Holy ****!!!!!!

Took the car out this morning, didn't check the weather. It was sunny, but cold. I have the stock tires on, I know don't drive with them on in the winter but I didn't drive from nov -> jan and I couldn't resist and started driving on clear days.

So I take off this morning, everything is fine during the day. Look out of my office window and see some snow.. very very light stuff so I say to myself "oh ****, gotta leave right at 5". I take off at 5, get out onto the street, speed up a bit, slam on the brakes to test out the traction and all is fine.

Get onto the gardiner, no issues, 427, no issues.. But once I got onto airport road that's when the **** happend.. Roads looks pretty bad so I was driving real slow, like 40km slow. I'm slowing down now, clutch down, no brake and all of a sudden the car begins to pivot side to side, basically yawing.. Now that is the absolute scariest thing i've ever experienced in a car.. car has drifted before and that's very easy to deal with. But this was the most uncontrollable feeling ever!!! the damn traction control DID NOT KICK IN ONCE DURING THE DRIVE.

So after that heart attack i went to the far right lane and put on my 4 ways the rest of the way home..

So I have now learned my lesson and will never drive this car even if a tiny specle of snow is on the ground..

Flame away, I deserve it.. But ****, never again! and to think my gym partner was calling me a fool for thinking this tiny bit of snow would do anything to my car.. I'm glad I sided with reason and left right away, well i should have left it at home but lesson learned!



MrJynx

 

you silly Canadians sure don't know how to drive in the winter

 

No flames, I had to learn the hard way too. I spun out across three lanes of heavy traffic on the stock tires in just a light coating of snow/ ice.

Thought that if I went slow enough, I could slog through anything on the stocks. Stupid Me...... :o

 

I won't flame you, there have been plenty of posts about needing winter tires on this car if your going to take it out this time of year. It's not always the snow, on cold dry days with no snow on the road your summer tires can slide because the rubber is so hard in this temperature.

I left work at about 6pm and when I turned onto steeles from goreway and gassed it my dsc light was flickering, but the car was stable. I drove regular speed (I say regular because I don't tend to drive speed limit much, usually little over) and there were no issues what so ever. Once I got closer to home I turned DSC off and did a couple of light drift corners, this car rocks in the snow! By far the best car I have ever driven in the winter.

 

Drove the car on a -20 day, didn't have to much grip but it was very manageable. But today was different, it had a life of it's own, almost like the car was possesed. I swear!!! I have never felt unsafe in this car (it actually instills confidence in my abilities as a driver) .. But today was the first time I was like "whoa, no more playing roulette with the weather!"

And I do know how to drive in the winter just not with with stock tires


MrJynx

 

Snow tires are your friends :D

Glad you made it out of that safely though!

 

same happend to me jynx, except i had winter tires, and a pole was added to the apperence pkg

 

For the last time.
Summer performance tire do not equal "All season tires" and do not equal "snow tires"

Hell, summer performance tires are even twitchy when they are cold and haven't warmed up yet. Be careful out there and don't be stupid. One day of driving is not worth an insurance claim and a week in the body shop <--- and that's the easier end of the scale when it comes to accidents.

 

I fully understand how shitty the summer performance tires are in the winter. If I had known it was going to snow that day I would have NOT driven this car. I only drive it with those tires on because I originally was storing it. But I got a little ansy on the nice days this winter and started driving it. By no means do I push this car to even half of it's potential right now because I feel the difference big time.

In hindsight i'm glad I experienced what I did because it really displayed how bad it can get and I don't make the same mistake twice, so lesson learned! And I did read all of the posts stating how bad it is in the snow, but until you actually experience it you can't fully grasp just how bad it really is.


MrJynx

 

Ahh, the ol' "I need to learn it the hard way" mentality.

 

I was going to start taking my car out on nice days starting this week. But your story basically just gave me the willpower to hold out for the nicer weather.

 

Ladies... Gents-is this car bad in the winter? YES. Can it be easily corrected? YES.

I have stated many times, and will state again. When I first owned my car, I had it up in the snow-ridden hell-hole of what we call 'Lake Erie." For that entire month, snow. The entire month, I drove the car. The entire month, not one spinout, snow-dance, or worrisome moment all on stock Po-T's

Go to lowes/home depot. Pick up two of the 60 or 75 pound sand bags (3-5 bux a crack). Throw them in the trunk. Go grab (2) 25 pound weights. Put them under both seats (passenger and driver) and continue to drive with caution. Will your car be invincible to the snow, NO. But, the stability and traction this will add is exponential. There is NO reason for something like this to happen when simple methods to increasing traction and stability are available. Sorry for getting upset. But, this issue is recurring. Sooner or later, someone is goign to get hurt because of something like this that could have taken 8 bux to prevent.

This is not to encourage people to drive in bad conditions. But, if you have to drive your 8 in conditions that are less than favorable, do this!!!!

 

Hope you don't hit anything with those weights under the seats or they may pass through the firewall with your feet attached. This is a VERY dangerous idea . . .

Also piling more weight on a toboggan just makes it go faster which is great until you hit the first corner :-)

Even if you can get moving on the flats with extra weight, as soon as you come to a hill, a corner or try to stop the weight advantage becomes a disadvantage. You are also only talking about adding 6% to the weight of the car and the stock tires are way to fat. Less overall weight and more weight concentration by using skinnier tires makes for better winter handling.

Those stock tires are hockey pucks, don't drive them on snow or ice, it's not worth it . . . You might be able to get around within reason but if you hit a big hill, up or down or hit some snow or ice ruts that toss the car out of track the game may be over. I tried driving a car with HP summer tires in winter once many years ago, after hiting a rut the car went wild and I stared at the ditch on both sides of the road about a half dozen times in rapid succession before I recovered it. I learned my lesson . . .

 

Im new in the club... im picking up the RX-8 tommorow and im wondering if i should drive it or if i should wait till all the crap is off the road...i really want to drive it!!!!!!!

Hey does anyone know why i cant load my icon its 100x100px and only 30kb?

 

Too funny Pete. BTW, how are you progressing on the kit?