I used to store my winter tires at my parents home when I had a 350z a few years ago. One year, ice came early and the day I went to put the tires on, I had to go up their driveway which was barely 5 degrees. It was one hell of an experience, the car would keep going sideways, I had to take a huge risk by rolling all the way back down to the street and gaining speed on the street before going up the driveway (i.e. risking to hit one of the post between the two garage doors...

As others have said, summer tires and ice do not work period.

What i don't understand is, will you be going downill or uphill at 15 degrees?

If it is downhill, you should just rolll down at very very slowly letting go of the brake gently each time.
If it is uphill then it all depends on stuff like ground clearance and obstacles on the end of driveway. If there is nothing to hit and you have good ground clearance, you should gain speed while inside the garage...

BUT, if you don't make it, at 15 degrees, you stand the chance of sliding back into your garage walls etc

I would buy lots of road salt and gravel bags, this stuff not only melts the ice, regardless of shade or not, but the little pieces of gravel help with traction...

And finally, don't do it unless you absolutely must. Its not worth the risk

 

I can only tell you this. When I bought my C4 in 2000 I had summer tires on it. Went out in the first snow storm because I had to get somewhere, big mistake!! Getting going was not to bad, but stopping or turning was dangerous. Wnet about 1 mile and decided to turn back. On the way back I had to go down a hill, maybe 10 degrees or so. I went very slowly, with maybe 1/2 inch of snow on the ground, no ice as it was about freezing out. Kept it to 5-10 mph on the hill. Came to a stop sign and put on the brakes, heard the ABS as I slid, and slid, and slid, and slid, right thru the stop sign, maybe 150-200 feet, barely slowed down. Lucky there was no cross traffic.

Drove it home, parked it in the garage, called Tire Rack and ordered a set of snow tires mounted on wheels, the car did not move again until the new wheels and tires were on.

My advice, don't do it!!!

 

Last year when I had all wheel drive and all season tires, I came upon a bridge where there were a pile up. I slowly crawl into the bridge at like 2-5 mph (the speedo shows 0) and suddenly I realized the pileup was due to the fact that the bridge, and where I am driving, was iced over. I hit the brake and then just slid for about 30-40 feet and right before I came to a stop I went side ways.

On a hill, you are going to slide from top to bottom and you will only stop if you hit something or the ground flattens out.

 

Yikes. Thanks guys...especially for the creative replies and suggestions on driving technique. Tomorrow morning, If it still looks like a "Porsche Luge" disaster, I'll wait until I have more sand.

I wish I had winter tires! @#$@# . Drats!!!

 

I've had the misfortune of experiencing that with an S4 with summer tires. The car was like a sled on the ice with the tires completly frozen up, they were like plastic... I had gotten that S4 late in the winter and I assumed it wouldn't snow again. But it DID only 3-4cms... exactly like u said, getting going no problem with AWD, steering and braking that was whole different story.

 

You might need a camera crew to get the whole experience on film. One shot needs to be a close up of the drivers face. Audio would be nice too. Have a clean pair of skivvies handy.
Good Luck and may the Force Be with You!!

 

Update? Video?

 

I made a similar attempt at driving my car down a steep sloped driveway a few years back. But it was mainly due to ignorance when I moved from L.A. to Chicago.

BTW, If you get the car down the slope successfully, do you plan on getting it back up without the winter tires?

 

Is this a trick question ? They say there is no such thing as a dumb question. Well, they obviously hadn't heard this one yet...

 

So...no video, calls to AAA, or soiled drawers...but here is what happened:

Going down, while facing forward - the back end swung sideways during feather breaking, and I skidded down to the (bone dry) street. (If the street was iced,too..I woudn't have tried this). I got it back up with some extra effort.

For giggles, I turned the car around and went down backwards.... having all the weight in front, helped keep a straighter line (much like those nerf-dart football things).

Verdict: It hanlded like a bull on ice skates in both directions. Dadio might be right. In preparation for winter...

I'm getting 18" snows.
I'm having extra sand delivered.
The flat bed # will be programmed into my phone.
.and I'll need to convince my wife to get her a Cayanne with a winch (my favorite suggestion).

 

Hey - Are you knocking the sillycrosse events? Popping ballons while at 10mph in reverse is an extremely valuable skill!!! You never know when you'll need to drive away from terrorists dressed as clowns who are also driving in reverse.

Actually, I have an opposite issue- I currently have a long steep grade of an icy driveway. But my house is lower than the street. I've been doing it in reverse 365/2 x year for a number of years.

A buddy of mine thought it would be fun to include something like this in a winter autocross event. (big terrain differences, departure angles, backward...and pop ballons without running over cones.) I did a Jeep off-road event years ago... but it was in the spring mud. (backwards, mud, cones, horse flies,...was huge fun... maybe this should be included in a Cayenne event. Not enough Porsche drivers get their cars dirty enough.)

There is something true about the weight distribution (The nerf rocket has a little to do with weight...but more to do with aerodynamics). "Forward only" is neither the best nor only solution. When in reverse on my slope, I just work the clutch and dont' jam on the breaks...or I'll end up sliding into my living room. The back-end wieght over the axle definitely assists. (Once a week, I move a 100gal garbage can w/ 2 axles up and down my driveway - The same principle applies to our $100,000 cars.)

 

Actually, I'm not. It's another form of play with our cars, and such activities are how we learn "what happens if I do this?" in a low-risk environment. Skills I learned forty years ago in such events still come back to help now and then, because they teach our subconscious what to expect in unusual maneuvers. You can't do high-speed problem solving in critical situations if you're preoccupied with absorbing new sensations.

I've been in at least five life-critical emergencies in cars and planes that come to mind off the top of my head. In each case, the training I had done in vehicle-familiarization ahead of time saved our lives.

Besides, they're fun.

P.S. Uh... you only manage ten miles per hour in reverse for the balloon breaking? Tsk, tsk.

 

I agree..was just kidding about the autocross stuff. If you can master those skills, then certainly better understand both C&D capabilities.


BTW - Care to list the 'critical' car scenarios you mentioned and how your learnings enabled you to avoid disaster? Maybe post a new thread, c'est nes pa? This might have high value for new drivers.

When I was younger I could probably have popped serpentine ballons in revese at 20mph...but I doubt I can still do it at that speed.


Originally Posted by RyanJ
Hey - Are you knocking the sillycrosse events? Popping ballons while at 10mph in reverse is an extremely valuable skill!!! You never know when you'll need to drive away from terrorists dressed as clowns who are also driving in reverse.
Actually, I'm not. It's another form of play with our cars, and such activities are how we learn "what happens if I do this?" in a low-risk environment. Skills I learned forty years ago in such events still come back to help now and then, because they teach our subconscious what to expect in unusual maneuvers. You can't do high-speed problem solving in critical situations if you're preoccupied with absorbing new sensations.

I've been in at least five life-critical emergencies in cars and planes that come to mind off the top of my head. In each case, the training I had done in vehicle-familiarization ahead of time saved our lives.

Besides, they're fun.

P.S. Uh... you only manage ten miles per hour in reverse for the balloon breaking? Tsk, tsk.

 

I'm not a winter driver, but I've been told that you can lower the tire pressure enough to get some grip on ice/snow with summer tires..????

 

Heh heh. Let me just be clear here. You're asking an old man if he'd like to tell war stories about his favorite cars in battle?

Ben sūr, mon ami.