Blargh.

In reply to N Sperlo:

MoDOT closed I-29 between St Joe and the Iowa border last Thursday morning. I'm not sure how long it was closed, but it was.

Meanwhile in Canada...

I hear we're supposed to get some tonight.

It just started snowing lightly in fabulous Flint

Spoolpigeon wrote: I'm still laughing that you have the challenge stickers still on the car. How many goofy looks does that get you? And how many berkeleys are given? And I'm always amazed at how folks freak out over driving in snow. Even in pretty bad snow you can typically get around just fine with some good driving habits.

indeed.. I drove my 318ti in the snow.. lowered on coilovers, polybushed, and StarSpecs. Except for getting going from a stop, NEVER had an issue.. even up to the point where the M-tech bumper was more of a plow than a splitter.

Acceleration was fun though.. between the starspecs and the LSD... sideways all the way

78* and sunny here. Sorry.

37 and cloudy, still. Wind chill is in the "ouch" area for us Southerners.

was 50 and pouring all day here. I think I would have rather had the snow. At least it would have given me a chance to see how the volvo does in the snow

It's 37 in metro Atlanta with wind blowing at 20mph and gusting to the mid 30's. That makes the current chill come in at 26. I guess the heat is coming on more often tonight.

The news cretins are reporting snow flurries around the city as if it is some kind of story. Yeah, right; radar is as empty of precip as their heads are of intelligence.

Listening to the scanner I heard four accident reports on the only road I take into work tonight. Ice, this is gonna be fun.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: View out my work window. I'm literally the only person here out of my 37 employee "unit." And now they're sending everyone home, forcing us to take PTO for the rest of the day. BullE36 M3. What a waste of a trip.

Man, ain't nobody got time for that E36 M3!

6:00 pm and 6 inches on the ground. It's still snowing. I'm pretty sure we'll live through it.

Salt all over our roads. No snow.

JohnInKansas wrote: In reply to N Sperlo: MoDOT closed I-29 between St Joe and the Iowa border last Thursday morning. I'm not sure how long it was closed, but it was.

Must be something special about it.

81cpcamaro wrote:

Basil Exposition wrote: Oh, BTW, what exactly IS a "snow" shovel?

It looks similar to those shovels used for cleaning up cow/horse/cattle "droppings".

took the words rught out of my key board

JohnRW1621 wrote: I would take issue with the forced use of PTO. Tell them you want to stay.

Oh, I thought PTO was short for Power Take Off. silly me.

All this complaining about a couple inches of snow...it's making me want go drive around. I am going to have to accidentally pour/spill out the last of the milk so I "have to go" to the store

Spoolpigeon wrote: I'm still laughing that you have the challenge stickers still on the car. How many goofy looks does that get you? And how many berkeleys are given? And I'm always amazed at how folks freak out over driving in snow. Even in pretty bad snow you can typically get around just fine with some good driving habits.

I get lots of looks, and zero berkeleys are given.

The roads really WEREN'T that bad. I had no problems getting around, and it only took me about 5 minutes longer to get home than normal.

Winter BEAST. I had this thing charging through drifts that were taller than its headlights. Not sure just yet how much damage the front bumper took. The car is largely unstoppable. I was driving through snow at my apartment that was as high or higher than the bottom of my doors like it was nothing.

mad_machine wrote:

N Sperlo wrote: You need a 4x4 F150. THATS how everyone thinks you have fun in the snow. Jump the snow drifts.

FTFY You have not had fun in the snow until you take a cheap FWD econobox out on smoothed, but not clear snow covered back country roads

I passed at least a dozen F150 4x4s and similar numbers of Chev and Dodge trucks today in my Elantra on my way to and from Toledo, their faces were priceless.

(Snow tires rule)

My winter car is a 92 Mazda 323. Those pictures just look like regular Canadian winters - and I've never, ever gotten stuck in that car. Good snow tires are a must –you just can't compare them to all-seasons (known as "no-seasons" up here).

It is pouring here in southeastern MA. I guess we are going to miss all the fun. BTW, it has not snowed significantly here since I bought my winter wheel combo for my 3 and a working snow blower. And those were all bought last year.

Lesley wrote: My winter car is a 92 Mazda 323. Those pictures just look like regular Canadian winters - and I've never, ever gotten stuck in that car. Good snow tires are a must –you just can't compare them to all-seasons (known as "no-seasons" up here).

That's like 'intermediate' knobbies on dirt bikes. It just means they don't work anywhere.

aussiesmg wrote:

mad_machine wrote:

N Sperlo wrote: You need a 4x4 F150. THATS how everyone thinks you have fun in the snow. Jump the snow drifts.

FTFY You have not had fun in the snow until you take a cheap FWD econobox out on smoothed, but not clear snow covered back country roads

I passed at least a dozen F150 4x4s and similar numbers of Chev and Dodge trucks today in my Elantra on my way to and from Toledo, their faces were priceless. (Snow tires rule)

I had two similar moments with our little "storm" here in MD. Since I'm dailying with the P71, most folks avoid eye contact with me, but I usually get the nod from local LEO's.

Anyway, I picked up the girlfriend during our first snow on Monday, and took the Interstate back home. I was about to pass a group of cars in the slow lane, when I notice a MD trooper coming up very slowly in the fast lane.

As he pulls aside, he waves, so I acknowledge him, and we continue on. My P71 is unwavering thanks to my Hankook snows, and his in a constant fishtail.

Finally, he understands that he's not doing any better in the fast lane, and meekly gets in front of me in the right lane. I gently coax the car into the fast lane, and get this look of astonishment as I cruise by.

I could probably hold highway speeds easily with the snows, but settled on finding a nice empty section of highway, with about a 1/4 mile buffer between traffic in front or behind me, since I'm so leery of getting punted by some dolt on bald all-seasons.

I also got the "WHOA" look from a County cop today as I motored by the parking lot he sat in, since I was able to safely do the speed limit.

I don't get it, many agencies around here have a lot of dedicated SUV's for winter use, and they could get away with just a spare set of wheels and snow tires for winter.

I get sent to cover 3 or 4 winter driving programs every year. Some are driving schools, others are put on by tire companies. Personally– I think they should be mandatory. Once you've done braking and skid pad exercises with AWD, FWD and RWD with/without winter tires – you become a believer. The best 4x4 on the market shod with all-seasons can't hold a candle to an econo-box in snows.

that's the part so many people don't seem to understand ... for the price of a set of cheep wheels and a little bit of sweat equity you can give yourself the best chance to actually do away with the white knuckles and the stress induced heartburn of winter driving ... as long as everyone realizes that these are snow tires and not performance tires