Free Spirit in Canadian winter...

Donniekay

New member
Acquired a 2006 Free Spirit last May. Just a wonderin' how it will handle in the winter on 2 wheel rear drive. May want to head south in Jan-Feb over Monida Pass to warmer climes. Anyone out there please give me your experiences......
 

Zach Woods

New member
Acquired a 2006 Free Spirit last May. Just a wonderin' how it will handle in the winter on 2 wheel rear drive. May want to head south in Jan-Feb over Monida Pass to warmer climes. Anyone out there please give me your experiences......
Hello Donniekay -

I have an Airstream Sprinter Westfalia and have driven it for a few winters in New England. We take it skiing (use it as our "Ski Chalet" by parking it in the ski area parking lots).

We have not had any real problems. The Westfalia may be heavier than a Free Spirit and it is also quite a bit taller (likely to catch side winds more).

We have the original standard (not winter or all season) tires on our camper but will likely be replacing them some time soon just given their age and mileage.

Our driveway is quite steep and can be very difficult for other folks to drive up but it has never been an issue for us.

The keys are to realize that when the turbo kicks in it will spin the tires and to accelerate cautiously to keep from letting this tendency start you towards poor traction.

Zach
 

KL2BE

Member
Can't help, but am very interested in the replies you get. We are picking up a new LTV Free Spirit next week in Ramsy, MN and after a tour of the Southwest will drive the Alaska Highway from Seattle to Anchorage in early December. Likely to have about 2,000 miles of snow-coverd roads with services quite scarce (glad to have a 16,000 BTU furnace aboard).
I have seen some talk on the forums saying the standard tires are "positively dangerous" on ice, but the folks reporting that seemed to be from areas where snow is rare. I am relieved to see that Zach Woods reports to the contrary base on real winter-area experiance.
I talked to the factory folks at LTV and they report two things:
1) they try to get all their vans delivered with non-standard Michelin all-season tires and 2) they report adequate performance on the Michelins in the Winnepeg area.
The "Tire Rack" reports good results on Michelin all-season as well as Michelin M&S so I'm not now planning to change tires in Seattle; but I'll be looking for some mountain driving in snow before we hit the road in December as the Kirkland, WA Costco will be my last chance for real snow tires.
I'm not too worried though, my dad drove the Alaska Highway in a 1951 Cadilac in Decamber of '53 with summer tires and live to tell the tale (winter tires were a rarity in Alaska before the '70s).
 

Zach Woods

New member
That's impressive... :bow:
Hi Bill -

No need to genuflect!

I was born in New England and have driven here every winter since I got my Learner's Permit. I also learned a lot about slippery surfaces prior to driving on the road on both motorcycles and 4x4's.

The keys to icy/ snowy road travel:

1. Try not to let your tires spin unless any of the following rules give you reason to.

2. Try not to let your tires slide / skid unless any of the following rules give you reason to.

3. Momentum is your friend when you want to get thru deep snow or up a steep or slippery incline.

4. Momentum is your enemy when you want to stop, slow, or turn quickly.

5. Don't expect to start, drive, slow, stop or turn as quickly as you can on a dry surface.

The biggest problem the Sprinter has in slippery conditions is it's turbo-charged engine which tends to make the rear tires very prone to spinning/ losing traction. It is a good heavy vehicle (when loaded) running on reasonably narrow tires though and these are both to your advantage (the weight and the narrow tires allow the tire tread to cut down to the road surface better).

This problem can be rather severe, unfortunately, when the torque of the engine truly kicks in so I try to either manually upshift to a higher gear (to minimize the impact of that torque) when likely to start spinning the rear wheels.

Also, I practice with every new vehicle I own in an empty parking lot on the first available winter storm of the season. Better to find out how a vehicle is going to react under controlled conditions than to find out in a panic situation!

Zach
 

sikwan

06 Tin Can
Do you folks carry chains, just in case, during the winter or solely rely on the snow tires that you change every time during winter?

I've driven in snow blizzards and roads cover in a foot of snow and I'd rather drive with snow tires than with chains mainly because I don't want to get dirty putting chains on, rolling over a hard spot with chains brings on a whole new rumble strip noise event, and it chews up the tires not to mention the roads.

It seems only over I-80 in Tahoe that they require you to put on chains with only a spec of snowflakes on the ground. Of course this has something to do with the inexperience in snow driving that we have on a whole, but it sure does chew up the roads.
 

Zach Woods

New member
Do you folks carry chains, just in case, during the winter or solely rely on the snow tires that you change every time during winter?
Howdy Seek -

Very few folks from the Northeast carry chains. Many folks don't even change over to snow tires (or use Mud & Snows year round, either). I'm no expert but I've always thought the following contributes to this:

- In the Northeast, you often find yourself driving in snowy and/ or icy conditions pretty frequently throughout the winter and folks get used to it.

- Northeastern snowstorms tend to not be quite as deep (per snowstorm) as storms in the higher elevations of the West - this means that your tires are more likely to cut thru the snow down to the pavement (or at least pretty close to it) - if you have more snow and your tires can't get down to the pavement then chains are going to give you more traction within the snow that your tires are churning thru - if you can get to the pavement all your chains are doing is chewing up the pavement.

- Northeast snowstorms tend to not be as dry and the wet snows seem to allow tires to reach the pavement more easily (depends on how wet and what the temperature is, of course) - see previous for reasons this is easier for traction.

- Northeast snow tends to happen at most altitudes throughout the winter and the municipalities tend to get going on clearing it pretty quickly or risk having whole cities and towns shut down.

- Western snow tends to happen at higher altitudes where there are less people and there seems to be less resources devoted to clearing things right away.

- Freeze thaw cycles in the Northeast often allow for melting shortly after a storm (creating conditions that aid traction) but also then supporting freezing come evening (creating conditions that are detrimental to traction) - all of this means that the authorities tend to try to clear the roads before the freezing happens, if possible.

- Snow at higher altitudes (more common in the west) tends not to melt as much between storms and therefore piles up on an already snow or ice covered paved surface making traction, once again, that much more difficult.

Zach

P.S. Or maybe folks in the Northeast are just cheap!?!?
 
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BaywoodBill

pre-Yuppiedom
It seems only over I-80 in Tahoe that they require you to put on chains with only a spec of snowflakes on the ground. Of course this has something to do with the inexperience in snow driving that we have on a whole, but it sure does chew up the roads.
Hi Seek,

I've been forced to chain up on more highways than that and many times under circumstances where chains weren't really warranted. But I agree with your supposition that it's because most of us in California are extremely inexperienced in snow/ice driving and the authorities are trying to keep us from clogging up the highways with our sideways vehicles.
 

Slider13

New member
This post reminds me of our Colorado trip last X'mas. I've never driven the Airstream Interstate in the mountains let alone in winter. I was very nervous driving up to Winter Park from I75. It was snowing on and off during the day and the local highway to the ski resort was covered in snow. The road has some sections that are pretty steep and lots of tight turns. The higher we went the more snow on the road. I've made this drive before several years back on a 4X4 on clear pavement. I am happy to report to you that the drive was pretty uneventful. There was practically no slippage and I noticed the traction control activate only once when I applied the gas going over the thick stuff. During the entire trip we had no issues with lost traction at all.

Slider13
 

BaywoodBill

pre-Yuppiedom
This post reminds me of our Colorado trip last X'mas. I've never driven the Airstream Interstate in the mountains let alone in winter. I was very nervous driving up to Winter Park from I75. It was snowing on and off during the day and the local highway to the ski resort was covered in snow. The road has some sections that are pretty steep and lots of tight turns. The higher we went the more snow on the road. I've made this drive before several years back on a 4X4 on clear pavement. I am happy to report to you that the drive was pretty uneventful. There was practically no slippage and I noticed the traction control activate only once when I applied the gas going over the thick stuff. During the entire trip we had no issues with lost traction at all.

Slider13

Would you say your experience driving in Northeaster Illinois helped prepare you for the drive up the mountain?
 

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