Winter Driving?

[Jertronic]

Originally Posted by navanodd

I had a chance to go for a drive a little while ago - the streets are wet, snowy and cleanup is by no means nearing completion in downtown Halifax.


First impressions are great. Comparing to a 2001 Accord and 2006 CRV with "old fashioned" studded snow tires, the BRZ with Xi3's drove better with the exception of one case - pulling away from a dead stop. I had to rock the car twice to get going, something I would not have had to do in either of the Hondas.


I was shocked at the amount of lateral grip these tires have. I didn't have a parking lot big enough to get enough momentum to spin the car. Also, the lack of understeer is very new to me. The BRZ definitely likes to hunt for ruts, something that has been said before. Overall the car was super predictable and performed a lot better than I expected.


I preferred driving it with VSC Sport Mode on, and Trac "Off". (ie, tap VSC sport and tap Trac - nothing fully off) Otherwise there was just a lot of power sapping going on. Just a general note - ABS has come a long way since 2001, the braking performance was definitely confidence inspiring.

After only 2 snow events in boston this winter I have ordered the same tires, XI3's. Due to a coastal front, yesterday's 16 inch storm turned into an 8 inch storm with a wet and heavy top layer. The temperature is falling below freezing for the foreseeable future as of 11AM today. My 3 month old lab puppy was punching through the top crust layer while walking the snow in complete bewilderment.

The XI3's could not being arriving at a better time mounted on 16inch steelies.

What can you tell me about the XI3's? Have you driven on this set for long?

I'm partly expecting a soft tire with poor turn-in characteristics until the mold compound wears away. With the recent mild winters locally I seem more concerned with the handling on dry/clear road surfaces. Supposedly the XI3's shine on ice, packed snow and slush.

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by navanodd

I had a chance to go for a drive a little while ago - the streets are wet, snowy and cleanup is by no means nearing completion in downtown Halifax.


First impressions are great. Comparing to a 2001 Accord and 2006 CRV with "old fashioned" studded snow tires, the BRZ with Xi3's drove better with the exception of one case - pulling away from a dead stop. I had to rock the car twice to get going, something I would not have had to do in either of the Hondas.


I was shocked at the amount of lateral grip these tires have. I didn't have a parking lot big enough to get enough momentum to spin the car. Also, the lack of understeer is very new to me. The BRZ definitely likes to hunt for ruts, something that has been said before. Overall the car was super predictable and performed a lot better than I expected.


I preferred driving it with VSC Sport Mode on, and Trac "Off". (ie, tap VSC sport and tap Trac - nothing fully off) Otherwise there was just a lot of power sapping going on. Just a general note - ABS has come a long way since 2001, the braking performance was definitely confidence inspiring.

You'll need TC fully off to spin the car. With TC on or VSC on the computer stops your fun immediately or a little later than immediately. With TC fully off the car can be drifted very easily on snow. Perhaps a bit too easily in fact.

If you have experience drifting a car in snow the BRZ is relatively tame but twitchy. You need to be very precise with the throttle.

You also need snow tires or you won't get going let alone drifting.

This car will do a "handbrake turn" without using the handbrake if you snap the throttle correctly while putting on and then taking off steering lock.

[Suberman]

Snow tires with studless tread need about 500 miles (1,000 km or so) to wear in their siping fully. Before the sipes are fully sharpened expect braking and acceleration to continue improving.

[Deadspool]

Originally Posted by navanodd

I had a chance to go for a drive a little while ago - the streets are wet, snowy and cleanup is by no means nearing completion in downtown Halifax.


First impressions are great. Comparing to a 2001 Accord and 2006 CRV with "old fashioned" studded snow tires, the BRZ with Xi3's drove better with the exception of one case - pulling away from a dead stop. I had to rock the car twice to get going, something I would not have had to do in either of the Hondas.


I was shocked at the amount of lateral grip these tires have. I didn't have a parking lot big enough to get enough momentum to spin the car. Also, the lack of understeer is very new to me. The BRZ definitely likes to hunt for ruts, something that has been said before. Overall the car was super predictable and performed a lot better than I expected.


I preferred driving it with VSC Sport Mode on, and Trac "Off". (ie, tap VSC sport and tap Trac - nothing fully off) Otherwise there was just a lot of power sapping going on. Just a general note - ABS has come a long way since 2001, the braking performance was definitely confidence inspiring.

I just took the brz out for a spin in timberlea, Way too much fun.

VSC Sport was the key here for sure.

[Deadspool]

Although I just found one of my guards from under the chassis in my driveway, torn off..

[navanodd]

Originally Posted by Suberman

Snow tires with studless tread need about 500 miles (1,000 km or so) to wear in their siping fully. Before the sipes are fully sharpened expect braking and acceleration to continue improving.

I've definitely noticed improving wet/dry performance as the miles have gone on, but I've still only got about 200km on these tires so I expect them to get even better. Heck, on the way home from the tire shop ABS kicked in when I stopped at a crosswalk on dry roads. I also need to play around with tire pressures as with the temperature drop I expect that I'm around 29-30psi right now and possibly not getting the optimal contact patch.


To me, in the wet and dry these tires feel like all seasons, not as responsive as the stock Primacy's but definitely more rigid than your average winter tire.


As far as spinning goes, I did get some drifting from the rear under power for sure, but it was always easy to trigger and easy to stop - this was both in sport mode and with all driver aids disabled. I just didn't have a good enough space to get up to speed and safely throw the car into a spin. I do need to get used to the sound - with studs I could always tell by ear if I started spinning at all, whereas in the BRZ I could only tell by the tach and flashing light.


I'm very impressed with the driver aids overall. They all functioned properly. Trac prevents any and all wheelspin when on. VSC brings the car back in line quickly after sliding. VSC sport relaxes both VSC and Trac intervention thresholds to the point where intervention will take place only under a lot of slip angle and a small amount of wheelspin is allowed. Hitting the Trac button once enabled a lot more wheelspin, while the electronic "brake" differential was still enabled. VSC was fast enough that if I corrected a slide simultaneously I did not end up with an overcorrection and fighting the system, a massive annoyance I've found when driving my parents' CRV.

[jimmillion]

Originally Posted by Suberman

Because the weight distribution is already fairly close to 50/50 I do t think weighting the trunk will help this car. The issue is straight line stability and adding weight in the trunk could just make that worse.

My issue was corning stability and now with 30kg's at each rear corner (60kg total) I've noticed a significant improvement when the pavement is covered in snow. The rear still slides out slightly, but slower allowing for more precise counter steering.

I'm going to leave them in and continue to observe for now.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[7thgear]

question for everyone

when you're driving alone and get on the gas in a straight line, which way does teh bank end step out for you?

[1Cor10:23]

Mini discussion on this a few pages back. Seems like a few of us have bias toward passenger side. However, becomes balanced with vsc off. Perhaps uneven braking from nannies when slip is encountered.

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[Muskokan]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

question for everyone

when you're driving alone and get on the gas in a straight line, which way does teh bank end step out for you?

Mines seems fairly balanced, punching it in a straight line will just spin unless I want it to... Maybe slightly to the right, but that could also be me subconsciously turning away from oncoming traffic.

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by Muskokan

Mines seems fairly balanced, punching it in a straight line will just spin unless I want it to... Maybe slightly to the right, but that could also be me subconsciously turning away from oncoming traffic.

You mean subconsciously correcting the incipient power slide? You only need to do this if TC is switched off. The car will correct it if left to do so.

Punching it in a straight line will cause this car to twitch right and left regardless of traction control settings.

In a bend it will spin you unless you leave at least VSC active. The only thing stopping it spinning out normally would be the stability control.

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by jimmillion

My issue was corning stability and now with 30kg's at each rear corner (60kg total) I've noticed a significant improvement when the pavement is covered in snow. The rear still slides out slightly, but slower allowing for more precise counter steering.

I'm going to leave them in and continue to observe for now.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

We're watching this thread for information.

My concern would be the effect extra weight might have on steering and particularly oversteer.

[Suberman]

Generally speaking you should run with stock pressures winter and summer.

I think that's 35 psi for the 215/45x17.

Dropping tire pressures in winter is not recommended.

Also, cold measured pressure will drop 1psi for every 5 degrees C drop in temperature. It is important to keep adding air as ambient temperatures drop.

Also, allow for the temperature you measure at say 10C in a nice heated garage if you turn drive in minus 20 C. You need to add 6 psi to measured pressure at plus 10 to still have the same cold pressure at minus 20 C. If you have TPMS on any of your cars you will notice the fault light gies on when this amount of temperature drop is experienced. Measure the pressure at minus 20 and you'll find it 6 psi low.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

question for everyone

when you're driving alone and get on the gas in a straight line, which way does teh bank end step out for you?

On most roads, it'll step out towards the curb (probably from the curvature of the road surface), but in a flat parking lot I find it's random if the wheel is dead straight.