[SGVLUG] OT: Snow

[Dustin]

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005, Jean Chen wrote:

> Thanks for the advice everyone!  This is really helpful.  No, I don't
> have anywhere to store extra tires.

When I was a student there was some dorm storage, if you asked.  There
might be a place to put a set of snow tires, universities do adapt a bit
to local needs.  For example, at Montana State you could check your
hunting rifle in and out at the dorm front desk, and there was a really
top-notch DIY automotive shop that had its own parts store and the room to
rebuild a dozen cars at once.  As staggering as it may seem here, those
were a definite necessity for a Western University with a large
agriculture department. :-)  I'd think snow tires would be a bit of a
necessity in Chicago, so it's worth asking.

> I'll go double-check soon.  If there's any more snow around than that,
> I'll take the bus or stay home!

Do go out driving when you're not in any hurry so you get the practice.  
And try sliding around a parking lot.  As Chris says, it's actually tons 
of fun (just don't wrap your car around a light pole).

> My friend who gave me a lot of specific advice said I should put
> cinder blocks in my trunk to help the handling.  What do you guys
> think?

If it's rear-wheel drive, *definitely* get some weight back there, but
take Chris' suggestion of some dual-use sand.  I've owned two RWD cars and
RWD sucks in the snow as much as it is superior everywhere else.  Some RWD
cars are worse with chains on the rear than a FWD car without any chains,
because the front tires plough and the car becomes unsteerable.  Light RWD
pickups are usually helpless without weight because the rear axle is so
lightly loaded.  Chains for all four tires are a good investment for a RWD
vehicle that will see a lot of snow just so you can steer, and also so you
can stop (since the front does more work than the rear in braking.  A FWD
car can usually get by with just front chains and does better than the 
RWD with all four.

> also good, even though there is no gravel.  I've heard about going
> real fast and then pulling the emergency brake.  But who knows?   :)

If you do this with enough speed, or a slippery enough surface, to break
the rear tires loose, the car will spin end-for-end *very* rapidly.  
Great fun if you intended to do that, really amazingly scary and dangerous
if you didn't.

Hmm, I wonder if that is still true?  It used to be true because the 
emergency brake locked the rear wheels only.  I'm not sure that is still 
true for FWD cars.

> Dustin, Eric can see snow fall in Big Bear.

Yeah, that's where I got the 4Runner stuck so we needed all four chains to 
get her out. :-)  Partly that was because it doesn't have locking 
differentials--I may retrofit them, but they're expensive.  There is no 
substitute for them in snow and ice, though.

> we hardly ever went up there and I never saw it fall.  Immigrating
> from a tropical island probably didn't help!

I can see that. :-)

> weather.  He'll have to be toughened up by the hard days of 82 degree
> sunshine in the dead of February.  Tragic!

His grandma called a couple of days ago and mentioned that it was 
"starting to get chilly."  I mentioned it was in the 80's, and she said it 
is still fairly warm, in the 40's.  I never get any sympathy from up 
there. :-)

> floor on the inside corner of the T, and every 20 minutes or so the
> building would shudder like a giant garbage truck was pulling up to
> it.  That was pretty wild.

I wonder if that's why the call it "The Windy City"? :-)

> One more confession: radiators fascinate me too.

Oh, man.  I forgot about steam heat.  I didn't live in a steam-heated
house and I never liked it much, but I guess now that I haven't seen it
for years it seems sort of nostalgic.

> I'm going to be in Los Angeles over winter break but I'm flying in
> December 11 so I'm going to miss the meeting :(

I guess we should just have a party or something.

Dustin