It was pretty treacherous to be sure. The road was clear and everybody was driving at a regular speed on the way to Kirkwood. Then, in a shady and slightly downhill curve, a sheet of ice.

First, the SUV ahead of me skidded and regained control. I went uh-oh and let the gas out. Next second, my rear end gave in, and I was out spinning 360, plowing into the snow bank. Minor damage to the front right corner, but nothing serious, fortunately.

I'm not sure if 5000s all the way around, or snow tires for that matter, would have been of much help on ice, but it might have given me a better chance to recover. I'll be getting a new set of 5000s this week, and slow down the winter.

99.5 2.8qms

steady on the gas and you _may_ have been ok. Get rid of those 8000's ASAP and get a matched set on.

1) Wrong tires. You put summer tires on the rear, which left you little to no rear traction on ice.

2) Wrong tactics. You let out the gas on a downhill icy stretch, which shifted weight to the front, robbing the rear of what little traction it had on those summer tires.

Always put the same tires on both axles. Never use summer tires except in the summer. And never brake or let off gas suddenly in any situation where you risk losing or have already lost rear traction.

The "letting off the gas" is the biggest cause of the end-around spins in FWD and AWD cars. I've got two AWD cars (Audi and Mazda) and it's so difficult to not let off the gas. I cut my driving teeth in RWD cars and that IS the correct tactic there, so it takes a complete mental shift to do things otherwise. AWD cars are a very different breed. tksung, I'm glad the damage was minor and you weren't hurt.

When I had my automatic, I learned to left-foot brake, which allowed me to lightly slow the car while keeping some power to the wheels...very useful. Have yet to learn that on my manual transmissions.

Regards,
Joel
'00 A4 1.8 TQMSX

While we are at it, does anyone have opinion on this? Not that I'm going back to 8000s, but just for curiosity.