First time driving in snow!!!!!
 

It couldn't get any better! Another REALLY rare event happened in southern California today! It snowed in the high desert!!!!!

I appreciate the reply's to my previous thread and I didn't get a chance to reply yet, was so excited to tell you all about this, although as fun as those slides were I probably won't be doing anymore anytime soon because my brakes are starting to squeak haha :P. Jumping railroad tracks sounds like fun though ;)
Anywho, the forecast for today was supposed to be rain all day in the low desert, where I'm at, and maybe some snow in the high desert about 20 miles up a mountain.

I forgot about this "snow warning" and got all excited about the rain this morning and jumped in the 240 again and drove to my buddys house. While I was driving to his house, there was a honda element with snow on it and I remembered the snow warning, as soon as I got to my buddys house he fired up his 98 Audi A6 quattro and off we were to Yucca Valley or "the high desert" thinking we'd see just a light dusting of snow.

There are two obstacles for my little Diesel, one is about 3 minutes of uphill turns and twists with a steep top, and then there is "big momma hill" which is a very very steep, long hill linking the low desert to the high. Nothing but rain around the first obstacle but once we got to the bigger hill, everything around us had snow. More rain until it starting turning into icy sludge. Pretty soon the road was covered with ice and dirt.

The sides of the roads were covered with snow and everyone was going very slow in a funeral line type way. This was my first time ever driving in snow, and driving up the hill we passed about 3-4 newer type cars stuck on the side of the hill. I started to worry because as we all know, the w123 does not have ABS or traction control, and if newer cars were getting stuck how was I going to last? Sure enough about midway the big hill, my rear wheels started slipping. This scared me at first because I was afraid I was going to slide backwards with the many cars behind me. But I let go of the pedal slowly and just went back on it real slow, the wheels spun a few times more but I never lost control and made it to the top to see the winter wonderland that awaited.

We drove around for a little bit and then I started to have trouble with snow, while my friend in his Audi was having a blast with his ESP/ABS and AWD. So we parked the 240 at a water district parking lot which we named "home base" and drove around in the Audi most of the time. I thought I give the 240 one last go, because I carfax'd it, and my car is originally from Massachusetts and came to Cali in '05 so it had to be decent in snow, right? It ended up being just fine, I went very slow and was VERY careful with my turns. I kept good distances between all cars and myself and was very very delicate with braking since in some areas if you touched the pedal you'd slide just a little bit more. I gave my parents periodic updates, because they heard the big hill was now closed due to the heavy snowfall and we were "snowed in". I was putting myself in my parents shoes and how worried I'd be if my 19 year old was driving for the first time in snow and roads were closed off and he couldn't come down, so I was extra careful and ended up coming home in one piece when at last they finally opened the road back up hours later.

But still had a blast without doing anything crazy with the car, I also got these awesome snap shots while up there with my friend. Hope this wasn't too long, it was just a cool experience and I was really excited lol Also, when I got home, I rinsed the under body/wheel wells and whole car pretty well with the hose and dried her off with a chamois in the garage, so she's all nice and dry :)

Umm, yeah. I have a snowblower and snow shovel that you are more than welcome to visit and "amuse" yourself with this winter. ;) Snow friggin' sucks. I've got freezing rain right now. :D RT

They do ok in the snow with weight in the trunk, good tires, and a skilled driving method.....I've never had any real issues.

Ah to be young again. Sounds like me back in the day. Living in Western Mass. we had our fairshare of snow, but it was always fun to head to southern Vermont for a snow ride if it were raining at home. It was always fun having the only car in school parking lot with snow on it the next morning.

During my years in LA, I would have been elated at the idea of snow, and taking a drive up to the high desert for some drifts.
Now that I'm in the Northeast again, I wonder what I was thinking...

Abberations in the weather can sometimes be a lot of fun. A good snow every now and then is fun. It's pleasant to watch it falling when you don't have to go anywhere. After a couple of days it really begins to wearout its welcome.

Best thing to do to acclimatize yourself to driving in those conditions is find a big empty parking lot and practice starts, stops and turns, deliberately losing traction in all those manoevers and then recovering.

Not to mention how much fun that is. Just make sure there are no imoveable objects in your path.

I used to go parking lot drifting. :D Its fun. :D

I did it as a kid in my old 1965 VW beetle. It was a blast.

I keep the fuel topped off, carry three 60# sand bags in the trunk and run studded snow tires all around. The 240s seem to handle pretty well but ice and snow still sucks! I dont know how you folks that live with it every winter, all winter, do it :eek:

Its started to FREEKING Sleet and pouring freezing last night and now there is ice every were, i am suprise that my 300SD runs straight though it tend to spin its wheel with the slightest touch of the acclerator pedle i seen cars just drifting away....

Parking lot drifting! When I was in high school, yeah I know many years ago, there were several kids "drifting" on the icy school parking lot. It all came to a sudden stop when someone came to a sudden stop against the only light pole! It was his Dad's car.......bad, bad idea!

Yes, snow is fun to visit and play in but having to get up at 4am to shovel out the end of the drive, after the snowplow piled about four foot of snow there, just to get to work.....no thanks. Been there done that. Here we get black ice and chains are the only thing that work on it. Fortunately, it's usually gone within a day so I stay home rather than endanger my life with the nutballs that are seen on the news.

If Lots of Snow/Ice, INVEST in several sand tubes for placement in trunk
 

Got a tip several years ago from my mechanic, and it works like a charm for my own 82 240D sedan in snow....I have LOTS of snow/ice in NW Connecticut during winters......

Go to local Agway Store and purchase several (2-3) 70LB sand tubes and place them in your trunks up against back end of trunk....this will significantly IMPROVE driving in snow/ice for these cars that have a tendency to fishtail on the backend because of lack of weight in the rear.....

WORKS LIKE A CHARM....for about $20-$30 investment OR get some sand bags and fill em with sand yourself and put into trunk of car but if bags break, it can get very messy (like your bathing trunks at the beach!)....

;)

I can totally see what you mean, when you say it's fun the first time but the snow gets old real fast. When they closed the 62 fwy to get back down the huge hill, there was a line of cars, trucks, big rigs and a convoy sitting for hours, not moving at all. My friend and I were saying how much it would suck if you had a important job on the desert floor and couldn't get down. There was highway patrol all over the place, I imagine accidents are worse here because the population is not accustomed to snow, especially that much.

I was only really excited because we hardly get any rain here in the desert, let alone snow 20 miles away. It was a pretty rare event for the high desert and I'm glad I was there. I'm probably going to go back up today with my sister to take her to the snow, she was all depressed yesterday that she was still asleep when I left.

I'm sure most of it's melted and the roads are now clear. I'm really going to do that sandbag thing though next time. I didn't have anything in my trunk but the spare tire. Also the car had no problem starting in the cold. :)