Steep, private road and Ford Bronco and Pontiac Sunfire

PeaksViewBronc
Sat, 30 Nov 2013 07:47:24 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

We live in Helena, MT. The road to our house is not county or city maintained, only by Homeowners Association which does mostly nothing when it is iced up or full of snow. A couple weeks ago I came down the hill and chained up my daughter’s Pontiac Sunfire. She tried getting up but the tires with the cables on just spun. I had to use my Bronco in 4WD to push her up the hill basically. She is now considering getting studded tires hoping that works better. The all season tires she has now have about 5,000 miles on them. My 4WD Bronco is okay but it scares me going downhill when it is -12 outside and the road is coated with ice and snow. It is a dirt road and horribly steep. I’ve traveled all over and lived in some snowy climates. Never had any trouble until now. We rent, thankfully and are trying to get out of our lease because of this crazy road. Montana residents are funky, when bad weather strikes, they just sit at home (at least the Montana transplants). We cannot afford not to go to work and this road is the only one in and out to our house. So what is the ultimate set up for our cars? Studded tires on the Pontiac? I have MT tires on my Bronco and the 4WD works well. Should it be in the lowest 4WD or 4 wheel high? I doubt I can afford studded tires for the Bronco at this time. Should I get some tires chains and use them with the 4WD? Any help would be great. We really get scared to deal with this road.

30 posts - 10 participants