Hey, everybody! I'm b-a-a-a-c-k!

We just got back last night from our weeklong trip across the country from Classic MINI to Sacramento. (I'll post a trip report when I get up the nerve to write a loooong post.)

One quick question, though. As we were driving across Utah, we got caught in a huge snowstorm. (The car did great, BTW. The DSC light only flickered a couple of times.)

But man, do those xenons light up flying snow! I found that if I switched on the foglights and switched off the headlights - so the light switch was in the second, parking lights position - the view was much improved. I can't tell you just how much better the visibility was! We were only going about 25-30 mph most of the time, so I didn't need to see very far ahead, but wow, I could really see so much better without the xenons!

But I was worried about two things:

1) how legal is it to be driving with only the foglights on in front? I assume there is some sort of law about how big, how bright, how high, your front lights must be?

2) how safe is this, in terms of other people being able to see me? I sure could see a hell of a lot better, but I'm not sure the trade-off involved in making my already tiny car even less visible was worth it.

FWIW, I kept the headlights on most of the time because of my concerns above. But if I had some sort of assurance that I wouldn't get arrested for reckless driving for driving in a snowstorm with my headlights off or crashed into by a big rig who didn't see me, I would have left them off!

Any comments would be appreciated!

 

I think you did the right thing. Foglamps are highly visible to other motorists/Motorers (often to the point to being annoying). That said, I would only run with foglamps/parking lamps only when conditions required it to avoid unwanted attention. Nails that stick up tend to get pounded.

Laws vary from state to state, county to county, and town to town. Most traffic laws are designed to generate revenue only. There's no way to anticipate all possible random combinations of silly laws as you undertake a long road trip. Driving safely is more important than driving legally. If you're alive and unhurt, you CAN fight a BS ticket.

Don't compromise your visibility and your safety to satisfy something that may or may not be a law in some jurisdictions. Remember that speed gets the lion's share of enforcement attention. Most everything else sort of flies under the radar... (Not a bad pun if I do say so myself)

Rawhyde

 

Many jurisdictions disallow foglight usage when the running lights are off as well, but since the MINI will not allow this operation, it's not an issue. I have run with my lights on as such in heavy fog. I can see more of the road with only the fog lights on. I also turn on my rear fogs as well.

 

Hey, welcome back ! You just did almost the exact same trip that I'm considering.

My car would arrive at Classic in Feb or March, but I'm really concerned about the cross-country journey at that time of year.

Can you tell me a bit more about the car's handling ? What tires did you have on ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

NoFe2O3

 

Unfortunately our state, California, is one of those that requires the low beams to be on when fog lights are used. However at very low speed in the snow I would do what you did (run the fogs on with parking lights only) if it really helped visibility.

Does your car have the new CA-legal rear fog light? I have it on my MCS order (expected early 2005).

Cheers,
Dave

 

Unfortunately, no. But I plan to install it as soon as the retro fit kit becomes available! I drive a lot on Interstate-5, famous for 100+ car pileups in tule fog, and I want my rear fog lights, dammit!

 

As I mentioned, I plan to do a long writeup when I get inspired. But for now:

The car handled great! I've got the 17" S-Lites with "performance" (as opposed to "all-weather") run-flats. I was concerned when we hit the snow, but the car was fine. I should also mention that I grew up in the midwest and did a lot of driving in the snow when I was young. My native-Californian wife was very glad that I was driving!

The tires do have a rather disconcerting tendency to follow longitudinal grooves, and there are a lot of grooved surfaces on the drive. You get a sort of whippy-shimmy feeling. Me no like. But traction was excellent. I only saw the DSC light come on a couple of times in the snow storm, never on the rest of the trip, including some rather heavy rain.

BTW, the car was very comfortable. Loved the sports seats. We managed to leave room behind the passenger seat so it could recline. I've seen some posts complaining about ride with the sports suspension plus and these tires, but these people must be coming from Cadillacs or something. Having driven a couple of Spitfires, an MGA, and an Austin Healey across the country, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the MINI's ride. "Firm," yes, but not what I'd call "stiff." Didn't lose one filling!

 

Do you have the daylight running lights (DRL's) activated?

 

Boy, I think you were lucky. Perhaps the tyoe of snow allowed these tires to handle OK for you. Here in CT, I drove once with my S-Lites and the Dunlop Performance run flats. The car was barely able to keep on the road. Stopping was nearly impossible as there was NO grip at all. It had been snowing here lightly for over 12 hours that day and there was about an inch of snow on the very very cold road. It was a wet, icy mix on the roads. Out west, the snow is much drier and lighter.

My car was so bad, I installed 15" steel wheels and pure snow tires a week later. Sold the OEM wheels and tires on e-bay and will replace them with lighter wheels and non run flat tires in the spring.

Looking forward to your complete write-up soon.


.

 

your S-Lites? (if you don't mind saying). I too am planning to dump my S- (not) Liltes in the Spring. I got some R81 (15" MINI alloys) and put Nokians on them, and want to get something lighter and non RFs.

TIA

 

No.

 

$820.00 with aprox 1500 miles on them. (including shipping)

 

Back to the xenons,I also find that when I'm in heavy snow that the xenons light up to much falling snow,I do turn on the fogs then,and find I have to look at the road that the fogs light up,and forget about looking down the road.Well I do look for taillights and oncoming traffic,but I have got used to looking at the edges of what the fogs light up,rather than down the road.I also go slower,sometimes 30 MPH rather than 70 MPH,and only the next call from a cell phone because they ended up in a ditch is passing me[DIMWITTED SUV and 4x4 drivers ]