Driving in the snow. . .
with a car that is NOT meant to be out in the rain.
Holy shitballs -- it was an interesting ride to work today. I have on some Bridgestone potenzas, everyone's favorite summer Z, and the old man winter decided to dump some powder on the tristate area. So the big problem is that the tires just don't bite, so you have to slam it hard to the desired direction and then blip the throttle to spin the rear around. I got pretty good, but then got overconfident.
And the big thing about an Rx-7 is that crazy torque starts to happen at 4000rpm when the secondary spools up. . . . Two full circles. That's 720 degrees, or 4pi for you mathematicians out there.
Fortunately is was around a turn that fed into the parking lot, and everything is cool. But it was enough to cause me to leave the car at work and bum rides until this junk melts a little.
Holy shitballs -- it was an interesting ride to work today. I have on some Bridgestone potenzas, everyone's favorite summer Z, and the old man winter decided to dump some powder on the tristate area. So the big problem is that the tires just don't bite, so you have to slam it hard to the desired direction and then blip the throttle to spin the rear around. I got pretty good, but then got overconfident.
And the big thing about an Rx-7 is that crazy torque starts to happen at 4000rpm when the secondary spools up. . . . Two full circles. That's 720 degrees, or 4pi for you mathematicians out there.
Fortunately is was around a turn that fed into the parking lot, and everything is cool. But it was enough to cause me to leave the car at work and bum rides until this junk melts a little.
Comments
Originally posted by billybobsky
...is only dangerous when people who dont know how to drive in it get into a vehicle, turn that vehicle on, apply the accelerator and...
OK Chief. We'll get you an Rx-7 (a 3rd gen. . . the one that is wicked fast) and you'll be singing a different tune. edit: It's very hard to control, even in first gear.
Shawn: pretend your civic was rear wheel drive and had twice as wide tires and more than twice the power.
Originally posted by Chinney
Snow tires - November 'til mid-April
They're not legal round these parts. Shame.
Though I'm banking on the likely chance that this will be the last real winter I live through for a while. . . and hopefully forever.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
They're not legal round these parts. Shame.
Even studless winter tires?
The powder wasn't bad though. I'm more worried about the temperature dropping to 0º F tonight and tomorrow (that's something like -18º C to the rest of the world). That gonna be murder on my engine, and I'm due for a big checkup in the shop.
(and yeah, my friend's third gen is a bitch if it touches ice.)
Originally posted by BuonRotto
The thing about the Honda Civic is that it's a very light car. It's actually quite easy to lose control of the car, but it's really easy to regain control of it just as quickly.
The powder wasn't bad though. I'm more worried about the temperature dropping to 0º F tonight and tomorrow (that's something like -18º C to the rest of the world). That gonna be murder on my engine, and I'm due for a big checkup in the shop.
No kidding. My car weighs 2800lbs when it's full of fuel. It's about half tank right now. That's civic territory. It's not hard to regain control, but it's just so easy to lose it. . . It's days like these that make me think about buying a subaru.
As for the cold, just warm up your car for a while before starting it, and don't use thick oil. Cold isn't bad for the engine once the block and systems are warm.
My thermo says -16C right now. yurk. That's cold.
I love that car... too bad my mom killed it.
We usually get -10 to -30C temperatures in winter, but I'm from the north originally and there we had a -45C to -50C record last winter.
Now if I just had a nice skating machine to use.. 20yr old Volvo doesn't quite cut it.
This does not make sense.
of course thats probably not the reason they are outlawed (and it shouldn't be) but it is something I have heard about happening...
If you have a standard transmission and aren't getting any traction, try upshifting to the next higher gear, and slowly gas and let the clutch out. This will usually reduce the torque enough to let your tires bite into the road, instead of spinning out on the snow.
Originally posted by BuonRotto
The thing about the Honda Civic is that it's a very light car. It's actually quite easy to lose control of the car, but it's really easy to regain control of it just as quickly.
The thing is, and this applies to FWD cars in general, you get a big advantage when the bulk of the car's mass is supported by the drive wheels. You don't need to induce any "magic" weight transfer to get the drive wheels to bite- the weight is just pressing down on them by default. Additionally, if the front wheels do start slipping, it doesn't induce instability (such as it would with the RWD). So those are 2 mutual things that keep a FWD car very consistent and "driver friendly" when road conditions are slippery.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Shawn: pretend your civic was rear wheel drive and had twice as wide tires and more than twice the power.
Maybe he can drive it backwards.