who drove today? (toronto)

[picus]

Be glad you didn't drive - it would have been a mess. I ended up pulling 6 cars out of our parking lot with my 4x4; it was plowed but the plow snowed them all in. :x Saw a *ton* of accidents on the 410 coming home.

[Myv]

Originally Posted by chenshuo

Yea it's about maybe 500 meters away from my house. I'll wait until later in the afternoon, if it's still this bad then i'll hold off until another day.

The problem is, i have an appointment with Kevin and Marco to do my Opti-coat and clear bra tomorrow morning that's why i'm so eager to get the car home tonight, but now i'm wondering how will the condition on the road be like tomorrow morning...

i was supposed to pick up the car yesterday but because of this snow i held off till today. i fucking hate this snow i FUCKING HATE THIS SNOW! why would this happen ON the day that i pick up my sexy car! fuck this snow!

How much coverage of the clear bra are you doing on your car, just wondering

[Sport-Tech]

Originally Posted by chenshuo

Yea it's about maybe 500 meters away from my house. I'll wait until later in the afternoon, if it's still this bad then i'll hold off until another day.

So did you pick it up yesterday? Still with us?

[chenshuo]

Originally Posted by Sport-Tech

So did you pick it up yesterday? Still with us?

lol no i didn't pick it up yesterday because there was too much snow AND they installed the wrong mirror on my car so they have to order the correct one again. The car won't be available until Tuesday...

i took you guys' advice cause i never driven a RWD before. Also, i found out that my car comes with BridgeStone all season.

[fenixv8]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

tips on driving in a snow storm such as ours


1. turn off traction control and vsc, that this will not get you out of the big piles. (hold the tsc button until both yellow lights turn on the dash)

this will allow you to do two things, stay on the gas as long and as hard as you want and allow you to actually execute the proper counter-steering angles when the car just wants to drive sideways. This is especially important when you're stuck in a rut and the car wont let go. I drove a portion of young street entirely sideways, you should have seen the looks i got.

2. try to never stop, i know this is bad advice but if you drive in the side streets in a heavy snow storm just don't bother stoping for stopSIGNS if you can avoid it. Any time you're forced to stop is a chance that you won't start moving again.

3. put sand bags or anything else haevy in your trunk

4. start in 2nd, then go to 3rd or even 4th. I had some bad moments going up hills yesterday and even had to put the damn thing in 5th. Remember that you want torque and low speed. If you're spinning in 1st gear then you'r enot going to get anywhere, the higher gear you can go the better.

5. learn to counter steer! on a very slippery day like these past 2 days you have to be ready to counter steer every second. Remember physics, inertia is your friend so no sudden movements or applications of gas (why being in 2nd gear is a bad idea, throttle becomes too sensitive)

6. remember that you are not a 4000lb AWD monster with groceries in the back, some idiots just don't realize how easy it is for you to get out of control. So whenever you can, try to stay away from other cars. It's very easy for the back end to come out and side-swipe another car.


finally, go out and practice! at like 2am or something, dori dori !

Awesome advice sir noobs start taking notes.

[kchkwan]

I started driving around 6pm yesterday after the plows went through. I was good to go! I had pretty good traction too. I was able to hit up to 60km/hr on 5th gear on mccowen n markham rd. really crummy when it comes to parkin lots, i got stuck at the rbc at markham rd and steeles. Apart from that, left turns were a b*tch too... :/

[Sport-Tech]

Originally Posted by chenshuo

Also, i found out that my car comes with BridgeStone all season.

Interesting - you clearly did not request this. I hope there is still a no-cost option to go for a summer tire, it should make quite a difference in the handling. I guess the all-seasons could be used as a winter tire as long as you don't drive in snow.

Can you let us know the tire model after you get your car? I want to check the Tire Rack review.

[chenshuo]

Originally Posted by Sport-Tech

Can you let us know the tire model after you get your car? I want to check the Tire Rack review.

will do

[Steve]

get snow tires
get a feel for the car in an unplowed parking lot a couple nights
drive smart and you are good to go
had no problems commuting to and from work Friday
some slipping and sliding is inevitable but very predictable and controllable

[wparsons]

I think I finally figured out why my old jetta made it through deep snow much better than these cars do. The jetta was definitely lower, but made it through un plowed snow better.

The lowest point on my jetta was the front lip, which effectively made it a plow. The lowest point on these cars is the whole underside, which is relatively flat and acts like a sled. I wonder if a plastic air dam right up near where the metal under tray meets the bumper would help with keeping the car from floating up on top of the snow?

[7thgear]

your jetta made it through these snowstorms because it's FWD and being a VW has over 65% of it's weight over the front wheels when you're in the car... not because it had a "plow."



my old mk4 2.0 was a beast in winter, like a honey badger. In some ways it was even more reliable than my Impreza.