Airing down tires so they give a flat footprint and conform to the road surface, instead of riding on a hard rubber donut, in icy conditions greatly improves traction.

 

Yes rebo', that will help some, especially if your usual pressure is right up there.

But you can't over-do it and not in the fronts as the added resistance of lesser inflated tires will make the vehicle harder to move...so...

I never had a 4x4 until this year and have been stopped by weather just a few times to the point that I could not move or get out under my own power or ingenuity (spelled S-H-O-V-E-L). One time was totally due to visibility, I just could not see even the end of the hood that day.

My key to winter driving success has been actual snow or M+S tires on the rear axle of a rear wheel drive car or truck and 150 to 200 lbs. of some commodity such as rock salt, or agricultural lime (pulverized limestone...cheap and good for the lawn periodically) placed just ahead or just behind the rear axle. When I had the Ranger sometimes I'd shovel the driveway into the back of the truck to get going that day.

I always tried to begin the winter with a pair of tires with more than half their tread on 'em...or add another 50-80 lbs that year if not. With the weight placed there it increases your power and rear braking traction while affecting your steering very little.

Front tires not as fresh as you'd like for the winter? Add a little weight and move it forward a bit if possible, but not too much!

By doing this I would keep my usual tire inflation pressure, but the added weight gave a similar effect of "flattening" the bottom of the tire giving a larger contact area.

 

In a pickup truck or small car I can see the benefit of adding weight, but I don't think that's going to do much for my 15 pass van, it's already 7500 pounds, and alot of that weight is already behind the rear axle, since it's the extended van. I've read that you shouldn't mix dedicated snow tires and regular radials on a vehicle, due to major tread/compound differences? I'm not sure that really would be an issue, I think the tire companies say that so A. they can make more money selling 4 snow tires instead of 2, and B. so they can cover themselves for liability reasons. I remember back in the day, they told us not to mix bias-ply and steel-belted radials, I did it and never noticed a problem. I just got a set of tire chains on *bay, so I'll be good to go if I get caught out in a snowstorm.

 

Certainly you shouldn't mix bias ply tires, snow tread or otherwise, with radial ply tires, but there are radial ply tires with snow or mud and snow rated tread and I have never heard that you shouldn't mix them with "all-season" radials. On the car I've used Cooper Cobras on the front and Weathermasters on the rear for most of its 9 year life. Ditto for the '88 before that. My snows are on a separate set of rims so I can get about three winters out of them and I wear out the thinnest treaded Cobras on the rear in the summertime. The point is that the open treaded snow tire gives you a bit more bite and infinately more tread clearing for better handling. The front, which carries more weight, the all-season Cobras work fine.

On the standard vans I have driven for several years I put three or four 80 lb bags of lime or 4 or 5-50's of rocksalt, or some combination of that (the salt I can use if I do get in a pinch) just over or ahead or behind the rear axle, like I said. This movable extra weight gives you the ability to balance your weight distribution. If your front end seems to have plenty of bite and the rear shy on traction, then move the weight back until you feel its right. The further behind the rear axle you go, the more weight you "borrow" from the front end. With a van that heavy you might have to go to 400 or 500 lbs. So you burn $200 more fuel during the winter...so what. The cost of a tow out of the ding-weeds (assuming there is no damage) will nearly wipe out the added fuel expense. You could bag some sand yourself., whatever, I've put enough miles on here in Western New York to believe my system works...it works for me anyhow. I've had 35 of my 39 winters of driving to work on this.

On the delivery vans and trucks I have driven for work...same thing...weight distribution. I've seen trucks loaded too heavy in the front that could hardly move across a parking lot in snow. Balance the weight for traction and you're good to go. It does get harder later in the day when you're approaching empty. Afternoon storm accumulation makes for a tough ride home sometimes.

 

Hey CarrfamilyNJ:

Were you the one that replied to my ? about lights for the holes in the lower bumper extension? Those on your van are what I think I want. Where did you find them? I'm thinking I'd like two wide, flat beam fog lights and one high intensity driving in the center.

I hate holes that look like they're there for a purpose but are left empty.

Thanks,

Dave

 

There is a transmission cooler far back inside that bumper vent, I reached back and felt the fins when searching for the hoses to my coil airbags.

 

I think I got my set of lights at Advance for 20 bucks. they are the generic driving lights you see everywhere, about 1 1/2 inches high and 4 to 4 1/2 inches wide. I may still have the box, I'll check for the brand. They have the same size in fog lights too.

 

Hey, thanks for reminding me of that, I'll look out for it.

 

Hey, thanks I'll take a look there again Last time I looked anywhere they only had the tiny high-intensity lights.

Dave

 

I drove a '92E150 for years and it was empty all the time, never had much trouble in the snow. My '82 Club wagon did awesome in the snow. I was busting drifts that the plow trucks were thinking twice about.

 

I think a lot has to do with tires, especially after reading all the diversity with vans in the snow. I currently have 255/70-15 on mine. Douglas performance GTs and they are not very complimentary in the snow but great in the rain and dry.

 

A powertrax does give superior traction to an open diff but they affect the handling on slippery roads in a negative way. Also accelerating through a corner can also be tricky as instead of the spider gear diferentiating the speed of the tires the tire on the inside will receive all the power and the outer tire will be allowed to slip at a faster speed hence acelerating the vehicle a little. I have one in my Bronco and its great off road but can be tricky on ice. There are types of traction aids that are better for snow but a powertrax or any lunchbox locker is NOT one of them. RB

 

My '89 handles both snow and ice fairly well with good ol' Walmart M&S tires on the back, regular tires on the front. I actually noticed MORE problems with MS on the FRONT, and I chalked it up to (plain and simply) extra resistance; the front tires guide... the heavy lugs and shoulders on the MS tires were working against me in that respect. standard, A/W tires do just fine up front

 

If you intend to keep your vehicle for quite a while AND you have close to $2,000. that falls into your lap, you might want to consider automatic tire chains. VERY popular with emergency services and longhaul truckers, and they are made to fit vehicles as small as an 1/2 ton pickups. I have a 1-ton E350 SD and I intend to install a set on mine.

http://www.onspot.com/

 

I have a regular length 2 seater 1987 E150 and found I needed really aggressive M&S tires to slither around on. The van origionally had what looked to be half worn all season tires badged M&S. They were horrible, once I got spun by the wind going down the highway with a 600# motorcycle in the back... I couldn't turn in parking lots, sometimes I couldn't even move in parking lots.

I eventually got fed up and put on some agressive and cheap Canadian Tire Rough Rider M&S tires. The van now handles snow/ice about as well as my 1992 diesel golf with Snow Flake rated winter tires which is good enough but not ideal. The golf is too light too. I don't need to load the van with these tires (not that it really helped me) and don't fear driving it anymore.

I imagine the van would be fantastic with the snow flake marked winter tires but they would melt off pretty quick.

Note, never take the van onto soft grass or mud. You'll be turfing up more dirt than a backhoe while you bury yourself. :P

Steve