Halfway up an icy hill..

[5lab]

So, what's the general consensus about what to do in this scenario.

Driving up a hill, it starts to get rather icy, and you eventually run out of grip\momentum, so grind to a halt. Apply brakes once stationary, start sliding backwards.

Happened to me yesterday, and there are hundreds of youtubes of similar scenarios. I was fortunately on a 1 lane country road, and had just enough grip to get my rear end onto a snowbank which stopped it, but if this wasn't the case (there are loads of videos of this happening to folk in town), what do you do?

Just curious. For what its worth, the hill didn't become icy till about halfway up, presumably due to people wheelspinning to get up the slope. I was just able to slither backwards down to the foot of the hill, made it up on the second attempt (just) by using more momentum..

H

[davepoth]

That rather suggests you weren't driving for the conditions the first time. Keeping the control inputs small is everything when the roads are this bad.

[Flanders.]

If its really gone tits up. Jump out. .

[Super Slo Mo]

Just had the same scenario on a single track country lane (FWD Car). Tried to roll off backwards but the front wheels locked every time the brakes were touched, which caused the car to slew sideways.
The answer was to stick it in reverse and feather the clutch to keep the front wheels turning while the brakes were on. Worked a treat, although probably not good for the clutch in the long term.
It's a bit like doing a recovery start on a hill in a failed (stalled) offroad situation. Except I didn't have to restart the engine in gear. And kept my foot gently on the brakes.

[5lab]

davepoth said:

That rather suggests you weren't driving for the conditions the first time. Keeping the control inputs small is everything when the roads are this bad.

I'm not sure what you mean? I was driving up a hill, and grip was reduced. I reduced throttle to maintain grip, but eventually there wasn't enough momentum to get me up the hill

Are you suggesting that before every hill, a driver should stop, get out of the car, and walk up the hill to assess the grip conditions at each point? Aside from that I'm not sure what you can do? If there's not enough grip to keep a car stationary, once it is stopped, you're going down, like it or not..

[BeeRoad]

Use the off-roaders 'failed hillclimb' technique. Stomp clutch and brake to the floor, select reverse as quick as possible, lift both feet off and hopefully engine braking will lower you back down the hill at a controlled speed with no locked brakes.

Or open the sunroof and abandon ship whilst screaming like a cheerleader.

[theironduke]

BeeRoad said:

Or open the sunroof and abandon ship whilst screaming like a cheerleader.

That made me smile.

[Petrolhead_Rich]

Floor it to further polish the ice so you have a better excuse for the collision

In all seriosuness If unable to stop then I would hammer the throttle to try to "Burn Through" the ice to get a bit of grip so you could stop.

[Bungleaio]

Leave it in gear with the wheels spinning and get out and push. Once it's goined grip simple jump back in and carry on driving.

This is defiantely the best option.

[5lab]

sounds like the failed hillclimb technique is the one of choice. I think where its better for offroaders is that they have all 4 wheels under control, and a low range gearbox to allow them to reverse at low speeds. I was in the mx5 so had the same problem with front wheels locking. Had the roof down so was able to scream like a cheerleader at the local dog walker to get out the way

Sadly the road (underhill lane, sussex) isn't on google maps. To make it interesting, it has a bit of camber, and a blind right hander just before the crest, making taking a run up to the hill a bit of a gamble. Fortunately aformentioned dog walker was near the top by the time I got far enough back to have a proper runup, and was able to spot me through

[J-Tuner]

Bungleaio said:

Leave it in gear with the wheels spinning and get out and push. Once it's goined grip simple jump back in and carry on driving.

This is defiantely the best option.

You're taking the piss - right?

[redstu]

BeeRoad said:

Use the off-roaders 'failed hillclimb' technique. Stomp clutch and brake to the floor, select reverse as quick as possible, lift both feet off and hopefully engine braking will lower you back down the hill at a controlled speed with no locked brakes.

Or open the sunroof and abandon ship whilst screaming like a cheerleader.

Is the first option a real technique? It sounds reasonable.

[ShadownINja]

Bungleaio said:

Leave it in gear with the wheels spinning and get out and push. Once it's goined grip simple jump back in and carry on driving.

This is defiantely the best option.

[lauda]

Bungleaio said:

Leave it in gear with the wheels spinning and get out and push. Once it's goined grip simple jump back in and carry on driving.

This is defiantely the best option.

Not sure if you're serious or not but I don't think that is such a good idea. I refer the honourable gentleman to the following evidence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNin7QJEOZE

[FraserLFA]

J-Tuner said:

Bungleaio said:

Leave it in gear with the wheels spinning and get out and push. Once it's goined grip simple jump back in and carry on driving.

This is defiantely the best option.

You're taking the piss - right?

You missed the video then?

ETA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6yX70Ce9VY

Edited by FraserLFA on Monday 20th December 12:21

[anonymous-user]

redstu said:

BeeRoad said:

Use the off-roaders 'failed hillclimb' technique. Stomp clutch and brake to the floor, select reverse as quick as possible, lift both feet off and hopefully engine braking will lower you back down the hill at a controlled speed with no locked brakes.

Or open the sunroof and abandon ship whilst screaming like a cheerleader.

Is the first option a real technique? It sounds reasonable.

Works best with permament 4WD though.

If you stall the advice is hard on the brakes, into reverse, feet off all pedals and then start the engine, which is unnerving the first few times.

[BeeRoad]

redstu said:

BeeRoad said:

Use the off-roaders 'failed hillclimb' technique. Stomp clutch and brake to the floor, select reverse as quick as possible, lift both feet off and hopefully engine braking will lower you back down the hill at a controlled speed with no locked brakes.

Or open the sunroof and abandon ship whilst screaming like a cheerleader.

Is the first option a real technique? It sounds reasonable.

Well, it works best as mentioned with low-box and 4WD, but it's probably still the best option left on an ordinary car and better than nothing. Hopefully with the wheels turning at tickover speed you will reach the bottom at a lower speed and with more control than four locked wheels sliding.

[ajf]

J-Tuner said:

Bungleaio said:

Leave it in gear with the wheels spinning and get out and push. Once it's goined grip simple jump back in and carry on driving.

This is defiantely the best option.

You're taking the piss - right?

idiot doing this on the a3 out of london in a 6 series bmw caused over an hour tailback


Adrian

[308mate]

redstu said:

BeeRoad said:

Use the off-roaders 'failed hillclimb' technique. Stomp clutch and brake to the floor, select reverse as quick as possible, lift both feet off and hopefully engine braking will lower you back down the hill at a controlled speed with no locked brakes.

Or open the sunroof and abandon ship whilst screaming like a cheerleader.

Is the first option a real technique? It sounds reasonable.

Yep. Or you if it stalls, select reverse and start the in gear. Two things you dont weant in low grip scenario, locked wheels or the clutch. Wheels that arent turning cant influence the direction of the vehicle.

If its a diesel, just follow the instructions above. The first time you do it, it will feel strange to drive the car with neither foot on the pedal, but its the best way. And stay off the clutch. Dipping the clutch will leave you reliant on the brakes again or building up speed that neither the brakes or engine brake can correct. Stay off the pedals till you get grip back.

[RV8]

Engine braking is probably your best bet option. I'm sure you know to descend gently down a slippery hill going forward use first gear to engine brake with gentle inputs on the brake pedal so as the thing doesn't run away with you because if the car starts to travel faster than the gearing can turn the wheels they effectively lose all traction anyway. It's the same principal for your scenario going in reverse I guess, although admittedly at the time you are slipping backwards the instinct isn't always to put it into reverse gear and accept you have no choice but go backwards.