Ciao,
Ho appena visto questo articolo e ora ho un po’ paura di essermi perso qualcosa. L’anno scorso eravamo a Torsby a Natale e a Silvester. Tutto è andato bene, tranne un punto molto ghiacciato sulla E6 vicino a Malmö.
Quest’anno andiamo fino a Piteå, quindi a "poco" più a nord, e ad essere sincero ho un po’ paura di quel viaggio. Guideremo per 3 giorni, dalla Germania a Lund, da Lund a Gävle, da Gävle a Piteå. Quindi dovrebbero essere tutti E6 ed E4.
La mia lista di controllo è simile a questa:
- Il fluido di raffreddamento può scendere fino a -45˚C
- È necessario utilizzare il liquido per la pulizia dei vetri
- I nuovi pneumatici invernali sono montati dal mese scorso
- Catene da neve
- L’olio secondo il mio meccanico dovrebbe andare bene
- Fari
C’è qualcosa che ho dimenticato, qualcosa per rendere il mio viaggio più sicuro?
Grazie per i vostri commenti in anticipo.
https://i.redd.it/uhti6e277d1g1.png
di Findas88
26 commenti
The car seem proper equipped but make sure you have enough clothes to stay warm in the event the car breaks down in -20C. Does your car have engine heater? Bring the cable
Snow chains seems a bit overkill but better to have and not need I guess.
What kind of winter tires? Central european winter tires vs nordic winter tires are very diffrent.
As long as you have the proper winter-grade washer fluid and coolant, plus winter tires and warm clothes, you’ll be fine. The highways are generally good and straight the whole way, especially the E4. Adjust your speed to the road conditions—you’ll get comfortable with it after a while.
If there’s a lot of snow, ruts can form in the road, similar to the tracks you follow when cross-country skiing. That can be really annoying and a bit scary when you try to overtake another vehicle, so avoid doing that. Better to arrive late in this life than early in the next.
Keep warm clothes and a spare tyre in the car and you’ll be fine. Use proper winter tyres with spikes as well. Snow chains is absolutely overkill, no need to bring those. Your map is of the E4, it’s usually not even slippery because of all the traffic, conditions will be fine for the most part but you might run into some heavy snow or so which just means it will be slower and annoying to drive in.
Late December can be really cold some years but you’re just as likely to get 0°C as you are to get -30. January to February are usually colder than december anyways.
Good luck with that. I’d always ensure you are stocked with blankets, warm drink flasks.
Do you have studded winter tyres? Going this far north with just friction tyres is a little risky.
Have you taken any lesson in how to drive in slippery weather? In Sweden it is kalled ”halkkörning” and I can not recomend it enough, it is a great experience. Look it up.
You will absolutely not use the snow chains.
The last two years I’ve driven up from Stockholm to slightly longer north than Piteå (in one day). We’ve done it with an electric car with Stockholm winter tires (no dubbar (the metally pegs)) and wouldn’t recommend it but we were fine and didn’t get any problems.
The E4 in general is not that slippery around that time so should be fine. But drive carefully and watch the weather forecast to see where you have to be extra careful!
For safety, bring so you have food and blankets/warm clothes easily accessible in case you stand still for a long time, and a shovel wouldn’t be bad to have in case it snows A LOT.
But given I drive and have drove that stretch more than once a year the past 5 years it is really not that bad, especially the more north you get as it’s usually colder than 0°C.
And as someone who grew up there, if you have winter tires with the metal pegs (sv: dubbar) you don’t need the chain. I’ve only really heard them used for like tractors. Normal winter tires and driving carefully (below speed limit with margin often).
In case of snow storm, make sure to either leave earlier or take one more stop on the way up. If something has happened or there’s a snow storm it will take significantly longer with up to many hours in a traffic jam.
Good luck and stay safe!
What car, brand and model? It should preferably be 4 wheel drive and have a higher ground clearance. Low sport cars won’t cut it.
What tires, brand and model? Snow chains are nice to have in an emergency, but it’s shit quality ”winter” tires without studs that will get you in an accident. Good tires are your most important asset.
Also bring some warm clothes and emergency high caloric food, and maybe a warm drink in a thermos. You don’t have to be involved in an accident yourself to get stuck in a snow storm, it could be a stuck truck 20 cars ahead.
Don’t forget things like a shovel, towing line, jumper cables, warning triangle, high vis west and some wildlife collision strips, available at police stations.
My mum always made sure we had winter sleeping bags with use when we drove north as kids, as she said better to have them and survive getting stuck some where than not. Guess what? We got stuck twice in a queue when it was minus 20 outside. Those winter sleeping bags kept us warm.
She is in her 80:ties and still packs a sleeping back and thermos with hot coffee if she driving over 1 hour and she had to us it twice due to being stuck in traffic.
And yes my parents live up north.
Dont forget a shovel!
If you are going on any back roads or similar, make sure to have equipment for a night in a dead car in many degrees below.
Just takes a dead battery to be a sitting duck.
Im a swede living in the north. I have never used snow chains in my whole life. 4wd and Nokian studded tyres takes you anywhere in the winter. And 4wd is more nice to have than must have.
A shovel, brush and ice scraper will be needed when you at at your destination. If you are visiting someone who already have a shovel that would be fine (we have shovels woth a short handle that fits fine in the car).
When you park over night you need to scrape the windows in the morning and brush of snow from the roof and hood. The shovel is needed in case they plough the street at night and create a wall of snow outside the car.
I would bring an emergency blanket on case of breakdown.
Don’t waste your money on snow chains if you’re not planning on some serious off-roading. The route is primarily on a very good highway.
This will be enough if a tire get stuck: https://www.biltema.se/bil—mc/biltillbehor/vinterprodukter/snokedjor/broddar-till-bildack-10-st-2000041909
Be sure that you truly have winter tires, not ”all year round” tires. Studded tires would be preferred though.
The legal requirement however is that the tire is marked with an icon depicting ”a snowflake inside a mountain with three peaks”
Nordic winter tires or euro winter tires? There is a reason we have nordic tires up here in the north.
Op, I grew up north of Piteå. Unless you regularly go on badly cleared forest roads, you won’t need the chains. I would advise studded tires, though. You will be going on the E4 most of the way, and it’s plowed and treated. Just make sure to keep warm clothes, water and something to eat in case you get stuck. A powerbank for the phone too.
Also, don’t expect to drive the entire way in one day. With breaks, that’s almost a full day driving, and it will be dark most of the time.
Don’t rush at and take chances overtaking. Lots of 2+1 roads and some of the overtaking lanes are really short. Don’t expect all of them to be 1km or longer.
Also, watch the news and remain open to waiting an extra day if there’s bad weather. We stayed an extra day in a hotel a few years ago instead of arriving at new years eve… Not fun. But better than not arriving at all.
Ok so you didn’t mention it but it should be fine unless it’s BWD (back wheel drive) and you have studded winter tires
You’ll do fine. These are large roads with plenty of other people and at least close-ish to road assistance. I wouldn’t pack for a doomsday scenario.
If you’d do the same trip across Norway it’s another thing. There I always pack snow chains, sleeping bag, shovel and food/drink.
Hi!
I live in Norrbotten and I would absolutely recommend you to go with studded tires. I don’t think you’re allowed to use show chains on bare asphalt, and the highways up here are slippery without the right gear
Do not trust the replies!
Your route is along the biggest and best maintained roads in northern Sweden. There are gas stations, cities and stops for taking a rest and getting supplies all along the way. I’ve heard there even is radio reception and cell phone coverage, lol. Snow chains, thermos, spare food for days and a fully equipped snowmobile is not required!
Equip your recently serviced car with a good pair of winter tires (made for ice and snow), bring warm clothes in the trunk and you’ll be good to go. Pack your snow chains by all means if you have them, but they don’t need to be at the top of the pile, ready to use. I’ve honestly never heard of anyone who even had to use them unless they were far away from common roads.
Studded tires are not required. Sure, they perform better in some instances and are often preferred. But hundreds of thousands of people drive on snow and ice with friction winter tires and it works great. Especially along the highways. Just know your tires, drive carefully and don’t take and stupid risks like overtaking on a road with ice spots.
What may get you is not the cold but the darkness. Days are quite a bit shorter in Piteå than in Torsby and you’ll be effectively driving at night for most of the day. But it’s not as bad as some people say since the snow also brings some brightness.
Respect snowfall – if it snows lower your speed. It really impacts how far you can see. And it can be dangerously if it piles up on the highway.
If snowfall is very heavy, it may be wise to not go on a marathon drive that particular day but accept that your stuck until the snow has been cleared away. In those rare cases, warnings and advisories are very clearly communicated by weather services such as SMHI as yellow/orange/red warnings.
Bring a scraper and a brush (or buy at a gas station) to remove ice and snow from the car before leaving. Clean the roof really well or snow may fall down on your windshield and block your vision.
In summary: welcome to Sweden, you’ll be fine!!!
Remember it gets dark very quickly.
Take Norway home if you have time aaand money.
I allways have a towing rope in my cars. In 14 years i have helped a dozen other people and only have had it used on me once. That cable has paid for it self more than enough.
They don’t cost much and are worth its weight in gold when you need it.