The Malt Hound bank
Fred, you are a knowledgeable guy but you are wrong on this one.
I need a better winter car... 4936The Malt Hound Well, the "snowbank" was *on* the road. :-) Here are two more pictures. In the first I'm parked *off* the road while taking the picture. This is also before I...
You are guaranteed to get stuck if you insist on plowing through snow that does not clear the underside of your car. It's one thing to go over a short bump on the road but you cannot plow through a distance on this stuff, regardless of what kind of wheels you are driving. Wheels have to touch "ground" with sufficient weight to provide traction.
The reason is simple - if the underside of your car touches the snow, your car will become a very inefficient snowplow and the snow will bunch up against the underbody of your car and pack itself. The momentum of your car will eventually leave your wheels "hanging" from the "ground". As the weight of the car diminish from the packed snow, the amount of traction you get from whatevr tire or drivetrain will vanish.
You will get stuck as you try to move through this kind of condition. Clearance is the issue if your tires can provide traction on the surface. Snow must not touch the underside of your car. Of course, if your tires are wrong then clearance doesn't matter. You're not even moving.