2001 AU11 won't go up our steep driveway

[dippy1]

We have a 2001 Au11 with dedicated LPG. We bought the car a week ago and love it BUT we have a short steep (about 45 deg) driveway and the car will not go up it in the wet!!! When we park the car at the top of the drive when it's dry we can't get down again if it rains. We have been advised to put a Limited Slip Diff in but we are unsure if this will work.
Any suggestions please? :

[Peuty]

Nah LSD won't work.

The best solution would be to leave it on the street when it's wet.

[dippy1]

We can't leave it on the street, we want it under cover. Any other suggestions, please? How about a locking diff? Would that work?

[Jack91]

Originally Posted by dippy1

We can't leave it on the street, we want it under cover. Any other suggestions, please? How about a locking diff? Would that work?

Locking diffs are well over $1000. Are the tyres bald? If they are good then the car just wont do it and you shouldve bought a 4wd, a 45 degree angle on wet concrete is a big ask of any car. Only thing you could do is lay down chicken wire over the driveway and pin it into the ground on either side.

[dippy1]

No, the tyres are fine. We traded a Taurus that took drive without a problem (it just cost us too much to run) and the AU does it great in the dry. We went t Pedders and the guy there told us to put the LS Diff in and that would fix the problem. He told us that he owns 2 AU's and he did that with them.

[Jack91]

Hit the driveway a lot faster

[The Monty]

^^^^ Good idea. I think an LSD would deffinately help as well.

[Stattic]

Lol but does he use your driveway? Good advice anyway lol

[Jack91]

You're not reversing up the driveway are you?

[bodes-sh]

keep in mind a taurus is front wheel drive, so the car is effectively pulling itself up. au's being rear wheel drive need to push the front of the car up first, so of course it's going to have trouble. lsd would help a little, you could also stick a 4wd systems LOKKA in it, similar to an lsd, but no friction plates to wear out. the only downside it you may get a ratcheting type noise doing low speed turns.

can you try your driveway in reverse or does that not make any difference?

[dippy1]

Nooooo!!!! But I could in the Taurus AND I could in a barina, lol.

[dippy1]

hi bodes-sh, our drive also curves. The drive is about 70 feet long and curves to be parallel with the road at the top, if that makes sense. Driveway entry is 90 degs to the road. It also has rock walls all the way up and is not a wide drive!! I don't think it would go up in reverse as it slides in the wet drive.
There has to be a solution out there, somewhere!!!
Thanks to everyone so far, Lynn.
Also, the drive is concrete with exposed aggregate

[lofty]

Originally Posted by dippy1

hi bodes-sh, our drive also curves. The drive is about 70 feet long and curves to be parallel with the road at the top, if that makes sense. Driveway entry is 90 degs to the road. <snip>
Also, the drive is concrete with exposed aggregate

Does the slipping happen mainly around the bend? Sometimes on a steep, sharp bend you can get a rocking effect, where two diagonally opposite wheels have little or no weight on them. I'm not really experienced with LSDs, but you'd think it would have to help. I used to work in the Adelaide Hills a lot, and I've seen people with a two-part drive, where you drive up forward, then reverse up the second half, so you avoid having to turn, and keep the wheels planted.

PS: In road safety they taught us that concrete has the best coefficient of friction of any road surface. I guess there would have to be some assumptions though, like being clean, dry and suitably textured.

[svo supporter]

Paint the driveway with sand mixed in with the paint, or something similar to give the tyres something to grip onto when it's wet. Concrete on it's own is slippery when wet.

[Cam]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Paint the driveway with sand mixed in with the paint, or something similar to give the tyres something to grip onto when it's wet. Concrete on it's own is slippery when wet.

Good idea..

[JMO]

What about fatter tyres?

[rodderz]

Get some sawcuts put into the driveway across the width

[dippy1]

Hmmm, that sounds worth a try and with a change to drive surface???

[troystanton78]

i'm a concrete cutter, the saw cuts would probably work but it would be costly unless you know someone with a saw

[dippy1]

rodderz, do you really think that would work? Going up the drive isn't so bad, we can abort the attempt. The big problem is going down and down and sideways!!!!!lol.

[rodderz]

They put sawcuts on roads that are on dangerous corners, steep hills etc, spaced about 40mm apart and about 15mm deep, helps to shed water off the surface.

Not sure if it would work 100%, also depends on the condition of the concrete too

[dippy1]

thanks for the info, I was wondering if we asphalt the drive then put the cuts in???

[loosey]

Could always goto your local surf/ skate board shop and get some grip tape (don't know how well it would stick though?) and put a few strips down. If that works get the drive way resurfaced.

[dippy1]

Thank you all so much. It has given us a heap of ideas to work with. But anymore will still be appreciated,
Kind regards,
Lynn.

[AU_Wagin]

Wash to driveway in bleach to get rid of any film, moss, algie etc. you might be saupprised how good it works. All the other suggestiuons about rouyghing up the surface are good, as is the LSD. I had an AU 1 V8 with LSD and it got up a steep wet drive in ringwood at a friends place. The AU 2 V8 didnt have an LSD and I couldn't get up the same drive.

Ray

[GasoLane]

An LSD will certainly help going up. I have a similar problem here.

But if your not getting any traction going down the problem will have to be fixed via the driveway not the car as others have said.

Have a chat to a local concreter maybe, they might have come across the problem before.

Any chance of some pics?

[AMB]

Being exposed aggregate it should be rough enough, thats probably why it was done in the first place. Probably got slime growing on it as said above. Get it blasted a lot more, to expose the aggregate even further -you don't want to be bleaching it every year. LSD will help going up, but not much help going down!

[dippy1]

Thanks again, wow some great ideas there. We are going to sand blast the drive. We didn't realize that the LSD wouldn't help with going down the drive though. Have to go into that further with Pedders

[AMB]

I think another way they blast it is by softening the cement with dilute acid, then blast it with high pressure water. Might be cheaper than sand blasting.

[dippy1]

Actually, I have another question but I'm not sure where to ask it.
Does anyone have a copy of the AU11 LPG Supplement Book, please? Even if I can get a photocopy of it, would be wonderful.
Thanks