RX8 Winter Driving
06-02-2008, 02:54 PM
#26
Rockin the 8
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Location: Chicago
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Wisconsinben is right - this is HORRIBLE advice.
On the stock Dunlops, I had the very nastiest experience of my life, in 30 degree (f) weather, and a mere 1 1/2" of snow.
I got caught with an early snowfall in 2005, and had my stock Dunlops on. I had to drive a mere 9 miles. It was the most difficult 9 miles of driving in my life. The tires were hard as a rock, had absolutely ZERO traction, and I was white knuckling it all the way home. It took me one hour and 15 minutes to travel 9 miles.
When I got home, I could not make it up my driveway, which has maybe a 2 degree grade. It's a standard concrete driveway. I had to shovel the driveway, put cat litter down, and even then, I barely made it into my garage.
DO NOT DRIVE THE 8 IN ANY AMOUNT OF SNOW WITH THE SUMMERS ON. TRUST US.
With the Hankook iPikes, the 8 was magically transformed into a toure de force in even 6 or 7" of snow that I could ever have imagined or believed. I literally passed Explorers with ease. Total traction and major stability. The very first heavy snowfall, I could not believe the difference. Night and day.
On the stock Dunlops, I had the very nastiest experience of my life, in 30 degree (f) weather, and a mere 1 1/2" of snow.
I got caught with an early snowfall in 2005, and had my stock Dunlops on. I had to drive a mere 9 miles. It was the most difficult 9 miles of driving in my life. The tires were hard as a rock, had absolutely ZERO traction, and I was white knuckling it all the way home. It took me one hour and 15 minutes to travel 9 miles.
When I got home, I could not make it up my driveway, which has maybe a 2 degree grade. It's a standard concrete driveway. I had to shovel the driveway, put cat litter down, and even then, I barely made it into my garage.
DO NOT DRIVE THE 8 IN ANY AMOUNT OF SNOW WITH THE SUMMERS ON. TRUST US.
With the Hankook iPikes, the 8 was magically transformed into a toure de force in even 6 or 7" of snow that I could ever have imagined or believed. I literally passed Explorers with ease. Total traction and major stability. The very first heavy snowfall, I could not believe the difference. Night and day.
The next day I bought new 17" wheels with bridgestone blizzak ws60 tires and drove the car the rest of winter with fantastic results! I actually looked forward to snowfalls to see how the car would handle. If you're planning on driving through winter and snow, or even somewhere where it frequently gets below freezing, snow tires are essentially required. Driving with stock summer tires is suicide in the 8!
06-15-2008, 09:58 PM
#27
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What many people fail to consider (and it appears some are to be found in this thread) is that there are times when winter tires are required (or at least highly advisable) even when there is NO snow... I'm referring to any time when the temperature falls below about 45F/7C degrees.
The rubber compound used in summer/performance tires simply gets too hard at low temperatures to function properly, even on a bare road surface. My Toyo T1-Rs have the consistency of hard plastic at or below those temperatures. Tire traction studies have shown an incredible drop in the performance of summer tires when used in cold conditions (I won't try to quote numbers from memory but it was huge - something like a 40% increase in stopping distance for example).
As for making driving "interesting" or "fun" or whatever other words you care to use, I don't appreciate people fishtailing and sliding around on public roads when I am sharing them. I save my hotdogging for ice racing and winter autocross (we call it "slush 'n' slide"), but on the street, my one and only consideration is getting to where I am going and arriving SAFELY. I don't appreciate others who deliberately endanger me by drivng in an unsafe manner or using inappropriate equipment for the conditions. That includes bald tires in the summer and anything other than winter tires in the winter.
I'm looking forward to driving my new R3 in the winter. I've never had the benefit of any traction control before. But if my Miata on top quality winter tires was a winter beater in all but blizzard conditions (when the snow was deep enough that the car was actually plowing snow until it started coming over the nose of the car), then I have no doubt that the RX-8 can be equally, if not more capable.
The rubber compound used in summer/performance tires simply gets too hard at low temperatures to function properly, even on a bare road surface. My Toyo T1-Rs have the consistency of hard plastic at or below those temperatures. Tire traction studies have shown an incredible drop in the performance of summer tires when used in cold conditions (I won't try to quote numbers from memory but it was huge - something like a 40% increase in stopping distance for example).
As for making driving "interesting" or "fun" or whatever other words you care to use, I don't appreciate people fishtailing and sliding around on public roads when I am sharing them. I save my hotdogging for ice racing and winter autocross (we call it "slush 'n' slide"), but on the street, my one and only consideration is getting to where I am going and arriving SAFELY. I don't appreciate others who deliberately endanger me by drivng in an unsafe manner or using inappropriate equipment for the conditions. That includes bald tires in the summer and anything other than winter tires in the winter.
I'm looking forward to driving my new R3 in the winter. I've never had the benefit of any traction control before. But if my Miata on top quality winter tires was a winter beater in all but blizzard conditions (when the snow was deep enough that the car was actually plowing snow until it started coming over the nose of the car), then I have no doubt that the RX-8 can be equally, if not more capable.
08-12-2008, 11:02 PM
#28
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RX-8 is a fun car to drive on snow (with right tires). Blizzak is pretty good, but we have one of the best studded, Nokian Hakka 3. We drive it everyday in the winter. It is well balanced, easy to control, and has smooth power. DSC works well, too. In the first winter, we had a couple of troubles (and a few flooding) when starting at low temp (-30F or so). We put a fresh battery, and there is no problem even at -40F last year.
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