Deadly scarey in the snow, take it really easy in the rain.

 

If you talk about acceleration in the rain, any tire can be broken loose, you don't need much power to do that, but driving in the rain---There is only one reason a car will hydroplane in the wet-the tires cannot move the water out quick enough, and thus the tire rides on the water.A manufacturer can claim whatever they want to increase sales. but the proof is in the testing. e.g "Z" all season tires-try some of them in the rain/snow, what a joke. How about cars that race in the rain-CART,F1,24hrs etc. They use Rain tires, and eclipsed 150 MPH-They don't hydroplane. It's the tires. I've tried "Z" rated- Michelin,GY,Toyo,Falken,Bridegstone,Dunlop, Perelli,Nitto,Toyo,Continental,Kumho,Yokos-Some are better than others. You've got to try various brands that suit you driving requirements.

 

So of those you've listed, which were best in the rain?

-E

 

I bought another set of stock rims which came with the SP4000's. I don't particularly like them, but they work ok in bad weather. The car is never going to go like a front-drive car so you have to get used to a loose rear and driving sideways in bad weather. A couple of 25lb weights in the back and driving slow\staying off the boost helps. I also have a set of Firehawlk's which suck in winter traction. I think I'll go back to the stock Bridgestone's or R-autocross tires after winter after I fry 1 of my sets of tires.

 

Falkens-330 for 2
Goodyears-600 for 2

been short on cash and couldnt scrape up the extra cash for goodyears. I got Eagles on the front tho. my rear wheels are 17x12.

 

no snow here move to hawaii...oh wait lack of rotary shops and lots of rain. nevermind :P

 

If snow is a possibility and the car will be driven in it, what is the best thing to do? Have snow tires and prevent boost? (ie, remove bov)??

 

FD's Suck in Snow!

This shouldnt be a suprise to anyone. I never used to believe how bad they were till the first time i tried to drive in about 1/4-1/2 inch unplowed snow. what a nightmare.

 

Best thing to do? Buy a FWD POS that you can drive in the snow (or don't go into work, that's what I did until I had a beater).


At the very least, get some snow tires, a few hundred pounds of sand bags to dump in the back, and wait for everyone to be off the roads when you drive.

 

Being caught in snow sucks. Never happened that much tho. I have driven in ice to school one morning and I went down a hil and was going to take a left and it kept going so i hit the brakes ans slid down but finally got a handle on it and turned.

But if it ever snowed I will be stop and wait. I usually get the word about bad waether before hand so I can switch cars.

 

WOW you found that out all by your own?????

 

i live in northern virginia and the winter is pretty bad here i mean it can get real messy and it rains quite a bit in the summer even though we had a drought this year but when it rains i mean it rains. anyway winter is coming up soon and i really never driven in the winter or rain so what kind of tires should i get to help me drive in the snow. i hear toyo are good but need some advice also would a limited slip help and if it rains like not hard but not light like noraml rain could you still drive your fd and what if it stopped raining could you drive

 

Any car can work decent in the snow, you just have to have the right equipment for the job. First of all, you have to get different wheels and tires, without this change, a 5000 lb., six wheel drive tank would slide off of the road. Z-Rated 17 inchers are a big no-no for snow duty. 15 or 16 inch steelies with about 5 or 6 inches of width, and some good snow tires will drastically improve the foot print in the snow. Wide is bad. Wide tires force the car over the snow, rather than pushing down through it. Same goes for the rain, although width is far less critical in the rain due to water evacuation technology. Most Z-Rated rain tires(Pirelli P7000, Dunlop SP9000) will perform better in the rain than your general all season passenger tires. I know this from tests and way too much experience.

Secondly, if you have lowered your car and put ultra stiff springs and swaybars on your car, try going back to stock. The hard suspension will encourage the vehicle to break traction on ice and snow, rather than maintain it. Smooth, soft transitions encourage traction on ice, hard performance suspensions have neither of these qualities in abundance.

Check out tire rack or go to your local tire dealer. They can find you a decent set of wheels and tires to fit your car.

Sand bags, and other kinds of weight will aid in keeping rear end traction, but not if there is poor traction at the tires to begin with.

 

Oh yeah, even though I do live in Florida now, I just recently lived in upstate New York, where I had lived for most of my life.

 

Dunlop SP8000 are crap as well as nitto 450's (these are extreme crap). I highly suggest getting S-03's!!! Both of these don't take much to get the rear end lose even in the dry. Once it starts to rain/drizzle, I never go over 45mph as I have nitto 450's and they have no traction at all.

 

I was driving on the highway on my way up to work when it just started pouring. It was dark out so I slowed down to 55mph. I was cruzing along with my boost turned down to 8psi when all of a sudden my car seemed like it just wouldn't go. So I tapped on the pedal and all of a sudden I'm driving backwards; then a couple of 360's and landed in the ditch. When I opened my door water came pouring in to the car. When I finally had it towed out of the ditch I had cracked the sideskirts, ripped off my front bumper and scratched the paint. When I got it back in town and to the body shop they appraised the damage at $5000 (CND). That didn't include the new front bumper and the new radiator that I had to buy for $2000 CND. So overall I'm pissed off but I have all winter to repaint and fix my car.

 

If you really have to drive an FD in snow climates get a set of Blizzak WS-50 225/50-16 on a winter set of wheels. Tire Rack has this combo for $620. You will be fine and you will not believe the difference.

Tires are the key in snow.

Ken

 

I agree with Ken 100%. I drove my 87 TII in up to about 5 inches of snow several times. It was so deep that the front end was acting like a plow a bit. I had M+S tires on it in the stock 205 width and it did quite well. Not like a 4WD, but it was having no problems keeping up with the front drivers.

Two years later, same car, different tires. I had 225 Z rated on there. What a death trap. It was very hard to control even in less than an inch of snow.

Tires are the most important part of any car, so make sure you have the ones you need to do the job.

 

yikes, luckily it doesn't snow too much in the portland-area of OR, but, I swear, if it ever did, I'd just pull over and wait.

For however long it took.

 

How are the FD's on plowed roads becuase I am considering an FD and when it snows they always plow the streets, only once they didnt when I had to drive late at night but I took my dads suv and left in in RWD and had some fun with that

 

I live in Minnesota, and winter of 2001 I had to drive my FD for 2 months of. I had yokohama avs tires on it, and madew it through the winter easily.

All you neeed to do is notr take risks in the snow and be careful. I'd take about 10 seconds to get moving at stop lights, but once going i made it fine. I also got out of work early cuz my manager knew what i drove

 

snow driving's fun with fd rx7 you can really learn car control at such low speeds!

 

If you live ouside the tropics, buy a cheap 2nd car.

 

extra set of stock wheels and michelin pilot alpins

 

Driving in the rain with balding drag radials and wheelplay is not fun...