Rear wheel drive in snow

[Apial]

Hrm. I remember taking my Audi (S8 Quattro) over to Poland on normal everyday sunny tyres, in the deepest winter - and having a whale of a time. It performed perfectly, never once lost grip, despite snow, ICE, slush, black ice and any other horrid wintery road condition you can imagine. I'd say that the 4WD helps during the whole drive. I had planned on buying winter tyres if I'd needed them - but not once did I feel that they would be a worthwhile investment.

4WD rocks for snow.

-simon

Sorry can't agree with you. 4wd is not the total answer. You can have all the wheels driven, but on summer slicks you will not push through the snow in front of you. I know what I'm talking about, I've just spent the morning stuck in deep snow in the Lincolnshire Wolds with a Shogun. If only I had my snow chains on board I might have made it through!

 

[Satch]

Sorry can't agree with you. 4wd is not the total answer. You can have all the wheels driven, but on summer slicks you will not push through the snow in front of you. I know what I'm talking about, I've just spent the morning stuck in deep snow in the Lincolnshire Wolds with a Shogun. If only I had my snow chains on board I might have made it through!

Absolutely. Over the past years I have seen more than a few 4x4's stuck somewhere not very difficult (or ending up in a ditch because their drivers have no concept that "4x4" does not disapply the laws of physics) largely I think thanks to being kitted with "performance" tyres or some of the less wonderful "All Terrain" tyres that come as OEM.

Bear in mind that if there is less than 4mm of tread depth even winter tyres will start to struggle with snow. That is why most 4x4 or winter tyres will have 4mm wear indicator bars moulded into the tread. So on part worn summer tyres odds are really against.

Chains work well with summer tyres but putting them on can be such a horrible experience in bad weather especially if you have the ones that can double up as a form of large scale Chinese puzzle. Doing so at night in a blizzard on a crappy French mountain road with the limited arch clearance further restricted by packed ice and snow ranked so high in the list things I really did not want to have to do ever again that I purchased my first winter tyre set soon after.

 

[glojo]

I know what I'm talking about, I've just spent the morning stuck in deep snow in the Lincolnshire Wolds with a Shogun. If only I had my snow chains on board I might have made it through!

We have just come back from Antartica (Lincolnshire) and during our short visit we experienced more snow and ice than ever before. My wife has had very, very limited experience driving in such terrible conditions, but the Sprinter behaved impecabbly. Whilst cars were spinning, and sliding all over the place our stretched limo simply plodded along, narrowish tyres, nice wide grooves in the tread, plus a steady right foot saw our Sprinter being used for numerous fetch and carry journeys.

The need for wide sports tyres is simply an accident waiting to happen, Shude has continually offered excellent advice on different types of winter tyres and I just wonder how much the cost of these is when compared to exchanging names and addresses with the nearest dyke, mud bank etc?

John

 

[Dieselman]

Shude has continually offered excellent advice on different types of winter tyres and I just wonder how much the cost of these is when compared to exchanging names and addresses with the nearest dyke

Well Dykes are about £20, classy girls somewhat more.

 

[glojo]

Well Dykes are about £20, classy girls somewhat more.

It made me laugh when I used the example, but the dykes in Lincolnshire are BIGGGG at least £30

Happy New Year,
John

 

[Ian B Walker]

It made me laugh when I used the example, but the dykes in Lincolnshire are BIGGGG at least £30

Happy New Year,
John

Mmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[PJH]

It made me laugh when I used the example, but the dykes in Lincolnshire are BIGGGG at least £30

Happy New Year,
John

....dykes in Lincolnshire ? I only know the story of the little Dutch boy.

 

[glojo]

....dykes in Lincolnshire ? I only know the story of the little Dutch boy.

Was he from Spalding?? Or perhaps related to **** Van Dyke!!

John

 

[Benzowner]

Was he from Spalding?? Or perhaps related to **** Van Dyke!!

John

Penis Van Lesbian?

 

[ckember]

Try this link for winter tyres, 225/45 R17 V about £100 each and up

Seem to have a comprehensive range

http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m11b0s0p0

 

[stevehilt]

Vredstiens in Snow

My 2002 C200 Coupe came with OEM tyres 225/45/17 Continental Sport Contact 2 which were absolutely useless in snow.
After taking advice from The MB Forum I fitted Vredstien Ultrac 2.
Over the last week, with care in the snow they have been quite good and have much more traction that the Contis.

 

[jonm]

Distinct deja-vu here.

Had all sorts of grief getting from drive -> road, followed by an entertaining 100M journey along the (un gritted) road outside house. Couldn't go -couldn't stop, alternating between ESP and ABS. Followed by alomost blind panic whilst driving and 2cm of settled snow......

I have to say that my MB snow experience was crap to say the least, but probably winter tyres are the right answer----how long will it be before they become legislation, we have laws on tread depth, if 'standard' tyres are crap in winter then why not here as well????, (not that I am a particular fan of more rules and laws...). My understanding is that the winter/summer tyre dividing line is 7 degrees C (yes/no?).

If I have all this grief in a 200K, which as far as I can tell has absolutely JS low end torque, what on earth would it be like in a torquey diesel or a huge C55, CL etc etc. You have my sympathy, really....... honest...... I wouldn't want one, no sir-ree not me.... nope .....wouldn't have one even if they were giving them away....

Mr sensible thats me..

 

[BonzoDog]

Winter tyres

Common place here on the continent to switch to snow tyres in winter. Most people have a spare set of wheels and it makes a big difference.
Even winter tyres though need plenty of tread in icy, snow, slushy conditions. My 280 estate stays on track round bends, up hills providing normal caution is used. They need not be expensive, a new set of Fulda's for the Saab cost about 200 pounds just before Christmas.

 

[Black_Camel]

One thing you could try for an all round seasonal tyre for this country is a set of 'rain tyres.' They tend to have deeper channels for the water and are less susceptible to aqua-planning than standard summer tyres.

Something like the Pirelli P6000 should be more than adequate for UK road conditions. The continental tyre range have very poor reviews for their handling in the wet. In my experience, i decided to replace the front tyres on my (fwd) A-class from the OEM Continentals to Michelin Pilots because the handling of the car was unacceptable in the wet. The improvement in handling in Snowy weather was also quite dramatic with the Michelins.

Saying that, hacking around in a rear wheel drive car in the snow in Northern Scandinavia is far more fun with snow tyres on (and legal). You can still 'get the back out' and drift around corners, but if you see yourself getting into serious trouble, just plant your foot on the accelerator and the studs on tyres dig in deep to give ooodles more grip.

Great fun in at least 2cm of snow, or on sheet ice!

Also I found the Winter setting on my S-Class' autobox to be more than adequate over the last few weeks in the UK.

 

[MainMan]

Yesterday, my W210 with ESP (with wide 265/35 P Zeros on the rear) took the same snow covered hill easily, without the wheels spinning up. The car remained controllable and my alloys never felt threatened by the kerbs. ESP metered the power applied to each rear wheel on the way up, and controlled individual wheel braking on the way down.

In my experience, when grip is very low and it's a matter of getting enough traction to make progress up a hill in snow, it works better with ESP turned off. That's on a manual though - might be different with auto. I'd guess the difference between your two cars was more likely to be the different tyres or the temperature/type of snow than ESP.

 

[Shude]

Something like the Pirelli P6000 should be more than adequate for UK road conditions.

I'd not recommend the P6000 for any road conditions!

 

[Howard]

I'd not recommend the P6000 for any road conditions!

Ditto, I had some truly shocking moments in my old CRX on P6000's ( they weren't worn out and i had no money to buy new ones ) ....

Really dreadful tyres ..... steer clear ( although steering clear might be hard if you are on P6000's )

 

[Doodle]

Ditto...had some on my Civic VTi-S. God they were shocking, thankfully with 180hp through the front wheels the awfulness only lasted 7000 miles!

 

[RJIF]

im in agreement with that, my c180 came with P6000 tyres and they didnt last 5 min's and had the grip factor of butter

 

[Howard]

Ditto...had some on my Civic VTi-S. God they were shocking, thankfully with 180hp through the front wheels the awfulness only lasted 7000 miles!

Really ?

i had the VTEC CRX (160 hp though the front wheels) , i just could not scrub them off , it was like they were made out of titanium or something , the rear ones lasted 4 years, the fronts only got changed when i had two punctures in quick succession .....

The tread compound was just sooooooo hard , like they had been fossilised ....... toilet tyres