I love driving in the snow

alfadriver said:

My wife had a 5 mile drive across A2 to get to work.  Probably take her 30 min to do that.

It's not that we don't hate driving in snow.  It's all the other people.  Driving would be a lot, lot, lot more pleasant if people drove in proper lanes for their speed.  The guy going 45mph in the middle lane of I94 needs to move right, as they are just blocking all other traffic who actually know that glistening you see on the surface is water, not ice.  Just like the drivers who are convinced that they can to +70 when everyone else is doing 55.  (dude- you have a truck, which should mean that you know it snows, and if you know it snows, you know that people generally slow down in snow and ice.  So leave a LOT earlier if you are that worried about being 4-5 min late.)

When I was still driving my Miata as a DD, it was a blast in the snow.  

I'm not sure what it with some of the folks that drive around this town.  I've seen some really odd stuff during my travels.  I'm soooo happy I don't have to deal with the highways on a daily basis anymore- especially 23.

NickD said:

02Pilot said:

We haven't had much snow here yet, but when we got ~6 inches a week or so ago I took my 128i out for its inaugural (under my ownership, anyway) snow drive. I've got brand new Conti WinterContactSIs on it. Traction nannies turned off and it was quite entertaining. Very controllable, reasonable limits, and even pretty decent under injudicious acceleration. The previous owner told me it was fun to drive in the winter. He wasn't wrong.

I just put those same Continentals on my stick shift Subaru Baja and they kick ass. The Baja is an all-out riot in the snow, although the lack of a functioning parking brake is a bit of a bummer. The backing plates rotted out at some point and the previous owner removed the shoes, hold-downs and springs and cut the cables off.

They definitely have a different feel to the Altimax Arctics I had on my 525i, but they seem quite competent in the snow. Took a bit of adjusting to get used to them on dry pavement, but it's less problematic now that temps have dropped some; I still turn off the hypersensitive stability control every time I get in the car, otherwise it objects to any condition that causes the sidewalls to flex.

We've done studded and non-studded and we can say for sure studs are the way to go for winters here.  Hankook Zovacs on the Land Cruiser and Mastercraft Glacier Grip II's on the Prius. I don't know if I like or dislike driving in the snow, I just have to do it for 6 months a year.

Back when I lived in NEOhio, I remember driving north on I77 north of Canton in my Saab 99 with nothing more than Semperit's(non snow)  scrapping snow all the way.

In reply to undefined:

You have my sympathies, I don’t miss driving buses in the snow at all. It’s not bad if you have the roads to yourself but the unpredictable cars around you get to be nerve wracking.  I used to pick night work in the winter to avoid as much other traffic as I could. 

The SHO has some Goodyear all-seasons on it, but with AWD, 365hp, and the ability to completely turn off the traction control, I have no complaints. 

In reply to Wally :

traction in snow is pretty good with a heavy bus but on ice they slide around like everything else.  

My only gripe is visibility. Tuesday night was driving snow with about 30’ visibility and no sign of any lines on a twisty secondary road. My only clues where guard rails and the central rumble strip. Otherwise my Altimax arctics and 17 winters of snow driving came through. 

In reply to Brian :

I agree.When I can see where I am going I love driving in the snow

Wasn't enjoying it on Monday.  The roads around here looked like a hockey rink, the Yaris was running minimal tread crappy all-seasons.  Nothing's quite so much fun as hitting the brakes, having the ABS go crazy and actually picking up speed because of a slight downhill.  I took a half day Tuesday and, along with what looked like half of town, picked up some Mastercraft Glacier Grips.  I've been having fun ever since.  I really do enjoy snow driving and I've lived in my home town long enough to know a "back way" to just about everywhere, so traffic is usually a non-issue.  The only thing I'm not crazy about is the highway driving.  The Yaris is just too light, and feels like it's constantly floating around when its icy.  Fun on a back road, not on an interstate.

On a related note, I'm trying to talk our local SCCA coordinator into seeing if any of our local venues will let us do a snow autocross.  

In reply to frenchyd :

Our buses can be pretty bad in snow.   Until recently we ran regrooved rear tires which just had four straight lines of tread cut into them. With half an inch of snow, while stopped the weight of the bus turns the snow to ice. When you take off the tires spin and you slide off the crown of the road and get stuck along the curb.  If any accumulation is forecast they fit us with chains to keep us moving.  The artics are even more fun. The rear wheels push so if the center axle loses traction you get pushed into a jackknife and stuck.