Just got a nice big downfall of snow here in the lower mainland.
Currently my car is stuck down about half way up my cul-de-sac because it got stuck. the front bumper litterally became a snow plow, having a 2" or so drop. haha
I was just wondering how the rest of you guys have been making out in the snow so far... do you find your max to be pretty good in the snow, or not so good?
also what are good techniques for driving in the snow without getting stuck..... Besides not driving. ive tried that... not an option for me haha
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FS:
95/96 All Clear Outter Tail lights (new with box, from APC) (extremely RARE!)
-$160
Heres my tips. I destroyed my summer tires the night before, and i made it to work easy on bald summer tires. The key is, if your wheels are spinning, you are making it worse. You melt the snow and create a layer of water between your tires and the ice. What you want to do is take off as lightly as possible, if your wheels start to spin let off till they stop spinning then slowly re-apply the throttle, oncce your moving you can get on the throttle more aggresively. I find if your stuck on a hill try turning the wheels from side to side may help you get both spinning. ALso if your on a hill try using the ebrake to hold the car from rolling back that way your car doesnt have to overcome the rear movement.
Other then that just use common sense. I drove all last winter on summer tires, this winter i have dedicated snows, and to be honest wtih you there good but still some of the roads here are tricky.
In my area id say we are knocking 10" or more of snow, combine that with my smaller then stock snow tires and my eibach drop, my front end plows.
On a good note i attracted a crowd of 10 people as i was drifting in the save on parking lot around a light pole lol, i only need the ebrake to intially get the back end out then ijust kept going around in circles. then some older guy in a sebring started doing reverse donuts after him and his wife were watching me
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VQ30DET - Holset HE351, Tial 38MM, HKS SSQ, MEVI, 3" Turbo back, Tein Coilovers, 17" Superleggeras, Full Z32 BBK
Heres another tip, you may see truckers doing this in the dry. Avoid coming to a complete stop if possible, brake far in advanced of the cars infront of you and slowly roll if you time it right you wont come to a comlete stop at lights. For stop signs ill crawl up make sure no ones around then go. If you avoid a complete stop you will be fine.
I dont know if you've been around the newton library but i thought it would be cool to drive down there..as i turned down and realized it seemed a few people have gone down, theres like 1ft of snow, i was crappin myself, but i made it through then drove by my high school and some a$$hat sees me coming and starts backing out his driveway...needless to say i gave him a mouthful.
Oh ya heres another thing, it may sound stupid but if possible try drive if your going up a hill in most cases your better off driving in the fresh snow because if you drive in everyone elses tracks, there tires spin, melt a layer of ice tht turns into water and acts like oil, if you drive in the fresh snow you may plow it a bit but atleast you will be the first so your tires will be on fresh snow and it will compact much better.
With these tips ive made it through 2 winters, last year being my first. At work i had to do parts deliveries in a 2wd frontier..as scary as it was it taught me a lot about winters.
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VQ30DET - Holset HE351, Tial 38MM, HKS SSQ, MEVI, 3" Turbo back, Tein Coilovers, 17" Superleggeras, Full Z32 BBK
yea braking in advance helps alot. the main thing that sucks is just coming to a stop at an updhill intersection. the ebrake thing helped out, never thought of that. haha but yea its all melting away now.
Yea I went down to the Home depot parking lot last night, big empty parking = safe fun . haha.
on a bad note. today i destroyed my old bumper on my car. the mount of snow in between the two tire tracks on the roads just bearely clears my car but there was a big lump (i guess it had rocks in it) and boom. crack the whole lower grill piece right in the middle...
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FS:
95/96 All Clear Outter Tail lights (new with box, from APC) (extremely RARE!)
-$160
yeah, winter tires make a huge difference.
I put on the General Altimax Arctic this year. So far very impressed. Not much snow to really test them out, but the stopping has been great and the ride is quite.
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?ti...Altimax+Arctic
I was deciding between those, the hankook Icebear W300 and the Kumho KW19. The tires are all about the same price and it ended up being the generals as I liked the tread pattern the best out of the 3.
I'm using some very good "expensive" all season tires now and they're working okay. I've never been stuck with them although when it snows a bit more the handling gets slippery. But I just ordered some really nice winter tires from Tire Rack last night so I'll be using them when they come.
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'01 Maxima SE
'92 Daytona IROC RT
'84 Rampage
This is the second winter with Viking Snowtech (made by Continental) on my 2002 Maxima SE 6SPD, and they're amazing. Having a 6SPD and clutch to be able to better control the amount of power in certain situation helps a lot.
What is very good about the 2002 Maxima SE is the ground clearance of 5.8". I find this number bigger than average, and its proven to help when the snow really starts to come down.
The first winter I had to drive to work and back on my nearly bald all seasons and it wasn't fun at all, especially since I have a long commute (almost 50km each way). Luckily my tire order came in and I had them installed the same evening after work.
I had Toyo Observe G-02plus winter tires on my 1993 Mazda 626 ES V6 as it was the same story, I just can't see not having winter tires when your car comes with stock low-profile wide tires. Even so, I got new Bridgestone Winterforce for my wife's 2005 Mazda3 and they're amazing as well.
haha yeah. snows make a huge difference. I remember when i had my snows on my other auto 98 it was much better in the snow and i figure because of the intial drivetrain shcok when you take off just initiates the spin and its hard to let off and get back on.
another thing that hampered my winter performance, i noticed when i took off only my driver side wheel was spinning..stupid me was in a rush and i only put adjusted the pressure on the drivers side front tire lol..so the drivers side front had 32psi while the passenger front had about 21psi LOL, fixed that and it seems a lot better, its so funny when i punch it in first i get spin but it makes so much noise lol.
this much snow sucks for drifting, i tried it in the superstore pakring lot but i didnt get sideways because my car just plowed it. its better when theres like ~6" that way my front doesnt plow and i can still get very sideways hahah. At work me and the other guy took out a titan and started doing donuts in it LOL.
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VQ30DET - Holset HE351, Tial 38MM, HKS SSQ, MEVI, 3" Turbo back, Tein Coilovers, 17" Superleggeras, Full Z32 BBK
My Ventus II worked fairly well. A bit of sliding when braking (mostly in the slushy stuff). And take off & slow down has to be slow and steady, traction controll and ABS help but I don't like to rely on them. My wife was behind me, at one point, in her Axxess and did not have the take of problems I did.
My Ventus II worked fairly well. A bit of sliding when braking (mostly in the slushy stuff). And take off & slow down has to be slow and steady, traction controll and ABS help but I don't like to rely on them. My wife was behind me, at one point, in her Axxess and did not have the take of problems I did.
The Axxess is a great winter car, my dad has two and never got stuck once. Add to that the 240SX 2.4L 4-banger and its a quick, family hauler...too bad they stopped making it. If they had my dad would go out and buy a new one.
My 10 yr old Blizzaks make the Maxima a champ in the snow. I remember blowing by other cars climbing the Willingdon hill on a snowy morning a couple of years ago. Several cars still had their all season tires on and were stuck by the side of the road. Even an 18 wheeler truck was parked on the side too. Great traction and stopping. Very confidence inspiring.
The Axxess is a great winter car, my dad has two and never got stuck once. Add to that the 240SX 2.4L 4-banger and its a quick, family hauler...too bad they stopped making it. If they had my dad would go out and buy a new one.
We bought it new and the wife just loves it. When the value of the Yen went through the roof in the mid 90's it was not cost effective to bring the Axxess into Canada any more, they would have cost more than the larger Quest-so they killed it. We have had notes left on it with phone numbers to call if we ever wanted to sell it. It's a 94 with just over 90,000 kms on it, we'll probably have it untill it dies.
I find the Maxima to be way better in the snow than my Probe. I had all-seasons running on both. I think the VLSD helps big time. I got stuck in the curb lane with the Probe. Had to back up away from the chunk of slush to get going again.
yeah im not sure what it is that makes the maxima so good in the snow. I tried taking out my moms mazda 3 and with brand new all seasons i barely..and i cant stress that enough barely made it up the street. Same with my freinds GLI..he put snows on and it still couldnt keep up with the maxi, and my snows are almost 3 years old. Even his rental yaris with brand new all seasons suckedd..but that thing was insane to drift in hahaa
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VQ30DET - Holset HE351, Tial 38MM, HKS SSQ, MEVI, 3" Turbo back, Tein Coilovers, 17" Superleggeras, Full Z32 BBK
hehe I just rely on my winnipeg (winterpeg) driving skills haha, until I can afford a set of winter tires, haha but trust me unless you guys have been to churchill, theres no winter like a winter there, we used to count snow by the meter
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FS:
95/96 All Clear Outter Tail lights (new with box, from APC) (extremely RARE!)
-$160
I had Toyo Observe winter tires on my Laser for years. I remember the first time I put them on. They were great. Took the car out to a local lake. The snow was high enough that I was pushing it and it was coming over the hood. It did not have a problem at all going in the deep snow on ice. Ended up burning a full tank of gas making and using an ice race track. Extremely fun! The Daytona goes pretty good as well. I have a LSD in it.
I don't have any problem in snow because the last time my Maxima was driven in it was about 11 years ago. Being truly anal retentive, I scarcely drive it when the roads and bridge decks are salted, which is likely the case today.
My 85 RX7 GSL-SE is ideal for those conditions and being pretty well 50/50 weight distribution is pretty good in snow.
If you have a manual car, you can use low revs and lots of clutch slip to get going. It's also a lot easier to get the car un-stuck because you can rock the car back and forth by putting the clutch in and out.
If you have an automatic, drive like there's an egg between your foot and the gas pedal and pray.
My old Max had a 2" drop, no body kit, and Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position tires, and it was virtually unstoppable in the snow. The only time I got stuck was when I hung the car on a small pile of snow at the entrance to a parking lot because I was being arrogant, but even that was recoverable eventually.
