Winter Driving?

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by jonboy99

What's the torsen like on ice? I thought they were supposed to act like an open diff if the grip on wheel is pretty much zero?

No, they act like a locker when traction is roughly equal. Unlike a friction type LSD or an electronic ABS based LSD the Torsen does not brake the spinning wheel.

The Torsen actually transfers engine torque across the differential gears to the wheel with more traction. The "spinning" wheel reduces its spin because the torque to that wheel is in effect reduced. This torque bias is about 4/1 on the BRZ. On ice four times zero is zero so both rear tires spin up, just like a friction type locker but unlike the ABS electronic type pseudo LSD.

A normal open differential transfers only twice the torque to one side than to the other. When one side spins because of no grip then twice zero is also zero so no torque goes to the wheel with traction.

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by jonboy99

Unless you're getting chased thro the rockies by a bear..

Sent from my GT-I9100M using Tapatalk 2

It's more of an issue while doing the wash, apparently:

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by mrceltic

I have Michelin X-Ice on my winter car, but they might be a bit more expensive than you're looking for. I had a cheap set of Dunlop's that were good too. Hopefully you have your original rims around, will save you some money on steel rims for your winter tires.

To be honest, no matter how cheap a winter tire you put on, it will be miles ahead of the summer tires you have on it now... All-season tires "under perform" in the winter, summer tires simply don't perform; they're dangerous and will cost you more in damage to your car, lost work, towing costs and the possibility of injuring/killing someone.

Good for you for making the smart and responsible decision, I hope some of th other uninformed drivers in this thread follow your lead.

Having just driven home with traction control fully off I can highly recommend full winter tires, Q or R speed rated would be best, if you plan on using this car as a daily driver year round.

My Pirelli Sottozeros are outstanding on bare road and truly excellent on my Jaguars or my Audi on snow or ice. On my BRZ they are barely adequate this car is so tail happy.

Don't get me wrong it's a hoot to drive but totally twitchy on ice.

I judge it to be basically uncontrollable on all season or summer tires.

The clutch action is fierce and the Torsen very, very tight. There's no margin for error with this car on the slippery stuff. Unless you are very experienced at handling rwd in winter do NOT try to drive with traction control off or set to VSC.
You WILL lose the back end sooner or later.

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by TONYpepperon1

OK well then can someone recommend a set of snow tires for cheap?

Hankook makes excellent cheaper snow tires. Ice bear gets good reviews and they have a cheaper model also.

Even crappy tire will have decent snow tires for cheap. Michelin used to supply them but I think Goodyear does now (crappy tire just sells their own branded tires they don't build them).

Go stock size and get Q or R rated studless rubber winter tires.

[powerj2]

Last winter was my first winter with RWD and im glad I did, because it taught me so much about car control that I was able to bring to autocross events! bring on this winter

16" steelies stock suspenion 205/55/16 Saxons shit tires!

[thorlius]

Originally Posted by mrceltic

You must live in a different SW Ontario than me if snow covered roads is a rare situation in winter.

In K-W/Guelph/Cambridge area, if you're driving during daytime hours (ie for a regular job commute), on most days you will be driving on exposed asphalt. The only days the roads are snow covered here are during heavy snowfall.

Having grown up in northern Ontario (we're talking hours northeast of Thunder Bay), I'm not being naive.

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by thorlius

In K-W/Guelph/Cambridge area, if you're driving during daytime hours (ie for a regular job commute), on most days you will be driving on exposed asphalt. The only days the roads are snow covered here are during heavy snowfall.

Having grown up in northern Ontario (we're talking hours northeast of Thunder Bay), I'm not being naive.

Exactly why I bought 225/45 x 17 Pirelli Sottozeros. I still think I fit the correct tire for what I expect out of this car. But driving this car daily, especially if I had no other car, on ice or snow could get tedious very quickly. I know my wife would lose patience pretty quickly and her first car was a Fiat X1/9 which she drove year round on summer tires (high performance Michelin XAS, the same tire as fitted to a Ferrari Daytona, a little skinnier on the Fiat though!) but summer tires actually were all season rubber back then.

My other daily driver is a 2013 Jaguar XF V6 SC AWD fitted with the same Sottozero tire in 245/45x18. The tires are correct for what I expect for traction. The Jaguar is a tank, the BRZ more of a stunt skater. My car of last resort is my old 97 SAAB Aero on Continental Extreme Winter Contacts, the best winter car I've ever driven.

My only point is to emphasize that you should consider fitting stickier studless winter tires to this car if you depend on it for your daily driver. Also, unless you have high confidence in your winter driving skills, be very careful with this car on ice or snow until you do know how to drift it.

It is true that a great handling car will handle well no matter what the road surface and the BRZ handles the same way on snow as it does on dry road, just the drift happens immediately on ice or snow.

Fit good tires and enjoy....

[daiheadjai]

Originally Posted by TONYpepperon1

OK well then can someone recommend a set of snow tires for cheap?

I got Continental Extreme Winter Contacts in 205/55R16 for about $640.
I hear Barum Polaris tires are good too (and cheaper)

[Kelbyat07]

Originally Posted by powerj2

Last winter was my first winter with RWD and im glad I did, because it taught me so much about car control that I was able to bring to autocross events! bring on this winter

16" steelies stock suspenion 205/55/16 Saxons shit tires!

lol your car is like "I eat snow for breakfast"

[Kelbyat07]

Originally Posted by powerj2

Last winter was my first winter with RWD and im glad I did, because it taught me so much about car control that I was able to bring to autocross events! bring on this winter

16" steelies stock suspenion 205/55/16 Saxons shit tires!

lol your car is like "I eat snow for breakfast"

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by daiheadjai

I got Continental Extreme Winter Contacts in 205/55R16 for about $640.
I hear Barum Polaris tires are good too (and cheaper)

Barum is Czech and part of the Continental empire. Good tires.

[daftpunk]

Would anybody be able to advise me if these winter tires are too worn to run the FRS?

I have a set of Gislaved Nordfrost 5s sitting at home (my dad's old winters) and a quick toonie test showed about 70% tread on two of em, and about 50% with the other two. Budget is tight currently, and if I could avoid buying new winters for at least this winter, it would help. I commute between Sauga and Oakville so I don't usually encounter too much snow on the ground.

[Kazuya]

Originally Posted by powerj2

Last winter was my first winter with RWD and im glad I did, because it taught me so much about car control that I was able to bring to autocross events! bring on this winter

16" steelies stock suspenion 205/55/16 Saxons shit tires!

Hope you don't mind me using this as my fb coverpage ^__^

[powerj2]

Originally Posted by Kazuya

Hope you don't mind me using this as my fb coverpage ^__^

Go ahead pm me link!!