That happened to me last year when my left front ABS wheel speed sensor died.

When it first started happening, a restart would fix it for a long time - this wouldn't happen again for weeks.

Eventually, it got to the point where just seconds after a restart - the Christmas tree of lights would come on.

 

20worksforme - Ya, it looks very familiar, more snow this weekend too. Love the red! Would've been my first choice until I saw the black. I'll keep an eye out for you!

 

reelsmith. that's exactaly what happened to me. So now my MINI is sitting at the bottom of the hill until I go dig it out this morning. I have been trying for 2 days to get to the tire shop and get my snow tires on. I just got the car 2 weeks ago today. I had to get an extra set of wheels that would clear the brakes for my snow tires.

 

I agree with some fellows that MCS is not for winter. By living in Illinois and being in first year in MCS, I had many problems as well.

My main problems are spinning wheels, lack of traction in turns and ramps, won't able to move in 5+ inches of snow and had couple of car spins. Being front wheel drive, there shouldn't be much problem. My brother's 1999 Honda Civic coupe has superior traction in snow (as 4wd vehicle) than MCS and I drove it without any feeling of skid or spinning. I am veryyyy surprised from Civic but ain't buying it

In my conclusion, I think MCS do not come with proper tires, weight distribution as well as light-weight vehicle. Also, run-flat tires play a role in less traction.

Thanks God I leased MCS for 2 years until June 2010 and I am out of Mini Cooper S.

 

A set of real snow tires will go a long way toward making your MINI into a snow machine. Your cars only contact with the road are the tires, that makes the right ones very important.

My MINI has been through 2 winters & is on it's third with none of the problems you describe. Although I do use a proper set of winter tires & drive with the road conditions in mind. I agree that the tires that the MINI comes with are not suitable for winter use.

 

My MCS with snow tires was just as good as both my family's AWD Subaru's with all seasons (not a fair comparison, but hey, it's how most people roll in the winter...) Only time it even stumbled was when the snow got over the bumper.

But yeah, I found traction control to be annoying in most situations. I found myself disabling it when I had to get up / across low-traction situations. Having cut my teeth on a car with no traction control or even ABS, I really don't like it when the car tries to "think" for me.

Also: Try using some duct-tape (or similar) to de-activate the locking mechanism on the handbrake... Makes E-brake slides real easy, which I found quite helpful in generating the rotation that FWD in snow generally lacks.

 

+1

I've never found a need to duct-tape the e-brake. Once one gets used to using it holding the button in becomes second nature.

 

Okay, I dug it out and now it's home. Snow tires go on Monday. This isn't my first MINI, the other one had snow tires and was just great. But I can't stress enough how important the right tires are. Invest in winter tires and an extra set of wheels.

 

UniqueMR.....what kind of tires do you have? My'04 MC came with all-season non-runflats and the car was just fine in the snow up here in the northeast...certainly as good or maybe better than the wife's '01 Civic....but then I bought 4 Pirelli Snow Controls and the car is great in the snow...better than the wife's '05 Civic.....the only problem I have with it in snow is that it does not let me play as much as I want to ....my previous car, a 94 Neon was very good in the snow but I could fishtail and play when I wanterd to but the MINI is stricter and will not let me play

as to getting up a long snowy hill ( we have lots of long hills around here) and some people maybe slowing down as you get near the top(post #25), you do need to keep your momentum going but the trick is to not spin your tires as this causes you to lose traction. So I think you need to start up with lots of momentum, speed, but it is OK to give up some momentum in order to maintain traction and not spin your tires ( one hill near us, you can hear people spinning their tires such that their speedos probably are reading 90 mph and are slowly making it up the hill, but if they had maintained traction they would have gone up more easily....slow and steady wins the race or maybe less racing your tires wins the race

 

well heres the problem. its an R56! hehe just kidding man.
Its sad you want to get rid of it because of this! I am driving my MINI S for the 2nd winter and i havent spun out once or had any problems like you say except for not enough traction which brings me to this next rant.

OMG! This thread is great, I have been wondering why whenever i get going in snow it feels as though i lose allll gas power and my car has no grip. im going to try to disable this now and see if it works better, i cant believe i never knew about this, it will make me so much happier if i can get through a stoplight faster than 4 mph at a get go. lol

 

SOOOOOOOOOoooooo much for Global Warming.....

This is the first time since 1971 that ALL of Canada is covered in a blanket of snow. Additionally, The City of Boston and surrounding communities have received 12 inches of snow over and above ALL prior December snow fall averages.

These Carbon Credits being sold should be on the shelf next to snake bite oil remedy.....

 

Rising temperatures = rising temperatures in lakes and rivers = widened gap between water temperature and air temperature = a more ideal condition for snow fall.

 

While agree to the theory you wrote, being the avid hunter, former trapper, and fisherman I am - I go by what I see for myself outdoors, and not words from the likes of some dude sitting in penthouse suite in D.C. ( Al Gore )

How does the temps of the lakes, streams and other stagnent bodies of water around here factor in to this equation when they are all FROZEN over.....and I bet if I were to call the District Coast Guard Base in Michigan, I would have similar reports to that of the Great Lakes.......JMHO.....

 

Nope....it is global warming because al gore says it is....if it gets colder, it's due to global warming; if it gets warmer, it's due to global warming.....he can't lose! that's why the buzzword lately is 'climate change' rather than global warming so they have both sides covered


or as joe biden would say: I have one word for you: climate change

 

My 07 MCS has both snows and DSC. DSC, even with snow tires, is a definite problem in deep snow. Power gets cut way back, and before you know it nothing's happening. In packed snow, it's not an issue.

 

Not my theory, just something I quoted from a paper I wrote before. Even behind the biggest pile of BS, there's always some truth behind it.

 

Here is the proper procedure...

1) Push e-brake button in and hold
2) Take drill and drill a hole through the e-brake and the e-brake button
3) Put cotter pin through hole
4) Pull and release e-brake at will to induce slides

Disclaimer: When finished with houliganism and shenanigans do not forget to remove the cotter pin.

 

I've never found a reason to do that. Even on our rally car when we pro rallied. Could be it was because I never thought of doing that. Great idea all the same, incredible.

 

by the way! i tried this method and omg it works amazing! i cant believe i never thought to turn it off. i can get so much more traction now. thanks guys !!! merry xmas!

 

I THINK THERE ARE PROS AND CONS TO DSC, I HAVE DONE ALOT OF DRIVING THIS WINTER IN THE SNOW. I HAVE STUDDED SNOW TIRES ON MY MINI AND ITS AMAZING IN THE SNOW. I HAVE FOUND THAT FOR DRIVING AROUND NORMALLY THAT I LEAVE THE DSC ON. BUT IF I WANT TO GET AGRESSIVE IN THE SNOW I NEED TO TURN IT OFF. ALSO THERE HAVE BEEN TWO TIMES WHERE THE DSC HAS PUT ME IN A DANGEROUS SPOT. ONE LAST POINT, WE HAVE HAD TO BIG SNOW STORMS HERE IN BOSTON SO FAR THIS YEAR. THE FIRST STORM BEING THE WORST OF THE TWO, AND MY DRIVEWAY WAS PLOWED IN AND COVERED WITH DEEP SNOW, DSC ON I HAD NO SHOT, TURNED IT OFF AND BULLED MY WAY IN WITH A LITTLE WHEEL SPINNING,TIRE SMOKING,SNOW PLOWING ACTION, BUY THE TIME I REACHED THE GARARGE THE SNOW WAS UP TO MY HOOD SCOOP. GISLAVARD NORD FROST 2, are the best snow tire I have ever used!

 

Please take off Bold and CAPS LOCK if its more than one sentence. lol
Thanks

 

This is what we're dealing with up on the coast of BC. 2 weeks of this in a place where we rarely get any snow.

 

hhehehe nice heres mine before i wiped her snow off

 

1. Educated Driver
2. Snow tires if you experience regular snow or cold driving.
3. DSC off to start, on to run. Kinda like a choke in that way...
4. Practice (see #1)

Sometimes using reverse can get you up the hill. Sounds silly but it works. It's kinda fun too.

 

i just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH! to you guys one more time. if i didnt open this thread my MINI S would not be fun in the winter. it handles and grips SO good now. : ) THANKS AGAIN!!