It was a fun day in St. Louis (and most of the Midwest) yesterday...snow! As I was making my way at about 20-30 mph I saw another Xfire parked on the side of the highway but knew I could do nothing. Those all season Conti's slipped & slid all the way home. Hope I didn't burnout the light on the traction control!

 

Can't wait to see how the new Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season's do today...I never had a "major" problem with the Continentals. IMO, the winter/wet tranny mode and ESP do a good job of keeping the car where it's supposed to go (controlled drifting around turns, woohoo). However, keeping/getting traction from a stop is a different story.

Heading out with the club shortly to watch them have some fun in a vacant lot...

http://media.putfile.com/Ice-night-TST

Gotta love AWD drifting/donuts!

 

I didn't really want to test out the ESP on the highway! I can't imagine what the Pilots feel like in the slick stuff! Hope you guys have fun this morning.

 

What I mean with the ESP is that it keeps the car pointed straight when the tendency is to slide sideways in snow. I've only driven once on the highway during a real snowfall, from Atlantic City to Baltimore last March, and it was interesting. I couldn't do more than 45-50 mph without sliding, and even at that speed the tires would just decide to lose grip occasionally. However, I didn't have that much of a problem staying straight down the road. As for the Pilot Sports, I hope no one with the stock summer ones tries to drive in the snow. You might as well stick a sled under each tire...summer tire = NO WINTER! These are the all-season variant, which include a different rubber compound and tread design so that they provide (some?) functionality in "light" snow (and can withstand colder temps than a summer tire).

BTW, already 3 inches outside my door after 2 hrs of snow in the suburbs of NE Philly.

 

Yeah, I knew what you meant regarding the ESP. We had 3-4 inches, but that's a lot for a low profile, wide contact patch to deal with.

 

I discovered that the Pilot Sports are definitely summer-only tires!

My new motto: If its snowin' I'm not goin'!

 

We wound up with about 6 inches worth of winter wonderland here. I already had a rule that said if I can't see the road, I leave it where it sits. So I left it in the lot at work and took the bus home. When I got in this morning I found the snow crew had buried it just for grins. Took me about 45 minutes to dig it out. I would like to be able to thank them personally for the swell job they did cleaning our lot. At least the car was safe so no harm no foul.

 

I agree with bobs, I originally purchased the car in NY in the fall of 2004. I Got caught in the first snow storm of the season had an emergency and had to drive to NJ in the morning. Didn't get finished until early evening, by this time there was about 11 inches of snow on the ground. The parkways were all slush, to my surprise my Xfire handled very well (wouldn't want to do it again). By the time I got to my area of Long Island there was about 22 inches of hard packed snow in my driveway. I was able to skim about 8 - 9 inches of snow off the driveway with the snow blower and was able to drive through what was left and into the garage. The car then never left the garage until I moved to VA in Feb.

 

STLXFIRE
I live in Fulton and just had my first experience driving the Crossfire in the snow. Fortunately, it's all city streets that I have to negotiate to get to work. I changed the Sport Pilots for the Contis that were on sale and am glad I did. The car didn't have any major complaints running in the 2" snow we had (this was unplowed and mostly untracked snow on the streets).

 

Just had my 4th encounter with 3 to 6 inches of snow, it can be done, but you need to drive with it in mind that she will slide. I have the all season that were on her when I got her. The winter setting helps and when she started to wallow switching off the traction control helped me pull her out of what was a bad situation (slid sideways on a entrance ramp with a steep up hill grade). She can be a real pig in snow, but I have no choice I need her to get to work and when I leave the plows usually have not really done much.

 

i just put on my xfire dunlop winter sport m3 tires 235 front 255 back they are excellent. yesterday was a 10 inches of snow fall in Mass i didn't get stuck.
drives like a little tank...

 

Has anyone found a good buy on 18 and 19 snow tires? I'm into my second winter in central Ohio and after pricing tires last winter, I thought I'd just hire a taxi for the few days of horrible snow! Still considering purchasing a set for the winter, but since this car is leased, I don't know if I could sell the tires at the end of the lease. Any suggestions?

 

I live in **** Noster Mo and I have the all season Conti's as well I had to play with it just to get it to slide the only really issue I had was ice but that was it slow and steady on the gas and you shouldn't slide at all really I had a great time driving the Xfire in the snow. Of course it's no jeep wrangler! That is an awesome snow vehicle!

 

After more time driving in snow I have found that there are a few tricks that have helped me. Switch off the traction control if you get hung up in snow, by doing that I was able to get myself unstuck with a little effort and back on my way. Watch out for deep packed snow, it seems to me that the wide tires can act like snowshoes at times and increase your chance of spinning out.

 

The best thing to do is take the Xfire off the road and buy a winter beater.

 

Driving the car in snow is really not that difficult just pay attention to what the car is doing and you will be fine. Slow down and take you time. The only reason I would buy a beater for the winter is so I don't get salt all over the car. I lived in Idaho for 5 years and never ad a problem with snow and a rear wheel vehicle this is my first sports car but it is just as easy to drive in snow as the other rear wheel drive cars that I have owned.

 

I am quite impressed with my x-fire in the snow despite the michelin sport tires. Though it is not a winter car it benz and chrysler definitely gave it the best traction system and braking system to help in the snow, and of course the toasty heated seats!!!

 

everyone should move to so. cal...

 

I just want to 2nd that motion. (God I HATE winter!)

 

Well you guys can move to So Cal. I'm going to move to Hawaii if I want to escape winter. Hot women every where!