Winter Driving

Question:

Here's a question for cold weather drivers. I (unfortunately) am considering driving my 240 for the winter. I've heard from other owners that the car will be difficult to drive in any sort of snowy environment. Would snow tires be of any benefit? If so, what type.

Answer:

I have driven my 240 on snow and ice, and there are some considerations when it comes to driving ANY rear wheel drive car in slippery conditions. It is manageable, however, if you pay attention.

First, after the first snow of the year, find yourself a nice big parking lot that's empty (Sunday mornings are good). Practice turns at moderate speeds, etc. Keep increasing speed until the rear end lets go. Do this several times, and you'll learn where your car starts to lose traction and how it feels. Usually, right before your lose traction you can feel it in the seat of your pants (hard to describe, but you'll feel it) and recover it. Get yourself into a couple of good slides and see how the car reacts when you try to recover it.

The real answer to driving in the snow is stay alert, know your car, and keep in mind where the power is getting to the ground.

As far as snow tires are concerned, go with Blizzaks. Every review I've EVER seen raves about their snow/ice performance.

- Dave Alexander

Driving for the winter.

I live up in Albany in the winter and know how dangerous driving in the snow can be, especially with rear wheel drive. An easy, simple solution is to buy a set of weighted sand bags (tubes) to weigh down the back of the car and add some traction to the rear tires. You can buy 60 lb. sand tubes at home depot for about 2-3 dollars each. Its defintely worth the money to retain the safety of your vehicle and obviously, yourself.

Lance Van Blerkom
Email: [email protected]

Warnings

I caution people on adding weight to the rear of their cars. Yes, this does help increase traction off the line, but this also increases the pendulum effect, meaning that once the rear end starts to slide/oversteer, it's harder to stop the slide due to extra momentum from the added weight, and this can ultimately decrease the safety while driving. I have personally driven thousands of miles on NY upstate roads (also live in Albany) in up to 10" of snow with a lowered 240 on 3-season tires and have yet to end up in a ditch in my 240 because I drive slow, don't tailgate, and respect the conditions I'm in. The key is watch your speed and respect the conditions. If you find yourself driving >35 mph on pure snow, you're asking for trouble. And keep LOTS of distance between you and the car in front of you. Also keep in mind that when driving around tight corners, like city conditions, if you fight the oversteer, you're going to go nowhere. You must learn to steer with the rear in the 240, but luckily for any trying this, the 240 is a very predictable and forgiving car that will not do anything unexpected unless you provide the necessary inputs (i.e. you over drove your limits). And if you want extra safety, add snow tires, and not extra weight/momentum to carry your rear end around when the rear starts to slide.

Dave provided the real answer to this question: "The real answer to driving in the snow is stay alert, know your car, and keep in mind where the power is getting to the ground." Never ever forget that sentence. Snow tires and worse yet sand bags won't help an inexperienced or careless driver.

Dan Vandeputte
Email: [email protected]