Quote:
Originally Posted by PopsnBurbles
My brother is moving out to Minnesota or Michigan depending on where he goes for his job. We both never experienced winter driving outside of SoCal. Sure, he's driven in Lake Tahoe and Big Bear (during Winter) a handful of times but both times he wasn't sure what he was doing. The same goes for me when I drove through Oregon (during winter and there was still some snow on the already cleared road) "Grapevine" when it "hailed" (I call it hail because the falling stuff was ice as big as green peas). We were both using worn out all seasons on an AWD SUV. The best we could do was ease up on the throttle inputs, throttle release, braking, and make steering inputs as gradual as possible. He thought getting back on power was the sketchy part and I thought braking was the nasty part of ice/snow driving. Past that, neither of us have more ice/snow driving.
Currently, he has a (stock) Z4 35i DCT and is considering taking it with him. He doesn't want to part with it but is simultaneously thinking that getting a "big 4WD" car will be better. It would be sad to see him get rid of the Z4 for something he doesn't like because it would be like me getting rid of my beloved 1er. I know I do not have the right to tell him that "oh, you'll be fine if you get a dedicated set of winter tires" because I've never experienced that. I personally believe (from what I understand) that AWD/4WD cars will only be beneficial when it comes to taking off from a stop or getting out from getting stuck. Braking and cornering are virtually the same if the AWD/4WD and the RWD car have the proper shoes on. However, these thoughts are all "theoretical" with no real basis other than what I feel from driving 4WD, AWD, and RWD cars.
Now, for people who experience thick (I know, relative term) snow every winter: is it hard to drive in the snow (consider Michigan or Minnesota...apparently, they're two of the worst states when it comes to snow/ice) in a RWD car given the driver has zero snow/ice experience? This is assuming the driver in question will not go around and drifting or attack corners sideways. Let's ignore clearance issues when getting out of the driveway because he will most likely live in a place where the driveways (at least) are clear. However, are clearance issues as bad in the streets? highways? What other things do I/we need to know when moving to an area that goes white in winter?
Owning 2 cars isn't a viable option for him because he'll most likely not bother with 2 cars + his expected space will not really allow the luxury of 2 cars.
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Get good winter tires, and the WORST thing you can do is slam the brakes.
There are performance winters (Sacrifices a bit of snow grip for dry grip, and doesn't wear out the tread as fast on dry vs snow tires)
And Snow/ice tires/studded (maximum grip on snow/ice, but more road noise, and tread wears faster on dry pavement.)
You can do the 2 following:
1. Tap the brakes repeatively if you hit ice or if you slide, do not hold the brake pedal down.
2. If that fails, full throttle your ass outta there.
If you need help, the easiest way to learn is to go out at night and find an empty parking lot and drift around with traction control off, it's the easiest way to learn the limits of yourself and your car.