Want advice on YOUR driving Technique

[njmedic3306]

Here is an argument I am having with my close misguided friend. Please help me with this simple question.

If you were driving down a hill covered in snow which technique would you use. Please explain why so I can help explain this one.

1. Put the car in Neutral and carefully use the brake. (his method)

2. Put the car in first and and use the brake as little as possible. (my method)

[my65vert]

there are no hills or snow where I live in florida.
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OGJHC
Kombisutra;
I'm starting to get little wafts of bus stink coming from the north. Something about the unique scent of drivers seat padding when it's glued together with mouse piss and shit that really gets me going... and I'm smelling it! Oh yeah! Time to start loading up the equipment.

[baja5]

Putting a car in nuetral while going down a hill is always a bad idea, brakes heat up quickly and then stop working.
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[pyrOman]

[mlhsquared]

Any time that you can select a lower gear and let the engine/transmission do the work, it's usually the best way to go. Brakes lock up, which means the car skids or slides... not good. Low gear (with an appropriate amount of braking) gives you a slow, controlled descent. Ask any die-hard four wheeler about using the gearing to accomplish ascents and descents.
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Mike
'67 Ghia Coupe

[MAYHEM]

[G-wood Todd]

Colorado we have both snow and hills. As a previous school bus driver, ALWAYS use your gearing to control your speed on hills and ice.
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and take the kids for instance "Are we going in the Volkswagen bus?" and they say "Yay!" and clap their hands and if it's a glorious day you can slide the sunroof back and let a little of the glory in and all of a sudden, it stops looking funny.

-Volkswagen ad

[90Doka_Guy]

#2 on non icy pavement definitely. Although if the driver sucks at rev matching I would argue that #1 might be better on icy hills. I never coast in neutral though. Always in gear.

[rustfree1967bug]

I pretty much always let my engine slow me down when im going down hills. Going down one hill in town this winter though I had the car in either 2nd or 3rd gear and i came to a ice patch the rear rear tires started sliding. So leaving it in gear is not always the best option.
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'70 ghia
'69 ghia
'65 singlecab
'66 sunroof beetle
'74 bus
'67 so-42


IDA's...well... they talk dirty -MURZI

[iowegian]

Rustfree is right.
There is no absolute answer to the question. On extreme glare ice on a steep down grade there are instances where the lowest gear might still propel you too fast at idle. Other factors---front wheel drive or rear wheel?
ABS or traditional brakes? Standard transmission or automatic?
The bottom line is this: if it is too slippery for a driver's skill level, he should stay home.

[GREG.M]

Having driven a wrecker for 5 years, and having leared from a guy that owned the business and drove wreckers for about 45 years. He taught me to stop at the top of the hill put the vehicle in neutral and slowly release the brake pressure (foot feed not handbrake) till the vehicle begins to roll. then hold that pressure till you get to the bottom of the hill. I have used this method for about 20 some odd years in wreckers,tractor trailers, and my own personal vehicles and have never had an accident (knock on wood). His reasoning behind using this metod is if you have the car in gear and apply the brake you are both pulling (going) and stopping at the same time so you don't have control over the vehicle.

Greg

[Fish]

Sounds like a Myth Busters challenge.
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Prosit!

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# 303 and #156

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[kaiser]

hammer it 1/2 way down, when at the bottom pull the ebrake.












j/k

[djkeev]

Most cars do most of the braking with the front wheels. On the vast majority of cars, you steer with the front wheels.
On any slippery surface, be it ice, be it rain or snow, you MUST have the front wheels rotating. Non Rotating wheels do not steer a car. They just slide along straight ahead even if you have them turned at an angle.
Again, the steering wheels MUST rotate.

That being said if you are depending upon your brakes coming down a slippery hill, as soon as you touch them, the front wheels can stop rotating. No rotation, no control.

Leave the car in gear and allow the engine to brake you down.

The trouble with an automatic is that it is ALWAYS in gear and trying to go so things get a tad more difficult to control in slippery situations.

If I must slow down in a slippery situation I will take my foot off the gas and GENTLY apply the hand brake, don't lock up the wheels but drag them. This provides some braking action and also maintains steering control.

Your friend, well he is WRONG!!! and will someday regret his habit!

I'm in NJ, what's he drive so I can watch out for him?!? Then again, he isn't alone, these highways are COVERED with crazies!!!

Dave
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Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[Russ Wolfe]

With automatic's you can down shift manually.
OH, Wait, the new transmissions don't have a 2nd and low, only D N R P.
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[19super73]

Option #2. Hope your friend has good insurance.
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1970 Campmobile [url=https://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-47260.png]Click to view image[/URL]
1970 Fastback 1600 TL
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1973 Super Beetle
1973 Westfalia [url=https://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-31892.png]Click to view image[/URL]
1974 412 Variant
1975 La Grande Bug
1984 Vanagon

[Hellaslow]

[iowegian]

I have had rare occasions where I have put an automatic transmission in REVERSE and then held the vehicle back with a little throttle to keep the front wheels from locking (thus not steering). Extreme, I know, but in over fifty years as a licensed driver (some years driving upward of 75,000 miles)I have never had as much as a fender-bender.
Like I said before, there is no correct answer that fits every situation.

[Fish]

[stale air]