Extra weight in the boot?
Discussion
Never understood this one.
My Dad used to do this with a couple of big sandbags and it made his Cortinas handle terribly in the snow and ice as the increased inertia would make it drift easily and they would just bog down in the snow and spin the wheels trying to move the extra weight.
Helped a few stuck cars in the carpark at work to get moving by getting the passengers out the vehicle so it could drive onto some cleared surface.
My Corvette normally has no problem in snow, but once loaded with logs (big load capacity on an '87 coop), its much more of a handful.
My Dad used to do this with a couple of big sandbags and it made his Cortinas handle terribly in the snow and ice as the increased inertia would make it drift easily and they would just bog down in the snow and spin the wheels trying to move the extra weight.
Helped a few stuck cars in the carpark at work to get moving by getting the passengers out the vehicle so it could drive onto some cleared surface.
My Corvette normally has no problem in snow, but once loaded with logs (big load capacity on an '87 coop), its much more of a handful.
Most front-engined cars have comparatively little weight over the rear wheels, so adding extra weight in the boot of a RWD car will aid traction by pushing the driven tyres harder onto the road. The main reason that FWD cars are generally seen as 'better' in slippery conditions is because they have the weight of the engine and gearbox pushing down directly over the driven wheels. This is also the reason why 911s and old Beetles have such good traction with the engine in the boot.
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