How are you dealing with the snow
 

Have seen almost no Minis out and about, they are now starting to once again come out. My car is a Subaru Legacy GT which is an animal in snow, wife's Mini S not so much. Sat garaged for most of the last 3 weeks :lol:
Not bad for FWD, TCS is surprisingly good. Stock tires, not so much. We just can't get ourselves to spend the $$$ on a new set when these still have 5/32 tread left. Next winter will be a different story. Still love the little thing.
How about you? I think Omaha was even worse off than Lincoln as far as snow was concerned.

snow tires rock

All-seasons are about a must for my environment and driving. Doing pretty well with those. :thumbsup:

I have snows on all 4 wheels, have yet to get stuck, No complaints with the Mini in the snow, its all about the tires !!

I agree about the snow tires. I have them on the front only. The car is great in the snow as long as it's not above the front bumper. Once we were plowed out I have had no issues getting around Omaha. My 07 MCS has an auto and I have learned to use the paddle shifter for downshifting on hills. The only problem I have had is people in big suv's not seeing me and running me off the road.

be careful with those front snow tires, you can get the rear to slide out very easily since you have less traction than in the front.

+ 1

Yep, Blizzaks on all 4 and I've been running all winter. I still spin the tires a lot but it's pulled itself out of every situation so far. Definitely a lot simpler to have the snow tires and summer tires mounted on separate rims. I use my stock rims for my snow tires and another set for my summer tires. My daughter just bought some snow tires for her Smart car and it cost her $80 to get the snow tires mounted. So considering you can buy a decent set of rims for around $80-90 a piece, 4 rims would pay for themselves in 2 seasons of putting the snow tires on and off.

Was concered about having just front snows also but because of budgetary issues I could not get them this season. I found some used rims that match my standard rims and put the snows on them. The ultimate plan was if I felt that the car slipped I would do the same for next year and rotate the old tires to the back for that season. However, I have had no real issues with the back sliding out from under me and I will evaluate in the summer if I still want to do it. Also I forgot to state in the last post that I absolutely hate ASC I turn it off every time I get in the car when there is snow on the pavement. It may work for some people but I dont mind the wheels spinning because I compinsate for it with my driving style.

Moved to Las Vegas. Rarely have to worry about the white crap. :nod:

We have been out an about with WildThang at least a couple times a week since the snow started to pile up. This is our first winter with it, and we are both amazed at how well ours does in the recent snowfalls.

The wife commutes into Omaha daily with ours, except if it's blowing and drifting badly, then she takes a four wheel drive suburban.

I stay at home and plow so she can get home...LOL!

Well I have Blizzaks all around, though they're on their 3rd season--might be pushing it a bit. I got "delayed" a couple weeks ago on my way home. It had been snowing a pretty wet, heavy snow for about an hour before I reached the 'holler', which one only reaches by dropping down about 1/4 mile on either side. Both sides are quite steep. The road hadn't been plowed yet and though it was only an inch or two of snow, it was like mashed potatoes. Well, for only having one 'no-go' incident last year, try as I might, I could not get out of the holler on this particular day.

Fortunately, living in the hinterlands has its advantages. The guy who lives in the holler said he'd plow the road for me (though the Town isn't too enthused about him doing so). That was all it took. It was enough so I could get up the hill and go around the long way.

I'm hoping to finish out the winter on these tires and start new next winter. All depends on how much snow we get. We'll see...

Snowbound
 

After seeing this I just went back in the house and closed the garage door. Too much snow and too lazy to shovel out.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/...29e313694c.jpg

just an fyi, snow tires lose their effectiveness when they have less than 6/32" tread

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...00/residue.jpg
:thumbsup:

Wow, looks like we had it rough here in Lincoln. The streets were not plowed for most of the day in the neighborhood, so there was at least a foot, foot and haf of fresh snow. Actually, second big storm we got, they didn't get to our area until the 3rd day in. It wasn't so much a traction issue as it was sheer lack of necessary ground clearance. I didn't even dare pull the Mini out. Reading some of your comments regarding tires, I'm becoming even more aware of how bad these run flat stockers are.

Confession time... Ours is on 17" run flat Goodboots. I know, I know...snowtires, just need 4 more rims, and that shall happen.

I post this because ours goes fine. We've run it through the proverbial ringer since the snow dumped, and no problems. It slides a little on take offs, but stopping is good.

even with all season runflats, the mini can't be bad in the snow. the FWD with its weight distribution and narrow contact patch helps. but there is no comparison to snow tires, even with the best all seasons out there. our mini with dunlop graspic 3ds trumps my R32 4Motion with Eagle F1 A/S.

I am running Eagle F1 A/S on the Legacy and they do great. They are second only to the Michies Pilot Sport Plus as far as all-weather tires are concerned. I have yet to get stuck. Worst situation was 3 wheels spinning, one of the rear wheels caught traction and I was out.

i'm running the stock dunlop SP1 RFT 17's and my mini seems to getting about just fine, its been parked a few days this winter when i was plowing snow with the intercooler, but other than getting stuck in my driveway a few times its been good. Thought about bumping down to 16's for winter but short on cash at the moment.

thing that has been bothering me the most is the window dipper issues since i park it outside the windows have been freezing and lets just say i've had it fixed twice so far and they are still not dropping properly half the time i shut the door and the window sticks out.

other than that mini has been working out well, its nice that it turns on a dime with the condition of the roads in Omaha. I wont even drive on 72nd north of Maple the roads are filled with pot holes.

Hi all, to be honest the car our car has not been on the road since Thanksgiving. I am waiting till spring. But check out what is coming for 2011. A Mini SUV
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/09/p...sover-concept/

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2...new-suv-c.html

Kevin

I've seen a few more MINIs venturing out the last couple of days. :thumbsup:

I still don't have snow tires. 16" Continental run-flats here. :roll: So far the only place I've gotten stuck is in my driveway when I'm too lazy to deal with the plow's aftermath.

I drove from Lincoln to Omaha on Saturday night during a bit of an ice "event". I saw ten or more cars sliding off the road, mostly because they were going too fast for the conditions.

I think I have the dirtiest MINI in Omaha.

I looked up the Continentals on Consumer Reports and they rated #6 out of 28 performance all weather tires with decent ratings in all categories. I'm going to give these a chance to prove themselves since that option is free. :nod: Beebe, does CORN accept members from CB? If so, I would like to join; otherwise, I'll just follow you around on runs with a hangdog expression...

And I'm glad to know you have the dirtiest mini, because I was feeling downright guilty about how disgusting mine is right now!

Buy a set of 4 snow tires mounted on dedicated wheels, and your world will change. Both your safety and fun will dramatically increase. I would not consider a winter here in Chicago without my snows.

Good to know. They've worked well for the kind of driving I do, but in a perfect world, I'd have proper snow tires. Actually, in a perfect world I could stay at home when it snowed!

I think you'll find CORN is a pretty open and casual group - all are welcome. :nod: There are definitely other folks from CB in it. Post in the 'Welcome to CORN' thread, tell us about your car and yourself and you're in! The group was started by Zyamfier and he keeps a list of members. I'd just love to have more events, but I work Saturdays, so I usually miss out.