as the title says? anyone drive their mini in the snow? how is it? IM used to RWD so FWD should be better but wondering how an MCS stands up

 

Snow?

 

uh yeah, snow?

but i have heard that with the right tires they are pretty good in the snow. I never get snow nor have i had the chance to take my MINI in anything but rain and sunlight but there's lots of pics of MINI's in snow, so they can't be too bad.

 

With the right tires, yes. With the standard tires - forget it. Possibly with the all-seasons, but I doubt it. Nothing beats proper snow tires, in my experience.

The power to weight ratio makes winter driving on the standard tires dodgy. Just had a winter storm last night - used the other car.

 

I have snow tires on my MINI. I have steelies for rims and 195/50/15 Pirelli Winter Carving tires I have gone one snow season with them only got stuck once because DSC was on and I was in deep snow so I lost momentum from dsc kicking in.

 

I drove my '05 Cooper/automatic the first winter with the standard Continental 15" tires and it was OK like a front wheel driver but not terrific. Next winter I switched to Blizzak tires (from Firestone/Bridgestone) and the car's manners improved dramatically. They cost me about $400.00 installed on my holey wheels for the set of four at my Friendly FIrestone dealer. I've got 98,000 miles on the car that was bought new in July 2005, so I do drive it. Blizzaks or some other winter tire is definitely the way to go. Good luck from the Great Lake Erie snow belt.

 

Winston had his first snow Saturday night; we were on the way to a party at the DYC so we were driving on road that were freshly covered, the snow began on the way there. The DYC is on Belle Isle in Detroit, home of the Detroit Grand Prix. So the cool thing about driving there is you get to do about a mile of the race course. Needless to say, the urge to go fast is strong. But Saturday night we were taking it easy, there was ice forming under the snow. But in a turn he broke loose, and sliding sideways at about 5mph, we smacked a 6" high curb and stopped HARD. I was so bummed. When we got out to look, the front wheel was torn up, but somehow the rear remained intact. Remarkably the alignment still seemed ok and we continued on the remaining mile to the club, no vibrations. But coming home we realized there was something wrong. There is a groaning noise, increasing in left turns which got louder by the time we made it home, 20 miles away. I suspect we damaged a wheel bearing or a drive shaft. He's heading to the dealer tonight, and i filed an accident report with insurance. I expect this will be an expensive lesson. What have i learned so far? Winston is not very good in the snow, worse than other FWD small cars i've owned and that while DSC is great at preventing the car from yawing, it doesn't stop it from drifting! While these were much slicker conditions than we normally get in Detroit, the ASC and ABS were kicking in every time we started and stopped. For a car that drives so perfectly in dry and rainy weather, Winston is a handful in the snow; not much fun. My advice? take it really slow until you get used to the quirks.

 

I was out motoring in this much snow, it fell overnight, once I got the snow off the car Only main roads had had some plowing done, and I was getting around, just make sure you turn off ASC/DSC before venturing out in deep stuff, as you do need some wheel spin to plow you way along.



Mark

 

With snow tires, as long as the snow isn't deep they work just fine. All normal safe driving applies ofcourse. If most of the roads you drive are plowed or at least well enough traveled to be compacted snow you'll be fine. And because of their small size if you do get stuck you can push yourself out easily!

Someone mentioned the power to weight issue. Very true, on the S you can get those tires spinning quickly. I always short shift (shift early to avoid getting into engine boost).

 

They are as good as any other FWD which is better can RWD just having the weight ( engine ) over the wheels makes a difference, but tires are the major player here. I have performance all seasons on my MCS and we just had our first snow fall of the season. Momentum and a light touch and the gas pedal help with DSC off. We have Blizzaks on our FWD van and it has gone everywhere in the snow. My bigger problem with the Mini is being lowered with the front aero kit the car is basically a "Miniplow" Ripped off the plastic front under chassis cladding this morning! and the wire to my Oil temp gauge!!

 

Fun times.

 

That's just wrong!! Poor thing needs a garage. I've had my 03 almost 5 years and she does fine in the snow...just put on the right tires and she gets washed off regularly and garaged.

 

You'd be amazed how well these cars do on snowy/icy roads when equipped with a good set of winter tires. I've got Pirelli Winter Carving tires mounted to a cheap set of aluminum wheels from the Tire Rack, and was pleasantly surprised to see how my MCS went from being downright dangerous to an absolute blast to drive!

It's so good that I rarely drive my Jeep Cherokee in the winter. It only gets used when the snow gets too hard (or too deep) for the MINI's little plastic snow plow (aka: front bumper) to handle.

 

I take it that most of you who are switching to winter tires have the old TPMS in place? For a newer '07 or an '08, I don't think we can get the winter tires that easily right? Don't we need to buy the TPMS sensors and all that stuff?

 

So that's what snow is, that's alot of it, get out ok?

 

I love my MINI in the snow. I've gone through 8-10" of fresh snow w/o any problems. The key, as has been eluded to, is having the right tires and turning the ASC/DSC off. If you want to see MINIs really takling the winter, take a look at: http://www.arcticmini.com

 

This will be my 5th winter - 4th with snow tires. That first year with so-called all-season runflats was horrible! But with a set of 15" fitted with 175-series Pirelli Snow Control 190's, I felt that I could drive through anything. When the snow gets deep the front end becomes a plow, but other than that, it's great. I also reccommend you install a skid plate to protect the fragile stuff from those big ice chunks.

 

Totally concur. First mod I performed.

Also, I run Hankook Ice Bears in a 195/50-16 on factory v-spokes. Plan on installing new Ice Bears in a 205/50-16 soon for a little more clearance.

 

that's just opinion/driving style, personally I'd rather have a heavier RWD car over a lightweight FWD car in the snow. I'd take any of my old F-body's over the Neons, Tempos, Buicks, etc I have driven in the snow, but then again, I have 2 AWD's now.

 

thanx for the advice guys.....seeing as how my turbo miata doesn't do to well in anything over a 1/4" of snow i know that the mini I'm soon getting is gonna be much better.

 

mine performed beautifully in the snow today....17 inch wheels with goodyear as f's..i just stuck the gas pedal to the floor and let the car carry me...very little drift, very communicative and stopped when i wanted...as good as anything i've driven except my landcruiser....i'm adding a front spoiler tomorrow from japan for a snowplow if needed

 

flaco, what tires you got?

NJDM, our NJ winters are not that bad. Why don't you try the All Season run flats that come stock and see how bad it is. That is what I am going to do.

 

i was exagerating a little...but my 215/45ZR-17 Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season XL's are surprisingly good in the snow...perhaps the larger size helps too....we have 6 inches here in DC this am!