Wet clay/mud/snow

[maliyanjourney Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close maliyanjourney]

We recently had a few dumps of snow in the mountains nearby and I took the chance to head up in the 150 GX. I'm comfortable in most situations but for some reason felt overly cautious up the on the muddy icy wet slush as it's just unfamiliar. Surface was hard (well used) clay fire trail with sections where the snow had melted leaving up to half an inch of muddy slush over the hard slippery red clay. I saw lots of blokes just gunning it around, mainly just with A/Ts like me, but i found myself slowing right down into corners, especially with any kind of camber away from the direction of the corner for fear of lateral sliding, an unusual paranoia but at least a few times i felt it shifting before easing off the juice.

I know it's a bit of a gumby question but am i just being overly paranoid? I was quite happy plodding along, but then having my rear vision mirror filled with impatient buggers in rigs not dissimilar to my own whizzing past i reckon either I'm just not confident enough or there's something else I need to be doing. Tyre pressure is an obvious one but I didn't see anyone else stopping to pressure up or down on the edge of the bitumen. Higher gears in low range made me more comfortable but seemed overkill.

Tips appreciated.

[VKPrado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close VKPrado]

What ever made you comfortable and got you home safely is always a good start.

[Spilsy Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Spilsy]

Your tale sounds like mine - the cautious I dont want to break anything type. Theres no reason to compare yourself with others. As above, do what you feel comfortable with. Confidence will build (as mine has) and you'll know exactly where your (and the car's) limits are.

[Fred63 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fred63]

X2 There Spilsy.

"do what you feel comfortable with" great advise
This is the first thing the trainer with our 4WD club says on the training days.

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Always take caution when doing something unfamiliar. Know your limits and stick to them. Don't let others pressure you to do anything different to what you feel comfortable with. It takes many hours of driving on different surfaces to feel confident at pushing the limits of what you would normally do. Its usually the ones that thinks its all too easy that either end up with an insurance claim or worse a hospital visit. Just enjoy driving your rig.

Doug

[maliyanjourney Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close maliyanjourney]

Thanks all. Advice wise and appreciated! Good to have my suspicions confirmed. But in order to attempt to boost my confidence / abilities... Any specific thoughts on best gear range, tyre inflation etc? Ta!

[RBJET Member Find all posts View Profile Close RBJET]

Definitely let your pressures down if you're still on road pressure. Even if it's only to 30psi, it will still make for a more comfortable controlled ride.

[Spilsy Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Spilsy]

+1 on the tyre pressure. 20-30 PSI will be your friend.

[Black 150 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Black 150]

Can't be too careful, lower tyre pressure and slow down.

Don't end up like this wally.

[Nightwolve Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nightwolve]

The Prado is quite well known for a bit of understeering and is additionally heavyweight, which makes turns and going downhill on especially warm/wet snow sometimes a bit unhandy and uncomfortable. Ice is quite similar, but slushy snow is the worst. I've been driving my Prado for 3 winters (that makes about 12 months here) now in the german alps and I'm still not the fastest of all on roads with many turns and curves. I rode a E36 BMW before, with that car I was one of the fastest and best driving on snowy and icey roads - because I can handle oversteering much better than understeering and it handles much more directly than a Prado does and is much lighter. Everyone else is surprised about that and doesn't understand, they think the Cruiser should handle better in snow.

What I want to say: There are many things that can make driving in these conditions uncomfortable. If you hate understeering like me, it's better to go a bit slower before turns. Do not hesitate to use low range when it's slushy and you go down a steep hill, it helps you challenging the next turn after the dip :-D Do not underestimate the weight of the Prado.

As mentioned, tire pressures and tires thenselves are very important too. Wider tires do not work well on warm snow, you begin to swim instead of steering and braking. On ice and cold snow on the other hand they can be an advantage. On ice (and in winters generally) MTs are really dangerous, an AT with a fine structured (but still open) pattern grips much better - but even by far not as good as a proper winter tire.
The tires are your only contact to the ground - so everything depends on them. Eg. the Goodyear Duratracs and BFG ATs are pretty well known for working relatively fine in winter.

AND: Everything that makes you feel comfortable is the way to go, do not care about others. You can pull them out when they crash because of their wrong driving habits afterwards ;-)

Regards
Sven

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

Some people aren't overly bothered about panel damage, so the risk of sliding off road isn't as much a big deal. In fact it's potential fun for them - the resulting spinning to get out or winching.

I don't like panel damage, so I'm careful in mud and use chains for ice/snow.