Driving in Snow 101: Newton's First Law of Motion
 

Well, we are enduring our first Lake Effect snow shower here in NE Ohio, and last night was my first time on a snow covered road (edited: in the MINI).

Keep in mind that my stepdad (who taught me to drive) grew up in Erie, PA (gets hit as hard as Buffalo), and I used to drive a 1984 Camaro Z28 in the mountains...

But compared to my old Honda Civic, the MINI is a lot worse in the snow. Until I remembered Newton's First Law of Motion that states an object at rest will stay at rest, and an Object in Motion Will Stay in Motion. "You dummy, HIT THE GAS!!!" Sure enough, the DSC started to grab, and although I fishtailed around corners (a lot of fun), it was a controlled skid.

Just for kicks, I turned off the DSC and played around in an empty parking lot. I have to say that even in the snow, the MINI is still a blast to drive. Now if the other @$$holes and the salt trucks would just stay off the road. :razz:

WannaMini,

Do you by chance have the performance runflats on Dobby? If so get thee to TireRack for some winter shoes and wheels. I've been running Pirelli Snowsport 210s in 205/50 R 16 config. For the southern Ohia winters (very different than the northern Ohio winters I'll concede) these are a great tire.

You definately need 4 good Winter or Snow tires - I also happen to run the Pirelli's but there's a ton of good choices now.

With v39 the DSC is less intrusive than before so it's easier to launch in slippy conditions howver i soemtimes trun it off to get out of a side street and then back on once I'm moving. i sometimes see the light flash as i accelerate but it never presents a problem - it's also a nice little reminder that the road is slippy and to watch out for the next corner.

Have you had an opportunity to compare them to a smaller size tire, say a 195or 185 in a 15"? I've got 2 more sets of 16" rims in the garage and 2 sets of 17's (thank God the wife doesn't read this board), but was thinking that I needed to get a set of 15's to be most effective.

I'm doing a lot more commuting and we had our first blast of the white stuff last night, making this morning's travel interesting.

Thanks

I have the all season run-flats w/ 20K miles on them. Had my first day in the snow yesterday with a little less than 2" on some neighborhood roads. I was fishtailing around every corner and slip sliding at every stop sign... but still felt pretty safe. Theres a leak in my back passenger tire that makes the run-flat monitor go off every few days so that may be all I need to convince me to purchase some snow tires. I don't think its mandatory, but it might be nice.

Well, XMAS has hit me pretty hard $$$, and although I work for one of the biggest tire manufacturers in the world - there's only a few to choose from, so make a guess - they are still $$$ even with the employee discount. Sooooo, looks like the winter tires will have to wait. I have the 17" all-season run flats. I'm probably one of the only people to say that I actually like them!

But after letting Dobby play in the snow for awhile, he actually started to like it. :lol: :grin:

all season runflat tires
 

I didn't have any problems last winter driving in nasty conditions on the goodyear all season runflats. I felt very safe driving the mini, my girlfriend offered her subaru outback a few times when she felt it was too nasty for the mini. I've driven her wagon in harsh winter conditions and it's great but honestly the mini can hold it's own very well in bad weather. Drive smart and be safe out there, happy motoring.
:smile:

An excellent way to practice driving in snow. My mom took me out to my high school's parking lot the first heavy snow we had when I had my learner's permit. A cop came by after a while - when he saw my mom in the passenger seat and she explained that it was her idea, he tipped his hat and told us to be careful and went on his way.

driving ed by mom
 

That's a good story. I had my mom teach me a few driving tricks too. She insited I had to learn to drive in reverse as good as driving forward. As a result I can drive in reverse stright like an arrow.:smile:

Yeah, I took driver's ed through my high school in the spring, and we were hit with a late storm. The roads were clear that had been plowed, so the instructor made the decision to take us all out (picture the very calm seen-it-all instructor in The Naked Gun). So she took us into an abondoned factory with a big unplowed parking lot, with me at the wheel, and the other three kids in the backseat. She had me pick up some decent speed and had me slam on the brakes. Of course, the car skidded sideways, and she said very calmly, "That's what not to do." :lol:

I always find an empty parking lot after the first heavy snow fall,and practice turning and braking in the snow.Also helps with getting used to getting rolling with minimal wheel spin.
And just having fun to:wink::thumbsup:
:cool:

Yes sir Mr. officer sir, I was....um...PRACticing....yeah...

I gotta say that the snows are fantastic. I got a set of Dunlop Graspic DS-2s. I had the Dunlop sp3000 DSST (performance run-flats) and after really thinking about it (for about 2 seconds) I decided not to take the chance.

Got the package from tirerack less than 500 shipped mounted balanced on steel rims. The tires themselves are fantastic, but I was downgraded to 185 width which helps cut through as well.

With the DSC and these tires I can be a total idiot on the road, not that I am, but I can be! Cleveland (around the airport where I work) got almost 12 inches of snow, and there were no problems at all.

Definitely happy I got a set.

Hey Dobby...when you gonna come meet Yomiko???

I never had any "official" snow driving instruction, but me and my friends used to hit up the empty unplowed parking lots all the time. What was even better is that we all had RWD American cars. (Picture an '87 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham doing 360's at around 35 mph :lol: )

Oh gracious have I ever missed something! I'm going to jump on that - (note to Tatt: email Alex to get his recommendations for replacing all-season runflats, and to find similar pkg for Cooper S, in a 16" size maybe?)

Thanks, Spav - I usually have a very keen eye for the obvious!

Tatt

i also live in cleveland. yea that storm was very bad two days ago. i also took my mini out for the first time in the snow. but, i have the 16 inch performance runflats. no problems especially with the DSC. granted, i did not take it on the freeway...but....on unplowed side streets at up to 45 MPH and icy parking lots the slippage was minimal. if these performance runflats are this good on the freeway, i'm going to stick to these this winter.

Using summer/performance tires in the winter (especially in a cold, snowy climate) is taking one BIG gamble. You may think they're OK from your limited experience with them........but, God forbid you ever have to do an emergency stop from speed for example :eek: At the very least you should be using all-seasons, and even they are not really up to the task. This really is false economy, believe me.....been there, done that; learned my lesson.

I drive like a ninny on barbituates during hard crappy winter. Well, assuming there is snow and ice on the ground (yes, i slow down for the dark parts too).

I'm on bfgoodrich traction t/a's which are EXCELLENT for rain and dry, and better than the allseason RF for the xlites.

Fishtailing (in vacated places) is fun like taking barbituates while being a ninny.