The "BMWs are crap in the snow because they're RWD" thing...

[gp1699]

john_p said:

gp1699 said:

i got sick of geting stuck in my auto e46 so i put 2 space savers on the back and i have had no problems!!

Ahh this is an awesome idea! Shame I only have one spacesaver though

and with one of the other wheels in the boot to aid traction!

[parapaul]

rb5230 said:

Blue Meanie said:

rb5230 said:

Blue Meanie said:

As I said, it's a UK thing. For some reason 95% of the folks in the UK have no idea what they are doing in snow. Also, as I said, go to any other country that gets regular snow, and see the difference. It is NOT the car, it is the idiot behind the wheel.

so in the uk people with a front engined rwd layout are all idiots? hardly anywhere even sells winter tyres here and then you have to store them, and all that for snow we might get next year or not for another 10 years?

Where did I say that? I said that the people who complain about their cars handling in the snow whilst using inappropriate tyres are idiots. You don't agree?

no i agree they are using the wrong tyres, but on the wrong tyres other cars are coping better. and as we hardly ever get snow we are hardly going to go and all buy winter tyres.simple.

Edited by rb5230 on Thursday 7th January 19:46

Winter tyres are not necessarily snow tyres. the clue is in the name I, for one, will be buying a cheap spare set of wheels and fitting winter tyres to them.

[bigfatnick]

This is obviously filmed by a company trying to flog tyres, but its interesting none the less...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s i presumed ice was ice, and unless you have studs, i didnt think anyone had half a chance.

However, on snow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s

interesting reading, just remember that uk winters arent exactly canadian/american winters, so a lot of what is said here isn't really apt.


Which got me thinking, i wonder where these fit in, http://www.tyremonkey.co.uk/tyres/rally-tyres/colw... . They could be handy to have them mounted on a spare set of 15inch alloys i have, allowing me to go play in snow/drive to ski resorts/odd roadtrips to the north of scotland etc next year. But being colway, having seen their factory and dodgy remoulds, i dont really imagine they have much in the way of design in them, more that they were just cobbled together out of what they had in the yard.

[Scott330ci]

BMW's are shat in the snow.

Automatic BMW's are shatter.

I was playing around in a car park yesterday and got bored of the understeer and then when I over came that the oversteer was too much. This was all below 5mph! ran rings around me.

A suzuki vitara then came in and literally

[Simond001]

parapaul said:

Winter tyres are not necessarily snow tyres. the clue is in the name I, for one, will be buying a cheap spare set of wheels and fitting winter tyres to them.

Good luck. I've been ;looking ofr a set of 17 or 18" Toaureg wheels for about three months to put winter tyres on.

Prices seem to be approx £400 for a real ropey set, up to £550 for clean.

Everyone seems to be keeping their old wheels at the moment (or not upgrading).

[Escort2dr]

Rollcage said:

hman said:

All standard rwd cars will fair worse in snow conditions than FWD 4x4

No steering on the driven wheels in low traction/grip conditions - go figure.

I think weight distribution is more the key - FWD cars will generally be nose heavy, and also generally will have narrower tyres, both of which will help grip.

You're the second to say that FWD have narrower tyres. How do you figure that out?

[velocemitch]

Statisticly these days RWD cars will be performance orinetated cars, or luxury cars, they will have larger wider tyres. BMW, Merc, Jag etc

The vast majority of small 'shopping' cars will have FWD and therefore thinner tyres. All small hatches, (1 series excepted), the vast majority of mid sized cars.

It's got nothing to do with them having to have thinner tyres being driven from the front, it's just a fact.

[Rollcage]

velocemitch said:

Statisticly these days RWD cars will be performance orinetated cars, or luxury cars, they will have larger wider tyres. BMW, Merc, Jag etc

The vast majority of small 'shopping' cars will have FWD and therefore thinner tyres. All small hatches, (1 series excepted), the vast majority of mid sized cars.

It's got nothing to do with them having to have thinner tyres being driven from the front, it's just a fact.

Exactly.

[Steve748]

Scott330ci said:

BMW's are shat in the snow.

Automatic BMW's are shatter.

I was playing around in a car park yesterday and got bored of the understeer and then when I over came that the oversteer was too much. This was all below 5mph! ran rings around me.

A suzuki vitara then came in and literally

Summer tyres eh?

[Shropshiremike]

Steve748 said:

Scott330ci said:

BMW's are shat in the snow.

Automatic BMW's are shatter.

I was playing around in a car park yesterday and got bored of the understeer and then when I over came that the oversteer was too much. This was all below 5mph! ran rings around me.

A suzuki vitara then came in and literally

Summer tyres eh?

BMW E90s on an icerink with various tyres

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s&fea...

[rb5230]

Rollcage said:

velocemitch said:

Statisticly these days RWD cars will be performance orinetated cars, or luxury cars, they will have larger wider tyres. BMW, Merc, Jag etc

The vast majority of small 'shopping' cars will have FWD and therefore thinner tyres. All small hatches, (1 series excepted), the vast majority of mid sized cars.

It's got nothing to do with them having to have thinner tyres being driven from the front, it's just a fact.

Exactly.

is it a fact? i see loads of astras, corsas, vectras, meganes, focus`s/ cmax/s-max/ galaxies, mondeos etc etc all with 17 or 18 inch rims and not even in the sportiest specs as standard. i also see lots of lowly specced bmws and mercs with the same size or smaller wheels, and seeing as there are probably more modern hatches on the road than rwd cars (just) i would hac=ve thpught there are more hatches on bigger wheels.