2004 Pontiac Grand Prix Owner's Manual - Page 265

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; 0°C) 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 traction control or enhanced traction, keep the system on. It will improve your ability to accelerate when driving on a slippery road. Even though your vehicle has a traction control system you'll want to slow down and adjust your driving to the road conditions. See Traction Control System (TCS) on page 4-10. If you don't have a traction control or 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'll 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, 4-29