Pontiac 2003 Sunfire Owner's Manual page 189

Driving on Snow or
Ice
Most of the time, those places where your tires meet
the road probably have good traction.
However, if there is snow or ice between your tires and
the road, you can have a very slippery situation.
You'll have a
lot
less traction or "grip" and will need to
be very careful.
What's the worst time for this? "Wet ice." Very cold
snow or ice can be slick and hard to drive on. But wet
ice can be even more trouble because it may offer
the least traction of all. You can get wet ice when it's
about freezing (32°F; OOC) and freezing rain begins
to fall. Try to avoid driving on wet ice until salt and sand
crews can get there.
Whatever the condition
-
smooth ice, packed, blowing
or loose snow
-
drive with caution.
If you have the Enhanced Traction System, keep the
system
on. It
will improve your ability to accelerate when
driving on a slippery road. Even though your vehicle
has this system, you'll want to slow down and adjust
your driving to the road conditions. See Enhanced
Tracfion System (ETS) on page 4-9.
If you don't have the Enhanced Traction System,
accelerate gently. Try not to break the fragile traction. If
you accelerate too fast, the drive wheels will spin
and polish the surface under the tires even more.
Unless you have the anti-lock braking system,
YOU'II
want to brake very gently, too. (If you do have anti-lock,
see Braking on page 4-6. This system improves your
vehicle's stability when you make a hard stop on a
slippery road.) Whether you have the anti-lock braking
system or not, you'll want to begin stopping sooner than
you would on dry pavement. Without anti-lock brakes,
if you feel your vehicle begin to slide, let up on the
brakes a little. Push the brake pedal down steadily to
get the most traction you can.
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