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AnonymousHello everybody there!
Please excuse me for writing in English-I do not know Icelandic (can somebody point to any site where I could start learning?).
We live in Novosibirsk city, Russia and liked your club photos very much.
We do offroad travel here also on a variety of vehicles (Nissan Patrol, Mitsubishi Pajero, Land Cruiser, UAZ and so on).
But what always makes us wonder is how it is possible to drive on the snow?
Even our new UAZ with portal axles (300mm ground clearance on its stock 31″ tyres) on 37×13 Boggers with beadlocks seems not to be able to deal with snow! We were running 0.3 kg/cm2 pressure.
Here is the picture:
http://firewall.sibgate.com/pics/boggers_test/Picture%20022.jpgWhat are the secrets/tips/requirements for winter driving?
Thanks everybody!
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One of the characeristics of snow in Iceland is that it is usually windblown. The wind breaks down the snowflakes which makes for much denser packing of the snow. It is usually possible to walk with ease on the snow. Wind speeds on the icecaps and glaciers in Iceland are frequently in the range of 20-40 m/s
In forested areas this does not happen, there if temperatuers stay below freezing, the snow stays light (poweder) and does now support the weight of 4×4 vehicles.
In Iceland it is often possible to drive with 0.3 bar (5psi) pressure in the tires, but it is also often necessary to go down to about half that.
Let me point out that modified toyotas by iclelanders has been driven over the inland if Greenland and also on the South Pole(see http://www.arctictrucks.is) so it must also be possible to drive on the snow in Russia you djust have to use bigger tires and lover air pressure.
Anonymous- Umræður: 0
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But it may be that in Greenland and South Pole the snow is also very dense and could support the weight of a man standing on it.
Here it’s about one meter deep and very soft.By the way, is it ok to run 2psi (0.15 bar) with beadlocks?
Won’t it be harmful for tyres or won’t the bead pop off?
This is also a question of balance between the weight of the truck and tire sizes. Many customized 4x4s in Iceland weigh around 2 tons. For that we would typically use tires 38×15,5 and even ’44 for larger trucks. The ’44 (Dick Cepek Fun County) also seem to be better in loose or powdery snow like you might have in Russia.
Best luck !
Anonymous- Umræður: 0
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For sure, that matters. But our UAZ weights only 1.8 tonns.
By the way, why Dick Cepek seems to be so popular in Iceland? Here it’s almost unknown and people use mostly BFGoodrich MT and SuperSwamper TSL.
Can you compare Dick Cepek with TSLs in performance ? Or any comments about it…
Thanks a lot!
I lived for two year in Salt Lake City, USA, in the Rocky Mountains. The mountains near Salt Lake City get much more snow than most of Icelandic mountains, but the snow there is too soft for driving (or walking) on, until in the spring when it starts to melt.
I would expect that it is possible to drive on the snow in Russia, in the spring when daytime temperatures reach above freezing.
It should be possible to drive on the snow where there are no trees and wind speeds in exess of 20 m/s are common.
Dick Cepek is better in snow because it does not dig the car into the snow and is much quiet to drive on the road.
You must some times take almost all the air out of the tires when the snow is dry (down to 1 psi).
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