Snow Driving
 

Boosted brz driving in toronto snow.
Ive driven it stock before not boosted. Any advice or issues i should lookout for?

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Don't be an asshole and you should be fine

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This ^
Easy going on and off throttle. No quick actions and all will be fine. Not the best but still fine.

I mean this is a given lol

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Haha fair enough. Just get winter tires. Always pay attention to the Only thing making contact with the road.

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For sure thanks for that!!

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The amount of power you have is largely irrelevant; if you're using any of it, you're driving wrong

Thats true.

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true winters, possibly studded
drive like youve got a coffee with no cap ur trying not to spill



Question:
what size winters should i put on my back up 17x7's? 205's? 205/45's? 215's?

One of my all-time favorites.

With 17x7, I would go with 215/45 but 205/50 (1.8% larger in diameter, more options) and 205/45 (1.4% smaller, few options) would be fine as well. I have 16x7 wheels and 205/55 tires for winter.

This car does great in stock size, stock rims with winters. Get a snow/slush biased tire if that’s what you see most (eg Altimax Arctic, Blizzaks) or ice biased (Michelin xIce) based on your typical conditions.

I’ve run the Altima’s Arctic the past four winters and have been very pleased in all conditions, but you know they are a winter tire when you have the occasional warm day during the winter. I got these because I knew they chew through snow and slush very well, better than the ice biased tires with tighter tread patterns, and that was what I needed to make sure the car could do. At this point, with a new, different career and 3 mile commute, I would probably replace with a performance winter tire instead. But I also have a second vehicle (AWD with Blizzaks) and live on the bus line that would drop me two blocks from my office.

I went with 205/50/17's for winters so I could put a few more pounds per square inch down, I mean really the car is only 2800 pounds so focusing it better can't hurt in slippery conditions. It does make it a little more slidey on dry or cold salty pavement but that's kinda fun ;) I went with the Conti EC Winter whatevers and they were good until they weren't but should have had another season left in them IMO. I'm going with the Altimax Arctic next time around to save a few bucks but will probably go back to 215/45 because they have a mushy sidewall so less of it should be better.

winters and track mode to let you get some slip and slide before power cut. a sack of salt in the trunk helps too

My area is a new development so the city isn't plowing it yet. I got stuck in the deep snow a few times leaving the area (specifically when starting from a stop). I knew how to get unstuck easy enough, but is there any technique to prevent getting stuck in the first place? This is my first RWD car.
(my car is stock with 215/45/17 XI3's.)

Momentum is key. I drifted corners often last season out of pure necessity to keep my speed up.(and it's fun as hell)
With good tires, these cars are pretty easy to manage slip angle, even without weight in the trunk. Traction and stability always off(except for highway driving)


We had 140cm of snow one month. The only day I had trouble was when it dumped 20-30cm one night and the plows couldn't keep up.

Yeah, don't stop in deep snow.

Once the front starts plowing snow....you are done.


Car is awesome until you get 10 cm of snow on the ground. Then it should be parked until the roads are cleared.

Idunno about you guys, but I drove through every single storm last year. Amount of snow ranged from little bit of fluffy stuff to "why the hell am I driving in this... Is that a stranded SUV"..

Huh, 100% different experience for me.

Some people are comfortable with frolicking in snow. Others, not so much. It just comes down to hooning skills.

I've had many hours of practice in... vacant lots of asphalt.. sometimes occupied by a lone shopping cart or two, usually (but not always) covered in snow.

It's as Jeremy Clarkson says; women cannot deny their attraction to those who can perform a well executed Scandinavian Flick.

I'm in the same boat. I've successfully driven through at least 9" of unplowed snow on main roads for about 15 miles. Only got stuck when I stopped in front of my house.

This makes me want to take my brz into the snow! I've driven my previous Subaru AWD's through a lot of snowy conditions, but never RWD.



I am wondering if anyone carries a winch with them in their brz just incase they get stuck, or those tire ladders that a lot of off road vehicles use to get unstuck, and perhaps a small shovel?

Yea once up to speed the car is pretty easy to drive in the snow. I still manage to pass everyone who are still on all-seasons.
And doing donuts in a snow-covered parking lot with this car is effortless and hella fun.

heh I actually considered buying one of those small retractable emergency shovels to keep in the car.

I have one of those shovels. Never needed to use it but keep it there just in case.

Nice one! I think it depends a lot on the SNOW (and the temps); the Eskimo's had a good reason to have 27 different names for it.

Over here on the west coast, a few scant inches of 1/2 melted, ultra-wet/icy snow can stop all traffic regardless of make or tires.

Fresh dry powder, not so much. :cheers:

I got the Blizzack "high-performance" winter snow tires on mine. It still sucks in the snow. Can't go up hill in more than about an inch and half of snow. Luckily we have two other AWD Subarus ast the house. Before the Blizzacks I couldn't drive in snow period.

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The VSD works amazing in the snow though. I purposely hit a 90 degree turn at 40 mph (with lots of open space and nothing to hit) just to see what the computer would do. It straightened out the car perfectly.

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I was thinking "high performance winter tire" would perform high in snow. Mine are I guess mediocre performance winter tires of Continental, and I'm very happy about their snow performance.. until now :) 1 try :)

I was driving multiple Subaru AWD for the last 17 years exclusively.

GTA/Mississauga area.

BRZ/FRS can not compare to them in snow. My first snow last winter in RWD was an eyes opener how good AWD in snow compare to RWD.
And I use winter tires on all 4 wheels.

Multiple issue to look for especially if you switch from AWD:

1) Small incline with snow/ice and no go from stop in first gear. BRZ/FRS acceleration pedal is not linear. It gives accelerated input in the beginning. I wished we had snow mode with reduce acceleration input in the first 20%.
With boosted engine this will become only worse.

To overcome it:
a) Start in second gear (bit more wear on clutch)
b) Turn off traction control (left button, just for start)

2) Going through fresh snow stability. It happened only 2-3 times last year. About 10 cm of fresh snow. Max speed I was able to go straight is 30-40km/h. After that ass starting to go left and right and Traction control getting in a way and cutting power off. On AWD Subaru you would not even notice it.
What to do:

a) if you are brave turn traction off and use your steering to catch your ass. After 20 min of driving I had sweaty back and stiff neck. Maybe it is fun on empty streets, but not when you have cars, buses and curbs all around you.

b) accept your car speed limit.

3) How do you use handbrake to correct under-steer? In AWD/FWD I could engage handbrake and give a bit of gas to finish my turn and stop front from under-steer. Yes it overload AWD central diff but was working.

a) Maybe clutch-in when I pull handbrake just to nudge it? but it is not the same feeling.

4) Be careful on overpass bridges. They ice and I was loosing traction going in straight line. Those icy connection overpass from 403 to 401 are scary on a fresh morning ice with other cars spinning out of control around you.

Now good things:
1) It stops way better. Lighter and maybe also because you tend to go slower. On AWD Subaru I got caught few times when I become to confident and was faster then I supposed to be to stop where I should. Road before traffic light tend to be more icy due to other car sliding and polishing it.

2) Does not under-steer in snow that easily. You actually can take corner with faster initial speed. It's turn-in is better. So I don't actually need to help it with hand brake. But forget about accelerating out of it. Had to wait to be completely straight before putting any pressure on a pedal.

3) if you get in a trouble it is easy to apply correction and put it back in line.

In short.
I would not go up to snowy/icy hills in it if I can help it. I will drive slow like everyone around me and probably a bit slower :( But if I got too annoyed I always can switch to my wife's Legacy (generally boring car, but still fun in snow). If I need to go to Blue Mountain skiing I will double check the weather and maybe call my buddy with AWD.

With GTA roads driving BRZ/FRS is totally fine 90% of the winter. The rest 10% just has to be slow and sometime maybe take a bus. It's one of few compromises of owning this car.


Gone those days when I was praying for snow to fall and get into my Subaru...

That is a good point. There are definitely conditions where I wouldn't really risk the drive, but generally, I had next to no issue conquering just about everything.

I use 215/60/r16 (prev gen Crosstrek spec) sized Blizzaks. It gives me about an extra inch+ of ride height with no rub. Also fills out the wheel wells nicely on stock suspension.

Nice for cushioning the potholes come spring time, and giving more clearance for those really snowy days. The increased diameter also helps control the application of torque -- as someone else mentioned, the throttle mapping is quite sensitive on tip-in. Might also help a tiny bit with fuel economy too.

This is always a good and often overlooked consideration. Lots of these overpasses when you have those 270 degree, clover-shaped on-ramps. Tends to be the area where you typically merge, and are thus accelerating NOT in a straight line.

ice rinks
 

You might change your mind out here in southern BC. IF it snows, the temps usually hovers above freezing during the day and can freeze up overnight. End result = we have kids ice-skating on the roads after only maybe an inch of snowfall.

Too bad they stopped selling those cool james-bond metal-spiked tires... :)

[quote=Lim;3280812]I was driving multiple Subaru AWD for the last 17 years exclusively.

GTA/Mississauga area.

BRZ/FRS can not compare to them in snow. My first snow last winter in RWD was an eyes opener how good AWD in snow compare to RWD.
And I use winter tires on all 4 wheels.

Multiple issue to look for especially if you switch from AWD:

of course you're having issues not turning off traction!

i usually just slip the clutch in 1st more to get going.

you're not on winter/all season tires are you. the oem tires summer ONLY tires. they turn to hard lumps of plastic in the snow.

What to do: GET ALL-SEASON or WINTER TIRES.

seriously. with all seasons, 3-4" of snow is no big deal, i can confidently carry 60km/h knowing i can stop safely. with snow tires in 3-4" of snow, i was leaving lights sideways just because i could. one time, to show my brother how controllable the car was, i was going 90km/h at an angle, allowing the car to follow the crown the lane...

from your description, it sounds exactly like the time i tried to use the oem tires in snow...

i almost always have traction control turned off(press-hold). it's never been a problem to hold the car where it needs to go.

physics. so the reason that the handbrake trick worked with awd is because the wheels were being driven by the motor. the handbrake would slow them down, but because they were still being driven, they could not lock up as easily, giving you modulation between disengaged and fully locked.

so the awd vehicle was pulling forward with the front tires while you created friction on the rear tires. in this case, you want to create friction on the rear tires, but only have the vehicles forward momentum to overcome.

the first method is engine braking, or intentionally running the motor higher in revs, selecting a lower gear than you normally would at the relative speed.

you could also use the same handbrake trick while keeping the vehicle in gear(don't clutch in) to much the same effect that you used it in awd, it would just have much less dramatic effect due to the vehicle weight/momentum.

If you had the AT you would have a snow mode, can they even do that on a MT?

Of course my experience using it was a little suspect as documented in the way back machine here and here.

If I had snow tires I'm sure i would be fine, and fun, but I drive the Suburban instead, or stay home.

they close the roads around me if we get 3" of accumulation. stupid, but with everyone driving prius' with summer tires year round, no one can get around, and normal becomes a hazard. and when people are a hazard, we need the government to intervene to protect us!

if they arent M+S rated they arent meant for the snow. They are designed for fast driving in the very cold.