Gen 4 Tyre upgrade

I don't go mad in the Jimbo and the Mrs is steadier than i am, so the winter tyres may be the way to go.
Thanks for the replies everyone.

Axholme - I sympathise with your question and it sounds to me that you do indeed know how to use the 4x4 system hence your questions rather than sticking it in 4x4 at 1st sign of poor traction and ending up with transmission lock. I have been thinking about this over the last weekend as in the NE of scotland we have had quite a lot of snow over the last week. About 7 to 8 inches level snow around about where I stay. On Friday night the wind got up and started blowing the lying snow. So what I experienced on Saturday morning was side roads completley white with lots of snow and lots of drifts so 4H engaged. However on the main roads it was black tarmac apart where the snow was blowing over the road. So I was constantly changing from 2H to 4H as I enountered the snow. Was I too cautious could I have carried on in 4H for longer maybe? I like you are paranoid amount transmission windup. So quite often left it in 2H and only when came across significant areas of all white did I engage 4H. Now I have Toya Opencountry + AT tyres and they coped very well. Not as good as winter tyres. So I would very much consider 300BHP ideas of winter tyres all year round. Gives you the grip when you really need it in the winter and summer performance is still good. It's not as if we are speaking about a high performance sports car.

Roger refers to 4H being a must for icy roads which is different to my driving. Or at least depends on definiton of icy. Black roads at minus temps could be icy and could be slippy so having AWD would be preferable however giving those circumtances I am not going to engage 4WD in the Jimny.

Had a great time over the weekend delivering essential shopping and ploughing through drifts and traveling up farm roads impassable to most. Jimny very capable in the snow.

 

Am I right in thinking that, once you're underway and moving, 4h has little effect over 2h?  Doesn't help turning or braking, so only really need to engage 4h when pulling away or if struggling up a hill?  Assuming we're only talking about tarmac and intermittent snow/ice. 

You've hit the nail on the head. It's the times when roads are icey but not covered in any form of white stuff. It's good to get other peoples opinions who are driving the same vehicle. Looks like good fun up there. our other car is a Subaru XV which is a cracking all weather motor suitable for all conditions, but i do love the Jimny. I had a gen 3 before and was really sad to see it go despite all it's faults. there's just something about them i like.

Talking about car behaviour under certain conditions will only get you so far. You cant teach a person how to do it purely in a classroom, you have to get outside and show them how it behaves in the real world. Acceleration, cornering and braking, that's it in a nutshell, and it's all to do with traction. If you have the chance drive on snow - deserted car park is ideal - and try 2 wheel and then 4 wheel drive. In 2 wd when cornering you will spend more time going straight on where as in 4wd the now driven front wheels will work at pulling you through. I can tell you how it works but you need to get out there and try it for yourself. Same effect with braking, if you use the gears to slow you down you are using all 4 wheels and that has to be better than just 2. On a dry grippy road you will get feed back through the steering but this feed back reduces as tyre grip lessens and you need to read this reduction and act accordingly. As I said earlier engaging 4wd is a simple matter so use it.

Roger

4wd should drive a lot better than 2wd in slippery conditions. It isn't just about pulling away. You should have more control at everything, including turning, slowing and stopping.