snow driving

[Longhorny630]

I grew up in central TX, so snow driving is something I have no experience in. My family moved to Chicago after I finished high school, so the few months I spent in winter were without a car and as such, I have very little snow driving experience. Now I live in Chicago and with me as always is my "trusty" Jeep Wrangler. I've now driving through some decent snow storms and was wondering what tips or advice yall had on snow driving. My jeep is obviously rear wheel drive, automatic, and I've got mud tires on it and when in 2wd I slide all over the god damn place if there's so much as a little white on the road. I can let it go in idle and I don't slide but thats like 4-5 mph, or I can switch over to 4wd and I do just fine. For the most part, on major roads that have been plowed or salted and I can see the road I stay in 2wd and when I get onto a smaller road that isn't plowed I go to 4wd. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Uninformed]

Front wheel or AWD is much better for snow. Rear wheel drive causes the back end to spin around.

Snow tires are very good these days and do almost as good as chains. Get a good set of snow tires as they will help you when steering.

 

[l00p]

Weigh your car down. Barbells, weights, sand bags or anything that weighs a lot (maybe your mother-in-law if you have one) helps. It helps a lot.

 

[Doughbroz]

Keep a sack of kitty litter (plain old granular calcined clay) in the vehicle. Scatter it under the tires if you get stuck in a tight spot on ice. Much easier to handle than sand.

 

[TexinID]

If you do fine with 4wd I'd stick with that option. Snow tires are an option, but I would imagine they are pretty pricey for a Wrangler, and at some point you'll want to throw it in 4wd anyway. The biggest tip is go slow, even the best tires/4wd/chains will fail if you're going too fast.

 

[Uninformed]

BTW, both Chicago and Milwaukee do a great job of clearing the snow.

 

[Mobyhorn]

With rear wheel drive you need extra weight in the rear, like the kitty litter or sand bags. Snow tires I always used while living in Indy. Illinois will be good for road clearing. But the big problem is when you get Black Ice, such as on IH 65.

 

[HornHuskerDad]

Move south.

Snow tires are a great help - used to use them a lot in Colorado. If you've got 4WD, you're ahead of the game. Just watch your following distance - takes a lot longer to stop.

HHD

 

[Michtex]

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