Most liked posts in thread: Apparently, winter traction is an option box I forgot to check

Wow you are lucky. Driving on HP summer tires in the winter is like walking a greased high wire. I'm glad you survived & are getting more appropriate rubber from the good folks at Tire Rack.

I find both of our MINIs are snow machines, but they both wear snow shoes this time of year.

 

I second this. It makes a world of difference. Just leave it off all the time on snow and drive old school, without the computer.

Use the Force, Luke.

 

No nanny computer tools on (DSC Off) and drive old school with snow tires and your MINI will be a snowmobile.

You know what DSC stands for right? Dumb, Supid, Comuter. :lol:
It's for people that need special computer features to drive like normal drivers. You know the people that don't need Hill Assist to move / drive a stick shift car on a hill from a dead stop.

 

^^^ This same thing happened to my sister on her 73 Honda Civic. In fact she drove that way for several months. She came home from school saying how great her new Civic was in the snow with its front wheel drive & snow tires. I went out to check out these marvelous tires & found them on the rear. :lol:

 

I never really had any problems with mine. You do need to turn of the DSC when going up hill, or you my never make it to the top.

 

Winter hasn't started yet?

Tell that to the 5" of snow we just had and the upcoming temps in the teens and single digits. Winter, like Hanukkah, is early on the secular calendar this year.

 

Nathan, it's time to dredge up my old "winter tires" thread again! This time I've footnoted it...

Bottom line: If you're serious about driving in winter, get winter tires. Period.
Please don't now say "I've driven in snow on all-seasons wince the automobile was invented and due to my MAD skills I've never had a problem." because, well, 1) How much easier & safer would THAT have been with a whopping 40% more traction? and b) sure glad I'm not stuck behind you...

The basics: We did tire testing, on R53 Minis, closed-course (1), trained-drivers (2), "ideal" winter conditions (3).

Winter tires (6) provide over FORTY PERCENT MORE TRACTION than even new all-seasons (5) in winter conditions. Winter tires provide 2.5 TIMES the traction of summer tires (3). What was really telling was the feeling of control with winter tires, compared to unpredictable slip-sliding on all-seasons and a near-total lack of control on JCW summer tires.

Data talks:
Winter autocross times (averages over 5+ runs and 3 drivers, Mini R53's):
- Summer tires: 75 seconds on the one run when they didn't get stuck somewhere on the FLAT COURSE
- All-seasons 45 seconds
- Winter tires 32 seconds

Come try it yourself on February 9th at PittRace at the PittStopMINI "Wintry Driving Refresher". Block the date, registration will be up shortly...

Footnotes
1. PittRace, back when it was BeaveRun, February 2008, I believe
2. Training well beyond what the DOT requires, (4) drivers
3. One of the test vehicles could only make it up the hill to the track by letting most of the air out of its tires, and the summer-tired Mini, even in the hands of pro driving instructors, got stuck on the FLAT course on every run except one.
4. Course was a flat autocross, 95% covered with hardpack, ice, some slush, some loose snow, one very small spot of wet pavement, about 25 degrees out: in other words, average "really bad" US wintry conditions
5. Average of (2) types all-season, both with less than 2000 miles on them, both well-rated in snow
6. One set newer Blizzak 60's, the other my 5000-mile Dunlop WinterSport M3's. Worth noting both of these have been supplanted by newer, better models, and the Dunlop is a "performance" winter tire.

 

When I had my TT, I would run Pirelli SnowSports in the winter. They were fantastic, but very expensive. Though I am sure they have been replaced by a newer model by now. The Continential whatever they are that came with my car kinda suck, but still not as bad as the Kumhos that I had on my RSX for awhile, they sucked donkey balls. I would have to look at them and see which Continentals they are.

 

I'm in Britain where we might get snow on the roads, and daytime temperatures below freezing, for maybe 1-2 weeks per year so almost no-one has winter tyres.

It's very apparent that owners of Minis with 175/65-15 summer tyres think they are great in the snow, whereas those with 205/45-17s summers think they are awful. It seems the tipping point where wider tyres just start floating on top of snow is between those two.

And if you liked a classic Mini on snow on its 145 width tyres, you should have tried a Citroen 2CV with 125 (yeah, really, 125 - like a bicycle) tyres. Providing you didn't spin the wheels when accelerating*, it would go anywhere in snow.

*Spinning wasn't caused by torque or power, because it didn't have any, but by the humungous flywheel on the 600cc flat-twin engine - let out the clutch quickly and it took off like a rocket for the first ten feet.

 

My original Mini, with its 36 HP engine, 5 gallon gas tank, 4-speed, slider windows in the front and flip opens in the rear, and 520x10" wheels only got stuck in the snow when I actually TRIED to get stuck. My car had the original owner's manual and suggested what to do in that case...put the car into reverse idle, get out of the car, open the driver's window and push backwards...letting the car lug itself out. it worked great, and I've been a Mini lover ever since!

 

LOL, Blimey, you oughta get a set of "winter" tires and "summer" tires, just so you can switch out your "look"! For you, and you alone (OK, and anywhere that doesn't routinely get or drive in snow), I'll make the exception and say all-seasons are the way to go in winter.

The rest of youse guys, wise up! ;-)

 

The GPs sold in Canada are more expensive than those in the USA because they came with an extra set of wheels and winter tires. Those Kumho tires are absolutely useless in cold weather.

Like everybody else has said already. Get snowtires. The guys at Tire Rack are good folks to visit.

 

The Article - Winter Driving Tips

 

Gotta agree with the majority here - winter rubber is the way to go. There is simply no way to get a MINI around in Ontario conditions with "all" seasons in a safe, controlled manner. I'm using Dunlop winter sport on 16" rims and they are working well. When it comes time for a replacement I'm thinking Blizzaks, or Michelins but the Dunlops have another season left in the tread at least. Anyone know how many years a tire is good for?

Thanks for the winter driving tips
LW

 

Having had Blizzak's that went past their winter compound all I can say is at that point they are no longer a winter tire. Just an all season at best.

 

Leon's Winter vs. All-Season analysis makes me want snow tires... even though they're completely impractical down here.