Going backwards at speed on ice.

Like many of you i have been out in the snow and ice. I would like to know the best Method of control when you loose traction up hill on ice,and start going backwards, i was trained to put it in reverse,feet off pedals,so you can steer, but is this the best way?????
Thankou.

Paul harris said:

Like many of you i have been out in the snow and ice. I would like to know the best Method of control when you loose traction up hill on ice,and start going backwards, i was trained to put it in reverse,feet off pedals,so you can steer, but is this the best way?????
Thankou.

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When it happened to me I could gain no control at all and had to jump out of the car just before it launched off of the road and smashed into a tree.

Jumping out of a car going backwards is difficult to do. Practice it and you'll be fine.

Paul harris said:

Like many of you i have been out in the snow and ice. I would like to know the best Method of control when you loose traction up hill on ice,and start going backwards, i was trained to put it in reverse,feet off pedals,so you can steer, but is this the best way?????
Thankou.

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With out ABS your method sound like it would work

hi not much help but charlie boorman had a simular experience in africa this week on ch5 nissan patrol 7 up sliding back down the mountain track there driver kept the loud pedal depressed to the floor and slid back till they gained traction or hit somthing solid if it was me i would have jumped out. check it out Charley Boorman's South African Adventure - Charley Boorman's South African Adventure: Series 1 - Episode 2 - YouTube

Jumping out? Really?

goonarmy said:

Jumping out? Really?

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Really. No steering and no braking and a steep mountain road that had a near right angle turn at the bottom. I would have been severely injured or died had I stayed in the vehicle.

It was quite an adrenaline rush. To this day I remember trying to gain control and realizing that it was impossible and making the decision to jump. And I remember landing on the icy road sliding on my belly feet first and looking over my shoulder as the car launched of the road into a big aspen tree making a massive crashing sound, but I don't remember the jump itself. It was like I went from being in it to being out of it with nothing in between.

West Slope Rover said:

It was like I went from being in it to being out of it with nothing in between.

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Sounds romantic!

put difflock in you will get up the icy hill

Not sure difflock is always going to get you out of trouble?

Lane from Stokenchurch to Crowell (ok - so it had a road closed sign....) was polished to a glass finish under a powdering of snow. Headed down, I had escape route planned into the verge, and used it. Back end just swung round and downhill on its own. Headed back up 2 low diff locked on tickover, but eventually just slid back. Couple of pirouettes later lined it up on verge and crawled down to find a sandwich of Dsco with trailer, transit, with the filling a Police 4x4!!

Inched past without sliding into them - got down in one piece, but no difflock rescue uphill there. Fun though! A

[but of course once you are sliding then engage the gear appropriate to the direction of travel (!) and get the wheels up to speed to stand any chance of grip - locked on the brakes or going the other way they'll slide all the better I'm sure!]

be prepaird to possibly get run over by your own landy if you jump out while going backwards.. and 2.5 ton is going to hurt.

RobertOHare said:

be prepaird to possibly get run over by your own landy if you jump out while going backwards.. and 2.5 ton is going to hurt.

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Would be an interesting coversation to the old bill and insurance company

Me and my Navara had a similar problem two years ago, I was heading up a private road which had a steep gradient and it lost traction. I went to select 4wd which I should of been in to start with an my nav took off backwards it seemed I was on sheet ice, I would sum it up that I **** myself at first but then I put it into low range whilst still sliding backwards and put it into 2nd redlined it and dropped the clutch, it finally found some grip and managed to climb the hill.

My judgement was my tyres were rubbish for winter driving, I had some Marshal KL17 on which are like a high performance 4x4 tyre they are good in summer but snow and ice they were no good. I run General AT2 in winter but had just took them off the week before as it was in March but we got a surprise showering of snow.

I now run a BMW X5 and have a set of winter tyres which work wonders this one of the year!

Hold on Navara.....X5...... Am I still on the right forum?

The X5 is daft.

So is the X1, the X3 and the truly cretinous X6.

I haven't seen any around for at least a week.

Lets hope the snow kills them off. I don't think I've ever seen one driven nicely. Seem to think they own the road and new flash motors don't seem to come with indercators anymore.

The X5 is quality I'd call it a reliable RR and the indercators work but I let my misses use it while I run around in my 86' ragtop 90. I'd rather use my 90 any day but a 360bhp X5 still makes me smile and is great for the school run!

945823 said:

The X5 is quality I'd call it a reliable RR and the indercators work but I let my misses use it while I run around in my 86' ragtop 90. I'd rather use my 90 any day but a 360bhp X5 still makes me smile and is great for the school run!

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You must be bloody joking!! In what way is an X5 in any way equivalent to a Range Rover???

Haha thought that would get someone biting!

Obviously you've never had the pleasure of driving a X5

945823 said:

Haha thought that would get someone biting!

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Fair one - you got me! I knew you couldn't be serious.

aint X5's got LSD in the back?