worst car..........EVER in the snow

[PaulieB]

Just to add

I think I may have a little experience of driving in the snow

Been driving for 28 years,owned around 15 cars and live in the hills of Lancashire.

I know all about tyre sizes/widths,the way you drive,etc, etc

and when I say this is the worst car I have driven in the snow,I mean it

Bridgestone Turanzas are fecking awful in the snow, as i remembered yesterday and this morning as my car slid from side to side! Not justifyable to buy 4 new tyres though. End of the day the merc at the bottom of my street also couldnt make it up my road : /

 

[gazman]

Bridgestone Turanzas are fecking awful in the snow, as i remembered yesterday and this morning as my car slid from side to side! Not justifyable to buy 4 new tyres though. End of the day the merc at the bottom of my street also couldnt make it up my road : /

went back to pick the car up the area looked liked a war zone with abandoned cars everywhere........

So on reflection, maybe it was a pretty bad fall of snow

seem to be the stuff that just clogs the tyres up

still it's made an interesting debate

 

[PaulieB]

went back to pick the car up the area looked liked a war zone with abandoned cars everywhere........

So on reflection, maybe it was a pretty bad fall of snow

seem to be the stuff that just clogs the tyres up

still it's made an interesting debate

It was -7 when i got up this morning, Almost made it to the top of the road, then some idiot decided to reverse out of their drive and stop infront of me.. Needless to say it was a pain in the ass getting it started again. It's not too bad once its moving, but if it starts on snow its a nightmare, Gritted roads i had no problem with or even slush when i drive to glencoe snowboarding, it just seems to be snow thats lying on the ground. But then again my tyres have perfect grip in the wet and dry so i cant complain too much. Just they seem to puncture a little too easily.

 

[IainW]

I've got those Bridgestone tyres and I didn't have much problem with the snow the other night. Went for a wee spin round the industrial estate at 3am when on a break at work and they coped fairly well.

 

[depresion]

tyres websites I went on lie then! lol oh well as I said it v rarely snows here just rains wouldn't want these tyres if I was a northerner then!

Didn't get them from Spain did you? They would probably be all season down there.

 

[mgrays]

Nearly got up 1/2 mile up hill farm track that is my drive.. which was polished ice .. just could not get the last 30 ft which were not the steepest bits.

1. Once you start to spin you have had it... as first you wear all the sharp edges off the tread blocks caused by wear on tarmac so it has less bite... and then the threads fill with ice ... so you end up with a smooth ice filled tyre. (same deal on mud/grass.. once it spins you've had it).

2. Traction control does not work at idle in first gear.. either one or the other spins.. but if you give it a little revs then traction control does work .. but now you are spinning too fast and you have no traction. It seems to be optimised for tarmac which it does well but they must have had people overheat the brakes by using idle to crawl up hills of mud so they took off the "at idle" ability.

3. Traction control kills the revs too much .. you could do with a little more rpm to spin up to a reasonable speed (at which point you need to lift off and resyncronise tyre speed to road speed).

.. now we just need a snow button option on the traction control button .. something like double click to take it into a different programme.. oh well.

 

[RUM4MO]

My wife's Polo 9N has ESP or something - I thought that it would be as near to four wheel drive as she could get on that car! Turns out it is sometimes better to switch it off in adverse conditions like snow etc!!! What messed up her driving out on to the main road on Tuesday morning was the depth of the snow, it was six inches deep so that when she tried to get out by driving on tracks made by someone with snow tyres she found they were just hard and ended up polishing them, when she tried to drive on fresh snow, it was just too deep. Even my four wheel drive Passat finds anything deeper than 9 inches on an incline is a problem.

 

[TazB]

Not convinced if I'm honest!!

This is normally the kinda weather we get in Jan/Feb?

Might be more likely to get more of this weather?

sorry i meant in Glasgow. must be some thing to do with all the hills around

 

[jamesy_1820vt]

i had deep snow were i stay and ma cupra was very good in the snow it pullled up all the big hills and it has 205/40 17

 

[mgrays]

Deep snow... that to me is over the top of a 4x4 bonnet.. about 4' drifts

 

[RUM4MO]

Nearly got up 1/2 mile up hill farm track that is my drive.. which was polished ice .. just could not get the last 30 ft which were not the steepest bits.

1. Once you start to spin you have had it... as first you wear all the sharp edges off the tread blocks caused by wear on tarmac so it has less bite... and then the threads fill with ice ... so you end up with a smooth ice filled tyre. (same deal on mud/grass.. once it spins you've had it).

2. Traction control does not work at idle in first gear.. either one or the other spins.. but if you give it a little revs then traction control does work .. but now you are spinning too fast and you have no traction. It seems to be optimised for tarmac which it does well but they must have had people overheat the brakes by using idle to crawl up hills of mud so they took off the "at idle" ability.

3. Traction control kills the revs too much .. you could do with a little more rpm to spin up to a reasonable speed (at which point you need to lift off and resyncronise tyre speed to road speed).

.. now we just need a snow button option on the traction control button .. something like double click to take it into a different programme.. oh well.

I think that some "premium" brands like BMW MB do have a multi mode traction system to help out in this sort of situation. If I can remember correctly, my bother-in-law had a BMW 650 or something like that as a compant car - he hated it! One Christmas when we were visiting them, I had left my VX Cav GSI 4X4 at another fiends house when we were out for a drink, next morning, he drove me back along to pick up my car, the roads were covered in campacted snow and glazed so he had to try every button to get his BMW to move (and he didn't know much about these modes as he is not a technical person). On the way back I just "zipped" past him and had to walk back and sort of guide the rear of the BMW to keep it off the kerbs. So the Germans think that its the typical skiers car - I think not on UK ski access roads - well not without chains anywhere.

 

[RpR]

I dont get people who live in area where there's even moderate snowfall, and still keep plowing along on their summer tyres.
Even the worst, cheap piece of china winter rubber is better on snow than the best brand summer tyre.
I picked up some cheap 15" Mastersteel (yay china) for 300£ including rims. They're even less noisy than my summer Dunlops.
On the plus side, they're hard as hell and probably made of 90% nylon, they'll last forever, even while being thrashed

 

[kriso]

It's quite expensive to buy new tyres and wheels specifically for the winter. Especially for Cupra owners who need wheels big enough to fit over the calipers. The manual just recommends snow chains as they can be put on and taken off easily...plus when its going to snow in this country is quite unpredictable!

 

[RpR]

Fitting 15" wasn't a problem on my FR, 16" on the Cupra shouldn't be a problem either. And winter rims are allowed to look like crap, no need to buy expensive chrome rims

 

[kriso]

You can't fit 16" on the Cupra because of the brakes, only certain 17" rims fit!

 

[RpR]

Really? Didn't think the brakes were that much bigger compared to the FR?

 

[muddyboots]

Have a read of this thread:
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2180723#post2180723

People tend to think of "Winter tyres" as "Snow Tyres", and because we rarely get snow here, there's no real benefit.

That isn't the case - Winter tyres aren't specifically for snow - they are for general winter driving conditions - ie cold temperatures, wetter roads, and occasional ice and snow.

When temperatures drop below a certain threshold (typically 7ºC) the rubber in summer tyres gets harder and grip falls away - the rubber compund used in Winter tyres is designed to retain flexibility & grip in cold temperatures.
In the UK this typically applies for around 4 months of the year, Nov/Dec - Feb/March.
They are also designed to clear away large volumes of water and slush, much more effectively than summer tyres.
Finally, when you do get snow, they are in a different league altogether...

Cost ? Well there is an initial outlay in buying another set of tyres - but while using winter tyres, you're saving your summer tyres - so the long term cost of winter tyres is little, if any, extra.
The only extra cost is either paying someone to swap them over, OR buying a second set of rims.

I find it surprising in the UK that people are willing to spend a fortune on mods to increase power, braking & handling - yet are reluctant to buy a set of tyres that would A) allow effective use of those mods, and B) make them less likely to lose control & crash.

There also seems to be a misconception that ESP etc will somehow make your car better at driving in snow & poor wintry conditions - it won't. You can have all the fancy electronic gadgetry in the world, but if the tyres have no grip, it's no use at all....

My Ibiza and both Passats (all 205 width tyres) have been ridiculously crap in snow, the tyres are too wide, spreading the load too much, preventing the tyre from digging down and gripping. 4 different makes of (summer) tyre were all just as bad as each other. Previous cars with narrower tyres have been much better.

The Dunlop Wintersport 3D's I've got now are brilliant. Much less wheelspin out of junctions, they slice through standing water & slushly outside lanes of dual carriageways that no-one else dare use, and in the snow the other week - unstoppable. The Toyo SnowProxes I had once before were good, but these Dunlops seem in a different league. They are topping all the winter tyre reviews. Presumably the reason why they are on back-order in the UK...I ended up buying them from mytyres (delivered from Germany).

 

[Leigh15]

It's quite expensive to buy new tyres and wheels specifically for the winter. Especially for Cupra owners who need wheels big enough to fit over the calipers. The manual just recommends snow chains as they can be put on and taken off easily...plus when its going to snow in this country is quite unpredictable!

You don't have to buy new wheels - just swap the tyres over - it doesn't cost much and it's only twice a year.

Have a read of this thread:
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2180723#post2180723

People tend to think of "Winter tyres" as "Snow Tyres", and because we rarely get snow here, there's no real benefit.

That isn't the case - Winter tyres aren't specifically for snow - they are for general winter driving conditions - ie cold temperatures, wetter roads, and occasional ice and snow.

When temperatures drop below a certain threshold (typically 7ºC) the rubber in summer tyres gets harder and grip falls away - the rubber compund used in Winter tyres is designed to retain flexibility & grip in cold temperatures.
In the UK this typically applies for around 4 months of the year, Nov/Dec - Feb/March.
They are also designed to clear away large volumes of water and slush, much more effectively than summer tyres.
Finally, when you do get snow, they are in a different league altogether...

Cost ? Well there is an initial outlay in buying another set of tyres - but while using winter tyres, you're saving your summer tyres - so the long term cost of winter tyres is little, if any, extra.
The only extra cost is either paying someone to swap them over, OR buying a second set of rims.

I find it surprising in the UK that people are willing to spend a fortune on mods to increase power, braking & handling - yet are reluctant to buy a set of tyres that would A) allow effective use of those mods, and B) make them less likely to lose control & crash.

There also seems to be a misconception that ESP etc will somehow make your car better at driving in snow & poor wintry conditions - it won't. You can have all the fancy electronic gadgetry in the world, but if the tyres have no grip, it's no use at all....

My Ibiza and both Passats (all 205 width tyres) have been ridiculously crap in snow, the tyres are too wide, spreading the load too much, preventing the tyre from digging down and gripping. 4 different makes of (summer) tyre were all just as bad as each other. Previous cars with narrower tyres have been much better.

The Dunlop Wintersport 3D's I've got now are brilliant. Much less wheelspin out of junctions, they slice through standing water & slushly outside lanes of dual carriageways that no-one else dare use, and in the snow the other week - unstoppable. The Toyo SnowProxes I had once before were good, but these Dunlops seem in a different league. They are topping all the winter tyre reviews. Presumably the reason why they are on back-order in the UK...I ended up buying them from mytyres (delivered from Germany).

I couldn't agree more with everything you've said!

 

[RUM4MO]

Anyone for "Weiss Sock" or "Auto Sock" for these rare(?) occasions when you get caught out?

 

[muddyboots]

I couldn't agree more with everything you've said!