Six Shifter

Today we got our first snow in the mid-Atlantic region



Sure am glad Brown delivered these things last night. Fresh (literally) from the motherland ...









Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

George Knighton

Started snowing here in central Virginia around 7 in the morning.

I suspected it was about time for this.

Colin

Yup, getting cold! It was still 72 degrees at 9:00AM today!

Six Shifter

plus, they've been calling for it since about Tuesday. Looks like we're gonna get more than a dusting ... and DC/pts south more than an inch.

George Knighton

Ooooohh....we have a lot more than an inch here in Culpeper.

TLNV

We got 12 inches of the stuff from sun night through last night here. I have the Blizzak LM-25V's 245/40/19 on the HPT rims.

THIS CAR IS A BEAST

Under 19 degrees yesterday and was -10 this morning.... Amazingly solid, secure and surefooted. HIGHLY recommend this car in an AWD with winters on it. You will not be disappointed!

docboy

Woke up to 12 degrees this morning. Brutally cold...

So far it's dry, the AWD system has worked superb on icy surfaces. Can't wait for snow

Kingmeow

That's good to know! Looking forward to the first test when the stuff gets here to the Northeast.

PetesTL

Just a little dose of reality here.....SH-AWD and snow tires make a great combo and I highly recommend them for wintery driving, but it's NOT foolproof.....on ice patches and hard-packed snow, you can and will lose traction. A lot of guys mistakenly think AWD and/or snow tires will somehow make their cars invincible. It's all about knowing what your car is capable of and knowing HOW to drive in wintery conditions.

Also, I do not recommend going with anything larger than 18" and 245 wide for snow tires....it defeats the whole purpose. You'll get the best traction and performance with snow tires by going narrow and small (just the opposite of summer tires).

TLNV

Not really sure why you said "Just a little dose of reality here....." However I completely agree with what you said.

"but it's NOT foolproof.....on ice patches and hard-packed snow, you can and will lose traction. A lot of guys mistakenly think AWD and/or snow tires will somehow make their cars invincible."

Ideally you would want to use the 17's with winters on this car if you are in an area that is snow covered a majority of the winter.

I hope that my post is not being misconstrued. In my zeal to post how much I was surprised by how well and the way this car handled the snow and ice, I may have given the wrong impression. I guess I could have worded it in a different way so as not to confuse people.

I grew up driving in snow and ice and have spent the last 26 years driving in it. Where I am from we would routinely get between 6-10' of snow in the winter with a whole lot more than that on the several mountain passes, so knowing how to drive in it is essential.

I have never in my 26 years of driving in the stuff, put a vehicle in the ditch, spun out, been stuck or been involved in an accident. I am not implying that I am the Uber driver when it comes to snow, only that I am familiar and aware with how to drive in it.

I am constantly amazed at the amount of people who just as PetesTL eluded to, suddenly morph into the, "I have a 4WD or AWD and am therefore invincible and the rules of physics no longer apply" people. In fact I could argue that more people with AWD's and 4WD's end up in the ditch or worse just because of the perceived sense of security that those vehicles provide.

I personally have never had any issues with winters on 18" or 19" wheels. Now having said that, driven correctly and as long as you are not constantly (read daily instead of several times a month) having to deal with lots of slush or the dry slush that is like sand, or deep snow, you will be just fine on the 18 or 19's. Also if there was more snow and ice on the roads here more often than not in the winter months then I would be running the Blizzak 60's as they are a softer tread with more biting ability.

Otherwise those in mountainous areas where deep snow and ice is a daily way of life then yes I agree that smaller is better. Because of where I live I also have the MDX Sport for when it is nastier and deeper. Prior to the MDX I owned several Z71 4X4 Tahoes, along with many of the old style CJ 4X4 Jeeps with the CJ5 being my favorite in snow.

Again I wholeheartedly agree that in the grand scheme of things, smaller is better when it comes to snow and ice.

K, steppin away from the soapbox and back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I will say it again though.... This car is a beast compared to other AWD cars (not trucks or suv's) that I have driven in the snow.

Six Shifter

All you have to do is look at the high number of SUV's that are involved in spin-outs and on/off the highway accidents to know that people have this misconstrued idea of invincibility when they climb into anything labeled "AWD". I was living in England in the mid-late 80s, and my auto of choice was a 2 dr Audi Quattro. You wouldn't believe the number of these that ended up in ditches because those people thought that the Quattro system gave them superpowers. Audi had to engage in a re-education program for these people. And although I got through a couple of winters wearing nothing more than A/S Michelins in my '00 Maxima with zero issues, I chose to go to a winter set-up wearing Dunlop Sport M3's on my stock rims for the last 6 winters I drove the CL (currently for sale in the Black Market section).

As far as the sizing issue ... do not disagree with the smaller is better philosophy. However, kinda difficult to go to something as narrow as the Tirerack suggests in their summer/winter side-by-side winter catelog photo. And since the owners manual states not going smaller than what came on the car, gives me a good excuse to run these LM60's on the stock 19"ers, and then get some DT III's for my 3 season set-up.

greg99

The most dangerous drivers I've ever seen (and I've lived and traveled all over the world) were the 18 year old freshman girls at Cornell from NYC who just got their licenses and their brand new grand cherokees, and thought they were invincible driving up and down the hills in Ithaca just because they had 4WD.

I once saw one pinball off 17 parked cars as she locked the brakes going down a steep hill in slushy weather.

Greg

tmnhs81

that first pic is awesome!

chaiwala

I guess you haven't really traveled all over the world if that is the worst you have seen.

George Knighton

We had a company meeting in Winchester VA yesterday that didn't let out until about 10:00 PM.

By that time it had been snowing and icing for quite a long time and there was several inches of snow and ice everywhere, including rapidly building accumulating on Route 81 and the western part of Route 66.

I had to pick between spending the night in a town out west or risking the drive from Winchester all the way to Culpeper.

The car was doing so well that I decided to soldier on. It did amazingly well.

This was on the OEM all season SH-AWD 18".