[who's ur daddy?]

Hey, I learned this lesson last year, but it seems like I totally forgot about it again this year.

So, I have an xi with Dunlop M3 winters. Pretty good combo if you ask me. Well last year, I actually got myself into some pretty white-knuckling slides with the car. Just going too fast. Pick up is nuts on the xi with snows, but stopping - man you stop like any other car out there.

So this first day of snow I boot it onto a side street. Come up to the stop sign and jam on the brakes. Ooooops. Slide well past the stop sign and turn onto another side street fishtailing. Thank goodness no cars.

Then just two minutes later, I come to another stop sign, leading to a busy main street. Apparently, I just forgot about my recent brain-freeze incident and stop too late. Uh oooh... going into the main street... luckily no cars coming and I turn left onto the street and continue.

And the cherry on top - going around the round-a-bout at the Jack Astors' plaza at Hwy 7 and 404 and clip the curb as my tail slides.

ALL OF THIS BECAUSE I AM DRIVING LIKE A MORON.

Respect the snow ladies, respect the snow.

[halB]

4WD with proper winter tires gives you excellent traction on the get go. When it comes to stopping on slippery surfaces you are at the mercy of your tires. Winter tires give you some extra margin but it ends there. Winter tires or not, once you surpass the limits of all 4 wheels for the given surface condition you are on no wheel drive, or hockey puck drive. Once you are on a 4 wheel skid no amount of steering or braking can bail you out until you regain traction on the front wheels.

[alexhjs]

Originally Posted by who's ur daddy?

Hey, I learned this lesson last year, but it seems like I totally forgot about it again this year.

So, I have an xi with Dunlop M3 winters. Pretty good combo if you ask me. Well last year, I actually got myself into some pretty white-knuckling slides with the car. Just going to fast. Pick up is nuts on the xi with snows, but stopping - man you stop like any other car out there.

So this first day of snow I boot it onto a side street. Come up to the stop sign and jam on the brakes. Ooooops. Slide well past the stop sign and turn onto another side street fishtailing. Thank goodness no cars.

Then just two minutes later, I come to another stop sign, leading to a busy main street. Apparently, I just forgot about my recent brain-freeze incident and stop too late. Uh oooh... going into the main street... luckily no cars coming and I turn left onto the street and continue.

And the cherry on top - going around the round-a-bout at the Jack Astors' plaza at Hwy 7 and 404 and clip the curb as my tail slides.

ALL OF THIS BECAUSE I AM DRIVING LIKE A MORON.

Respect the snow ladies, respect the snow.

DAMN Nathan.. =( is your car okay?!

also with that circular structure, I enjoy it in summer..

during winter, it's more like road hazard though..

Regardless, I slid like hell around town today too.. I still had my summers on.. couldn't even climb up high tech from yonge trying to go to bayview..

Getting my winters mounted on thursday though.. I have my RFT RE050As on right now..

do you guys think i'll be okay with 18" style 197 rims (18x8Front - 18.8Rear) with new Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22 RFTs? 225 front.. 255 rear I think..

[Two Sheds]

I've got an xi with the dunlop M3's as well (put them on on saturday morning, good timing ). This evening was bad because it was so variable, some places I had loads of traction for stopping and could do an emergency stop no problem, but then on Bayview I put my brakes on lightly to slow down, and nope, no grip at all. All 4 wheels lock and I skid forwards. Thankfully I'd left a big gap to the car in front so the abs kicked in and I stopped in about 2 or 3 car lengths from walking pace (going down a slight incline).

At least then it gave me the chance to use the HDC for the first time ever in over 2 years of ownership! Works like a charm and you get this little hdc icon pop up on the display when it is actively slowing you down.

Not looking forward to the morning madness

[paullo]

You should be just fine; I'm running the exact same setup on 162's; 2nd winter with them. GL

Originally Posted by alexhjs

DAMN Nathan.. =( is your car okay?!

also with that circular structure, I enjoy it in summer..

during winter, it's more like road hazard though..

Regardless, I slid like hell around town today too.. I still had my summers on.. couldn't even climb up high tech from yonge trying to go to bayview..

Getting my winters mounted on thursday though.. I have my RFT RE050As on right now..

do you guys think i'll be okay with 18" style 197 rims (18x8Front - 18.8Rear) with new Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22 RFTs? 225 front.. 255 rear I think..

[alexhjs]

Originally Posted by paullo

You should be just fine; I'm running the exact same setup on 162's; 2nd winter with them. GL

That's really great to hear! how did you do last winter though? any BIG problems that you remember?

Kinda scared as this is my first RWD car.. I've had A4 quattro before this so everything feels more scary now..especially today's adventure in the snow with my RE050s..

[Universal_Magnetic]

driving my FX with bald all-season tires in the snow was not clutch, thought id have my 335xi already but i guess not

[who's ur daddy?]

Originally Posted by alexhjs

DAMN Nathan.. =( is your car okay?!

also with that circular structure, I enjoy it in summer..

during winter, it's more like road hazard though..

Regardless, I slid like hell around town today too.. I still had my summers on.. couldn't even climb up high tech from yonge trying to go to bayview..

Getting my winters mounted on thursday though.. I have my RFT RE050As on right now..

Alignment is off for sure (steering wheel is not pointed straight)...

I deserve it. Fok me.

You should be okay most of the time with your RWD plus snows. Seriously though, I think BMW's don't do well in the snow. In my E46 with snows, I had a terrible time getting up the hill going North on Bayview at Eglinton... don't know if it is the open differential that makes the car so crappy going up the hills on slippery slopes... dunno...

[ians]

Originally Posted by alexhjs

DAMN Nathan.. =( is your car okay?!

also with that circular structure, I enjoy it in summer..

during winter, it's more like road hazard though..

Regardless, I slid like hell around town today too.. I still had my summers on.. couldn't even climb up high tech from yonge trying to go to bayview..

Getting my winters mounted on thursday though.. I have my RFT RE050As on right now..

do you guys think i'll be okay with 18" style 197 rims (18x8Front - 18.8Rear) with new Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22 RFTs? 225 front.. 255 rear I think..

I think you better go 225 on all 4 corners.

[ians]

Originally Posted by who's ur daddy?

Alignment is off for sure (steering wheel is not pointed straight)...

I deserve it. Fok me.

You should be okay most of the time with your RWD plus snows. Seriously though, I think BMW's don't do well in the snow. In my E46 with snows, I had a terrible time getting up the hill going North on Bayview at Eglinton... don't know if it is the open differential that makes the car so crappy going up the hills on slippery slopes... dunno...

When I still with my E46, I always need to drive backward to get out from a snow covered parking lot and back to my driveway. And I used to put new snow tires on every 2 seasons. So I almost got the xi instead this time but after seeing how 4x4 it is, I rather stay at home when I see snow on the ground...

[SGxi]

I dunno, I was doing well in that crazy snow storm last winter.

This is the first heavy snow w/ accumulation so I guess our driving style is still in "summer mode"

[achien]

yeah, I am going to try it out this weekend with my summers on!!!

Originally Posted by who's ur daddy?

Hey, I learned this lesson last year, but it seems like I totally forgot about it again this year.

So, I have an xi with Dunlop M3 winters. Pretty good combo if you ask me. Well last year, I actually got myself into some pretty white-knuckling slides with the car. Just going too fast. Pick up is nuts on the xi with snows, but stopping - man you stop like any other car out there.

So this first day of snow I boot it onto a side street. Come up to the stop sign and jam on the brakes. Ooooops. Slide well past the stop sign and turn onto another side street fishtailing. Thank goodness no cars.

Then just two minutes later, I come to another stop sign, leading to a busy main street. Apparently, I just forgot about my recent brain-freeze incident and stop too late. Uh oooh... going into the main street... luckily no cars coming and I turn left onto the street and continue.

And the cherry on top - going around the round-a-bout at the Jack Astors' plaza at Hwy 7 and 404 and clip the curb as my tail slides.

ALL OF THIS BECAUSE I AM DRIVING LIKE A MORON.

Respect the snow ladies, respect the snow.

[AlpineWeiss335]

I was slipping all over with the stock RE050's trying to park my car in the garage last night. Those tires are absolutely useless lol! Then again my Subaru with LM-25's tore through everything last night! haha

[SGxi]

Aren't the RE050s performance summer RFTs?

[miraclewhip]

i should drive more like my mom.. no problems in 20+ years of driving.. hahah

she does take a while to get places though.. =/

[alexhjs]

Originally Posted by SGxi

Aren't the RE050s performance summer RFTs?

Yeah they are..

and they give QUITE a THRILL when you drive with them on snow..

NO TRACTION WHATSOEVER.

[SGxi]

Originally Posted by alexhjs

Yeah they are..

and they give QUITE a THRILL when you drive with them on snow..

NO TRACTION WHATSOEVER.

I don't know if I should be at that comment or

Winter tires are a must with the kind of weather we are getting now.

[alexhjs]

Originally Posted by SGxi

I don't know if I should be at that comment or

Winter tires are a must with the kind of weather we are getting now.

I went to T+C today expecting Bridgestone LM-22 RFTs..

except I got Pirelli Winter Sottozero 240 RFTs... (225x18 F - 255x18 R)

are these pirelli tires any good? any of the guys here used this tire?

any reply is appreciated!

[BMdblU]

Originally Posted by alexhjs

I went to T+C today expecting Bridgestone LM-22 RFTs..

except I got Pirelli Winter Sottozero 240 RFTs... (225x18 F - 255x18 R)

are these pirelli tires any good? any of the guys here used this tire?

any reply is appreciated!

they're good .. bridgestones are better imo

[GAM3OVR85]

Originally Posted by BMdblU

they're good .. bridgestones are better imo

what about Michelins PA3s?

[ik999]

I have the OEM winter wheel / tire setup, but it didn't seem to be enough for yesterday's icey roads.

I couldn't drive more than 60km/h on the main roads. I was getting passed by all sorts of awd and fwd cars going over 80. there just wasn't enough traction for me to go faster - and I think those other guys were going way too fast.

awd/fwd may have helped those cars to accelerate, but they surely had no advantage when it comes to stopping. I guess that's why there are always so many accidents during the first storms of the year.

on roads with lots of snow, my car did quite well since the snow tires could grip on it decently. but the streets where the snow had compacted and became icey were a big challenge.

I remember on one street, I had come to a stop sign. once the car had stopped, it started sliding laterally to the right!

I spent some extra time that night going out and playing around with the car. experimenting with the DTC/DSC system, and with braking characteristics. in many instances you can really feel the rear brakes working for the "e-LSD".

winter driving is fun, but watch out for those johnny dangerous guys who are either over-confident or don't know what they are doing (like the M3 with summer tires I saw who spun out into the curb)

[darklord]

here's a link for reviews on the pirelli's

240 Sottozero:
http://www.tirerack.com/survey/Surve...e1=yes&place=5