Epically horrific vehicles in the snow.

MINIzguy wrote: I've never driven any other than an AWD soccer mom car in snow until this winter. It had General Altimax Artics for one winter and that thing was unstoppable. Then I tried to take my 318ti with an open diff and old all-seasons out with 3-4 inches out. The whole drive was basically a 10-20 mph drift. Any twitch of the throttle would put me sideways again. I'm thinking that I need to get snow tires for it next winter.

LSD makes all the difference. I drove mine on Star Specs in 6 inches of snow.. yes, it was at a 45 degree angle from the direction I was actually accelerating in, but it kept going and straightened out once I let off the gas. Overall I found it much more controllable in a slide than my Disco

I don't get to drive in the snow very much but the worst car I drove in the snow is my 91 Camaro with an open diff and rock hard all-season tires. When it snowed last week, there wasn't too much ice on the road, yet I got stuck several times on a FLAT road. It was pretty comical. It was also hard to try to drift the car, especially since I had to worry about getting stuck.

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

Ha, there was a guy in my hometown that used to deliver pizza in an F-body with an open diff. It was hilarious watching him try to get around in snow, unless you were stuck behind his dumb ass!

I once tried to back my mkiv supra out of the garage to free up a bay to change oil in a winterbeater, I got the rear wheels into the snow (on my plowed driveway) at which point it was hopelessly stuck and I had to winch it back into the garage.

We get some fine regrooved tires in the back that spin hopelessly at the thought of snow, letting the rear half of the bus wag side to side. Some "chains" help them move forward until the middle wheels loose traction and the rear pushes into a jackknife.

Real Minis even with snow tires on the 10 inch rims the snow packs up under the floor and you surf. If you get that far before the coil gives up.

Parents lived in Savage, MN in the late 60's and early 70's with a baby blue big block Roadrunner with chains on it. It made it just about everywhere somehow. You would think that would be just about the worst car to do it in but they liked it.

I'm going to second motomoron... my E36 M3 is the worst. Now, it has summer tires, but I did spend 2 hours getting it up a mildly sloped driveway after our last decent snow in NOVA. Ruined the neighbors driveway (one of those "two concrete strips" driveways with grass between).

In reply to ShadowSix: We have to tell some of these idiots that live in snow areas that snow tires are practically mandatory.

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

Ha, yeah I might get a little wound up about it sometimes!

But really, you would think people in Ohio would have some concept of winter tires/the importance of tires in bad weather.

ShadowSix wrote: In reply to Mr_Clutch42: Ha, there was a guy in my hometown that used to deliver pizza in an F-body with an open diff. It was hilarious watching him try to get around in snow, unless you were stuck behind his dumb ass!

I went to high school with a guy who drove a third gen 305 V8 trans am, on BALD TIRES. Never late. How? Yooper

Actual picture of rear tire.

And a front

Anyone who says Miata (with anything other than summer tires). Is no good in winter.... I'm sorry, but you have no idea at to what the Miata is capable of..

I had a 90' with all season tires. I went to ski country, South of Buffalo 4x a week or more in all weather conditions for over 4 years. Never got stuck, never had any problems. Even with snow up to the door sills..

The secrets are these (all learned driving my Miata in the snow)....

Don't spin the drive wheels, Spinning tires=traction loss.. Traction loss in snow/loose surfaces=digging your drive wheels a nice hole...

Maintain your momentum when you can. In snow, it is easier to stay in motion. Than to stop then resume motion which means you need to drive smart. Red light ahead? slow down well before it and it may just be green by the time you get there...

No Traction control??? Actually you do have traction control.. It is called the parking brake!! As I said above. the last thing you want to do is dig your tires into a hole..

Pull your parking brake up a few notches (or more) to keep tires from spinning when letting out the clutch. It might take some practice, but probably won't. If it is snowy, pull the parking brake until it is engaged, slowly let out the clutch, actively adjusting the parking brake as needed, and ease your way out of your predicament, or away from a stop...

The Parking brake can also be used at wet auto-x competitions.. For that you will have to figure it out for yourself..

mine would be the 70. 220 treadwear summer only tires, 255/50/17 3.55 gears limited slip 3 inches of ground clearance to bellhousing/headers 425 horse at the rear wheels VERY twitchy throttle. 4*negative camber up front.

it is just shy of impossible to get it going ANYWHERE in the snow. i did it yesterday out of necessity. necessity is a mother.

In reply to Kenny_McCormic-
Maybe the steel belts added extra bite?

Mine never saw many winters but the couple times I had it in snow it did okay (probably thanks to the LSD). My dad somehow managed to spin it completely around on a narrow sweeper on a pretty big hill without crashing it when it was his DD though, he says it did pretty well otherwise.
But personal experience, from best to worst:
-1988 Toyota 4x4 MT (in 4x4): 30x9.5x15 Dayton Timberline A/T's
-1995 Ford Taurus GL AT: factory size Kelly/Summit all seasons
-1985 Toyota MR2 MT: 10 year old dry rotted 205/55/15 BFG Traction T/A's
-1984 Trans Am AT: 235/60/15 BFG Radial T/A's
-1988 Toyota 4x4 MT (in 2WD): same tires... it never lasted long before I'd give in and shift the transfer case.
Both the Yota and the Taurus were unstoppable. The MR2 has needed rocked a couple times and pushed once, but once it gets rolling it's an absolute riot. It's not the best but it's the most fun by far.

In reply to jmackk:

Nah, if you looked REALLY carefully, you could just barely see the familiar Radial T/A tread pattern on the rears.

drsmooth wrote: Anyone who says Miata (with anything other than summer tires). Is no good in winter.... I'm sorry, but you have no idea at to what the Miata is capable of.. I had a 90' with all season tires. I went to ski country, South of Buffalo 4x a week or more in all weather conditions for over 4 years. Never got stuck, never had any problems. Even with snow up to the door sills.. The secrets are these (all learned driving my Miata in the snow).... Don't spin the drive wheels, Spinning tires=traction loss.. Traction loss in snow/loose surfaces=digging your drive wheels a nice hole... Maintain your momentum when you can. In snow, it is easier to stay in motion. Than to stop then resume motion which means you need to drive smart. Red light ahead? slow down well before it and it may just be green by the time you get there... No Traction control??? Actually you do have traction control.. It is called the parking brake!! As I said above. the last thing you want to do is dig your tires into a hole.. Pull your parking brake up a few notches (or more) to keep tires from spinning when letting out the clutch. It might take some practice, but probably won't. If it is snowy, pull the parking brake until it is engaged, slowly let out the clutch, actively adjusting the parking brake as needed, and ease your way out of your predicament, or away from a stop... The Parking brake can also be used at wet auto-x competitions.. For that you will have to figure it out for yourself..

I found in my 318ti (with the LSD) that if you got stopped.. best thing to do was to briefly spin the tyres and then quickly engage the clutch. The tyres would stop spinning immediately but the momentum would get transferred to the car, pushing it forward

You guys should have been around in the mid 1960's when I got my driver's license at age 16. My mom had a Austin mini and dad drove a Corvair. They were about the only cars that could be winter driven back then. This was a time of rear wheel drive great big American boats. People used to load up the trunks with concrete blocks and/or sand bags to increase traction. Not to mention studded tires and wheel chains.