It’s the season for getting your car stuck in the snow. It can happen to anyone, in town or out in the country, in an SUV, a pickup or a car.
With a few precautions and by following these tips, you can get yourself unstuck.
7 Precautions Before You Get Stuck
- Keep your tires properly inflated.
- Make sure your tires have sufficient tread for safety and for winter driving.
- Consider buying winter tires if you drive many miles each winter season in snowy and icy conditions.
- Keep a shovel in your trunk.
- Keep a set of chains in your trunk.
- Learn how to put the chains on.
- Carry sand, kitty litter or other traction material.
7 Tips to Get You Unstuck
- If you start to slide into a pile of slush or snow, don’t stop your car. Trust the momentum to get you out of the mess. The rule of thumb is that even a tiny bit of movement is better than spinning your wheels.
- Stop spinning your wheels, which makes the problem of being stuck that much worse.
- Try using less power, not more. Just a tiny bit additional is often all it takes to get your car out of the snow.
- Use your lower gear if you drive a vehicle with automatic transmission. If you have a manual, switch to 3rd or 4th gear in combination with your clutch. This will help you prevent the tires from spinning.
- Switch off traction control if you are stuck.
- Roll your vehicle back and forth, a move called rocking. It builds the momentum that can get your car out of its run and get it unstuck. Put your car in drive and roll forward, then put your car in reverse and roll backward, and keep repeating.
- Put sand, rocks, branches or sticks around your tires to create traction.
Help from the Experts at Wiygul Automotive Clinic
For over 4 decades, Wiygul Automotive Clinic has been helping local drivers makes it through winter. We sell the finest tire brands, install tires, rotate them, and do wheel alignments and balancing.
If your car needs repair work, we can handle that too. Wiygul is a full-service automotive clinic. Beside tires and wheels, we repair and maintain brake systems, transmissions, engines and drivelines, suspension and steering issues, mufflers and exhausts, batteries, belts and hoses, heating and air conditioning, tune-ups and oil changes, and more.
We are proud of our reputation for competitive pricing, quality products and expert workmanship. We welcome your car repair questions and are happy to explain your car’s issues clearly and objectively.
Here at Wiygul, we are aware that repair work can get expensive. That’s why we urge you to come in as soon as you notice a problem. Minor repairs done quickly are less expensive than major ones that developed over time.
We post discounts and promotions on our website. Be sure to check them out. Consider joining Wiygul 4 Life and our VIP Club, two great ways to save even more money.
Wiygul is conveniently located in Alexandria, VA, at Lane and at Pickett, in Burke, VA, Clinton, MD, Fort Washington, MD, Herndon, VA, Reston, VA, and in Waldorf, MD.
