General 4x4 Fun in Rain and Snow

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General 4x4 Fun in Rain and Snow

doctorchris

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Had to drive over from Sunderland to Carlisle today cos my old dad had a doc coming to see him. Very wet all the way over but coming back saw a combination of floods and snow that tested the 4x4 to its limits.
First big flood was at Brampton where more than half the road was submerged, police letting only one direction through at a time. Deliberately drove through the wet bit of the road where the wusses in BMs, Audis etc had to tiptoe through on the driest bit.
Decided to take the military road as it was higher ground but quieter, hence more snow but less traffic. Great fun except for two dicey bits, one overtaking a tractor when the camber plus ice seemed to make the Panda almost irreversibly attracted to the dry stone wall, I backed off that manoeuvre. Later, on a straight stretch, which must have been icier than I thought, I had to perform a few bits of opposite lock, leftways then rightways then leftways, but no harm done.
Still, I'm home safe. Exhaust a bit noisy. Maybe one of those lumps of snow I ran over had a bit more rock than snow in it. Will need to get under the car when it's a bit drier.
Still, this is why I bought the Panda 4x4, cheap enough for me not to worry pathologically about damaging it in adverse conditions but still capable and fun.
 
Question: how did your Hankook tyres do in that rain and snow? Any better/worse than the previous Bridgestones? Did they ever see similar conditions for comparison? [- thinks - ] Maybe your answer is under the 4x4 tyres thread. Plenty of recent floods here in Herts, and Panda's been great. 4 wheel drive is great when pulling over on country lanes onto the mud/grass at the sides - a moment's slither and then the rears kick in and it just goes again! Love it :)

Pete
 
Hankooks performed as well as if not better than Bridgestones on snow and ice.
Re exhaust noise, all I found under the car was a huge lump of ice impacted around the prop shaft, inside the metal guard where the prop shaft joint is. Pulling this ice out removed the excess noise. Strange that it seems to have produced noise even when the vehicle was stationary.
 
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