Is there such thing as an impossible hill?

[bk7794]

Today I was driving aimlessly and I wondered off the main road. When I hit one road the road went up at a steep angle. I figured it was a stop sign lets practice a hill start, but this hill was no other hill I have ever seen, the hill was so bad that I could barely stop the car from rolling back either with my parking brake or with my regular brake.. I tried to go up it and it was so bad that my car struggled in first gear to take off.

My question is should I really be paranoid about hills like these? It makes me feel like all my progress has kind of been in my head.

I asked a buddy of mine who was in my car with me and he said that even his automatic car rolls back and is hard to take off of from that street...but still...

[Shadow]

Obviously, the steeper the hill, the better (or quicker) you need to be to minimize roll back. There's a hill near my house that is nearly straight up (okay, maybe not, but it's VERY steep) but I don't drive on it that often. Maybe I'll have to take a picture of it and post it on the forum....but I'm not sure that it's easy to capture just how steep it is in a picture.

Anyway, you should fear no hill! No matter how steep! And yes, most automatics will start to roll back on a really steep hill. My 4Runner has a pretty cool feature where it will not allow the vehicle to roll back more than a few inches, even on the steepest hill imaginable. It's basically an off-road feature, but it does work well on the road too.

[bk7794]

Obviously, the steeper the hill, the better (or quicker) you need to be to minimize roll back. There's a hill near my house that is nearly straight up (okay, maybe not, but it's VERY steep) but I don't drive on it that often. Maybe I'll have to take a picture of it and post it on the forum....but I'm not sure that it's easy to capture just how steep it is in a picture.

Anyway, you should fear no hill! No matter how steep! And yes, most automatics will start to roll back on a really steep hill. My 4Runner has a pretty cool feature where it will not allow the vehicle to roll back more than a few inches, even on the steepest hill imaginable. It's basically an off-road feature, but it does work well on the road too.

I thought to myself that I was a bit slow, but this was so bad that I didn't think I was even going to make it up the hill. I will have to try it again maybe. This was probably as bad as the hill you are talking about.

[theholycow]

I could barely stop the car from rolling back either with my parking brake or with my regular brake..

I hope that bit about the regular service brake barely holding the car is hyperbole...there should be no hill steep enough for that, although there could certainly be hills with insufficient traction for your tires.

I fear no hill. I welcome the challenge of the steepest hill. COME AT ME HILL!

What becomes a problem for me is my moderately steep driveway in the winter when I don't prepare by moving my car up to the flat backyard and it gets snowed in. That's mitigated by my snow tires and better snow removal equipment lately. Also, when my tires get frozen to the ground, regardless of hill or not; I have to repeatedly jerk it hard, stabbing the clutch and accelerator alternately, abusing the hell out of the car and making the neighbors go deaf.

[comawhite]

Pictures of said hill? Just curious.

[Roger]

The steepest I've done in manual is about 40 degrees in a car park, revved to about 2000 while slipping it. I've done a literally 50 degree steep hill in a turbo diesel automatic in a Sydney underground car park, I had to floor it to just go up the hill at 10kph.

What I like to do for really steep hills where I do not want to roll back much is:
- Hold the foot brake
- Raise the clutch to the friction point, then raise it till you can feel the car shudderring/engine lugging slightly
- Release the foot brake and get straight onto the gas and be very generous with the revs
- Start the sea-saw motion with clutch and gas
It's easy when theres noone infront because you just try to get everything hooked up asap, but it sucks when you have to crawl up the hill at 5kph while slipping it at 2000rpm .
If I'm parallel parked on a very steep hill I'll use the parking brake just in case.

[AHTOXA]

I have to repeatedly jerk it hard, stabbing the clutch and accelerator alternately, abusing the hell out of the car and making the neighbors go deaf.

Cue in the Jeep Guy with the pedal fetish.

[theholycow]

Cue in the Jeep Guy with the pedal fetish.

I forgot about him.

[RITmusic2k]

Anyone here like cranking, revving, pumping?

[six]

Well, technically, there is such a thing as an impossible hill... it's called a wall.

[watkins]

*does not apply to Jeeps

[bk7794]

I could barely stop the car from rolling back either with my parking brake or with my regular brake..

I hope that bit about the regular service brake barely holding the car is hyperbole...there should be no hill steep enough for that, although there could certainly be hills with insufficient traction for your tires.

I fear no hill. I welcome the challenge of the steepest hill. COME AT ME HILL!

What becomes a problem for me is my moderately steep driveway in the winter when I don't prepare by moving my car up to the flat backyard and it gets snowed in. That's mitigated by my snow tires and better snow removal equipment lately. Also, when my tires get frozen to the ground, regardless of hill or not; I have to repeatedly jerk it hard, stabbing the clutch and accelerator alternately, abusing the hell out of the car and making the neighbors go deaf.

Okay I am exaggerating a bit here, it required more pressure to stop the car then usual. I must agree that I was probably slow and was very conscious about rolling back more then I usually am. When I am in traffic at a stop and at a hill I kind of like the little roll back and don't mind it.

Pictures of said hill? Just curious.

I will try to get the coordinates on google street view if they have it.

The steepest I've done in manual is about 40 degrees in a car park, revved to about 2000 while slipping it. I've done a literally 50 degree steep hill in a turbo diesel automatic in a Sydney underground car park, I had to floor it to just go up the hill at 10kph.

What I like to do for really steep hills where I do not want to roll back much is:
- Hold the foot brake
- Raise the clutch to the friction point, then raise it till you can feel the car shudderring/engine lugging slightly
- Release the foot brake and get straight onto the gas and be very generous with the revs
- Start the sea-saw motion with clutch and gas
It's easy when theres noone infront because you just try to get everything hooked up asap, but it sucks when you have to crawl up the hill at 5kph while slipping it at 2000rpm .
If I'm parallel parked on a very steep hill I'll use the parking brake just in case.

This is generally what I do, but I usually never hit a hill that was this bad so that is probably why. I was also slow to the gas and everything else because it was more of a leisurely ride...

I also tried the parking brake and even then I still rolled down it hahah...

Anyone here like cranking, revving, pumping?

Hahaha, I must admit I do like revving, the pumping creeps me out, and the cranking can get my annoyed sometimes in real life.

http://goo.gl/maps/S1ZS here is the hill, I must admit the picture makes it look like a wimpy hill...and to be honest I am doubting that it was even a big hill to begin with..probably just another one of my over reactions.

[theholycow]

When I am in traffic at a stop and at a hill I kind of like the little roll back and don't mind it.

If I'm feeling challenged by the hill and there's traffic creeping up, I roll back a little specifically to notify the driver behind me that I might roll back a lot.

http://goo.gl/maps/S1ZS here is the hill, I must admit the picture makes it look like a wimpy hill...and to be honest I am doubting that it was even a big hill to begin with..probably just another one of my over reactions.

At first I was like "hey, that looks like common local crap"...then I was like "Oh yeah...bk7794, Location: Central CT".

Somehow that reminded me: I was once told a story of my grandmother being unable to get her 3-pedal 1950smobile up one of those steep hills near Brown University in providence, and a friendly unknown stranger man on the sidewalk drove it up the hill for her.

[bk7794]

When I am in traffic at a stop and at a hill I kind of like the little roll back and don't mind it.

If I'm feeling challenged by the hill and there's traffic creeping up, I roll back a little specifically to notify the driver behind me that I might roll back a lot.

http://goo.gl/maps/S1ZS here is the hill, I must admit the picture makes it look like a wimpy hill...and to be honest I am doubting that it was even a big hill to begin with..probably just another one of my over reactions.

At first I was like "hey, that looks like common local crap"...then I was like "Oh yeah...bk7794, Location: Central CT".

Somehow that reminded me: I was once told a story of my grandmother being unable to get her 3-pedal 1950smobile up one of those steep hills near Brown University in providence, and a friendly unknown stranger man on the sidewalk drove it up the hill for her.

I actually roll back a bit to let them know that aswell.

haha, the highway ramps aren't that bad, I actually can accelerate quite well even in top gear going up hill. This was odd.

Interesting story, I don't know if I will ever trust anyone now a days to do that. I don't even know if anyone would ever offer to do that.

[Shadow]

Well, technically, there is such a thing as an impossible hill... it's called a wall.

Up, but not over: