Zerotide

iTrader: (1)

Maybe its my fault and somehow turned this into a parent advice thread but I was seriously just looking for some feedback on the blizzaks and fun awd cars.

I've tried everything... I moved out, I pay for and completely own all my things except for the one thing I care about my eight. I'm sure this will go no farther if this blizzaks do their job.

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

snow tires (blizzaks or dunlop m3s) greatly improve your traction. last winter with my blizzaks was the easiest winter to deal with. my previous car was a FWD with all seasons. i had zero problems. i was even stuck on a bridge (traffic) that had an inch of standing slush/ice/snow. i had no problems starting and stopping.

love my snow tires.

remember though, if you are sliding on snow.. you are sliding. awd or 2wd wont make a difference. snow driving is a different animal.

and you should winter tires for the winter anyway, summer tires get uber hard in the winter. no traction.

Zerotide

iTrader: (1)

Like I said... I currently have blizzaks on my car, just waiting for a chance for them to prove themselves.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I dont want to sound mean but I think I should tell your mom that :

HELLO !!!! YOUR SON IS FOR GOD'S SAKE 20 YEARS OLD ! I know he is your precious and he probably means more to you than your life. but COME ON ! LET YOUR SON TO LIVE HIS OWN LIFE !

and for your reference. when it comes to "STOPPING POWER", AWD/FWD/RWD/MWD ALL HAS THE SAME EXACT POWER. Instead of just 2 wheels in any other drivetrain, AWD has advantage in snow BECAUSE all 4 wheel has traction at a DEAD stop. Think of it this way. When you want to push something. its always better/easier to push it with 4 people than 2, right? but if you want to PULL(Stop) something, you will ALWAYS have 4 people there.

Zerotide

iTrader: (1)

Very true... I don't drive up any hills on my commute either so I should be fine. I have heard that this city's snow removal is horrendously slow though

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

You be fine with Snow Tires.

Think of it. Some mountains will not allow you to go up UNLESS you have snow rated winter tire installed.

It DOES make a big diff. Even the Best All-Season tire is no match against the cheapest Snow/Winter tire (Same size and brand that is )

Bumble_Bee

Well, from the list of "none inexpensive" cars... Tell her to buy you the bestest snow tires that exsist....That way she'll feel they'll do the best job out there in the snow....and her baby will bee safe...no?

Good Luck on keeping your "8"....

Flashwing

Growing up in the midwest I'm no stranger to snow...I drove a RWD Lincoln Towncar from the time I was 16 till I graduated college at 23. No car is "safe" in the snow if the driver isn't experienced enough to know how to handle themselves.

The RX8, except the very base model, is equipped with traction control and dynamic stability control which can aid you in situations where you encounter slick snow or ice and don't expect it. Snow tires are a great advantage as most drivers only run all season tires.

As for the "loan" for the car, I don't know the specifics of the loan but it comes down to who has their name on the title. If your name is on the title of the car it's "screw you mom, screw you dad."

If it's not, then I guess you're at their mercy. I'd remind them that every time you flip a car you lose thousands of dollars which then either gets rolled over into the other loan or forces you to put down a larger down payment.

If you've not crashed a car in the snow in the 4 years you have been driving you're already ahead of the curve. Natural selection usually rears it's head with snow driving in the first couple of years.

Zerotide

iTrader: (1)

Yes I have never wrecked. Only thing that could be called a "wreck" is when I was in a parking lot I wasn't familiar with and the snow was just at the curbs height so I couldn't see any curbs. Unfortunately my little S40 couldn't handle it when I smacked one of the hidden curbs. Broke a control arm

I do like to drive in a "spirited" fashion but only when the time is right. Unfortunately I don't think one of these times will come around till next spring. Don't know how I'm gonna get my daily redline in

Gonna load my trunk up with some weight and rest my 8's fate on those blizzaks.

Fullthrottle

id get sand bags too

i have two tubes that add up to 140 lbs. in the back of mine

mikesol

As long as you've got ground clearance, the 8 does fine with good snow tires. Take it to a parking lot and see how it handles - which would be important even with FWD/AWD.

Brake early and smoothly and you'll be okay.

ken-x8

Zero, browse through the tire and wheel forum. There are a lot of threads extolling the virtues of Blizzaks. When my beater finally goes to the Beater Burial Grounds, the 8 gets a set of Blizzaks and winter wheels.

Having over 40 years of driving behind me, starting well before FWD became common, let me throw the following into the mix:

1. FWD does exactly one thing better than RWD on snow: pull straight ahead without the rear end sliding out. Braking is actually worse, because of the forward weight bias.

2. Driver and brains matter more than the kind of car. I remember driving my BMW 2002, with summer performance tires, through the snow on the Mass Pike and seeing a Land Rover spin out and into the guard rail.

3. All cars are four wheelers when it comes to braking. Again, because of the weight distribution, FWD cars suffer.

4. Traction control and DSC on the 8 will help enormously on slick surfaces. Occupant crash protection in this car is also outstanding.

I wish my daughter, when she was your age, had been as obediant as you are.

Ken

arghx7

my parents never gave me **** about the safety of sports cars because semi-modern sports cars (80s+) were still way safer than the 50s deathtraps they grew up with.

6000pounds

Sorry to hear you live in that state. I honestly can't understand people that spend money modifying thier cars or buying sports cars that can never be driven like they were meant to be when your state is covered in snow.

Half the year you can get on the accellerator and the other half you have to drive like a grandma and hope the snow doesn't eat your paint? Count me in....

Plus I've seen altitude add on almost a half a second with drag cars. Taking tuning seriously in snow/altitude states FTL.

Well I hope your mom doesn't take youe RX8 away but you might just need to take a stand and prove you can handle the responsibility of the car. Plus you're 20 years old this is something that should already be established

Renesis07

iTrader: (1)

Sorry not all the millions of people in Chicago want to drive an SUV year round because it snows for 4 months

636

Why drive? Just fly retard. I dont deal with snow but if i did i can almost 100% talk my way out of their complaints. Im smooth like that :P.

VampireSix

I've got a set of Dunlop Wintersport M3's that I used last winter (lots of snow), and just put back on for this season.

They worked great. The guy I carpool with prefered taking my car to work than his beat-up FWD Civic with all-seasons.

The blizzaks will be a step up from my Dunlops.

Bottom line is, you will be safer in snow than anyone else, in any car, using all seasons or (Darwin forbid) summer tires. If conditions are so bad that your RX-8 with Blizzaks shouldn't be on the road, then NO ONE else should be, either.

Oh, and this crap about adding weight to the back of the car... the RX-8 is already perfectly balanced. There is no need to 'compensate' for extra weight in the front.

And tell your mother to buy you a Hummer. I don't think she will be happy with anything less.

Varalith

I understand that you didn't come in here for parental advice. Keeping that in mind I must also say that without her acknowledging that you're old enough and responsible enough to handle yourself without her constant oversight, the Blizzaks won't matter one way or the other.

There will ALWAYS be something she doesn't like that you're doing, and she'll find something else wrong with the 8. Her insane obsession with having you change cars on a 6 month basis is an obvious sign of a problem that will only linger.

The Blizzaks will help, I drive on Falken 452's in the snow and have no problems, but it's because I know how to drive, and that's the most important thing. When it comes down to it, if your mother doesn't think you can handle yourself in snow with or without the tires, then she has a problem with you, and the tires aren't going to give her piece of mind.

I doubt that you've done anything to cause this problem, my girlfriend's father was extremely OCD about everything she did regarding her safety and even general decision making. Sadly he passed away recently (I did like the guy alot), and you'd be surprised at how much she has changed, and all because she doesn't have to worry about keeping him happy by doing what he wanted all the time.

Why didn't she just sit down and talk with him before? Because she was afraid she'd hurt his feelings, so until we were married she was going to deal with this problem he had.

Don't let yourself fall into that mindset as well. Talk this out with her and get it straightened out. Using the Blizzaks as an excuse is just that, an excuse. You're using something to sate her concerns about your safety, and in a month when she's forgotten the reviews and comments about the snow tires, she's going to be in your **** again.

As an adult you should be able to sit down and talk to her, and she should respect your decisions as an adult. If that can't happen, then maybe you should think about breaking off contact for awhile, or completely ignoring her concerns, you'd be surprised at the difference it makes when you don't play the games they want you to play with them.

imput1234

iTrader: (6)

I've driven in the snow with RT-615's as long as there is no ice you'll be fine. just slide

6000pounds

yea I hear ya. I would just be really frustrated after I installed any performance mod on my car and I couldn't push it when I wanted. shoot, my buddys civic type r block gsr head ported polished bolt ons has a hard time keeping tracking when pushing it here in florida I could only imagine a car with more power trying to enjoy his/her car.

Design1stCode2nd

Have her read this:

I am 38 years old, I have 2 kids 3 and 5. My RX8 is my daily driven vehicle and we get snow here. I drive my children in the snow and I would not do this if it wasn’t safe. I get better traction in my RX8 with snow tires on than my wife does in her front-wheel-drive Mini-van which weighs 1,000lbs more.

If you want I’ll gladly send you pictures of my kids in boosters/child seats in my car.

Is the RX8 the best choice for driving in snow? Of course not but it’s no worse than 90% of the FWD cars on the road with all-season tires.

Now if you live in Buffalo NY or North Dakota or something then I’d suggest AWD and snow tires.

Socket7

Theres another thought here.

You could go to your local credit union and get yourself an auto loan, then pay your parents off for the car entirely. Then you would own the car completely and your mom can't say ****. It may be hard to get a good rate, but seeing as you've already got the car half paid off, you'll need a much smaller loan, meaning it's more likely to be a feasible option.

If you went and did that, that would be a huge sign of maturity, and might get your mom to cut the umbilical cord as it were. At the very least, it'd get her off your back about the car.

By the way, who's name is on the title?

Zerotide

iTrader: (1)

Well it snowed here today and I just got back from class. I must say I was impressed. The tires give that little extra bit of confidence. Although I know I will still slide like a **** if I take a turn to fast it was nice to feel at least a little secure.

I think I know what the problem is here... my mom is used to driving big AWD suvs... she just got a new Denali a month ago and has previously had an Escalade esv, another denali, and a BMW X5. Of course no small car is gonna be nearly as good as those in the snow, she just has too high of expectations.

I'm going home this weekend so I'll probably take her for a drive. My father is on my side and said he's been talking her down so I should be good.

Thanks for all the great advice/insight thus far. These blizzaks are great!

Oh and my dad's name is on the title and will probably stay that way. He's a big car guy too so I know once I have it paid off he won't try to interfere at all with my car choices.

RX8-Frontier

Do yourself a favor and make sure the title is your name AND your dad's, and not your name OR your dad's. This way, it takes BOTH signatures to sell it verses just 1. Most people don't realize there is a difference, and think they mean the same thing, but legally, they most definately don't.

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

Simply remind your parents (who are probably younger than I am) that not so long ago there was no such thing as a front wheel drive car (other than the niche Tornado) and we survived just fine.

As others have said, it's more about proper tires, and experience in Winter driving that counts, not FWD vs. RWD.

edit: also remind them that the '8 has relatively low torque, which will help to avoid spinouts. DSC, etc. safguards as well.