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spin recovery



There's been a lot of good advice addressed to this subject. The simplest
and easiest way to stay out of trouble when sliding on ice is to not use the
brakes *at all*. Do *not* downshift, either. Simply increase the steering
angle and hope that the car turns. But, be ready to back off the steering
angle when traction is regained or you may initiate a spin.

If the car is understeering badly and you have run off room at the side of
the road, point the front wheels straight then apply the brakes smoothly. If
you have no run off room at all, you should maintain the angle of the
steering wheel and hope that the front grabs enough to steer around the
corner.

Then, however, the slip condition may turn into oversteer... Suppose that
the car begins to steadily oversteer. IGNORE the brakes. Using them (ABS or
otherwise) will immediately worsen the problem. Turn in the direction that
the tail is traveling. If you're feeling confident and driving a FWD car,
hit the gas a little bit to pull the front end around and transfer some grip
to the sliding rear end.

Very importantly, once you begin to correct the skid and BEFORE the car
straightens out completely, you should move the steering wheel back to the
center position. Otherwise, the fishtailing will begin, and will get worse
as you overcorrect again and again. Steering, brake, and gas applications
should be very smooth, fairly slow paced, and minimal in force. Be abrupt or
really fast at it and you'll break whatever meager traction existed in the
first place.

HTH
--
Scott F. Williams
NJ Scirocco nut
'99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
Mazda 323 GTX turbo "assaulted" vehicle
Golf GTI 16v "rollycar"
ClubVAC: "Roads found. Drivers wanted."