How to be an idiot.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNin7QJEOZE

Work safe

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Like many other commenters, can't believe the moron didn't go out and help

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Agreed.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Yeah, the guy doing the filming was a complete idiot. He came across as the proverbial douche nozzle.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

The audio track has a comment from a female in the house - something like "my car doesn't get stuck in the snow cos its nice and light"

That'd be why folks put sandbags in their rear wheel drive cars then :rolleyes:

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Hopefully the lady is married to a six foot seven gorilla with anger management issues, and he gets to see this.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

It is a 1 series BM so pretty useless in the snow but I was out in ours today on snow filled country lanes having some fun. And yes the guy is a bit of an **** not helping the poor girl out

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Serves the lot of them right, the driver for leaving it in gear, and Mr and Mrs Numpty giggling at her with the camera instead of going out to help.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

if you read the comments peeps the bloke filming it is in a wheel chair so probably board out his nut and decided to film 'silly woman' for the entertainment of 'you tubers'.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

So his partner was too? He could have asked her to go outside. he could have opened the window to shout a warning, instead he filmed and sniggered.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Then he should bloody know better :D .

I'm sure, he'd love it if he fell off his wheel chair and every passerby just pointed at him going "Ooh mister, let's see you get up...bet you can't ...hahahaha" ;)

Went on a 14 mile walk with the dog yesterday whilst the snow was coming down and even the dog understood, we had to sometimes stop and help with some of the stuck cars :p lol

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

if you read the bmw manual it states to drive in snow turn the traction control off... I **** you not it works.....

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4rd2a-li1o
almost certainly a repost but another stupid subject & camera person.
edit: plus the old abandon ship

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

agree, serves them right for not helping out. Good find there dave, well funny.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

I turned the traction control off on my BMW yesterday, made it easier to get moving. Today I used the Fiesta diesel van, which had no problems at all where the BMW struggled and absolutely failed to get any grip.

Just moving the BMW from its abandoned position to onto the driveway took about 15 minutes of wheelspin and sideways motion, whereas I drove the van straight off the drive and parked it right where I couldn't park the BMW last night. FWD is what's needed, or 4WD if you're flash

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

granted no shadow of a doubt fwd would be better its just that sometimes it is possible to drive a bmw its just tact you need to do it..

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

My BMW was squirming on the motorway on Friday night, could get over 30mph without the rear wanting to meet me at the front. I travelled about 2 or 3 miles from junction 8 before I got proper traction, no problem for the rest of the journey - Definitely not getting to work tomorrow looking at all the RWD cars struggling up the street.

As for the video of the guy "in the wheelchair" at his window, he could have warned the woman, who was clearly frustrated and perhaps told the woman of the house to either help or tell the woman to stop. This is the time that community spirit should surface, but if the country is like the people down my street, there isnt any! I cleared paths, drives and the road immediately outside completely and used sparingly the grit I had from before and all I got was smart comments and odd looks.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Only if the engine is at the front - my van is great in the snow.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

FWD is only any good if your car isnt fitted with mahoosive wide fat sports rubber.

and you dont have to be flash with 4WD either, remember what you sold us :cool:

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

4 wheel drive only improves a vehicles ability to set off / accelerate in conditions such as snow and ice , many 4x4 drivers forget that all cars have 4 wheel braking and 2 wheel steering, the down side with a big 4x4 is that they can weigh over 2 tonnes so they actually stop/corner worse than a normal FWD in the snow.
And i bet that only a few 4x4s have the correct tyres on, most these days come with wide, low profile sports rubber

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Mine's a 60 plate new style Fiesta 1.4 TDCi van - engine up front and front wheel drive. It's pretty good in the snow actually, but the fact that so many other drivers can't keep up a reasonable pace in the conditions slows it down no end.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Granted on both counts, but my Fiesta van has normal fairly skinny rubber fitted. I missed the Maverick this weekend, would have been very useful and if I still owned it I would probably have been using it for work tomorrow instead of my company van.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

The Focus we had was fine last year, was getting in and out, but the Audi is completely un driveable, I dont think it being an automatic helps either.

The Maverick has been a godsend, its got mud tyres on the rear axle as well, so we've been having no trouble getting in and out of anywhere.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Vectra's a 215/50 R17 and it's been pretty good to be fair.

Was pushing a colleagues new shape BMW320d a couple of weeks ago and the traction control made no difference other than a blinking light on the dash, on or off, the wheel spun just the same. My older shape 320d was best with it on to keep the back end from swinging about, but when you got really stuck it was best off to get you going again. I did a lot of travel with a colleagues 530d in last years snow and we just left it on the whole time, it did a great job of preventing silly spin but just giving enough to keep us going. We stopped on hills that my Vectra would never have got going again, and when other people were giving up and were abandoning cars at the side of the road, we were then proceeding to drive straight past them.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

I have had not problems getting about either...

http://www.highmountainguides.com/va...imagelarge.jpg

Did check on my downstairs neighbour after she fell over while walking her dog, despite her not exactly getting on with the wife. At times like this, there are some folk who need a bit of extra support every now and again.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

I used to have an E36 beemer, worthless in snow. It took one look at it and said..NO !

Last winter during the big freeze we got, my dad was taken to hospital in Dublin suddenly and I couldn't drive cos of the ****in weather. Took the bus which took ages. My dad died while I was en route.

I swore that would never happen to me again (I live 3 hours from my home place).

This year, I have a Subaru Forester Turbo with winter tyres.

Mum will not be on her own this xmas...guaranteed (and we've 4+ inches of snowfall on Friday/Sat).

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Sod helping I would have been laughing too much to help, this bloke seems drunk to me.

If you help an idiot and it all goes wrong you know you'll get the blame lol
they should have got some close ups of the frustration on their faces!
Should have got the bus!!!

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Yes that has worked once but when it is sheet ice it does very lil. BM staying at home today with bike and out comes the lil pug 107 which has no trouble in the snow. If it got stuck though you can just pick it up and set it down somewhere else :)

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

meh... I got into work this morning.. I must clearly be mad.. i came in side ways :)

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

It made me laugh, just at the stupidity of putting a car in gear and getting out!

As for BMW's,

Our job 330's are grounded, they are useless!

The X5's are just about managing, but are pretty poor. As someone said, it's the tyres, and ours are deffo road tyres.

Pete ;)

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

+1

haha that made me and the lads in the office laugh. I wonder at which point did she think oh ****

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Id say about the point she let go of the car.
I'd bet there was that little bit of her mind which said, "good thinking!" which quickly turned to "what was I thinking!"

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

lol, to be hoest i wouldnt call the chap an idiot, the woman yes!

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

I think it hit home as it hit the house lol

I will have to remember this top tip, when im out in the works 535 ;). My mate has it over the xmas holiday maybe i need to show him :p

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Kinda true though, it's a lot easier to get a light car moving than a heavy one.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

I have done this befor, last year, but i was going straight up a hill, and i did not push the vehicle from the rear i stayed at the drivers door and pushed the frame, worked a treat ;).

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Ha what a numpty.

The biggest difference when driving in the snow is technique and tyres.

My BMW has 18" 35 profile runflats which are a bit rubbish in the snow it has to be said and I consider myself to be fairly competent at handling a car, particularly in the snow. I've just hired a BMW out here in Denmark identical to mine in the uk except it has winter tyres fitted and it's honestly the most capable car I've ever driven on solid ice roads like we have out here. There is phenomenal ice/snow grip, feels like it's just wet.

Just wish my work would buy me some winter tyres and wheels for the uk. They look normal, no studs etc and not particularly soft so not sure why the difference us so apparent.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

My road is pure ice, but today coming back from a job in little aston, i was down a side street on a bit of a hill that had a mini island at the bottom, going about 15 mph, turned to the left and it carried on in a 45 degree direction like severe understeer.
My ass started to twitch when i started getting closer to a parked car opposite, luckily it gained a bit of traction and i crawled the rest of the road until i got to the main road.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

I always thought winter tyres were no different to normal tyres, except the tyre is softer, with a much lower optimal operating temperature. So same grip on the tarmac in cold weather as a normal tyre would have during the summer.

Re: How to be an idiot.
 

Thats how I understood it, the tyre has a higher silica / rubber content, which means it works better when the temperature is colder. Also IIRC the tyre is cut differently has bigger blocks that move around so that the snow / ice gets squeezed out of the tyre so it doesnt get clogged up / become a slick.

I think...