What's everyones experiences in snow so far?

A lot of people have been wondering what the MINI will be like on snow. They are forcasting a three day storm here in Denver. This morning I woke up to find several inches of snow on the ground and the streets coated in icy slush/snow. I can't say that I was looking forward to the commute on the pirelli euphori@s.

I pulled away and did the usally testing--mash the gas and stomp the breaks. It didn't seem to bad. I continued to test things out as I came down from the foothills and felt really comfortable with the MINI driving on snow. I can't wait to see how it climbs the hill home after a days accumulation! My opinion might change if I can't get home. I also want to take it to an uncleared lot and get use to how it handles in heavy snow. (Anyone know a good church parking lot?)

Snow shouldn't be too bad since MINI was born with "snow on the roof" !

 

As I remember downhill is much better with front wheel drive than uphill.
I remember having to back up a hill once....
Florida Mini Owners

 

Just remember to switch off DSC AST or whatever you have or you will never get up a slippy hill. It makes driving easy but will just slow you down to the point of no momentum once you start to lose traction

 

>>As I remember downhill is much better with front wheel drive than uphill.
>>I remember having to back up a hill once....
>>Florida Mini Owners >>>

That's strange. USUALLY, front wheel drive is great uphill and in snow. It's the rear wheel drive cars that you sometimes have to go uphill backwards!!!

I have the 17" Goodyear ALL-seasons. My MINI is flawless in the rain. Same as dry ground. I'm expecting good things in the snow also.

 

Tom and Ray on Car Talk had a caller, from Cleveland, discussing this very topic last Saturday. The caller had a Mini Cooper with sport wheels and Pirellis and wanted to know what to do. They said he can leave the sport wheels on, but should replace the Pirellis with snow tires for the winter.
Me, I have the all-season Continentals, and I'm a little shy on cash for a set of new tires. I'm hoping to get by with the Contis. We're expecting some shiteful mix of snow, rain, and sleet tonight and tomorrow in Connecticut, so I'll see what happens.

BTW, Tom and Ray were very enthusiastic about Mini. They wished that everyone driving an SUV would switch to Mini.

Bonus trivia question, from me not Tom and Ray: What is the Michelin Man's name? Yes, he has one. Michelin Man is his title not his name. Just like the character named Poppin Fresh holds the title Pillsbury Dough Boy.

 

I think his name was (is?) Rolly, is there a major prize for a correct answer?

 

Bib!

If you look at Michelin Motorcycle tires, there're little Bibs on the very edges. (It's rite of passage to wear him down)

Motorin'

Jeff

 

>>If you look at Michelin Motorcycle tires, there're little Bibs on the very edges. (It's rite of passage to wear him down)

Continuing further off topic:
Not all motorcycle riders fully lean into a corner and don't wear that last bit of rubber. I've heard this last bit refered to as "chicken strips." If you want to know if someone really rides or not, look for their "chicken strips."

It's still snowing !

 

Bib is correct. His full name is Bib Gourmand because he loves to eat good food in French restaurants. The name Bib is derived from the Latin "Nunc est Bibendum," which loosely translates as Drink Up or Cheers. A gourmand is a man who likes to eat a lot of good food.

 

>>>>As I remember downhill is much better with front wheel drive than uphill.
>>>>I remember having to back up a hill once....
>>>>Florida Mini Owners >>>
>>
>>That's strange. USUALLY, front wheel drive is great uphill and in snow. It's the rear wheel drive cars that you sometimes have to go uphill backwards!!!
>>
>>I have the 17" Goodyear ALL-seasons. My MINI is flawless in the rain. Same as dry ground. I'm expecting good things in the snow also.

As I recall, going up hill some of the weight transfers to the rear wheels and you lose traction and with rear wheel drive that transfer is an advantage. Anyone know for sure? Dave in Denver or a physics major??

 

The front wheels are back of the power unit's center so the weight transfer to the rear is negligable - the engine is still over the front wheels; running up hill will involve wheel spin to be sure, but you are being pulled up hill ( a very reassuring feeling ).
With 10" snow tyres on my old Classic, I had lots of fun running rings around jeeps in Upstate NY winters ... ahh, the good old days ...

 

Front-wheel-drive wheelchairs have the weight transfer off the drive wheels as the uphill grade steepens until the chair can no longer climb because of loss of traction......all I could find on the web about frt wheel drive..

 

>>The front wheels are back of the power unit's center so the weight transfer to the rear is negligable - the engine is still over the front wheels; running up hill will involve wheel spin to be sure, but you are being pulled up hill ( a very reassuring feeling ).
>>With 10" snow tyres on my old Classic, I had lots of fun running rings around jeeps in Upstate NY winters ... ahh, the good old days ...
>>
I'm still not 100% convinced...come on...somebody must be a physics major....
I live in Lake Placid,NY and remember lots of times getting stuck uphill with frt wheel drive....

 

...used to live in Lake Placid, NY

 

>>Front-wheel-drive wheelchairs have the weight transfer off the drive wheels ...





must be a driving style thing - mine never behaved like a wheelchair ...

 

>>Bib is correct. His full name is Bib Gourmand because he loves to eat good food in French restaurants. The name Bib is derived from the Latin "Nunc est Bibendum," which loosely translates as Drink Up or Cheers. A gourmand is a man who likes to eat a lot of good food.
>>

i recently spent a couple of months working in a michelin facility as a consultant and Bibendum is his full name......

 

It's snowing right now in the Poconos. Wheee!!!!

 

Just came back from my FIRST MINI drive in the snow! I have the 17" Goodyear All-seasons. Excellent traction. DSC came on several times on tight turns but I wasn't really driving extra slow. Going about 45mph down a hill when I was all alone, I slammed on my brakes to see what would happen. MINI slowed down extremely fast with no slide whatsoever. Didn't even "feel" the ABS come on (it must have - the roads were icy). Excellent, excellent handling! This REALLY is the safest car on the road!

 

>>Just came back from my FIRST MINI drive in the snow! I have the 17" Goodyear All-seasons. Excellent traction. DSC came on several times on tight turns but I wasn't really driving extra slow. Going about 45mph down a hill when I was all alone, I slammed on my brakes to see what would happen. MINI slowed down extremely fast with no slide whatsoever. Didn't even "feel" the ABS come on (it must have - the roads were icy). Excellent, excellent handling! This REALLY is the safest car on the road!

terrific news....
i look forward to a ...bit o snow on LI


_________________
2002 MCS:pure silver/black top,lapis int.,all pkgs,17"ROH rims,

 

yeah, I'm pretty impressed with the MINI in the snow too. I would have replied earlier, but I was up in boulder yesterday without internet access... then it took me 2 hours to get home (would have taken 25 minutes in normal conditions). I was on back roads for a good chunk of that since U.S. 36 was totally closed from Boulder to Louisville. Then I got back on in louisville, and it was a little strange - cars stacked up in the other direction and almost no cars headed my direction. Anyhow, I was really glad to get home last night.

 

I have been driving front drive cars since the 70's and with snow tyres you can go just about any place. The only problem I have had is most of the cars are so low you will end up plowing SNOW with the front end or end up on top of the deep white stuff. The bottom line is if you live in a winter wonderland do the 4 snow tyre thing and have a blast. My MINI will stay inside in the warm and the Disco will be put to work. Let it snow let it snow yes lets have a white winter

 

Of course, with any snow and tire discussion, i have to state up usual disclamer, In WNY, and with all my late night driving, i'm more worried about Ice then snow... and if this is your case also, unless you get the ultra-fancy snow tires, stick with all seasons... standard snows are worse on ice then all-seasons.... that's why i don't switch out during the winter...

Rocketboy_X

 

Hi All,

Here in Denver, we had lots of snow/ice last night. Driving home to downtown Denver from the tech-center in the south was really, really bad. It was wet, then got really cold and all side roads were very icy with snow piling up on top.

I have the sport pkg. with Goodyear runflats. My Cooper was a tad bit scary at times. It even slid towards the side of the road when I was stopped in traffic! ABS did its best to help out, but there were times I thought I was going to rear-end people. I did try turning off the DSC and it was much harder to get going (on a flat street) - turn it back on and it accelerated fairly well. It pulled me up a small, steep grade out of a driveway well too.

When I finally got home, I switched to my old '79 Bimmer with all-seasons and it was far better on the ice, has a better heater too - the MINI's doesn't seem very strong, though it gives some heat pretty fast.

Anyway, I definitely recommend getting some tires with more traction if you have the Goodyear runflats and will drive in wintery conditions. I'm debating as to whether I should just use the Bimmer and get some snows for it - it has 195-70-14's which will cost a lot less than tires for the 16" rims I have on the Cooper, or just bite the bullet and see how much fun a MINI could be with Blizzaks. Though, it's a pain in the neck climbing through the hatch when both doors were frozen shut!

Lee

 

 

"standard snows are worse on ice then all-seasons...."

That's interesting, I've never heard that before. I was under the impression that a significant difference between winter specific tires and all-seasons was the temperature range in which the rubber compound worked best in. I'm by no means an expert, though.
One thing is for sure: ice is NASTY to drive on!