Driving e30 in the winter

[VinniE30]

Last winter I lived in NJ but I can't imagine the snow would be any worse here if any different at all.
I'm going to be driving on summer tires.(Yokohama s-drive 205/55/15)
I did it last winter with no problems.
Anyone else do this?

[TexasTerp]

I have all-season tires on my e36 and didn't have much of a problem at all last year. Not sure how the Summer tires will react though

[FunfGan]

How did you do that? Haha. Somebody on here who will remain nameless destroyed their car on s-drives before winter even really hit...

[shEck3lls0]

^ and just get a set of cheap baskets or something.

[Cong405]

You better get yourself a set of snow tires or at leas all season. When I first got my Ronal LS, it came with BFGoodrich g-force and I was barely able to get anywhere with maybe an ince of powder on the ground. I ended up parking it back in my parent's drive way and used the Maxima. Last winter I bought a set of General Altimax Arctic mounted on some bottle caps and they're awesome! If it snow's a lot where you're at then I definitely recommend winter soles.

[VinniE30]

How did you do that? Haha. Somebody on here who will remain nameless destroyed their car on s-drives before winter even really hit...

Mostly not driving unless the roads are plowed and if I really have to and work isin't called off then the roads probably aren't that bad anyway. Drive slow and leave lots of room between the car infront of you. The only thing i'm actually worried about are hills - and having to stop doing up one because of traffic. The LSD should help. But how many days a year is there really significant unplowed snow on the road all day long?...

[Brezzi]

LSD helps a lot I think. I had all seasons on the 325is I used to drive and drove around philly through most of the snow with now problems

[Cong405]

Mostly not driving unless the roads are plowed and if I really have to and work isin't called off then the roads probably aren't that bad anyway. Drive slow and leave lots of room between the car infront of you. The only thing i'm actually worried about are hills - and having to stop doing up one because of traffic. The LSD should help. But how many days a year is there really significant unplowed snow on the road all day long?...

As long as it's plowed then I think you're probably be fine. However, if there's powder on the ground, I would be extra careful.

[Grand525]

Black ice and hills would be too hard to drive on summer tires. Not to mention it's gonna be a lot harder to maneuver and stop without loosing a lot of traction.

[irish44j]

Memo to myself: stay away from Aberdeen this winter.

What the world doesn't need is one more person driving around on subfreezing roads (whether they're dry or snowy or icy) on summer tires.

Summer compounds shouldn't be used below 40 degrees or so, snow or not. It's not about whether there's snow on the road or not. ACtually your summers will be far worse when the roads are recently-plowed and have the icy sheen on them, or on days with sleet/freezing rain conditions (which are more common around here than deep snow). And they have about 50% less grip than A/S or winter tires on dry roads that are below freezing temp, since the summer compounds get hard below 40*.

All-season tires have compounds that stay soft below freezing and still have traction.

Even the guys on the MAIC Subaru forums all run either all-seasons or performance winters in this area......and every winter a couple local Subie morons runing on their summer tires end up in wrecks during minor snowstorms.

Don't be dumb....just get some bottlecaps and some cheap all-seasons and do yourself and everyone else a favor. Don't want to see you in a ditch.

And we do get some snow here. But more importantly, we get alot of 1"-2" days where the roads get super-slick. Look up news reports of the pre-Christmas storm from last year and you'll see. I must have seen 200-300 cars stranded during my 20 mile commute in only a few inches of snow (I made it fine in a WRX with Wintersport M3s).

[taiden]

When people think of driving in the winter, they think that snow tires only stop them from getting stuck.

Snow tires also reduce your braking distance and improve your handling by a very large factor.

Get 14" snow tires and get some bottle caps. Don't fuck around with snow.

[VinniE30]

Thanks for the opinions.
BTW - it wasn't even a question of "Are summer tires good in the winter" or "Is this a good idea" .. We all know the answer to those questions.
Now that I think about it i'm not even sure why I made this thread.

[Cong405]

I'm sure you can find something on cl. I spend $250 on practically brand new snow tired mounted and balanced on bottles. GL

[Vince30]

I did the winter on summer tires last year and I will do it again this year. As long as the roads are plowed it will be fine but if they are not, even a little bit of snow and you will go no where.