Well went through a huge snow storm yesterday. It just started snowing and I am highway driving. All of a sudden my car slides a little and i gain back traction. Then few seconds later, my car slips again and I am driving on a two lane highway. The car slips and and I am sliding between to lanes sideways and heading towards the divider. I was going nuts and thinking as soon the car hits the divider at 60mph, I am going to flip over. I don't what happened, but my baby didn't give up and on me and gained back traction, enough for me to drift the car to the right to get back to normal. The thing is I was 2wd when this happened, so I turned on the 4wd.I got 5 minutes up the road, right in from cars just start crashing. The whole way I saw abandoned cars all crashed and totaled. Very Bad day.
Two question from this:1) When my car (2004 Pathfinder SE with LE luxury options included) has the 4wd wheel, im assuming I am in 2wd, is my car RWD at that time?2) When the ABS kicks in, does it lock your brakes that you can't even press, it feels like if you press it hard it will break, and just makes this weird noise where the tires spins and stop and spins again for a few second?
Pathfinder almost crashes, how did I survive it?
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pathfinder_top_gear5
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KoukiS14
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Re: Pathfinder almost crashes, how did I survive it? (pathfinder_top_gear5)
Oh man. . glad you made it out of that!! I had a similar situation back in high school with my 2wd Rodeo. . I hit a bridge and went sideways.
1) Yes. . only lesser SUVs are front wheel drive 2) Yes. . you don't want to pump the brakes like on a vehicle without them. . just press and hold. It won't break.
1) Yes. . only lesser SUVs are front wheel drive 2) Yes. . you don't want to pump the brakes like on a vehicle without them. . just press and hold. It won't break.
Re: Pathfinder almost crashes, how did I survive it? (pathfinder_top_gear5)
Firstly, congratulation for not making the number one mistake people make when they lose control of their vehicle. They panic, slam on their brakes, and ride it out. Maintaining control of your vehicle gives you the best chance of protecting yourself and others should something unforeseen occur.
1) Yep, you are in RWD when you are in 2WD which means that when your back end starts to slide, you should let off the gas and turn your wheels in the same direction that your back end is sliding. This sounds counter intuitive but think about it this way, if you are making a left turn and your rear starts to slide, you are suddenly making a VERY sharp left turn, right? To correct this, you need to compensate by turning the wheel back to the right. As the vehicle starts to come aroud, straighten it out and slowly get back on the gas.
2) When you have ABS, the noise you hear is the system pumping your brakes on and off faster than you ever could. This allows you to maintain steering while getting maximum braking effect. When you are using need full braking poer in a vehicle with ABS, just push the pedal down until they start humming and leave it there until it stops.
The best thing you can do is go to a wide open space and practice. Slowly at first, then speed it up. I would not recommend sliding around at 50mph, but get a feel for what it feel like to lose the rear end while turning at 15 or 20 and what it takes to recover. Mind, most law enforcement officers will probably not appreciate someone sliding all over a vacant parking lot. If you are doing it in a responsible manner in a wide open space and it is obvious that you are practicing, you should be able to convince them that you are a responsible driver learning how to handle your vehicle in a safe environment.
When I lived in Norway, drivers there get extensive winter driving training. In the summer, they actually have a slick course to practice on.
1) Yep, you are in RWD when you are in 2WD which means that when your back end starts to slide, you should let off the gas and turn your wheels in the same direction that your back end is sliding. This sounds counter intuitive but think about it this way, if you are making a left turn and your rear starts to slide, you are suddenly making a VERY sharp left turn, right? To correct this, you need to compensate by turning the wheel back to the right. As the vehicle starts to come aroud, straighten it out and slowly get back on the gas.
2) When you have ABS, the noise you hear is the system pumping your brakes on and off faster than you ever could. This allows you to maintain steering while getting maximum braking effect. When you are using need full braking poer in a vehicle with ABS, just push the pedal down until they start humming and leave it there until it stops.
The best thing you can do is go to a wide open space and practice. Slowly at first, then speed it up. I would not recommend sliding around at 50mph, but get a feel for what it feel like to lose the rear end while turning at 15 or 20 and what it takes to recover. Mind, most law enforcement officers will probably not appreciate someone sliding all over a vacant parking lot. If you are doing it in a responsible manner in a wide open space and it is obvious that you are practicing, you should be able to convince them that you are a responsible driver learning how to handle your vehicle in a safe environment.
When I lived in Norway, drivers there get extensive winter driving training. In the summer, they actually have a slick course to practice on.
Re: Pathfinder almost crashes, how did I survive it? (bmlawless)
Meh, the cops here don't care. They drive 2wd rear wheel drive crown vics...
They are dumb in the snow...lol, with their summer run flat tires....haha. If ur going to rob a bank, do it with 5 feet of snow and take em down an alley...
They are dumb in the snow...lol, with their summer run flat tires....haha. If ur going to rob a bank, do it with 5 feet of snow and take em down an alley...
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KoukiS14
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Re: Pathfinder almost crashes, how did I survive it? (vliou)
My dad was a state trooper, and he tried to sell me on how "dangerous" RWD is by sliding his cruiser around a corner in the snow. Pretty much sold me on how much freaking FUN it is, and since then I've never owned a FWD vehicle. . haha
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ubpsanity
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Re: Pathfinder almost crashes, how did I survive it? (KoukiS14)
That's good. I've always driven RWD vehicles in the winter, I just can't control a FWD vehicle. A RWD vehicle is just so much more predictable when things start to go wrong.KoukiS14 wrote:My dad was a state trooper, and he tried to sell me on how "dangerous" RWD is by sliding his cruiser around a corner in the snow. Pretty much sold me on how much freaking FUN it is, and since then I've never owned a FWD vehicle. . haha
In the beginning (well, in so far that the '70's were the beginning) of FWD becoming mainstream, the big 3 makes realized how much cheaper a FWD car was to make, but tried selling us on the safety aspects of a FWD vehicle. It is true, the engine sitting on top of the drive wheels, it takes more to get it to lose traction, but when it does, there's just no control.
These days, more and more RWD cars have a 50/50 weight balance, so it makes no difference. Plus with limited slip, and electronic traction controls, RWD is just as good at not losing traction.
Now, here's a question for pathfinder_top_gear5, do you know if you have the limited slip? That makes a big difference. Not sure if you do since you say you have an SE with LE options.