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Old 01-09-2009, 11:48 AM   #37
Phaeton
 
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I've driven in a lot of snow recently. My car is lowered with 15" wheels.
As long as the snow isn't over 6" deep it does great. I tend to get high centered on anything more than that.
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Old 01-09-2009, 12:15 PM   #38
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My Goodyear LS three-seasons sucked in minimum snow. Put the steelies with winter boots on and all is good. Tough going through deep snow with the TRD springs. My front lip spends a lot of time plowing when in the ruts.
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Old 01-10-2009, 02:09 AM   #39
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With my wonderful Michelin X-Ices, my Yaris hatch handles the snow and ice like a pro!!

Love winter ever since got my snowtires! <3
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Old 01-10-2009, 03:38 AM   #40
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I have to head out into the teeth of a winter storm tomorrow for a "hot" project. Heavy snow, "wintry mix" and ice. Unless the boys chicken out I'll be there.

You hear from me some time around midnight EST and I'll let you know. If you don't I either didn't get around to it or never well get around to it.

Today I hot footed it home in light snow and a greasy like substance on the road. Car never even got unstable. I blew by a Conga Line of six cars following each other like Baby Elephants and did not loose my step.

Panic under winter conditions is death. Relax and enjoy the ride... you don't want to die tense and you might if you do. It's not easy being lose and relaxed under such conditions, it takes skill and perspective, but it's doable.

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Old 01-10-2009, 04:17 AM   #41
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Most any car will go well in the snow if you put a decent set of snow tires on the car.
All season are useless in bad weather.
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Old 01-10-2009, 01:11 PM   #42
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Ok. Snow tires are good. Bad drivers are bad, regardless of the type of shoes they're wearing.

If you can wait out the storm to give the snow plows a chance and you're not in a rush to get anywhere, then regular snow tires will do. Otherwise, get snow tires. It makes for a less hectic driving experience.

The Yaris does a good job at transmitting what's going on at the wheels, especially in hard packed snow. It's great when you're pushing things to the max and don't want to over do it, but when you're just cruising, it can get annoying. A heavy solid set of snow tires will go a long way towards taming down the steering kick-back since snow tires will do a better job at smoothly cutting through the snow.
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Old 01-10-2009, 08:22 PM   #43
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Originally Posted by PK198105 View Post
no they're not , its all about the driver. you can almost have slicks and still survive winter if you drive properly, that said winter tires are made for winter an they're day an night compared to 4 seasons. yet i still see idiots with winter tires on that think that since they have them they can drive the same way as they did in the summer. use your head and you wont have a problem in winter
I have to disagree on this one. Especially as someone who has driven some real ass pains in the winter.

Horsepower to weight ratio may work against you in winter. So will the "gearing" of either the transaxle or rear end. Put too much torque to the road with respect to lower end pedal travel and you're going to have a real chore keeping those wheels moving the car instead of spinning.

Of course we're talking about moving, not about skidding or keeping the car between the lines. Slicks invite trouble under those circumstances.

My Dad loved to buy high performance cars, including 'Vettes, Jags and odd stuff he bought from GM in the 1960s. He would not drive them if the tires were "marginal". The rear end was practically guaranteed to get unstable.

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Old 01-10-2009, 08:38 PM   #44
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I have to head out into the teeth of a winter storm tomorrow for a "hot" project. Heavy snow, "wintry mix" and ice. Unless the boys chicken out I'll be there.Gene
Obviously I made it back. The trip up was easy. Light snow.

The snow was not as heavy as forecasted but the sleet and frozen rain were prevalent, to the point that I had to shatter the ice off of the windshield wipers so I could use them to get home.

Road conditions were bad. A mix of slush, snow and rain. I took a few sliders and donuts in the parking lot to see how it responded - well. These demonstrations are as much to build confidence as to gage the car's responsiveness.

The two other guys were in a gigantic Dodge pickup. They watched me do my thing before moving out. The kid did not get the point and try his brakes. Instead he crept down the road behind me and soon drifted from view.

Top speed on this caper was 55 miles an hour on the straight ways, dropping into the thirties to cope with curves and big oncoming traffic until I reached a divided four lane road. I like to slow down so I can respond to their moves. Also slowed down in known heavy deer areas.

No unusual events noted. The car performed as usual. Very stable and very responsive. I do not have a Yaris with ABS or ESC.

Gene
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Old 01-11-2009, 03:45 PM   #45
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i was trying to illustrate the fact that no matter how good your snow tires are , if you are a dimwit you will not survive winter unscathed. slicks were an extreme example.
Oh, and yeah, I see the Dimwits out there. In ditches, against guard rails, flag poles, utility poles and so on.

Evolution continues.


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Old 01-11-2009, 04:55 PM   #46
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Ive neglected my rear tires and just put a winter grip on the front, and I slide a little, but nothing uncontrollable, if you get all 4 snow treads or studs, I can see there will be absolutely no trouble at all.


as a sidenote, I LOVE having the 5spd for the winter, it is night and day difference when it comes to control of the car compared to an automatic.
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Old 01-11-2009, 11:13 PM   #47
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True. Manual transmission is the best setup for winter (along with snow tires)

I'd be very nervous about doing 55mph on fresh snow, unless the road was plowed. If there's 1 inchs of unplowed snow on the road, the general traffic tends to slow down 40mph while following each other's track.

Last year, I was using my Yaris for an overnight delivery from Sudbury to Toronto. It was quite a trip, from Subury to Parry Sound it was white-out conditions and I was the only one on the road (I guess the trans-canada trucks were sitting it out since it was around 3am). I was using the warning grooves at the side of the highway to tell me if I was still on the road, since it was about 4 inch of fresh unplowed snow and I could only see about 50ft ahead of me. I still managed to keep the speeds up to 60km/hr, but anything more and I'd fly off the road. At Port Sound, my first gas station, after 2hrs of driving, I pulled over for gas and sleep. When I woke up in the parking lot, all the other cars around me were buried in snow while mine looked like it just came out of the wash. I had the heat blasting the entire time while I was passed out. It was a good morning, the snow plow finally were able to keep up with the amount of snow coming down and it stopped snowing. That day, when I got back to Toronto, I went over to my favouret tire shop and got the regular tires replaced with snows.
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