buy winter tires its a must

 

hahahahahah.

First off, the SS/TC comes stock with SUMMER ONLY HIGH PERFORMANCE TIRES ( the stocker Contis)

I drove with about 3/4 tread on these through a Michigan winter and it was HORRIBLE. Very unsafe and dangerous. I just got some All-Season Bridgestones ( not snow tires, just all season) and I am hoping they will help out a bit.

FWD doesn't mean **** for winter really. Instead of your back in sliding out (RWD), your front end just plows forward.

ahhaaha, Toronto gets NO MORE snow than where I live in Michigan or especially those by the lake in NY state.

I am about an hour and a few mins from Ontario border, and about 5 hours from Toronto.

 

I leave my TCS on but never hit it; I modulate the throttle with my right foot instead. The TC is a help in some instances, but when it comes to winter driving it tends to do more harm than good. Example, you're plowing through super deep snow and it detects your wheels are spinning; it's going to cut power and slow you down. This isn't always desireable sometimes you need to keep up that momentum to simply get through it; if that TC kicks in at the wrong time you're done for.

All I know is I saw someone with Florida plates trying to drive in heavy snow here last year. Needless to say I refused to go around them, they're gas was either on or off it was the funniest **** I've ever seen. THEY needed a TCS to modulate the throttle for them, not to mention a beefed up insurance policy the way they were stuggling .

 

Sorry, I should have specified. I'm not originally from Toronto - I just moved here. I'm originally from North Bay, which is 350km North of Toronto. We get way more snow and WAY colder temperatures than the GTA and Southern Ontario.

Early winter shot back at my parents' home:

 

Can't argue with North Bay ......Went there on a few snowmobile trips. Amazing snow and super cold at times lol. What a great place to live ..... It's like the frontier up there hehe.

 

Frontier is right; my brother goes to University in Sudbury. Halfway there in the dead of winter all I could think was "my god when did I pass into the Twilight Zone"; boatloads of snow, the highway disappeared and the snow drifts were 5 or 6 feet taller than my LS . Got INTO the city and my 2.2 was plowing the road; absolutely unbelievable how much **** gets dumped in Northern Ontario!

 

It's not just the snow - we see temperatures of -35C to -40C at least a week or two of winter. I've seen -45C before. Timmins? I've seen them get -52C PRE-WINDCHILL.

That picture above? I wasn't kidding when I said early winter. The lake wasn't frozen yet. That lake gets ice that can be measured in FEET of thickness.

Let's not doubt my snow credentials again

 

I think when I was there the coldest day was -30ish + ridiculous windchill. All I remember was it was so cold that my shift linkage froze and I completely lost 2nd and 4th gear in my 2.2 until the vehicle thawed....that's ****** cold

 

Last winter when I was down for a weekend it felt like my shift linkage was made of concrete... I got her into second, barely. It felt like the whole car just wanted to yell "**** YOU" at me. Temp. gauge registered -32C, so that would be pre-windchill.

Perma, you and I have got to stop jacking threads

 

Thread jacking is what we do best; may as well keep up with what we're good at .

Back on topic then; I got pissed off today and gave 'er a little too much throttle and my TCS kicked in, son of a bitch almost threw me on my face when it cut power. Wet road + wet snow on top + road rage lead foot = TCS saving my snow tires from burning a hole into the road while giving me a severe case of whiplash . Oddly enough, I'll leave it on!

 

The whole Toronto thing threw me off....... I was like Toronto......Pfffff....they don't have that bad of a winter.

 

You're not kidding. People in Toronto **** their pants if, god forbid, their side street isn't plowed within 1 hour of snowfall.

Every morning I'm home in NB with a significant snowfall my SS has to plow through (usually) 6+ inches of fresh snow up the driveway and down the road to the highway. Plows don't visit us until mid-day. This is a normal day. I've also been out on days where cop cars are in snowbanks and SUVs (because they're invincible, you know) are stranded. Our snow banks get so high that every intersection becomes a game of Russian Roulette - stick your nose out as far as you dare to see around the 10+ foot monsters and hope no one takes it off.

Based on growing up with said experiences, I think I'm qualified to re-iterate my two points:

1) TCS FTL in snowy conditions.
2) Buy snow tires or you're a ******* idiot.

/thread

 

I have a work car and the wife has a 4x4 so I am still on summer tires here in Colorado, It kinda sucks thoug cause I wanna drive my car but I can't because there is too much snow on the side roads. I guess when I get a different job I will be forced into the same situation as the rest of you.

 

4 snows and traction control on for acceleration or off for some huge drifto.

Oh wait, I drive a G35. el oh el.

Traction control off in a FWD is usually best.

 

We got our first snow here this weekend and I had no problems with 4 inches of snow on the road climbing up a mountain road in Middleburgh with TCS on and with Nokian Hakkapeliitta R Snow Tires Didn't have a problem going up or down the mountain.

 

No doubt .... The week I was there in january it got to -35.....I couldn't believe how hard it is to do anything when it's that cold. The recoil on my snowmobile broke the First morning I tried starting it ....... ended up breaking 3 or 4 lol. Your lungs feel like they are on fire and your nose freezes up lol. Snow i can handle , you can plow it....shovel it ect. ect. .......you can't do **** about the cold . I guess you just survive it lol.

 

Spent last season in the snow on summer performance tires and didnt have any real issue. That was with my 3g eclipse v6 5 spd. So Id imagine this year on all season I will be fine

 

You'll most likely be fine. Most of it is how good of a driver you are. Like you said, you drove all winter on summer performance tires and had no issues. People are bashing me because I questioned the Cobalt's traction issues, but what I didn't mention is that both my musclecars ran high-performance summer tires as well (Falken 451), and I had no issues either. In short, don't be an idiot.

 

yeah its just about planning ahead for braking or using momentum to carry you through etc...

I had to do a week of driving through 8-10 inches of snow on shaved down akuret race tires because my dd broke down so a week of driving an 89 mustang coupe in the snow. Will grant you I prayed like hell I didnt get stuck at the bottom of the hill

 

Right now there is a blizzard warning all day which follows 8-11 inches of snow yesterday. Last night I drove 35 miles home from work and went out once today because I had to.

I find that traction control off does work a lot better as long as you modulate the throttle and don't just spin like crazy.

For tires, I'm running Bridgestone RE960's (all season). I didn't have a single issue and the ESC never flashed. So will snow tires be better? Sure, but you don't NEED them. Just take your time and use common sense. You'll get from A to B and back again.

 

There was about 2 inches of soaking wet snow this morning and had to drive with stock tires but right after work i got my blizzaks installed, can breathe a little sigh of relief now. Just hoping the person behind me has some common sense and doesn't use my car to slow theirs down lol

 

Sometimes though theres also the problem of a person on snow tires or with a 4x4 getting over confident due to them thinking they are in far better shape.

Many times your only a step ahead of another person but even then if your over confident then in all reality the other driver is many steps ahead of you.

 

i have ordered ws 60's for my car...

i ignorantly went the whole winter last year on stock contis and it was a night mare...

traction is not even there tc on or not...

like an earlier poster had said summer tires are that for a reason...its all about compound on tires...

winter tires are soft...so they grip...last winter i may as well have had slicks on my car....

lesson learned!

oh and by they way for you fellow mid michigan guys i got my blizzaks at diamond jims on dort highway( im putting them on stock rims) $804 mounted,balanced and installed...

which by the way is $128 dollars less than belle tire...and $90 dollars less than discount tire...

 

I don't understand where all the traction control bashing is coming from...

I made it through last winter just fine on some all-seasons. I don't remember turning traction control off (maybe I'm just forgetting...). If you guys are too heavy footed and spinning the tires with TCS on, they're gonna spin just as much with TCS off. Just use a lighter touch with the throttle/clutch and you should be fine! Assuming you're not on stock tires that is.

There may have been one time when I turned TCS off. I was leaving work and we got a good 8" or so of falling and windblown snow in the parking lot. I was rocking back and forth for a minute or two before I could bust out of the snowdrift that had collected around my car

 

The bashing comes from the limitations of TCS. TCS eliminates the first sign of wheelspin. Sometimes, wheelspin is required to build momentum, especially up hills. It's impossible to escape from my parents' steeply sloped driveway in winter time with TCS left on.