You’ll find a lot of articles on driving technique here because refining it is something we promote with enthusiasm. It occurred to me during recent snowstorms that while Noah has written many good articles on race driving technique and I have a few on handling a car on snow covered roads in situations a flight instructor would call “unusual attitudes”, not one of us has written about how to get a stuck car out of the snow.

What makes a car get stuck?

First and foremost, a lack of traction. Obvious as this seems, trying to get around with tires that can’t bite and shed snow will always be the primary cause for getting stuck in the snow. Typical passengar car tires have very narrow treadblock or “void” spacing. In addition this tread can be very shallow, especially when run down to the minimum legal limit; the result is tire tread filled with packed snow that might as well be a bald or “slick” tire. Good snow tires with deep tread and widely-spaced blocks are your first and most important tool for driving in the winter, without which you will always have a major handicap.

Next, getting a car’s weight on its driving tires is often the next major challenge. Most passenger cars have very little ground clearance. Packed snow under a car can support a significant percetage of the car’s weight, leaving less force on the tire contact patch, and drag from snow on the chassis can create strong resistance to motion. This effect surprises many people because snow seems inhernetly too soft or weak to support a car’s weight, but due to the large surface area under a car it may actually take very little snowpack to have a pronounced effect — less than 1/2 psi of force from snow distributed over the underbody can support the entire weight of a car!

How to get unstuck

First, assess the situation.  Note or ask an observer to note which wheel spins when you attempt to drive forward or backwards. Identifying the wheel with least traction allows you to direct your efforts well. Because of the properties of an open differential, a car can only supply as much torque to a wheel with good traction as the wheel opposite it can support without spinning. The solution is to find more traction for the tire which has the least. Look under the car on that side to see how much snow is supporting the car — chances are it’s more than you thought.

Now you can prepare to get yourself out. Assuming you have taken care of the most major prerequisite: have snow tires, the next steps are mostly manual labor. You should dig with a shovel or similar tool to clear as much snow out from under the car as possible, paying special attention to the side on which the wheel spins when attempting to drive. Clearing snow out from under the car is much more effective than applying more weight over the drive wheels (like sandbags, or even extra people) because a wide base of snow will have no trouble supporting a 1.5 ton car, and a few hundred more pounds will have almost no effect. Adding tractive things under the tire that slips is always a good idea, but if you have good snow tires and the car isn’t being supported and is dragged on by snow, you shouldn’t need this.

Finally you can get the car out. “Rocking” the car forwards and backwards can help if you set the motion up like a pendulum and apply a “push” in the correct direction when the car wants to start rolling that way anyhow. Once you get it moving, use momentum to your advantage and keep it moving.

Optionally, if you’re really in trouble, you can use a tow rope — which must be very strong and tied to something that is very strong (like a tow hook) that does not have sharp edges — to tow yourself out with another car.

A word on all-wheel drive

AWD can be a big advantage in bad weather. Both auto manufacturers and consumers are aware of its fairly well-deserved reputation. Of some note, AWD cars are at some disadvantage to 4WD trucks in the area of ground clearance. An AWD car with average ground clearance can get stuck pretty easily, even with snow tires, if it wades in deep enough. Subarus have unusually large ride height for a normal passenger car, which is undoubtedly why they are so popular in high-snowfall regions of the US and Canada. The combination of ample ride height and AWD is essentially the ultimate in practical snow mobility.

How to avoid getting stuck in the first place

First, have snow tires (are you sick of this yet?). Plan to use momentum to get you past steep inclines or areas with thick snow; a “running start” really helps, but make sure you aren’t going to hit anything or hurl your car into the middle of a busy street in the process. Depending on the amount of commitment you make with a running start, you can crash through some tall snow drifts, but stay away from hard pack — it can very easily total your car.

My method

An unconventional method I decided to try last year has been hugely successful. Normally, I would never recommend a part like this for any purpose, but I have discovered that “spring boosters” or “spring spacers” can give a little extra ride height quickly, easily, and inexpensively. When I put them on my Protege, it became absolutely unstoppable in the snow in combination with Blizzaks. No AWD. No limited-slip differential. Simply not dragging the body of the car through the snow made getting around so much easier.

Sticking a spring spacer (above) in the coils of my car’s springs allowed me to put my car in a ~1″ lifted “winter mode” in about 15-20 minutes. Clearly this type of thing isn’t for everyone, but it does work, and it comes out again easily when you take your snow tires off in the spring. Just food for thought, in case you wanted to try it.

Why Clint is in a snowbank

Years ago in our own private driving area, Clint mounted a snowbank in what was, at the time, his beater. The preceeding slide and momentum served to place the car so far up the snowbank that no normal method would remove it, and we didn’t have a tow rope. After trying to shovel out the front of the car so that the wheels could grip something (as described earlier), we eventually settled on an unconventional — and dangerous — method of extricating it. Don’t try this at home.

Using the stock screw jack that came with his car for changing spare tires, we lifted the front as far as we were able off the snowbank. We then proceeded to tip the jack over sideways, which freed the car. Creativity 1, snowbank 1 — I’m calling this one a tie.