Who here has a problem with snow traction besides me? I have new tires but my car has like zero traction in the snow. My friends 96 FWD Beretta with bald tires goes through snow with ease. So whats the difference if their both FWD? Is it the gearing or something?

 

maybe you just get on the gas to fast?

 

Tire tread pattern and compound honkey. I hit a curb with the first snow and put my prelude in storage that day actually (after paying 330$ for a new tie rod... )
The tires that come with our cars are either 1. not rated correctly for all season 2. made of materials that don't "stick" well in cold situations, ie. winter.

EDIT:
I was going roughly 4-5 MPH and slid over 75 ft. into a curb.... I was very very angry. I could of got out of my car and pushed on it and tried to turn it away from the curb it was sliding so bad. ABS didn't do dick.

 

i couldnt even pull outa my driveway cuz of the snow.. kept spinnin..plus the fact my car is dropped too low.

 

Tires are the biggest issue. Falken Azenis are crap on snow unless you like sliding in open parking lots. Otherwise be gentle with the clutch and the gas. A LSD might prove useful too, but that is the more expensive route.

Pirate

 

After the first snow, I pulled over after driving about 30 ft. I thought the problem was (and I'm sure it had something to do with it) my summer wheels and tires being on still. After I changed them, my car still sucks in the snow and that makes me sad. Is it totally the tires? Like can I go grab some nice snow tires and expect the car to drive in the snow great all of a sudden?

 

If you put some blizzak's on your car, yes, it would stick like glue. Don't expect them to last very long though if the roads dry up quickly though. It's about as pointless as driving an SUV in 4wd low mode on dry pavement. They are WAY too soft for normal driving conditions so be prepared to take them off as soon as possible. Also, we used them on a 97 maxima and cut 2 tenths off it's 1/4 mile time due to great dry traction when cold. Our tracks are still open when temps drop into the low 40's in the end of september, ie. redrock.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PirateMcFred &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Tires are the biggest issue.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Completely agree.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xblacksix &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Like can I go grab some nice snow tires and expect the car to drive in the snow great all of a sudden?</TD></TR></TABLE>
In a word, yes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PirateMcFred &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Tires are the biggest issue. Falken Azenis are crap on snow unless you like sliding in open parking lots. Otherwise be gentle with the clutch and the gas. A LSD might prove useful too, but that is the more expensive route.

Pirate</TD></TR></TABLE>

So a LSD helps limit wheel spin. So if you dont have one, does that mean one whel can recieve all the torque and just spin in the snow? The reason I ask is that it seems that my right front tire seems to spin alot more than the left one

 

Yes the whole point of an LSD is to stop that from happening. Stock diffs. are generally open for driveability arround turns. Sucky for traction.

 

A LSD will help in some snow situations - but will hurt in others. For raw traction (i.e. pulling through a snowbank or stuck on an icy patch or something), it will obviously help, since you'll still be able to take advantage of the tire with more traction.

But a LSD will also mean that if your tires do spin (which even with winter tires, is quite easy), both tires will spin at once. If that happens in the middle of a turn, the whole front end will push waaaay farther off line with both front tires spinning compared to just one. So you have to be more aware of what you're doing with the throttle during turns. Actually a good habit to be in for any kind of driving, but snow or ice on the ground greatly exaggerates the effect.

So whichever kind of diff you've got, it just takes some consideration in your driving to adjust for it.

 

Another HUUUUUGE part of snow traction is your alignment.

I slid off the road twice about 2 or 3 years ago b/c I had good tires, but I had JUST dropped my car about 2-2.5". I had a very small contact patch, and it was my fault for not thinking about that. My MR2 was somewhat having trouble on one cold day b/c the guy I bought it from had an aggressive alignment put on for handling.

 

Dude, winter driving requires you to have "winter tires". These remarkable round shaped rubber devices that fit right on the wheel of your car, provide you with better traction in the winter. You should check it out...all the cool kids are doing it!

But for real, if you want to be able to get out of your driveway in the winter or when it snows out, you will need to get some good winter tires like some blizzak's or some Michelin X-Ice's. Of course this doesn't enable you indestructible, you can still slide around or spin your tires but they are alot better than summer or even the best all season tires.

 

Get some winter tires or start on 2nd gear. You think it's bad on the Prelude?

Imagine 300bhp + R-compound slick tires (stock STi tires) + snow/ice

I can't even go past 2K RPM in first without the rear end swinging out. Starting in 2nd gear works for me until I get some winter tires.

 

yesterday on my way home from the diner it was snowing like a mother ****** up here, and on my way home i felt like a grandma...I also have new tires but yet still no good traction in snow...

 

I'm personally not a big fan of starting in 2nd gear to help in the winter - I always feel that I've got more control just lugging it in 1st. I'm sure with enough practice I could get used to what sort of throttle/clutch modulation I'd need to work well out of 2nd, but I've never had the need.

But even with 185mm studded Nokians, it still takes some skill and heads-up driving to get a car through the winters up here unscathed. Good winter tires will at least give you a fighting chance, though.

 

you gotta have snow tire up here for winter, but all i have is a cheap ghetto lookin set of 15's w/ studded tires and my **** grips good. I dont wanna say Ima reckless driver but blaze past everyone on the freeway cause the traction is good. Theyre actually smaller than the rated tire for my car.

 

Reminds me of last year when I just bought a set of ES100s for the lude the day BEFORE the biggest snow storm of the year, let me tell ya it sucked

 

man am i the only one who can drive in the snow? Honestly i had no problem at all. I must just have really good tires. Last monday when i was leaving work, it was snowing like a bitch out. I was really nervous cuz this is my first winter with the lude, and i just took it slow and didnt take the freeway and i did fine. But i agree, good tires are really important for this kind of shitty weather.

 

Man, I got cooper glacier grip snow tires and i do fine. However, i do NOW have trouble swingin out my back end for fishtailin

 

I'm on Continental Xtreme Contacts, and they do fine. I believe a big part of it is the driver. Don't be afraid to drive like a grandma. It will save your lude. Everyone tries to drive to friggn fast for conditions. Fuggem. Do your own thing and save your car from danger.

 

snow isn't hard to drive in. just keep your car level and the speed down. as for preludes, they are great in snow as long as you have tall skinny tires on them. they are so heavy that they dig in much better than an integra or civic.

i ride on 195/65/15's for the winter better ground clearance, digs into snow, and i hardly ever slip and i ride on only 2 winter tires.

 

Is it me, or does not a lot of people know how to drive in snow? Granted, my point of view is a stock 98 Prelude with the stock Bridgestone RE92, and they worked fine in Michigan snow and ice. From my experience, I had the most difficulty accelerating from a dead stop. It usually just took me a little bit longer to get up to speed than I would have liked.

If you don't want to start in second, then start in first and quickly upshift through the next couple of gears. I only did this to avoid bogging the engine down in the low torque/rpm range. (Plus, it was fun spashing snow at the guy next to you.) Cornering, braking, and highway driving was a piece of cake. Just remember that the car wants to go straight in snow and ice through turns, so try to do all of your braking before you enter the corner.

But, I agree with a couple of posts that winter tires is the best fix for snow/ice traction. If you want some sliding fun, keep the stock tires, but if you want to avoid the white knuckle driving experience, go get yourself a good set of snow tires.

In general, the car is pretty light, so just let the car do it's thing while it dog tracks behind the other 4X4's that already blazed their trails through the snow.

 

Drop the air pressure in your tires to like 25psi, that should help...

 

drop air pressure down....works 150% better