Skidding to a stop on snow and ice

[Christian Mango]

Hi, looking for some thoughts on skidding on snow and ice on a fairly steep but plowed and paved road. Was following a 1970’s van down a hill today and was approaching a red light going maybe 5-10 mph. Applied the brakes and the antilock brakes engaged but the car just continued to skis for about 50 feet. Had to steer out into the middle of the road to avoid the van that seemed to have no problem. Is it my driving, bad tires, or something wrong with the antilock brakes?

 

[equalizer]

Tires condition?
Silly question: did you turn off traction control?
What terrain response control was selected?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ryanjl]

Hi, looking for some thoughts on skidding on snow and ice on a fairly steep but plowed and paved road. Was following a 1970’s van down a hill today and was approaching a red light going maybe 5-10 mph. Applied the brakes and the antilock brakes engaged but the car just continued to skis for about 50 feet. Had to steer out into the middle of the road to avoid the van that seemed to have no problem. Is it my driving, bad tires, or something wrong with the antilock brakes?

Anti-lock kicked in because you had zero traction with the road. You weren't skidding or sliding; your anti-lock brakes were just keeping your wheels from locking up. Without anti-lock, you wouldn't have been able to steer around the van in front of you; you would have turned the wheel and just continued straight or spun out of control.

Tl;dr - you need better tires.

 

[ktm525]

Tires. Although in some winter situations no ABS (anti lock) is preferable to having it. It did what it was supposed to though by allowing you to steer.

What tires, treadwear and pressure are you running?

 

[PaulLR3]

Agree, tires are the problem. I'm south of Boston and we got about 6" of heavy wet snow yesterday. Drove my LR4 with the worn Michelin Defender tires still on and it was all over the road and barely made it up our steep driveway in snow mode. Then took out my wife's LR4 with Nokian winter tires already on...handled like it was on rails, stopped with no ABS clicking and easily climbed the driveway in normal mode.

Winter traction at acceleration is seldom an issue with our vehicles...it's all about stopping and turning all that weight on slippery roads. If you don't want to use dedicated winter tires, get a set of Nokian WRG4 SUV tires. That should solve your problem.

https://www.nokiantires.com/all-weather-tires/nokian-wr-g4-suv/

 

[PaulLR3]

One more thought if that happens again...gently downshift so that engine braking can help slow you down. (Move shift lever left and back on 2013 & older or - paddle shifter on 2014 & newer)

 

[toddjb122]

Some great tips up there.
Also keep in mind, that 1970s van was a lot lighter than your LR4. If all 4 tires are on ice, at some point you can't beat physics. You do what you can to mitigate it with tires and gear selection (I downshift instead of applying brakes) but unless you are driving something that can grip on ice, you'll slide at some point. Tire selection will get you a lot further on firm snow, though, as noted above.

 

[ttforcefed]

WR are the best all season tires on the plant, and many argue the only true all season tire in existence. i usually run these on my LR4 but this year i put full snows on, nokian hakkas.

everyone is correct, tires matter when it comes to stopping. the defenders (if not worn) shld also do OK, not as good as the WR but my defenders do pretty well on my full size escalade.

 

[backcountryLR4]

Couldn't be happier with ditching my BFG KO2s this winter for Nokian Hakka R3 SUVs. Like said above, the KO2s were fine when accelerating because the LR4 is a damn mountain goat, it was when you wanted to stop or turn that it turned into a hippo on an ice skating rink. The KO2s were just too unpredictable at their point of failure or loss of grip. They just did not do the trick for all the icy mountain roads and closed canyons I travel in when I know how much better true snow tires are.

Broke the Nokians in across a few hundred miles of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado snow/ice covered roads last week and am very happy.

I can feel the weight difference going from E-rated 18" KO2s and compo wheels back to the stock 20's. The car feels peppier and more nimble on the road.

 

[gsxr]

Tires. ... What tires, treadwear and pressure are you running?

Same question as above... what you describe sure sounds like a tire issue.