Photo: How to improve the vehicle's cross-country ability (media.ford.com) Author: Konstantin Shirokun
The need to drive where the road only gives direction often arises for businesslike car owners – so there are some proven solutions to help a beginner. How to increase the cross-country ability of a passenger car at minimal cost?
Read about how to give a family car the capabilities of a real SUV in the RBC-Ukraine article.
The times when the presence of a 4×4 drive solved all the issues of the vehicle's cross-country ability are gone. Today, even if we are talking about a four-wheel drive crossover, for driving outside the asphalt, additional measures are often required to improve off-road capabilities.
What improves the vehicle's cross-country ability
First of all, you need to understand that all-wheel drive is not a guarantee of successful off-road driving, and even more so it is not the only attribute of a real all-terrain vehicle. So some seemingly secondary features can significantly affect the capabilities of your single-drive car. Especially since the owner can organize most of them on his own.
Geometric cross-country ability . This is the technical term that combines the parameters that protect the car from contact with the ground on which it moves. In general, this parameter is influenced by the wheelbase (it is desirable to be smaller), ground clearance (the larger the better), front and rear overhangs (preferably as short as possible).
It is impossible to shorten the wheelbase without radically rebuilding the entire car, but the ground clearance can be increased – and such a lift will also increase the so-called approach and departure angles.
To prevent the car from catching on the road (or what is called it) with its bottom, sides and bumpers, you need a higher ground clearance – the clearance between the lowest point of the car and the ground. It can be increased by 3 – 4 cm with relatively simple means. It can be increased even more, but this will affect the controllability of the car and the resource of its chassis.
At the same time, lifting tools are simple: spacers are added under the suspension springs, sometimes also under the shock absorbers. Also, to a certain extent, using larger diameter tires helps – as much as the chassis and geometry of the car's wings will allow. However, the role of tires in improving cross-country ability is not limited to increasing the diameter.
Tires . Special off-road tires are needed for all cars that are going to storm the off-road terrain – including the coolest SUVs with 4×4 drive. It is clear that swamp tires of class M+S (Mud+Snow) with large tread blocks on the drive wheels will significantly improve the cross-country ability of a single-drive car. Another thing is that such tires cannot be selected for all passenger cars. In extreme cases, you can use arctic winter tires – they have a tread similar in cutting to “mud” rubber.
Driver skills. Perhaps at least half of the car's success off-road is the driver's skill level. And this applies first of all to cars without all-wheel drive. Driving a car on difficult roads is a topic for a separate article, but here we will briefly talk about the main skills:
- Recognition of the onset of wheel slippage, because the reaction to it must be instantaneous;
- The ability to drive a car at low engine speeds “under tension” – when the engine does not stall, but also does not transmit excessive traction to the wheels;
- Experience of starting from a standstill without slipping on a slippery surface;
- The ability to quickly switch the transmission alternately to forward and reverse mode. This is necessary to free yourself from mud or snow by rocking.
In fact, these techniques are not difficult at all, and can be mastered by training on suitable terrain. It is advisable to practice on the same model car and on the same tires that will be used during real trips on difficult roads.
Recommendation
You probably know the proverb about the steepness of a jeep and the distance you have to run behind a tractor? Therefore, when thinking about upgrading your car to an SUV, remember that there are no all-terrain vehicles in the world that could drive everywhere. And the main thing for a driver before overcoming off-road conditions in any car is to correctly compare the condition of the route with your skills and the capabilities of the car.
In preparing this article, materials from “ Autobild All Leading “ and “ Off-Road Center 4×4 ” were used.
Recently, RBC-Ukraine reported on how the wrong gasoline affects a car and how to fix the situation.