snow your crash is coming, I pray you don't take anyone with you.

Ok, first, I learned to drive in Toronto, so I am VERY...did you get that? VERY...familiar with black ice. I understand that driving on ice regardless of 4 wheel drive, AWD, or 2 wheel drive, you can't stop...I get that, I really do (I also ice race on weekends here in CO). I was talking about driving on snow, snow (here anyway, can't speak for Atlanta...my condolences by the way) actually gives me traction on the roads. If I'm driving in snow in another area of the country (don't usually have occasion to do that but it happens) then I drive much more cautiously, as conditions dictate.
We've had almost a month of snow, here, and even the people that have moved here from warmer climates have figured out that you can drive somewhat normally on snow and not have your vehicle spontaneously combust.