today is my first short workday in AGES, i was so excited. and i ended up parked facing downhill on a sheet of ice. i only noticed there was a problem when the car kept going after i hit the park button. (at least that gave me enough warning so that i didn't end up on my nice person when i stepped out of the car.) of course, the pre-emptive get out of there approach failed miserably, the car will not go uphill. and it will not be warm enough for the ice to melt before i want to leave fortunately, DH is home today and he's going to bring some sand when i'm ready to go. DH always manages to save the day. i guess i gotta get used to the winter shortcomings of the car.
Yes, its possible to get stuck in my Ford Explorer with full time 4wd. I don't think it would fair much better than the Prius starting off on a sheet of ice, except that it has better tires.
Here is another option. Get two rolls of non-slip shelve liner from Dollar Tree or auto store. The kind that has square holes like a checker board. Slide them under the drive wheels between the ice and it would work just as good as sand.
My Prius would have had no trouble on that hill. Of course, my Prius has aggressive studded winter tires shod right now. Short of studded tires, I really don't see how any vehicle would have made it up an icy hill. Before I left last week on a business trip, I thought I'd take the FJ to that logging trail that they put in around 10 km north of my hobby farm. There are some steep ravines and we had had a brief touch of freezing rain a few days before. They were not logging when I went in As soon as I nosed the FJ down the first ravine, I knew I was in deep s***: it just slid right down, even with the thing in 4L and 1. I have Toyo Open Country G-02 Plus studless winter tires, but they would only let me get about half way up before spinning. It wouldn't slide back down, but it also wouldn't go any further I now get to the *real* reason I went in there. My two cats put out awesome amounts of cat manure, so I have a lot of used cat litter and cat manure to dispose of. I had a 20 litre gear oil pail stuffed to the brim with cat scat and litter. So, what the hell, I took out the pail and sprinkled the cat scat and cat litter in two tracks to match each side of the FJ. Had no problem creeping up the hill in 4L and 1, and I honestly can't tell you if cat manure or cat litter is a better traction aid: I think they both contributed equally So mission accomplished. I got rid of a huge amount of cat manure, and managed to get out of that situation. The loggers had no trouble getting out as they run chains on their skidders and pickups. Don't worry, we've had a couple of blizzards since then, so nobody will be the wiser. Until Spring and everything starts to melt. I can imagine the conversation they have "Gee-zus Cah-rist what the hell is that STINK?!" "I do not know ... did you step in some s***?" "I don't think so, let me look ..... Gee-zus Cah-rist!" Hehehehehehehe
Is this thread going off-topic? I think I have noticed a pattern with the off-topic threads. :madgrin:
Well, I thought it was going off the rails, but Jayman linked cat poop to winter traction, so it really was still on topic. Now I'm wondering if it is a special case of the Heisenberg uncertainty principal - by observing the direction of the thread, you influence the direction of the thread.
lol, guys! i would carry a bag of sand back home where it actually gets cold now and then. but down here, this is pretty unusual for things to actually freeze. so i've got nothing and got stuck at work. don't even ask about trying to find some windshield washer fluid that can withstand freezing temps... at least i did have a few extra things i could do today. so maybe if i stick around for another hour of sun shining down i can get out without making DH come save me. :lol:
Don't you have any surplus lab chemicals just laying around? They won't miss that bag of Cobalt Chloride.
Well, in all fairness, NC really isn't equipped for that sort of weather. Like how London - indeed most of the UK - had that weird blizzard and heavy snowfall, and the entire city shut down. The BBC went so far as to contact Mayor Sam Katz, the spunky little mayor of Winnipeg, to ask for advice As usual, Katz was very diplomatic and pointed out that Winnipeg's winter operations budget is tens of millions of dollars. He also pointed out that Ottawa receives a lot more snow than Winnipeg does. In the case of London, I wonder how the beleaguered taxpayer there would react to a special order for tens of millions of dollars of snow removal lorries? To meet weather conditions that might happen once every 25 years? It would be like Winnipeg suddenly investing tens of millions of dollars into hurricane preparedness aids. However, Winnipeg has recently reinforced the Floodway system, that was a smart move
