jucee187

I have 16" snow tires (blizzak lm22) on my car on the snow it works great. HUGE improvement over stock. However on ICE.. its GARBAGE.. ( I assume no tires are good on ice).

This is what happened.... It was quite warm during the day around here.. but at night it went to freezing again. So all the melted Snow on the road became ice. I was driving down this road and at this one point there is a hill going down then up under a bridge. I had my hazards on because everyone was like driving 1 mph. when going down the hill this CLK benz was stuck i think it slid into the curb. I tried to move to the next lane over but i COULDNT. my car just kept sliding down straight.. ( towards the benz) i had to press the brake and luckily it stopped. Everytime i took off my foot off the brake and gassed tried turning it wouldnt work.. i was like WTF!! im gonna run into this benz.. i was getting closer and closer to the point of no return (where i had to stay behind that benz and just sit there). But i tried one more thing.. turned my wheel allll the way the left and just let go of the brake without pressing the gas and voila..the car changed lanes.. i was like YESSSS .. i made it passed the benz.. so now im at the bottom of the hill.. and now is the task of going up.. man going up was not fun because there were cars infront of me so i had to go slow.. and sometimes stop in the middle of the uphill so i couldnt get momentum... there was a bimmer who got stuck on the curb going up.. i had to go around it also.. i had snow mode on... and pressed on the gas gently but my car wouldnt ******IN move.. the rpms would go to 2 and i can hear my wheel spin then the rpm would go down to 0 even when im pressing on the gas and the car wont go any further.. it was like the car had stalled .. but it didnt..(DOES anyone know why this happened)?? i had to press the brake and keep doing that for like 10-15 min it took us to get up a 30 metre hill!!!... after this experience i gotta say RWD is trully not made for the winter... i see FWD/AWD cars/trucks going up with no problems and they had stock tires..WTF!! but im just glad that my car was not hit or i hit another car that night..

PS: on that same hill i saw some IDIOT with a mazda 626 riding on 20s with SPINNERS!!!! LOLOL what a looszzer. I wonder how did he do on the hill..

and anyone from Mississauga. This was on Eglinton going towards Creditview..

tofu_house

iTrader: (2)

I'm thinking that your VSC kicked in. The VSC (Vehicle Stability/Skid Control) controls the car when the car is sliding. The car reads that the wheels are making no traction and therefore the computer will automatically stop the wheels by dropping your RPM. It's a safety feature that allows you to regain control when you lose control of the vehicle while the car is in motion. I guessing that because your wheels were only slipping while trying to go up the hill, the car read that the wheels were getting no traction, therefore dropped the RPM causing no acceleration power. To turn your VSC on/off, check the center console by the center compartment behind the shift. There are several buttons (Butt warmers, PWR and SNOW, and VSC). Press the VSC button and on your dash, the car will tell you that VSC is disabled. Press it again to re-enable the VSC.

I think that was your problem.

NT2SHBBY

i find my ContiWinterContacts work great in snow/ice...but no tire is 1000% foolproof

when on thin ice, proceed with caution


and the VSC is a G-dsend in this weather!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

damn that sounds really scary....

but yeah, the rpm drops to zero coz' vsc thought the car is sliding and it kicks in, cutting all power

jucee187

ahh..sorta knew it was that.. it didnt sink in b/c usually when the VSC kicks in..it would beep 3x times. i shoulda turned it off and kept going spinning away. !! haha..

chicagoblknazn

I think it only beeps when the situation is a bit more escalated. When I lose traction with one wheel and I know I'm losing it on that wheel or maybe two, the warning indicator will let me know.

Now when I am sliding really badly, like when I cut a corner too quick and sharp on wet pavement or in the snow and the whole car is out of control, it will warn me and kick in and it will beep a few times.

The feature is a god-send and the reason I have only owned Lexus is because I trust it's VSC. It's been in both of my Lexii and has saved my @ss on more than a few occasions.

jtanoyo1

Only 1 solution: Move to the tropics.

jucee187

haha yeah yeah "mr showoff" hehe.. RUB IT IN as always.. =)

jonathancl

I drove mine in the snow for the first time last week.

Very light accumulation, ContiExtremeContact w/12k on them.

Down a hill, approaching a turn, slowing, antilocks kick in, turn the wheel, not a whole lot of turning going on, abort the turn and find another way home.

The traction seemed reasonable, but the manueverabilty left much to be desired.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

I've done well on ice with my Pirelli WIntersport 210's. Even so, I'm thinking of going with Michelin Pilot Alpin's for next winter.

NT2SHBBY

my Conti-Extreme's are for summer....they are NOT winter tires....that could be why you considered manueverability negligible.

Get the ContiWinter vintage like I have and u'll be very happy with their ice/snow traction

jonathancl

Blah...snow tires. I just stay home until it melts.

Tranman

iTrader: (1)

Well..that's why snow tires are called snow tires...they are for the snow. But on ice, all bets are off unless you have spiked or studded tires, which are usually illegal on most US roads.