beandip

I grew up in Arizona, so the worst weather I've ever had to deal with is 3 inches of Rain. I'm moving to Butler PA in about 2 months & was wondering how my 00 Civic Ex would do.

I've considered selling it & buying a Nissan Murano, but I like have a paid off car.

Any suggestions? Can Civic's do Snow?

.Grimace

civics do snow great lots of it is to do with the driver in my own mind. i live up on a mountain so we get lots of snow and i never once have had to chain up you just got to take it slow sometimes. I've gone by 4 wheel drive cars that were stuck and i only had snow tires. it's not bad at all

cambopheonix56

Yea as long as you dont run a tire that is not rated for snow, i.e. kumho 711's like I have. And I am in Iowa

beandip

Would it be better for me to get an All Season tire, or just an extra set of rims for Winter?

cambopheonix56

Your choice. I had an all season tire last winter. Unless your autox or drag your car, you should be fine with a all season tire.

Rev2Eight

Get a set of snow tires. Ive got a set of bridgestone blizzaks and have yet to get stuck

beandip

What about Hills?

My car is completely stock. I would figure the hills will eatup my Clutch, not to mention make me feel like I can walk faster.

It's also a manual. Auto would be better I'm assuming.

thehatchninja

winter wheels + snow tires.

Turbo_y8

I drove my civic for winter right when i first got it. little mods, mostly stock then. Lowered 3 1/2", with camber kit, front bumper was a plow. I just got like douglas snow tires from walmart and and it was fine. Very drivable.

Just be senseable.

If you are driving in snow, i started out in second gear. Was easy and helped with traction.

2000EM1

Only problems I had was sliding into slanted curbs when I couldn't afford new tires, so I rode around on my balding Yokohama POS's.

I drove my ES100s all through last winter, they did very well in the snow surprisingly enough.

UberMunkey

get extra rims and snow tires!

everyone who drives in the snow should have real snow tires for their car, i still can't believe people up here in new england drive around on all season crap in the winter. i've never had any kind of problems driving in the snow in any of the cars i've owned, which includes front and rear wheel drive vehicles.

G2 Speed

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by UberMunkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">get extra rims and snow tires!

everyone who drives in the snow should have real snow tires for their car, i still can't believe people up here in new england drive around on all season crap in the winter. i've never had any kind of problems driving in the snow in any of the cars i've owned, which includes front and rear wheel drive vehicles. </TD></TR></TABLE>

all seasons, 96 civic si.. stick.. = no accidents

I live In canada....

Jezek.

Yeah man, I had some nasty snows on a sedan I once had nad that thing was passing trucks in the snow...

G2 Speed

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jezek. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah man, I had some nasty snows on a sedan I once had nad that thing was passing trucks in the snow...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Jezek.

I'm not lying.

Off the launch, it sucked, but once I was going, it was fine.

SHG_Beans

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beandip &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What about Hills?

It's also a manual. Auto would be better I'm assuming. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Auto would NOT be better. In the last 4 years I've driven in the middle of every single snowstorm to hit NY about an hour and a half north of manhattan in the sticks. Had a few real bad ones. Drove both 5spds and autos, auto blows. Way more control over the car with 5spd.

I've driven 3 civics in the snow. 88 crx, 91 4 door, and a 98 hatch lowered almost 2 inches. All 5spd, all season tires on teh rex and the 4 door. Es100's on the hatch, had to take it REAL slow with those. Never got stuck, its all about the driver and the tires. I've also driven a ton of other cars in the snow, never with snowtires and never had a problem. I would have loved to see how awesome snowtires wouldve been, but where i am now we dont get snow in the winter, so i just plan on buying a set of chains incase i ever go to where it snows like crazy. Your civic will do fine, but because you'll be new to snow, dont push your limits, go slow and always give yourself twice the time to stop. You'll get better at it/ used to it, good luck. Big open parking lots are always lots of fun with snow!

Syndacate

It is 99.9% driver and .1% car. My dad's ex-g/f came from Sweden and they teach them there how to drive in rediculous snow ammounts. So she was able to drift my benz in snow storms (RWD) which just scared the **** outta my dad. Poitn being, it wasn't because she was "uber skilled with drift s0n!" - it was just b/c that's how they teach it there, teach people how to drive RWD in snow...so what was like O.O to me was just everyday **** for her.

FWD is easy as expletive to drive in the snow for MOST people due to the fact that any way they turn the steering wheel the power is being directed to, where in a RWD car, you can turn the steerign wheel and all of a sudden you're understeering.

Some people say "AWD is the best, no matter what, no exceptions" - They suck. It all depend on the driver. Personally, it doesn't matter to me, I live right above where you're going to be living in NY, (southern NY, now I live in NY) and i've driven 4wd, AWD, FWD, and RWD cars in the snow....I can't honestly say any particular one was BETTER than the rest, but I CAN DEFINATELY say they all required their little "quips" to do adjust just right. You don't drive them the same, but they're all managable.

If somebody argues with me I'm afraid i'm just going to report the topic b/c this can turn into a "FWD vs RWD vs AWD" flame thread so fast it's gonna make your head spin.

In short, yeah, your honda'll be fine in the snow. Most people prefer AWD or FWD cars in the snow b/c the power's directed in which way the steering wheel's turned. As for me...I can drive fine RWD in the snow...not as good as my dad's ex...but good enough to get from point A to point B and have a little doughnut fun. So what does that mean? Well you can take it one of two ways: You can take it a) I'm boasting that I'm better than everybody who likes FWD or AWD in the snow or b) same ****, just have to adjust your driving style to learn how to drive each in the snow.

Your civic will be absolutely fine and you'll learn fast as you'll be moving right in during winter. One winter and you'll know how to drive in snow...that's all it took for me - I''ve lived in NY my whole life.



Don't want to go as far as to say I'm "great" at driving in the snow but I've definately been doing it for awhile and am pretty damn decent at it. If you have any questions or types of scenarios you want me to explain what to do in a RWD or FWD or AWD or manual/auto - whatever, done it all, I'll be mroe than happy to explain it to ya, just PM me.

bermanator

i have a 2000 coupe and it handled like ******* on the stock tires and even worse on my 15" falken ziexes. my buddy's 78 280z is a hundred times better and thats RWD with retarded tires. i grew up driving in the snow here in boston in huge RWD cars and any of those is easier than my civic... especially now that its turbo its damn near impossible to drive.

beandip

Im going to be in Florida during most of the winter, but I'll be back in PA during Dec/ Jan time.

I think I might just drop the $10k I was going to spend on the WRX & by another Duplex.

I'll try the civic out for a few weeks & if I dont feel I'm getting better, I might just keep it as a project car. I dont want to sacrifice the saftey of my family just I want to learn.

Syndacate

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bermanator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a 2000 coupe and it handled like ******* on the stock tires and even worse on my 15" falken ziexes. my buddy's 78 280z is a hundred times better and thats RWD with retarded tires. i grew up driving in the snow here in boston in huge RWD cars and any of those is easier than my civic... especially now that its turbo its damn near impossible to drive.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't know how to say this w/o sounding like an ******* but...

I'ts not "damn near impossible" to drive a civic in the snow because it has a turbo, you're just realy bad at it. In all seriousness. You grew up driving RWD cars in the snow - so did I, but when I bought a Ford Probe I had to learn how to do FWD in the snow - and I did.

Suggestions at OP:
I use what's called "Kelly Deep Lug Mud and Snow" Tires...

They're ******* awesome. I buy them every time I need snows for any one of my cars and they grip well on ice, they have nice drainage patterns so if it's raining it drains nicely and you don't hydroplane, and the way the lugs are, it spits the snow up instead of the snow getting caked in there like an all season tire so it grips really nicely in deep snow. Definately the best bang for your buck in my opinion, and will always preach recommendations of them to people driving up here North in the US. Also, if you read any professional enginering dossiers on driving in the snow, you'll see that the rear tires are almost as important of the front (drive) tires o na FWD car. Basic reason being is if the rear tires can't grip and detur side to side motion then it's easier for you to go into a slide and/or spin out. I use road tires on the back during the winter and kelly deep lug snows in the front. Might wanna go all snows, that's up to you. I've lived up here all my life and have lived w/ FWD, RWD, and AWD cars here, FWD w/ snows in the front and the roads in the back works fine...but snows in the back is obviously better. Same is vice versa for RWD.

Just think of when I had the camaro. That was a BITCH to drive in the winter, they didn't exactly make deep lug snow tires for it either, so I had to have my friend do a littlecustom work on some slimmer rims so I could put them on for the winter. Did it look redicuously ghetto with the slim (205's) rims? Yes. Did it improove handling a lot compared to the stock size? Definately.

I'm having trouble finding the tire. They may not be called that, I know the guy that sells me tires so I just ask for them and he knows what I'm talking about. Though here's basically what the tread looks like.



Definately awesome in the snow. .

EDIT:
PS: If it's got "rings" like road tires have then they're all seasons or "multi-use" tires. Don't buy them, they suck up here in the snow, I can almost guarantee an accident if you buy all seasons or snow tires with the "ring style" formation of tread oppose to just X style like in the picture above up here if this is your first winter up here. I can seriously almost guarantee it. Buy X like pattern, don't go for cheap **** multi-season tires just b/c they cost less. It'll save you from buying a new car in the long run.

EJAYATE

snow tires and a level headed driver will be enough for PA. I bet the snow isn't even that bad over there.

vtecsi00

i have driven my si for 6 yrs in the snow and never had a problem with studless snow tires on all four corners and definately fun in the snow in a big empty parking lot

t0p_sh0tta

My civic with standard all season tires is one of the best cars I've ever driven in the snow (AWD excluded).

It's light the tires are skinny, and it's torqueless. As long as you can manipulate a clutch you should be fine.

Somebody mentioned driving a turbo powered car in the snow. Same thing. As long as you're not hitting boost you'll be fine.

t0p_sh0tta

Tire-Tech 101

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Syndacate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
They're ******* awesome. I buy them every time I need snows for any one of my cars and they grip well on ice, they have nice drainage patterns so if it's raining it drains nicely and you don't hydroplane, and the way the lugs are, it spits the snow up instead of the snow getting caked in there like an all season tire so it grips really nicely in deep snow.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Radial grooves, or what you refer to as "rings" around the tire are FAR superior to random lugs when it comes to water evacuation. Have you ever seen a rain tire with lugs?

When driving in the snow, a good tire is actually designed to drive on the snow. Good winter tires are soft and have lots of little rubber slits, that open up and "bite" into the snow.

Check out Bridgestone's Blizzak and it's zig-zag sipes.



When under the weight of the car, these open up and "bite" down into the snow.[/QUOTE]

If you're going to run winter tires, it's always recommended that you run a complete set, to help with traction in the rear while braking, and other weight shifting maneuvers.

1992Si

When rota92 was younger we used to drive the 92Si to Vermont every weekend in Winter. He was on Okemo's Ski Racing Team. We neaver had any trouble and never had snow tires. Just run a good All-Season tire. I ran Michelin MXV4's. That was from 95-97 until I bought a Subaru Legacy GT in 98.

Just use your head and you'll be ok.

PS that 92Si is now known as "the yellow car" You may have seen it in the Drag Race forum.