Does it add miles to your odometer when you’re tires are spinning in the snow
This is a serious problem ? Just how much spinning are you doing ?
Anytime the car is running, in gear, with the drive wheels, turning miles are added to the odometer. Spinning the tires, whether in snow, mud, or on dry roads will add mileage. But these are trace amounts. Think about it, to add one mile to your odometer, you would have to spin your wheels at 60 MPH for a full minute.
The only exception I know of, back when speedometers and odometers were gear driven, were some GM vehicles in the 1960s that had the speedometer cable connected to non-driven wheels rather than the transmission.
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As mentioned above, it depends on how the speedometer system works, varies car to car. OP, ask shop if it would make sense to put car on lift and run it in gear, drive wheels spinning mid-air. Does speedometer indicate an increase in speed? Is odometer changing? If so, then you’ll know the answer. Renting a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off DVD would be less accurate, but more fun.
Depends on if the speedometer/odometer is driven by the drive train, or a non driven wheel. Which do you have?
If the speedometer goes up while the tires are slipping, then the odomoter would too.
I’d be worried about the exposure to salt and snow and not the miles though!
The speedometer cable on a 96 Oldsmobile is driven off the transmission tailshaft.
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I know that, but does the OP ? After all it’s not an old bug with the Speedo driven of a front wheel.
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But don’t kick your car when it’s running in reverse suspend by a bumper Jack!
My first car, ‘60 Dart, 318, put it on the lift where I worked, flying horse gas station. Hit the gas, speedometer went over 100 MPH, hey I was young and dumb(er).
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Sometimes you don’t have a choice, I was housed a few blocks from the ocean, onshore breeze caused car sheet metal to rust through in a couple of years.
If the OP is spinning his/her wheels in the snow often to worry about it adding more miles to the odometer, it tells me that he/she is in serious need of winter tires.
Not, not so-called all-season tires.
Real WINTER tires, such as Michelin X-Ice or Bridgestone Blizzak.
If it does, then the miles added are inconsequential.
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IIRC the VW Beetle is in that category too.
Yeah I had to replace my vw cable. Right through the front wheel with a cotter key. But yeah just watch the speedometer. If it goes up then miles are being added.
But in snow country only novices spin their wheels much. Doesn’t do much good. The idea is to not spin them.
Oldsmobile did that on 88’s and possibly 98’s from 65 thru possibly '69.
I expect OP is just curious.