hows your bx in the snow

[kiwi]

my bx has been awsome in the snow n ice gone where next doors shogun coudn't just by lifting it up a notch n high gear low revs,mind u in n/a diesel is there any other revs lol

The thing to remember about the BX is that it is a lightweight body, this can have advantages and disadvantages over any 4wd super vehicle.
This really does surprise and stun people who do not drive a BX when your lowly french dinosaur crusies past them as they weeve and slide to stay in control.

Same was said about the 2CV with its bicycle thin wheels and high ground clearance it is a beast in the snow as well.

I took great pleasure in cruising past a cop in a Holden V8 commodore who was struggling to keep the car on the road. He was going to stop me but the pair of overalls and yellow helmet was my passport to be on a piece of road they declared dangerous because some twit in a 4wd had overtaken a bus and commited a 180 turn tailfirst into a ditch at the side of the road

It was quite amusing when they closed the road because they blocked the ski area staff buses from going along the road to the ski area access road because they said it was dangerous. I mean the road to the ski area are often covered in snow and er guess who is more experianced on snow and ice? yep a Ski Area Bus Driver....lol. All because some tosser in a 4wd who rarely sees snow lost it!!!

Gosh I am so out of sync with the joys of winter driving

[mat_fenwick]

The car did the rest (thanks to the natural forward creep of the automatic) and I was on my way

The auto box does help traction, and a trick I've found if one wheel has grip but the other doesn't is to apply the handbrake slightly. You will slow the pinning wheel, and hopefully divert some drive to the wheel with traction. Has got me out of mud before!

Sorry to hear about your prang Phil - glad it wasn't worse and hope you get things sorted satisfactorily.

[citsncycles]

Same was said about the 2CV with its bicycle thin wheels and high ground clearance it is a beast in the snow as well.

I have to say that the best vehicle I've ever driven snow has been my Dyane. Of course to get the best out of one you really need 3 friends in the car with you. That way if it gets stuck you can just take a corner each and lift it over the difficult bits .

[kiwi]

The auto box does help traction, and a trick I've found if one wheel has grip but the other doesn't is to apply the handbrake slightly. You will slow the pinning wheel, and hopefully divert some drive to the wheel with traction. Has got me out of mud before!

In the dull years before returning to BX ownership I had a 1500cc Auto korean Opel Astra, it handled really well on the snow then again it did not have the torgue to spin the wheels either

One trick I use with the Auto boxs is to select the lowest gear on my Bus thats L but then thats because I got to descend from 1600m to 1000m on 7km of winding mountain road and the last thing I want to do is touch the brakes

Then again the last thing you want to do no matter what the gearbox is to touch the brakes

5 tonne automatic bus is no fun in the snow even with snow chains, give me bigger with a real gearbox and engine braking and I am a pig in mud

All comes down though to the drive as well! Some people simply can not drive in the snow!!!

[Mothman]

I have about 12 ins of snow in my part of Sussex and ime afraid no way would i take a BX or any 2wd vehicle out in it. I have seen so many bloody eejits out and about these past few days driving when they should be tucked up in bed or somewhere warm.
You cannot beat a good 4x4 in conditions like this but dont drive fast thats all. I am having great fun in it, especially helping a lot of neighbours who cant get out and about.

Andy

[kiwi]

Slap a set of chains on and even your BX will out drive your 4x4

Of course it also depends on the amount of snow and the water denisty in the snow, a lower moisture content nean fluffy snow that cause few problems but more moist (sticky snow) means its heavy and builds up on the underside and wheels archs.

Then there the problem of black ice under the compacted snow. Thats when any vehicle really will be challenged even with chains! The big advantage with chains is it "should" keep your speed down.

4mm of snow can been worse than several inches of snow because of the ice factor.

[jacksun1987]

Just remenber somthing, The bx hand break is at the frount wheels. So if you had the car where it wonte store. Could you keep easing the break to spin the wheels slowly. When i had mine stuck. With nothing on my accerater. The wheels was still turning fast. So if you slowed the wheels down. Would there be more chance of getting the car free.

[kiwi]

Please clarify Jacko is your BX an Auto Box or manual?

[docchevron]

It's a manual turbo diesel.

Rather than using the handbrake to slow the wheels and probably stall it, you'd be better off with very sensitive clutch control, or try pulling away in second gear.

[electrokid]

Having seen the forecast I put the snow tyres on early last week - not driven on snow tyres before so yesterday I went out to find out how good they are and where there limitations are.

Our little bit of road is private - so it doesn't get any work done on it so theres a worn out bit and a dip just as it meets the main road - and in the snow that gets compacted, freezes, and stops people getting any traction there on the slight slope. Even in the BX on Michelins I needed a push on one occasion there - before I made the decision to clear any snow from that area as soon as it fell.

I left that area snowy this year - a neighbour had problems getting out - an ex police driver he always takes the car out whatever the weather so that spot was definitely iced up - the BX with its snow tyres just went straight across without any wheelspin

I took to a single track country road with a hill looking for the skiddy stuff and found some sheet ice - wiggling the steering showed there was the possibility of sliding but generally it was very good. However in front of me was a Citroen white van - and in front of him on the hill was a horse and rider taking things very slowly and the van had to stop and couldn't get going again - so I had to stop as well. Initially I had wheelspin but leaving the wheels spinning at very low revs they finally found grip and got going but the van was not so lucky. Trying to help the van driver by chipping the ice around the driving wheels I broke my plastic snow shovel but then it's not designed for that so mea culpa. I figured it would be a good idea to keep a garden hoe in the car for chipping away at compacted ice. Eventually the van had to reverse back down to level road and take another route leaving the BX to take the hill without any problems.

I wanted to check the fuel consumption having filled to the brim last week (and spilt some on the forecourt) with the new fangled Shell diesel - the mileage on fillup was exactly 207,000 so that was easy to remember - the red light had been on for a few miles and it took 10.5 gallons so I figure I have the 11 gallon tank. Driving in the snow was going to screw up fuel consumption + leaving the car running for 10 minutes before driving (with the car locked using the spare key of course) wasn't going to help either - I still had some 8 gallons left but I wanted to keep the tank full - there's the extra weight and if you really get stuck you've always got warmth from the excellent BX heater. At the pump I found the lock barrel on the filler cap had frozen and I didn't have any de-icer with me.

Finding some other country roads the snow tyres performed very well - at one point there was an oncoming truck and not enough room so I reversed onto a rough grass verge covered in about 7 inches of snow to let him pass - driving off again without any loss of grip

So the conclusions... though they do have their limits they are excellent on fresh snow and loosely covered compacted snow. They will let go on ice (no real surprise there) but will eventually grip. It's very easy to become complacent on ice because directional control is still very good which can give a false impression of how much stopping power there is at icy junctions but they resond very well indeed to pumping the brakes to get traction - nearly embarrased myself at one junction but pumping saved the day

[Defender110]

What brand / type did you get Brian?

[electrokid]

I followed the advice of the tyre place I use and bought Vredestein Snowtrac 3. Checked their website and they seem to do well at the annual snow races so that confirmed the choice. Found reasonable prices at a company called Tyremen - I think they're in Glasgow from memory so they were mail order then get the local guys to fit them. I collected some BX wheels during the year and had them shot-blasted. I wasn't happy with one I had powder coated - the gap between the 2 halves of the wheel had some 'holidays' so I painted the remaining 4. So the snow tyres went onto reconditioned wheels which might give me the chance to refurb the ones that are now off the car.

[jacksun1987]

Mines taking ages to pump up. Could this be the cold as the oil is thicker. It 5 mins last night. From work i had to drive it pumped down for a bit. Then i stopped it to phone my grandad, Then it went back up.

I should be ok now got it all sorted out the suspansion. Took it to bullwinkles. But its pumping up very slow since this cold weather started. Hope it is the cold not anything else.

[scarecrow]

Hi Paul - are you saying the suspension is pumping up slowly since you had the hydraulics serviced/repaired?

If so, I would immediately take it back to your mechanic as there may be a problem resulting from this recent work.

[jacksun1987]

Bloody spun my car today. Then got it stuck. Its a manual. I was only doing 20 to 25 when it happerned. Luckly it was to bad. Its better putting the hand brake on. It stops fater and with out the frount wheels skinding. But its hard todo as your brain reacts. by putting the foot on the brake.