Originally Posted by ElectroBoy

Yeah, unless you’re in a bulldozer, driving on ice or slippery hard pack is really tricky. Especially on an off-camber incline. You have to experiment in each situation. Generally slow speed, no stabbing the brakes, and no tire spinning works best. Keep the tires rolling not sliding.

People think that “pizza cutter” thin tires will slice down through snow and ice to the road surface better than an OEM size. Or that big wide tires with big lugs will either “float” on the snow better or dig in and grip better. Maybe in certain snow conditions they will, like slush on pavement. But what I’ve seen on not-too-deep snow covering an icy/hardpacked road is that when going slow the tire lugs fill with snow and that provides a little extra grip on the ice. And if you go slow and don’t spin the tires much you make progress.

And whatever you do, don’t use tire cables. Maybe the latest versions are better and stronger. But I’ve broken and lost two of them on a FWD sedan, they failed just by normal driving.