How does the s3 handel the snow with rs4 wheels on it? i'm guessing it would be like a panda on ice with those wide wheels, my friends mum has a TT on rs4's and she says its a mare to drive in the snow. with winter fast approaching do you think i should whip off my wheels and stick on a set of narrower steele wheels? I think some golfs have 16" steel wheels, would they fit straight on?
S3 in the snow?
- Thread starter Backdrifts
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Randomjim
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I think golfs have 15 inch steelies so you might have trouble with the calipers. Have you got the original wheels?
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I've not had any problems driving my 19" wearing S3 in the snow, it's 4WD most of the time in the snow, just drive it slowly and you will be fine, not brave enough to drive like a hooligan though... afraid to kerb my alloys lol.
monkeytrousers
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Drive cautiously like you would with two-wheel-drive. Whilst 4wd gives you a bit more grip, eg for getting up inclines better, it makes little difference otherwise.
And of course you can't stop any faster either!
And of course you can't stop any faster either!
Ess_Three
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monkeytrousers said:
That's the problem...braking.
Those wide tyres make great sledges.
You can get most 16" wheels over std S3 brakes...single piece 16" wheels anyway.
If you are serious about snow...and not a few flakes of this southern **** - but proper Scottish winter type snow the S3 is useless on standard tyres. you need to go for winter tyres with their compound optimised for cold weather etc...and in this case I'd think 16" Golf steel wheels will fit...but I've not proved it.
My 911 is better in proper snow than my S3!
rickquattro
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Reading some Audi publicity material from the "25 years of Quattro" book, it says that actually the number of crashes, in winter with the Quattro cars increased. Drivers appreciated the extra traction and increased speeds to match. Then they were supprised to find themselves off the road even though they had a state of the art car.
The 4wd is not invicible, it just moves the point where contact is lost with the road/snow surface, up a few notches.
All of our cars with ESP/ABS/TCS have the same single flaw to screw it all up... Yep, thats the driver....
An easy way to understand how your car works in the snow is to find a carpark (not multi storey..doh)... Asda/Ikea have good ones to play on...
Just watch out for the handbrake turnin Nova/Corsa/Saxo "massive"....
The 4wd is not invicible, it just moves the point where contact is lost with the road/snow surface, up a few notches.
All of our cars with ESP/ABS/TCS have the same single flaw to screw it all up... Yep, thats the driver....
An easy way to understand how your car works in the snow is to find a carpark (not multi storey..doh)... Asda/Ikea have good ones to play on...
Just watch out for the handbrake turnin Nova/Corsa/Saxo "massive"....
To be honest took my S3 out to the Alps last year in January and had no problems. In the alps when roads are closed to vehicles with no chains, the police will let you pass with quattro! Its all driving slow in high gears to keep grip down. I was out there 10 days driving up the mountain everyday, so some serious fun was had both on the mountain, the bars and of course in the car! 
Ess_Three said:
Yeah I live in Aberdeen, plus I need to drive on country style roads to commute to work.
My RS4s are a bit scuffed too by the previous owner so it would be a good time to get them refurbished.
Do you think I could live with just winter tyres on the front of the car and just standard ones on the back?
Backdrifts said:
It's not so much the diameter of the wheel you need to look out for, more the contact patch and it's ability to cut through the snow and find grip. Thinner wheels would be better than smaller ones.
The S3 was pretty useless last winter. The snow up here is just too wet and icy. Might be a little better this year with the uprated haldex, but I'm not getting my hopes up. As has been mentioned, the four wheel drive will help you pick up speed quicker, but it does absolutely nothing to help you slow down. You'll just end up going faster than you need to and you're ******** when you need to hit the middle pedal.
rickquattro
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Ess_Three
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Backdrifts said:
I wouldn't...The tyre manufacturers say fit winter tyres in 4s...too much grip at the front will give a wayward rear end, potentially spinning you and causing a crash.
I've just priced up a set of 4 winter tyres for my GTI...I'll be fitting them this time home.
They are designed to work in temperatures less than 7 degrees or so, as well as snow, so they'll be better than the Toyo T1-Rs that are on now...I'n fed up of being stuck in my driveway when the snow comes.
I ran Toyo winter tyres 2 winters ago...and they were brilliant.
But I certainly wouldn't run fronts only...
ChriS3 said:
yeah sorry that's what I meant the width of the wheel.
I pretty sure I seen your car heading up north anderson drive a few mornings ago.
Backdrifts said:
A set of 7x17's with 195 winter tyres would be a good thing. Until the snow cleared...
Could have been me warming the car up. Going from the old Egg & Dart to Seafield House doesn't give me much chance to get any heat into the engine so I normally tank up and down for about 20 mins to make the drive worthwhile.
darko
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driven my s3 to the alps several times once with amzingly heavy snow fall. if you are going to be somewhere where snow will be on the roads most of the time then snow chains are the answer or seriously consider fitting snow tyres. you can get these in 255 / 40 / 18 but they are not cheap ! better to fit some 17" wheels for sure and keep your 18s for when summer is back
The snow in the Alps is very different from the snow we get here. Theirs is nice, dry and remarkably grippy. Ours is wet and very slippy. Snow chains a more hassle than they're worth over here as the snow doesn't stay around long enough to get any use out of them.
I ran 295's on my car when I was living in Colorado (same type of snow as the Alps). Never once needed chains, and I was working as a delivery driver in a ski resort.
I ran 295's on my car when I was living in Colorado (same type of snow as the Alps). Never once needed chains, and I was working as a delivery driver in a ski resort.
only problem I had in the snow last year was switching the esp off. ****** thing wouldnt move with it on!!!!!!!!
Snow driving is easy as long as you realise that with ALL QUATTRO dirve systems you WILL ACCELORATE QUICKER than conventional cars! BUT YOUR BRAKING IS THE SAME so always remember that to brake efficiently your wheels MUST ROTATE, yes ABS. However if like me you are a RALLY DRIVING INSTRUCTOR then with experience you would be able ot stop quicker using canence braking ( pumping the brakes on and off) NO DON'T TRY IT ON SNOW, learn how to do it first on damp private roads. You should be albel to stop in a shorter distance than with ABS on once you have mastered it. So take care!
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LYRAC said:
Being a professional Rally Driver 'an all', I'm sure you meant to say 'cadence braking'.
I hope your instructing ability is better than your spelling mate .N.B The above post is a leg pulling exercise (For the hot headed amongst the online community).
Randomjim
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