First Chicago Winter Driving Experience
I moved to Chicago in the middle of the summer of 2004. It was a couple of before I had to consider what it would be like drive on snow and ice for the first time, so we picked up a couple of repair manuals from a used book store in Wicker Park called Myopic Books. The Chevrolet S-10 repair manual gave us a lot of advice about the items we should carry with us in the car, for safety purposes, and of course, the removal of snow and ice from the vehicle once the storm has ended. Many of these items I had to go out and buy, as one really has no need for an ice scraper. The manual suggested that the plastic ice scrapers were better than the metal ones, so we got the scraper, a small shovel for digging out the snow if you get snowed in.
The Chevrolet Silverado repair manual stated that another good idea is to put some bags of sand or rock salt in the back of the car, especially in smaller and lighter models. This serves a dual purpose. It adds extra weight to the vehicle, and should one happen to get stuck in the snow either of these things will add in getting you out. The sand will provide traction, and the salt will melt some of the snow and ice, helping to get you out much quicker than just digging alone.
One of the suggestions in the Ford Explorer repair manual was the use of snow chains, however I had a four wheel drive and my friend stated that this is not necessary for driving in the city as the snow plows were usually quick to plow the city streets. We later found out that chains are not legal to use in the city, as the roads become too damaged. In all, it was not as bad as I thought it was going be that winter. We were snowed in a few times, but that was a very uneventful winter as far as Chicago snow storms go, the next winter? That’s an entirely different story.
Related posts:
Add A Comment