Any way to help my braking in the snow?
 

Well, I almost ran up on a curb, along with hitting a street sign, and almost ran into another curb tonight when it decided to snow.

Would sandbags in the rear help my braking? could I lower (or maby raise?) my tire pressure to help stopping?

Anything would help

Thanks

Getting Blizzaks would help a lot. Other than that, experience driving in the snow is your next best bet. Increasing the weight over your rear tires will help with traction to get going, but it will make your stopping worse because of the added weight.

Compression braking (using the compression in your engine by down shifting) helps too.

Take care,
-Chris

I use all three methods in my mustang. Snow tires are perhaps most important as a typical performance radial will be absolutley useless in snow. Some are "all season" types and may offer some snow traction, but not too impressive. I use two 60# tube sand bags ( Home Depot 3.99 ea) in my trunk. This helps quite a bit. Also you need to slow down, and use carefull downshifting and slow gradual steering and accel when in snow. Once you break traction the car can skid quite a bit.

Try practicing in a empty parking lot, running doughnuts and Rockfords in the snow, get used to how the car spins and practice recovering. Plus it's a blast. I can do a 360 spin while keeping the inside front tire virtually stationary.

Don't drive in the snow :D

snow tires and slow down . i find snow tires on my skinnies work better than snow tires on my factory rims (for braking). they dig in better due to the reduced surface not as much chance as riding ice. as far as not driving in the snow my dad wrote of my van 2 years ago and we still havent been able to settle that on with the ins company we have the same name and it was registered y my mom.

Put the weight in the rear for starters. Also on the braking slowly apply the brakes with plenty of distance to stop. If your tires lock up and start to skid pump the brake pedal so it keeps the tires from totally locking up. Don't hammer the pedal but just fairly fast and fairly gently pump the brakes to get the car to stop. I was taught this years ago and it works very well. I guess you could look at it operating something similar to ABS.

I used to run 2 25lb bags in the trunk and 2 25lb bags right behind the seats. I found this helped with the weight distribution a lot more. Good snow tires are essential. Also, narrower the better!

I found that the aside from the above I had to take my time, drive more carefully and plan routes a little better. I avoided traffic and aways carried a sealed container with sand/gravel in it. This helped me out more times than you can count!

Or you can do what I did, move from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to Dallas, Texas ;)

would lowering my tire pressire help, or not? they are rated to be at 44psi, and i was thinking of taking it to 30 or so???

Several things will make a big difference, first get blizzack snow tires, and the thing that made a huge difference with my car (93LX) was a brake proportioning valve, and click in a little more rear brake, stock proportioning is very front end biased as with all cars, the valve helps with slicks and skinnies at the track and the added benefit for winter driving, I work at Skip Barber in Florida and lots of people from the north have emailed us and thanked us for that advice, and do not use compression braking, as that will lock up the rears for a momment causing an oversteering slide.

GTSR515, where can i get a brake proportioning valve, and how much do they cost?

i cannot afford blizzacks right now, so im just gona have to make the best of it.

Any of the Mustang parts places specializing in road racing stuff. Cost will be between $40-$150.

Maybe someone else will know for sure - but I don't think you are supposed to inflate the tires to their recommended pressure - you are supposed to fill the tires according to what the vehicle manufacturer recommends for that specific vehicle. I believe the max recommended pressure for the mustang is around 32-34psi. If you have your pressure at 44psi that is probably WAY TOO HIGH, especially for snow driving. I would lower it to about 28 if I were going to drive in the snow. No worries here though - it was almost 80 in Virginia today :-)

As a driving instructor for a well known Racing School here in Florida i can assure all of you that you should always inflate your tires as to the TIRE not the VEHICLE, not to slam the last guy, just wanted to clear that up.

Maximum inflation per manufacturer insures maximum contact, REGARDLESS of road conditions, this underinflation recommendations are way off, especially on a radial.

Get snow tires, a brake proportioning valve and some common sense.

Like I said I may be wrong...but why does the door jamb of my car specify Front and rear tire inflation of 32 psi - while most tires specify a max psi of about 45.

Also, this is very similar to the Explorer roll over issue, Ford recommended 28 psi, while the tires were rated at 45 max psi...now Ford says to inflate to 35psi.

Very confusing...

Also, I find it hard to believe that every car/truck/suv regardless of size/weight etc. - if using the exact same tire - should have the tires inflated to the exact same pressure.

Good point, but, I didn't say that every vehicles should have the same tire pressure.

What I am trying to get across is that every tire has it's BEST operating pressure, and thats what s on the side of the tire.

You want the TIRE operating at its optimum area, REGARDLESS of what vehicle it is mounted on, a modern radial tire inflated to 28psi pushed, will roll on the rim and cause steering problems, that same tire at 44psi in the same situation will do its job, whatever else happens is the drivers fault.

I understand what you are saying...my example would be:

put a 205/75-15 Pirelli P6000 on a 3500 pound Camry
put a 205/75-15 Pirelli P6000 on a 2200 pound CRX

Should the tire pressure be set the same or would you want a higher pressure on the heavier vehicle? I really don't see how the inflation pressure of the tire can be independent of the application.

That's interesting that you say that. I admit I have to drive for an hour and a half to get to any snow in the winter, but I have done alot of snow driving, and compression braking has always worked the best for me. It has never locked up the wheels. In fact, quite the opposite. I did try an adjustable proportioning valve to give more pressure to the rear, too, and all that did was lock up the rear brakes just by looking at the brake pedal. Then again, that was in a car with drum brakes, which we all know are very sensitive, and lock up easy. I agree that more rear bite on a car with 4 wheel discs would be wise, but not on one with rear drums. Still, your suggestion has worked with others. Strange.

Take care,
-Chris

I have never Lived where there was not snow in the winter and I say get another Car/truck......
PKRWUD..(compression braking has always worked the best for me. It has never locked up the wheels.)
In a Mustang I think it would just Lock up...I dont have much realy Snow driving in my Mustang I cant get it to even move right now.
A MUST would be new Tires. next it to make sure your Brakes work right ALL 4 wheel will Lock up if you Slam on it and have some look at the tires. I have to redo My rear Brakes in my truck they did not work and it WAS not good braking. If you have a lot Of snow the best way to stop is ti lock up the wheels (if you have good tire) the tire will plow the snow and Make a pie in front of the tire. But you will not be able to Turn so let off do do that. Never get the Brakes to lock up if you are Turning and braking off the road you will go. I un like most LOVE to Drive in the Snow I look for to it And drive around Just for the heck of it if we get a Snow a storm it fun helping poeple out that have flew off the raod most of the time the poeple Panic that go off the road. Test the Braking of your car to know How long it will take you to stop a start to brake 100-50% be fore you think that you need to do it. like if you can stop in 100feet start to brake about 150-200feet from where you are trying to stop. I have never Gotten Stuck mush Only one time did I realy realy get stock and 3 others that tryed to help me out all got stuck trying to get to me well many poeple help me and the others out ad we shovled the road for they say That there was no way there coulf go any where Maybe if you have some 30in+ tires. it is hrad to tell you have to stop than it is to do it in your car not all cars will fell the same in the snow. So good Luck in a mustang I Dont every abuse my car (well not in winter :D)

The best operating pressure of a tire is not on the sidewall of a tire. That is the MAXIMUM tire pressure.

For the 12 years that I have owned my Mustang, all of my driving has been done in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. 8 of those years have included the winter. Blizzaks are the only thing you can do mechanically that will make a significant difference with your ability to brake on snow and ice. After that, experience is the only other significant factor in braking. The tip about compression braking would fall under the experience category. I wouldn't recommend getting a proportioning valve. That will only give you an opportunity to really mess up your braking ability. Braking is biased to the front for a reason.