Car sliding down driveway!

Ste7en

Our driveway is on a bit of a gradient, nothing too bad. 10 - 15 degrees.

Tonight with all the snow, slush & ice our car has slipped down the driveway twice. Pretty scary stuff!

Our old car never done this. Ever. Despite how much snow & slush was on the drive.

I suspect it is the tyres. What do you think? The handbrake is fine.

The tyres are new but they are cheap 'summer' tyres (apparently). I have it booked in next week for x2 all season tyres for the front.

Anyone else ever experienced this before? I've been out and cleared & salted the driveway twice tonight. It is thawing fast now as well.

noiseboy72

I assume you are leaving it parked in 1st gear? If it's front wheel drive, you now have 4 wheels braked. Even with a rear wheel drive car, it still helps, as it locks the wheels quite solidly.

Do check the handbrake is properly applied. I doubt very much it's the tyres - unless you are running on slicks!! The cold weather may have seized up part of the mechanism and it's not applying as well as it might.

rousetafarian

Invest in some chocks

gg13533

Invest in grit

Greg Hook

Mine has done this a couple of times.
Woke up one morning to find it halfway in the road and another time it did it as we were just getting out!

If it's snowy, which is rare here, I’ll leave it on the flat part of the drive.

mjn

Do some / all of the following;

Leave car in first gear
Turn wheels depending on slope and if you have a kerb
Use wheel chocks
Grit / salt your drive
Clear snow where possible

Monty Nine

Updated

Ste7en

Thanks guys. We had been out and when we got back it was really bad (pitch black, strong winds, bitterly cold and horizontal sleet). We parked up and got in the house as quickly as possible.

My daughter came in shortly after and asked why the car was halfway down the drive. I assumed (wrongly) that the Mrs hadn't put the handbrake on correctly. So I went out and pulled the car up the drive and locked it up. Ten minutes later it was down the bottom again.

I went out with a snow shovel and cleared where we park. Pulled the car up, put the handbrake on and put it into gear. I then went out and salted the driveway.

I think it was due to the compacted ice on the tyres and the driveway. The car just couldn't get a hold. Clearing the drive seems to have done the trick, but as I said it was really stormy so we didn't get a chance to clear it.

It didn't feel like the car was getting much grip as I was driving so we are getting two new tyres fitted next week (Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2).

BTW no 'flat' at the bottom of our drive either

Ste7en

My Dad's house overlooks a steep bank in the same village and when I rang him he said cars were struggling to get up the bank all night. He ended up turning off the TV and opening the blinds and watching them instead.

No snow at all here now! But I'll be off out soon to Halfords to buy some grit.

The first time we have parked on the drive in snow. I'm usually out clearing it.

mjn

I would’ bother with the handbrake when parking on a slope. I’d just leave it in gear. In gear, the wheels will not be turning.