4 Reasons to Get Your Car Towed Out of Mud Instead of Trying to Power Yourself Out
If you're crossing muddy roads, especially when driving a car that doesn't come with all-wheel or four-wheel drive, it's possible for the vehicle to become stuck in a particularly deep and sticky puddle of mud. When this happens, it's fine to try gently easing the vehicle out using engine power alone. If this doesn't work, you need to call a towing service instead of stepping on the gas to try and power the vehicle out of the mud. Here are just 4 problems with taking the latter approach.
1. Your Car Will Sink Deeper
Firstly, any attempts to power your car out of mud will spray more mud out from under the tires. If your car doesn't move forward, it's going to sink deeper. This is problematic for two main reasons. Firstly, you don't want to have the undercarriage resting against the mud. Secondly, and most importantly, sinking the vehicle further into mud will increase the hold that mud has on your vehicle. When you eventually do need to be towed out, the car will have to be pulled with more force in order to extract it, and that force can cause damage to the chassis.
2. You'll Overheat the Transmission
When you try to power your way out of mud, you'll be making the engine perform at a high RPM rate in a low gear. This is bad for your vehicle, and it's particularly bad for your transmission. Transmission systems just aren't designed to keep themselves at a stable operating temperature under such conditions, so they are likely to overheat. Remember, your transmission is likely to be one of the most expensive parts to replace or refurbish.
3. Your Wheels Could Come Out of Alignment
Your wheels are meant to spin at the same speed with roughly the same level of traction applied across all four tires. When you're stuck in the mud, it's likely that one wheel will be able to spin freely while another will have to exert far more force in order to spin and keep up. This is problematic since such uneven stress can cause your wheels to come out of alignment.
4. Mud Gets Caked Along the Undercarriage
Even if gunning the engine doesn't sink your car deep enough for the undercarriage to hit the mud, all that revving will kick plenty of mud from the front wheels up under the vehicle. This will need to be exhaustively cleaned off in order to prevent the added insulation provided by caked on mud from overheating the vehicle. Additionally, that added weight is likely to be distributed unevenly, so the balance of your vehicle will be thrown off.
