HELP!? HORRIBLE drive home during first REAL Snow in Michigan

[paulyd0021]

Hey guys, so tonight I was driving down M15 from Davison to Clarkston and it had been snowing for a long time before I started driving and was just starting to rain and sleet. Anyways there was about 3 inches of fresh snow on the roads and its 2AM so no plow trucks have really come through yet.

I was a little nervous to venture out, but also a little excited because this is my first winter with my 07 Yaris Hatchback and the first time I've driven it in the snow. My last car was a Hyundai TIburon and that thing was awful during the winter.

So my drive home...was GOD AWFUL. I expected the yaris to not handle that well in the snow, but man, this drive home was like a drive through hell if it had frozen over. I could barely keep control of the car. Literally if I went over 35 I had major problems keeping her steady or from drifting.

The roads were bad, but not bad enough that I should have to drive under 30 mph in order to avoid certain death. Every time oncoming traffic neared me, I was half way sure that my life was about to end, especially where there had only been one path carved out by cars so both directions were using it.

SO basically I'm hear to ask for any help and advice you might have for me on how to "winterize" my yaris. After tonight I'm definitely thinking about investing in a set of good snow tires. Any suggestions on which or any other ways to not make driving this winter a death sentence?

Thank you in advance for your replies.

[Lewis]

good snow tires are the most important thing to consider IMO if you live in an area that gets much snow/ice

[watersoilair]

Same here. Get yourself a pair with a good set of teeth!

[BailOut]

Slush, which is the bulk of what you were driving through, is the hardest for the Yaris as it is so light that it "floats" on the stuff rather than biting into it. It is disconcerting at first but if you learn to relax, and to not force the exact line you want to be on all the time, that the car will track fairly well. You'll learn that swinging a few inches in either direction really isn't that big of a deal, especially since you're in a narrower vehicle to begin with.

That said, the proper speed during inclement weather like that is a maximum of 35 MPH, and you found out why. Stick to 30-35 MPH next time and you'll do fine. :smile:

[Zaphod]

Did you check your tire pressure?

I know I forgot to check mine when the temperature dropped, but luckily the dashboard light woke me up :)

I :wub: my Yaris :smile:

[kustom play]

snow tires would help a great deal,

[wiirenet]

Are there any low cost yet good snow tires? I cannot afford to outfit my car with something $300-400 in the horrible money sucking month of December.

My first drive was horrible too, first snow in my 09 and at one point I went through a slow motion slide towards a railing on a turn... I heard a crunching noise (idk, maybe the snow, or the car?) and the brake pedal felt like it wasn't going down.. is that normal..?

Thankfully, it was so slow and the car stopped right before the railing.. I get paniced thinking about driving to work now, before I couldnt care less about the car I drove during other winters.

[detroiter]

In that kind of weather, why would you want to go faster than 30 anyways? It's better to make it home later than to not make it home at all, ending up with a busted vehicle and a headache from getting it fixed.

I drove home last night around 1130 from Ann Arbor to Garden City, I don't think it was as bad as your drive up there but it was still a good amount that was coming down. I wasn't sure how my car would handle due to this being the first winter with it being lowered with shocks, springs and thick rear sway bar (last winter only thing done to my car was a TRD sway bar, this time I have the UR 23mm along with the suspension mods). Also the thing I wasn't sure about was how the car would react since I changed those rear axle bolts up to the higher placing since doing that the cars reaction when steering is much more responsive and direct.

Overall, I'd say my car did better than I thought it would. Better than when it was stock height I dare say.

[toast]

You started out nervous and expecting the ride to suck and it did... surprise! Seriously you gotta relax somehow and the car will handle better if your not all uptight. I lived right next to lake michigan for 20+ years and know the conditions well. Best advice is to make sure the tires are in good condition and inflated to what the manual says. Too low and they float too much and too high and the snow traction sucks. This is not the time to be squeezing out every psi for hypermiling. Take the car out somewhere safe and spin it a couple of times and you will get the feel for it and better know when you are about to loose it. Beyond that sometimes you just have to drive slow and carry a bucket of kitty litter to throw on the snow if you bury a tire in a drift and can't get out. (having some spare gloves hat and a flashlight aren't bad either) good luck.

[thebarber]

snow tires >>> all seasons

[MUSKOKA800]

If you were running on the OEM mexically all-seasons your observations are no surprise.
Buck-up for some WINTER tires pronto.
Adding a rear anti-swaybar will help it cope with the heavy crosswinds which I'm sure could send a OEM shod Yaris completely off-course and with little chance of timely recovery, which may be disastrous.

[BailOut]

Adding a rear anti-swaybar will help it cope with the heavy crosswinds which I'm sure could send a OEM shod Yaris completely off-course and with little chance of timely recovery, which may be disastrous.
:laugh:

I drive in an area that sees hurricane-force winds and not once have I ever been pushed out of my lane, or even come close to it, even in the depths of the biggest winter storms up in the mountians.

Save your money and some resources and don't bother with a sway bar.

[wiirenet]

Someone just told me to buy the heaviest salt bag and put it in the trunk to make the car heavier and to have incase you get stuck in snow. Wonder if that would fit in the hatch and be worth it.

[paulyd0021]

Thanks for the comments guys, BailOut I think you might be right about the slush making it that much worse, and when there wasnt oncoming traffic or anyone behind me I did try to do some weaving while going slow and I did have more traction that I thought. I figured I'd almost spin out if I did that but again i was probably going 25 when i tried it. And I was pretty nervous so everytime the car when in a direction I didnt want it too it I thought I was surely going to end up in a ditch, but I never did. Still my confidence has definitely been lowered. I'm going to try putting a couple salt bags in the bag, and if that doesnt help I may have to dish out some $ for some good snow tires. I figure it might be worth it in the long run since it'll cut back on the wear of my regular tires. I hear Blizzak WS60's are really good so I might try to find some of those. I just put a flash light, some gloves and boots in my car incase I get stuck in a ditch. Next I'm going to lower the PSI in my tires down to 33, the recommended for my yaris is 32 and i'm running them around 37 right now, so I'm sure that didnt help any.

[Inspector14]

snow tires. all you need. putting a huge heavy salt bag in the trunk will lift weight off of the driving and steering wheels, making the vehicle less controllable.

i live in Alaska. i drove my yaris on the OEM bridgestones for a week after buying it in december '08. i did alright, except in corners. our roads here are ice all winter long, and occasionally there is a snow storm that piles the stuff in the streets. last one we had i was plowing through the streets with my bumper and i made it around just fine.

i have a set of General Tire Altimax Arctic studded snows, and the car holds the road like a mountain goat.

[wiirenet]

Oh, thanks for the info, I didn't think realize it would lift the weight up in th front.

[jambo101]

Are there any low cost yet good snow tires? I cannot afford to outfit my car with something $300-400 in the horrible money sucking month of December.

.

When it comes to prices for snow tires whats you and your families life worth?
Get some Bridgestone Blizzaks for about $75 each.
And paulyd0021 did you really think you could get through a northern winter with no snow tires?

[MUSKOKA800]

:laugh:

I drive in an area that sees hurricane-force winds and not once have I ever been pushed out of my lane, or even come close to it, even in the depths of the biggest winter storms up in the mountians.

Save your money and some resources and don't bother with a sway bar.

Our Canadian air must be more dense. :tongue:

[thebarber]

i have winters with a pretty open tread....hums on dry pavement, but was great in the slush this morning...

[wiirenet]

Yea that's something I'm wondering, I'm only on snow/slush part of the time, the rest are pretty well cleared roads. Or last year the snow would melt, we would have clear dry roads for a while then the snow would come back. I heard its bad/damaging to drive with snow tires on dry pavement. I don't want to have to buy new tires every year because the dry road between snow damaged them.

[IllusionX]

I had a fun drive home, after work. I made a detour to take the highway to go home, so that i can warm up the car a little more.

[AlexNet0]

Learn to slow down. the yaris is light. and get good tires.

I drove 20-25 all the way home from work today.

[Hershey]

get studded snow tires for all 4 , not just the front . If had to stop sudden it makes for uneven braking that may cause your rear end to kick out :eek: .

[Hershey]

plus throw a 20 > 40 lb. bag of salt in back of rear seat so over the wheels . Give yeh little more traction .

[paulyd0021]

great idea with the salt bags in the back seat, better than the trunk, and i'll have a good excuse to not be the family chauffeur. Ok, so here's what i've decided to go with. I can't afford the Blizzaks, although I got Bell tire to match an online price of $77 per tire, after all the extra charges and tax it ended up being $424 out the door. THats a bit more than I can afford at the moment. So I looked at their website and they have Cooper Weather-Master S/T 2's for $62 each, so I'm going to try to get 4 of those, and u can print a $20 off coupon online, so it should cost me about $322 for 4 of those. Unless I can convince them to sell me 2 tires at one place and 2 at another then i'll save another $20 with another coupon. Or if i feel crazy i could go to 4 different Belltires and buy them individually at $20 bucks off a piece. hehe... Anyways, so before I do, just wanted to see if anyone had any objections to this, not me ripping off Belltire with the coupon scheme but the idea of the Coopers.. I hear good things and mediocre things about these tires, but for my price range, and just wanting anything better than what i have (Kelly Gold Navigators), I think this may be the best deal I can get. Its either this or try to survive the winter and then move someplace snow doesnt exist.

[jambo101]

get studded snow tires for all 4 , not just the front . If had to stop sudden it makes for uneven braking that may cause your rear end to kick out :eek: .
Studded tires work great on ice,not so good in snow and terrible on dry roads,good snow tires will out perform them on anything but ice.

[AlexNet0]

Unless I can convince them to sell me 2 tires at one place and 2 at another then i'll save another $20 with another coupon

You can buy whatever tires you want, wherever you want, and have them installed wherever you want.

Just say, "here, I want 2, here is a coupon". If they tell you they cant due to inspections, sign a waiver. I did that last year.

[wiirenet]

you won't damage your winter tires if you drive them during the cold months as soon as the temp goes above 7C or 39F, you need to change tires, as the winter tire compound is stickier and softer and will use up more quickly in warm weather. Dry pavement will ave negligible effect on thread wear in winter

Thanks for the info!

[Hershey]

if you place bags of salt on rear seat I would clean them off and then put it / them in clear plastic garbage bag and seal with whatever tape you have available so not to get seats dirty or if have / form a leak . Actually meant to put bag behind rear seat of hatch or sedan ( in trunk ) so weight is over tires . Also , flip cargo mat or trunk mat over so the bag doesn't slide around as much . We use studded WEATHERMASTER ST-2's for both YARISes on all 4 wheels . Work very well in snow too . Have plenty of bite . Preferred the original WEATHER MASTERs . They had more bite in snow . GOOD LUCK :wink:

[wiirenet]

Well someone said "putting a huge heavy salt bag in the trunk will lift weight off of the driving and steering wheels, making the vehicle less controllable." So now I don't know if its a good or bad idea. Putting it in the rear seats is still in the rear. Would that still lift weight off the front tires?

[SpaceShot]

Get 4 good quality snow tires. TireRack.com, DirectTire.com, or a local wholesale outfit ($80 - $110 each)
Keep tire pressure in between 32psi and max sidewall rating.

Find a carpool partner. A little extra weight between the wheels and an extra pair of eyes to watch for ice and other slick conditions.

Practice, find a large business parking lot and carefully experiment with letting the car slide a little. Drive in slick conditions enough and you can just about feel when the wheels start to slip.

[markitect]

Studded tires work great on ice,not so good in snow and terrible on dry roads,good snow tires will out perform them on anything but ice.

Not to mention Illegal in some areas!!!!!!!!!

[Hershey]

keep our snow tires at 36 p.s.i. , helps with various temps .