Important Info-Automobile Snow Loads

[Chesslike]

I thought it was important to mention that with the large snow amounts that we have received, you should try to uncover your vehicles as soon as possible. Today I was shocked to notice that our Honda Accord was only about 3 inches off of the ground from the weight of the 3 feet of snow that was sitting on top of it. The Accord is only rated to carry a load of 850 lbs. If you take the average weight of a cubic foot of snow that equals 15 lbs. and multiply that by the 3 feet of height and then multiply that by the approximately 100 square feet the Accord has in surface area, you are talking about a load of around 4500 lbs. The snow that we received was not the light, fluffy stuff that we usually get when we get big snow drops. This snow I took off of my vehicle was pretty heavy and compacted, so 15 lbs. per cubic foot is probably pretty close to being accurate. It seems to me that a vehicle carrying a weight far beyond its engineering limits could possible damage the suspension and or its tires.

[Wrightwood]

Good points Bob...
We had a new "extra thick" $300 spa cover that was cleared of snow a couple times during the week and the night of 18" was enough to buckle the center. It is now dished down in the center 

[Stitches]

My van is wearing a tall chef's hat.   

I was clearing my van out yesterday.   Started shoveling from the front, cleared the hood and freed the bumper as it has frozen to the ground.   When I took the last piece of ice from the bumper, the van lifted UP about 2 inches.   I thought, that's odd.   Then I realized that the back of the vehicle still had all it's snow mostly on the back and the weight of it was pushing the van up.    Any heavier and that van would have done a wheelie on it's own.

This is just crazy amount of snow.    I watched my neighbor get snow off his windshield.   He pulled out of his driveway, got onto the street and he hit his brakes hard.   All the snow fell off onto the street.   

I'll make sure that snow is cleared off the top.   Wish I thought of this earlier today.   Never thought about the suspension.

[ChrisLynnet]

Me too! I read about that last night. As soon as I get off the phone (a bunch of business calls) I'll get the snow off the car. Thanks for the heads-up.

[yarncat]

Heavy snow load on a Jeep hardtop roof causes it to sag badly leading to increased interior noise and leaks.  I try to keep the snow cleared off my Jeep the best that I can, but this last storm left me no choice but to wait a couple of days.  The roof was actually resting heavily on the roll bar which usually has an inch or so of air space.  Times like this I wish that I had a garage.  Sure feel for those Jeep owners with rag tops, I can't imagine what the snow does to their roofs.