Winter Driving

[shpritz]

Got my snows on today but still concerned about whether this beast will be manageable up here once the snow arrives. Anyone with winter experience offer some encouragement and tips. Is it manageable or am I going to be aggravated the first heavy snowfall???

[DarthColin]

Hey, I live about 4 hours west of you and drive a 1M as a daily driver.
I switch to Dunlop Winter Sport 3D tires in the winter. In fact, I just switched to them on Sunday (You should be getting snow very soon, if not its already falling!)

Last winter was one of the worst, if not the worst snow storm I have ever seen. I still managed to get around with my car. Specifically, driving from the Regina airport to about one hour east of the city along the TCH. It was a crappy day to drive, but was crappy for any vehicle, no matter what it was, except for maybe a skidoo.

I haven't done any damage to the front air dam, or spitter due to depth of snow. Also, I haven't had any trouble setting off from a stop, and I've never used 2nd gear due to lack of traction. Stopping/maneuvering ability with a performance snow tire is better than what you would expect from an all season tire.

I mostly drive in MDM mode. This will allow some wheel spin, especially if pointed in a straight line. On the highway, I normally leave the traction control fully on. Just in case. I would feel dumb if I ended up pointed backwards in a ditch because I thought my amateur racing driver skills could save me. Just this morning on the highway, I had the traction control light flashing because it was really icy. You will have no problem spinning the tires in 7th gear on black ice so be careful. Most of time in the city/town, I turn the traction control off if I feel like sliding around a bit.

If you have spent much time in Winnipeg, you should be used to winter driving. I wouldn't foresee any unusual problems if you have winter tires equipped. The main thing I worry about is getting rear ended or having someone else t-bone me or something. Also nice is the car warms up really fast, kind of nice on those -30 mornings.

Cheers.

[DarthColin]

Hi. I do like them and am confident that you will too. They are very good on snow and wet, and as good as can be expected on ice and slushy conditions.
On dry pavement they are also very good. I notice that they feel more "marshmallowy" than the summers if you try a bit of a weave. They have more grip on a wet road between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius.

[deathray]

Originally Posted by shpritz

Got my snows on today but still concerned about whether this beast will be manageable up here once the snow arrives. Anyone with winter experience offer some encouragement and tips. Is it manageable or am I going to be aggravated the first heavy snowfall???

I drive mine year round and so long as it's on winters it should be fine (did drive on snow/ice once on the Super Sports....not fun).

As far as tips and tricks go: not too many that dont apply to rear wheel in general. Dont expect to be able to punch off the line if there's ice on the road; sometimes it may be easier to start in 2 rather than 1 and you may need a bit of a light foot to keep the DSC from complaining.

I tend to drive without full DSC (usually MDM unless there is heavy uncleared snow in which case it's fully off). I find that the DSC has a habit of cutting power in all the wrong situations (in the middle of a left turn for example).

The most important thing is that youre used to the vehicle and comfortable with losing grip occasionally. I find that with the exception of starting from a standstill, I prefer RWD to AWD during the winter. With RWD you generally know exactly when youre going to lose grip and how to get it back, but, with AWD if you slide, the only recourse is prayer.

Take it easy, have fun and youll be fine.