snow tires.

[AWGD8]

We just got a foot of snow today in Milwaukee.

The snow tires and the AWD system worked flawlessly.

Turning is the only problem wih this snow tires that I have, but straight line

and breaking is excellent! You know the feeling driving in the highway

and changing lanes with all season tires- a bit scary, but this time with the

snow tires, I zig zag like Andretti...


Modified by AWGD8 at 7:38 PM 12/19/2008

[BrokenTiller]

There's another driver that enjoys the snow!What kind of tires did you go with?

[AWGD8]

Michelin Xice Xi2

[jmess]

Michelin Xice Xi2

I give a really big two thumbs up for these tires. I have spent the last week driving my 2wd EX in the snow and some really icy conditions. The Xi2s never let me down.

[AWGD8]

After a foot of snow and now a temperature went down to -5F today and

a -25F WIND CHILL, there is no contest at all. The EX35 AWD with XI2

snow tires hugged the road like a slick tires on the drag strip.

I push it hard in the corner and it slid a bit and yet It just slid like a go

cart , doesn`t fish tail or whobble at all... The nanny kicks in when I was

sliding so there wasn`t any input on the gas for quite a bit, when it

pointed straight, it accelerate quickly. I want to go out and play with the

car in an empty lot, but haven`t got a chance. I`m doing all of these to

see how this car reacts, so I know how to handle it during emergency

manuever. So far this car is amazing, specially the AWD technology it has.

jmess: I`m not sure if your RWD will react exactly like mine even with

snow tires, I just wished I had someone with RWD were we can compare

both. I still envy you guys with RWD bec. of that extra .8 sec 0-60

ACCELERATION and a Quarter mile.... Wish mine can do less than 6 sec 0-

60... I heard mine can only do 6.5 sec/ 14.9 sec (0-60, 1/4) . Nowadays....

I still considered that a slow car.

[jmess]

We hand another snow storm last night and this morning I had to dig my way out. With 12+ inches deep snow I don't have enough ground clearance to bulldog my way to the street; my driveway is 100ft long. I could get about 4-6 feet before I would start to high center. The new snow was pretty powdery on top of a frozen crust. With about 30 minutes of shoveling I was able to knock it down to a point I could make my escape. I am sure AWD would have helped in this case if you could avoid getting high centered. Once on the street, where the snow was 6" or so deep, I could go anywhere I wanted.

From a dead stop the 2wd will spin the rear tires a bit then the traction nanny cuts in. You can feel the rearend walk 4-6" then the tires hookup and off you go. I am sure the AWD would just pull straight without any side movement of the rearend. Once you made it past the apex to a corner in the AWD, I would bet you could feel the front wheels pull you around the corner a bit. With the 2wd I have to be a bit more tidy with the throttle exiting corners. The active handling nanny jumps in to reduce throttle oversteer but you wouldn't want to bet the farm on the computer saving you.

We average about 5-14 real winter driving days a year. If I lived in a major snow belt I would have went with AWD. With good winter tires though the 2WD is surprisingly competent winter driver if you use some degree of common sense.

[AWGD8]

So far we`re close to breaking the snowiest December in Milwaukee (49.5 inches). Currently, we have a total of 36 inches here and counting.This morning I made a tight left hand turn and my front tires locked (UNDERSTEER) I was slightly very early on the turn and laws of physics took over. There was nothing I could do but to make the steering straight so that the front tires gain traction. Sadly I hit a big pile of snow in the corner of the street about hood height at 5-8 MPH and served as my break (LOL) and shift on reverse. I thought I damaged the passenger front bumper, but when I got a chance to check it, it was intact and no scratches or anything else. I was so lucky! I might just hit a black ice bec. my speed during the turn is my estimated speed I normally drive for the past few days of heavy snow and never had a problem. I`m gonna look for an empty parking lot and make a few turn and see how much speed the ex35 can handle before it understeer. I believe understeer is the hardest to recover than fishtailing (oversteer) during a turn. Stoping, climbing, accelerating with snow tires is excellent, but be very careful on tight turns...

This is what happened to me but slower (5-8mph) You know when you want the car to turn and won`t turn and your front goes sideways...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4dqYKbnPCQ

[jmess]

With a big push there isn't much you can do but feather (not lift) the gas and hope you don't run out of road before you get hooked up again. Conducting some tests in a parking lot is a good way to learn more about how the car reacts. I have found that you can find yourself at odds with the active handling and abs. In racing the old both feet down, brakes and clutch, when you loose it is at odds with active handling and abs. With abs you can't lock the brakes up and induce a spin.

Too bad we don't have a hand emergency brake. When the frontend lets go and you have some room, you can sometimes get the rear end to rotate with a gentle pull on the emergency brake. Few people have the situational awareness to pull this off when hitting an unanticipated slick spot though. We don't have a hand brake so that isn't something you can practice.