Best way to get car un-stuck from snow??

Well, I went to pick up a new-to-me 2000 996 cab yesterday and was bringing it to a relatives house to park in his garage until May when the weather is nicer. The car drove very well for over 5 hours including a lot of stop and go traffic. Unfortunately, things started to unravel when I got to the house. The snow on the driveway wasn't plowed well and I pulled the car halfway into the driveway before it started to slope upward. I began shoveling the slope knowing the car wouldnt be able to make it up. After shoveling I tried getting up and still couldnt. So I decided to abandon the plan and leave, but then realized I couldnt get back out of the driveway into the street either, I was stuck in a valley in the middle of the driveway between two hills! Just an ever so slight slope was enough to make the wheels just spin and spin. So after going forward/reverse to get momentum, I ended up sliding too far sideways and got completely stuck. Then it snowed another 6 inches last night Luckily I threw a cover on the car and popped the front trunk before the snow came, not knowing how long it will be before I'm back. Due to the lateral slope of the driveway and where the car is sitting, I don't think it will be as simple as shoveling out. The car is only accessible by a tow truck or winch from the rear (no room for a vehicle to get around the 911 because there are thick trees on either side of the car). The rear of the car needs to be pulled 1 ft to the right to straighten the car, and then the car needs to be driven or towed directly backwards 20ft out of the driveway into the street. Is the best option to use the rear tow hook behind the license plate to pull the car? Is there any better way to winch the car than the tow hook (e.g. using tow hooks on the wheel lug nuts or using straps on the wheels, etc.??)? Hopefully this is the last time I need to worry about towing...

too late to try and put some chains on? or maybe this one?

I'm trying to visualize your car's current position. I'd try to shovel a path back to where you want to get. Put some sand down - anything gritty - small pebbles should also work. Auto parts stores also sell "traction blankets" which you put directly behind or in front of the driving wheels (depending upon which direction you're trying to go). Remember - you need to apply the throttle such that the car barely moves. Perhaps use second gear not first. Good luck. There's always "waiting for summer". Sounds like you don't want to wait that long.

?

I was going to say move to south mississippi.

You need a come-a-long, a tree, and some straps. Got a harbor freight nearby?

thanks for the responses Those zip tie chains look awesome but I cant find them available for purchase anywhere. I think I could maybe create some using a hybrid of metal chains and zip ties, similar to these http://rethinksurvival.com/wp-conten...rip-chains.jpg Seems like a lot of work though compared to some of the other suggestions. Would plastic zip ties do any damage to the finish of the wheels? The car has the OEM Turbo II wheels. I am not very mechanically inclined and live in manhattan (with no storage space), so the idea of going and buying a come-along and straps is a bit intense for a one-time-use. Good idea though. Maybe the tow truck company would have this. Getting ice-melter/sand/salt/traction blankets might be easier and sound like less risk of damaging the car. Probably will go that route. Also guys, can anyone tell me the thread size for the rear tow hook? Im not sure if the car has one (where would it be? with the spare tire lug wrench and jack??) so want to buy a spare from an auto parts store and bring it with me. ... and yes, worst case scenario is I wait until the snow melts. Its supposed to be 46 and raining on Sunday so that should help.

tow hook is in the tool kit. I have not done this but heard it works from my relatives in the frozen north. Floor mats under the drive wheels. obviously not the Porsche ones.

I'm liking the "come along(s) to a tree(s)" idea. In addition, you could try some "furniture sliders" under the contact patch of the tires. **Make sure the car is tied off to the come along(s) before inserting the furniture sliders** It's going to be like the car is on skis...

With only 20' to deal with, I'd first clear a couple of tracks. If it's dry powdery snow you can remove most of it with a leaf blower. If not, a snow shovel. Then treat the surface with what's available. A couple of boxes of table salt would even probably do the trick.

Large zipties might work, be super cheap, and if you're worried about it damaging the wheels just put shoptowels underneath the tie where it would touch the finish.

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The redneck way is almost often the most effective way. Now, it may not necessarily be the method least likely to inflict damage to car, tree, or operator, but it will be effective.

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I use my come-a-long all the time moving boats,and boat cradles, even cut trees. If you don't have a tree , use another vehicle and chock the tires.

Bolt a winch into the garage floor and drag that baby in. Seriously, with the low friction because of the snow, I bet a few ratchet straps or a come-along wrapped around the ceiling beams of the garage could get the car up the incline. Make sure you take it out of gear if you try to pull it and have the key in the ignition in the on position so the wheel doesn't lock.

this would be great on film...cuz it aint gonna turn out well......funny but not well.titled OWNER GETS STUCK IN SNOW IN DRIVEWAY. po people bbbeeezzz funny

As an aside - each of you who have indicated your understanding of what a come-along is will receive one extra man point.

Kitty litter and cardboard under the wheels. And if you have patience, wait until the snow is colder because cold snow is grippier. Can you post pix of the before, during and after please?

Call a tow truck. The two truck operator will get the car out for you. Before the car got all out of position I would have advised you to have someone run to the hardware store and buy some bags of sand and spread that around generously just to get the car into the garage. BTW, if you leave the front trunk lid open the light will drain the battery. Unless you have a real solid place to anchor a come along you'll pull the garage down.

Use kittty litter or sand to get traction

If there's another vehicle in the garage you could hook a come-along to that, then add a tow rope to it if you don't have enough length to reach the 911.

"Unless you have a real solid place to anchor a come along you'll pull the garage down." Connecting a come-along to the house is not recommended. A tree will definitely do though (anything over 6-8" DBH should be fine) - try to keep it low on the trunk (no more than 3' or so). Don't wrap the cable around the tree or you will do irreparable damage to it (the tree, not the cable) - it's probably a good idea to use a heavy nylon strap to wrap around the tree first, and then hook the come-along to that. **Also make sure the come-along is big enough to handle the weight of a 3000 pound car plus friction...I would think 5 tons should be safe...

Just spend the $50 and call a tow truck to come pull you out. If you live in a snow region and need to go on a forum to ask how to get a car out its probably best just to have it done by someone else. I don't mean to sound like an ******* but the damage you do by not knowing is going to cost more.

Is it still stuck? TWSS. Oh this thread is a riot.

"Hold my beer and watch this"

this tread is a poster child for NOT buying a house under high voltage power lines or next to a meth lab

Snow ? Don't have that problem here in San Diego. Have to worry more about getting sunburn

Car is still stuck... i left it at 11pm last night and drove 2 hours home (in a different car) so I could get to work this morning. Getting advice from all you good folks and going to head back to the car tomorrow after work to dig out / call a tow truck. Since I left the trunk propped open and didn't fool the latch light mechanism im certain the battery will be dead when I get back (another newbie 996 move, doh!). Will have to jump start it and leave it on a battery maintainer once I finally get it up into the garage. I am the first to admit that I should leave this to professionals with more experience. The problem is that I dont trust ANY tow truck drivers in the area unless someone can give me a personal recommendation. You should see the guys that end up coming every time Ive called AAA in the past. They come, throw hooks/chains all over the car and screw up the suspension/bodywork. Happens everytime. There are probably good tow drivers/companies that deal with exotics but the location is too remote during this time of year so it will be difficult/expensive to find anyone, and not worth the price when I theoretically can just leave it and do nothing until the snow melts. The plan - I am going tomorrow with some salt, kitty litter, cardboard, and sand... and 1 or 2 people with 30+ years of getting cars out of the snow, one of them has a plow. These are not professional tow drivers but acquaintances who I think will be a little more careful and willing to do more. As a last resort, I am buying a spare tow hook from the Porsche dealer tonight (since I dont know if its missing from the car's toolkit) so if we fail I can call a tow truck and hopefully they can pull the car backward without damaging anything. If any of you live in eastern Suffolk County, Long Island and are willing to lend a hand please let me know Last question - if people are going to push the car while I am hitting the gas, what part of the car should they push on (in both rear and front) so as not to make any dents or damage to the bodywork? Should they push on the front/rear bumper?

Not a good situation. Just a few thoughts. AFAIK, there is no provisioning at the back of the car for the tow hook, which screws only into the front bumper hole (covered by a trim) beside the license plate. Your battery may not be dead yet as I think the frunk light will turn itself off after a few hrs. With you hitting gas and people pushing around on slippery surface, I would be more worried about personal injury liability than the car. Bumper and A-pillars are the best places to push but again be very careful not to cause bodily injury. You can call up the local Porsche dealership to see if they have good tow companies to work with. I would expect if they tow from the rear, most likely they will put the hooks on the rear subframe of the car to pull it out a little to unstick it. The tow truck doesn't have to tow your car any distance, just enough to unstick it is good enough.

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Actually, rear tow hook receptacle is behind back license plate.

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Ah, that's interesting to know. Will be much better place to pull the car from the rear.

I've pushed from the rear bumper, solid no problem. Not sure about front bumper. Don't push on bonnet (hood), it's pretty flimsy. Wish I could advise re: strap thru rear wheel(s), but I can't. Might be your relatives 1st choice with their driveway plow. Verify tow hook screws in before leaving dealer, some don't fit (rare). GL. Ask the service desk your questions (while you're there), he'll pbly know.

Call a flat bed, have him pull the car onto the truck, back truck up to garage, let it down into the garage. $150 and you don't have to do anything but watch.

Please, please bring 3rd person dedicated ONLY to filming you in this trying time. Based on your description this is a youtube hit in the making. Guy with a porsche stuck between the garage and the driveway, open frunk, dead battery, kitty litter, manual winch tied to the house/garage/tree, tow truck pushing the car up. Clark Griswold time!

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BEST IDEA AND YOUR PORSCHE WILL STILL BE NICE WHEN YOU COME BACK IN THE SPRING.

Can you please post a pic, or possibly videotape this.

Here is how not to do it...And motivation to keep shoveling a bit more. I filmed this last month with a bunch of guys while we rented Bridgestone's Ice Driving track for a few days. Yes, it was connected to the tow hook which was connected to the front crossmember which was connected to the frame rails... Steamboat 2015 tow fail - YouTube Get your popcorn ready, it's good.

^Umm, the word "GENTLY!" came to mind after watching the first couple of jerks at the tow rope. I could guess what was about to happen next. Not one of the half dozen guys thought it might work better to have the guys get behind the car to push on it as the tow vehicle slowly removed the slack on the tow rope and gently pulled the car out? I've certainly pulled my share of boneheaded moves, but just sayin'.

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Haha, yeah, wasn't possible to push, snow was at least 4 feet deep behind and under the car. The track is built on a thick "shelf" of ice with snow in the field beyond and for the berms. No way to pull gently since the track is super slippery, minimal traction. Slow pulls just resulted in all 4 wheels of the tow car spinning. There should have been way more shoveling though, but easily several hours of work.

"If any of you live in eastern Suffolk County, Long Island and are willing to lend a hand please let me know" Uh, yup...Hampton Bays...pm me

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There are times when a vehicle needs to be yanked out. While it's not always ideal and puts a lot of strain on both vehicles, it is sometimes the only option. If that Audi was trying to pull without a tug, it would have just spun on the ice. Problem with that particular situation is the tow hook was not strong enough for a tug. They should have hooked to a control arm or sub frame. /captain hindsight

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Great, what is the proper way to instruct a flat-bed operator to pull the 911 onto the flatbed from the rear of the car? I have the tow hook ready to go in the center, or should they pull from somewhere else? PM sent, thanks!

Let the tyres on the driving wheels right down so they are really soft and almost look flat, I reckon 10 psi or lower. This will give you more grip. Works in mud too.

REMEMBER next time to winterize your IMS and this wont happen again.....most po dealers offer this service for free....just call and ask

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You can be the cameraman. My frunk light turns off automatically at exactly 30 minutes so the battery should be A ok. And this is sincere, I hope the OP comes out of this with both his car and helpers unscathed. This winter has been tough on those of us in the northeast.

replied to pm !

snow tires.

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I would have the tow truck driver hook to the rear took hook (goes in behind license plate) or lower control arm.

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Never knew that! It should be added to the little know things about 996 thread (or whatever that thread is called, I forgot). I grew up in Syracuse and Buffalo. Cars got stuck a lot, but I could always come up with some way to get them out. The extraction method depended on the mode of stuckedness. Never needed to resort to a come-along. Well, no more snow for me. Off to the beach in an hour or so.

Re: That video: Good lord.

Traction mats could be on your doorstep overnight from Amazon... If that doesn't work, more extreme measures? ?

so, is the car unstuck now?

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Yeah, well bite me Mike. It was a high temp of 14 degrees here today, but it made up for it by having a 20 mph north wind. Swing by my condo in Eastlake and snap a pic of my happy tenants waving at me while dressed in shorts and flip flops. I'm glad your cats were bad and your engine grenaded. (Sorry on that last part - maybe a little too soon?)

Yes, thankfully the car is un-stuck, and no damage to any humans, trees, vehicles, or houses. A combination of dirt, salt, shoveling, and 2 guys pushing the car did the trick. Couldn't get it the last 6 feet up the hill into the garage so will have to get more dirt and try again today. But the hard part is done. Thanks to all, and sorry there are no pics or videos. It was dark outside

Cool! Glad to hear no damage was done to the car or persons involved

Damn. A story about how things went horribly wrong in your attempt to move the car, with the end result being your IMSB giving up the ghost would have been a much more entertaining ending to this thread. Maybe you can work something up since the car isn't in the garage yet - leave the parking brake off with a can of gasoline left conveniently in line with the car at the bottom of the slope. We like lots of pics around here - videos with explosions are even better. Then, we can all second-guess and ridicule you. Hurdi will call you a "bollock". It's all good. See what you can do. It's cold outside and it's been a little boring around here, except for this thread.