Anyone drive in the snow yet???

[Foobar]

Originally Posted by Reflex

drove today when it was flurrying but wasn't sticking to the road.. went 10 mph on a turn in my own development and slid on clear slush. Hit the curb, went over it, and then hit the guardrail... sideskirt area is dented, rear driver side wheel is slightly mis-aligned, rear bumper is cracked, rear fender is also a little dented, and my rear fender looks rolled but idk how that happened

Ouch. What tires?

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[zohaib]

3" of snow in the AM. Left the house 30 minutes early for work and hit up an empty parking lot. Got a feel of the stock prius tires (they're a little shredded from autox and hoonery). Plopped down two cones for some figure 8's and slaloms, and some 0-30-0 accel/braking. Mix of slush and ice on the way home, a few fishtails, but nothing getting off the accel didn't fix. I recommend everyone find a lot and practice. Make sure the lot is empty with curbs/barriers/signs/lightposts/geese/people far far away.

Notes:

a)Traction control works great while you're going, recommend keeping it on when driving around. Unless you're Henning Solberg.
b)Traction control sucks if you're stuck. Try to get the car going in second gear, and if not, turn it off and shimmy or rock out (the car, not your butt). Keep a bag of kitty litter and a small shovel around, just incase.
c)If you get to a large hill, keep momentum. If it's not possible or dangerous, try to go around. You shouldn't be driving anywhere unfamiliar in bad weather, and if you're commuting, try to find alternative, safer route while the weather is nice. Knowledge and patience are your biggest friends.
d)If you have little or no experience with RWD in the snow, or want a little more piece of mind, throw some ballast in the trunk. Those 50lb sandbags are like $6 at home depot, get like 4. Or 6. I've never done it, but that's how some people do it.

[dem00n]

Heh...

I drove down to Ohio friday when they were getting hit with snow, i think they got 6 inches?

Car handled great, i'm running the Extreme Winter Contact. Sure there were a few moments here and there it could get a bit swirly but some good throttle, braking and steering with the help of TC kept everything good.

I then drove home on Sunday, major highways were basically cleared.

Cars doing great, snow setting works well. Didn't even know in manual mode it even starts you off in 2nd as well, how cute!

I have yet to get stuck, but i did pick up a small shovel for the trunk just in case.

[mjh712]

Originally Posted by Reflex

drove today when it was flurrying but wasn't sticking to the road.. went 10 mph on a turn in my own development and slid on clear slush. Hit the curb, went over it, and then hit the guardrail... sideskirt area is dented, rear driver side wheel is slightly mis-aligned, rear bumper is cracked, rear fender is also a little dented, and my rear fender looks rolled but idk how that happened

Sucks, when i slid I hit my front bumper. got a nice scratch & my steering wheel alignment is off (getting fixed & wheel alignment checked friday, car drives straight but it's better to be sure). plus my front left wheel well liner lost two clips & one slot is torn. just going to buy the two clips ($2 each max) & wait to get the scratch fixed until the spring. winter tires are coming today!

It makes people who say stuff like this

It wasn't that bad a all I know most people bitch about rwd in the snow but I think most of the time they just need a drive mod lol.

piss me off, especially when they say they've only driving in the rain. rain=/= snow, especially with the primacy HPs. all it takes it one bad patch & boom curb. or in our cases, about 5 seconds of "oh crap, oh crap" then when we can't recover, boom.

[tobin]

I drove home from work around 3:30 pm in CT yesterday, when we had about 5" of snow, and the roads were pretty bad. I have studded Pirelli Winter Carving on 16" steelies. This is my first time driving a RWD sports car in the snow. I've been driving AWD on snow tires in the winter for the past 10 years (Audi A4, then Legacy GT). So compared to those, the car is terrible in the snow. But, for what it is (light, RWD sports car) I was surprised that it was actually pretty decent. I was able to go up a couple of pretty steep hills with little wheelspin, one from a dead stop. I will be adding some weight to the trunk next time. I would NOT drive this car in the snow with stock tires. If you are used to AWD (point the steering wheel, stomp the gas) you need to be especially careful with this car. BE SAFE!

[neurokinetik]

Since this winter is a bit more normal in snowfall levels for Buffalo than what we had last year (meaning, we are getting plenty), the sandbags in the back seat have been paying dividends. One 50lb bag per seat, and a full tank of gas make a big difference in the driving experience. I prefer the ballast in the back seat instead of the trunk to keep the mass more centered.

[amram]

So the 2 inches or so of snow we got in central NJ yesterday early morning was predicted to get washed out by the rain later in the day, but it turned out that the afternoon rain was more like snow and so by evening there was still a couple inches snow and they hadn't cleared the roads and the temps were in the 20s. I only had to go about 2-3 miles on local inner roads on the stock Bridgestone A/S tires but I can tell you it was hairy, very hairy. Very little grip and slipping and sliding all over the place. I couldn't even get up my not so steep driveway all the way. So decision made, I am definitely getting 205/55R16 winters on 16" steelies from tirerack, just not sure if to get performance winter/snow (Pirelli Winter Sottozero Serie II) or studless winter/snow (general altimax arctic or blizzak WS70).

Anyone using the Pirelli Winter Sottozero Serie II? I realize they will have better cold dry/wet performance, but wondering if the snow performance will be good enough.....

[GregV]

So my car is still on Direzzas but the streets were clear and I haven't driven it in a week so I decided to go down the road just to grab some breakfast.

The end of my street literally never gets any sunlight so it was still covered in ice... got out of my parking space then sat there spinning the tires forever unable to move in either direction. Had to get out and push it halfway down the block first.

[Reflex]

Originally Posted by Foobar

Ouch. What tires?

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The cheap stock summer tires on stock rims..

I was just about to order all season tires for my xxr 527s but now I'm gonna need that money to pay my deductible on my insurance

[Foobar]

Originally Posted by Reflex

The cheap stock summer tires on stock rims..

I was just about to order all season tires for my xxr 527s but now I'm gonna need that money to pay my deductible on my insurance

Yeah, I don't care what anyone says about the Primacy HP's being fine for winter so long as you "know what you're doing". Those things are useless if you get anywhere near freezing and there is any type of moisture (rain, slush, snow, ice) on the road.

[amram]

Originally Posted by Reflex

The cheap stock summer tires on stock rims..

I was just about to order all season tires for my xxr 527s but now I'm gonna need that money to pay my deductible on my insurance

Wow, sorry to hear dude. that sucks.

lesson for others to learn from i guess.

[Reflex]

Originally Posted by Foobar

Yeah, I don't care what anyone says about the Primacy HP's being fine for winter so long as you "know what you're doing". Those things are useless if you get anywhere near freezing and there is any type of moisture (rain, slush, snow, ice) on the road.

I drove 15 miles in the snow storm on both route 1 and 287, which were both not yet plowed, on Saturday and I was somehow able to survive that but 2 days later I drive in light flurries and I slide out...

Yes the Primacy HPs are terrible in anything but dry roads. Can't go over 2k rpm without fish tailing; I had to accelerate like a snail

My poor car...

[Coaster]

Hope everyone knows Summer Tires should be in 50 degrees and above. Colder temps than that make the rubber compounds in these tires useless.

[babylobster]

Originally Posted by sklimo

If I were you I wouldn't spend the $ on winter tires and just drive the Corolla.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52837

The Corolla is the "family car" so I try not to drive it too much