Dynamik Snow Handling

[wolfie138]

Was bugging me all night, cos we've been getting snow - just dandruff stuff mostly - several times through the night. i used to have a Supra w/ 225s on, and she was just a bobsleigh. Given the Black Widow has 255s and is lower, i was wondering if she'd have issues. decided to get up early this morn and just do a run out the estate, which is where the bulk of travel issues lie : we have to get up a bank and join another road so the bank and stopping in the churned up stuff at the junction is usually what buggers things up.

anyway, we had mebbes 2, 2.5" or so down on top of yesterday's ice, but she wandered up the street like "yeah? so?" obviously i could tell her wide tyres were a bit sledgey at corners but as w/ everything to do w/ snow driving, a little bit of common sense means you can avoid 90% of issues.
was slightly panicking about not having snow tyres, but i gotta say that quattro system is effing mint.

the Widow :

tracks, think that's about 2 or 3", give or take :

 

[RPSXR]

you will never have problems in fresh snow. wait until it starts melting or worse, refreezing. quattro will manage in most cases though!

 

[ANDYTQ]

5-6"here and still no problems ,drove over a local mountain road to get to work and with snow tyres 235 s i think i had more grip than most of the chelsea tractors i saw out,snow tyres give you the extra grip to brake and turn properly,also loads more grip when playing with the throttle.

 

[Ste_Nova]

i was plowing drifts with mine last night

 

[Audi Dynamik]

Same with mine, one year ago snow like this and i was up the hills on the estate nearby full with snow and it drove straight to the top without any winter tyres.

There isnt much snow where i am now at the moment. But i want more and more to come so i can go out and show it off to all the Bmw, Jaguar, Mercedes Owners and best of all to the Range Rover Owners who have hugeee Wheels and Cannot move it !

But there it is, sitting with my sons golf with the matching plates, while my misses is out shopping in her Audi.

 

[riggssuzuki]

Quattro + winter tyres = awsome............simples....

 

[rezulteo]

glad to hear no ones been having problems with the snow!

 

[Gavin0478]

glad to hear no ones been having problems with the snow!

Of course they wont............. this is not a BMW forum!!

 

[Audi Dynamik]

Here's Mine.

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/audi-s4-a4-a4-cab-b8-chassis/178528-snowy-dynamik.html

 

[BahnStormer77]

you're unlikely to get stuck with quattro, definitely not in light snow and unlikely even in ice.... but it's the silly stuff like turning around corners and stopping at junctions that I found difficult: on ice or pakced snow, I used to refer to it as "hover-craft mode".... you could flick the car slightly sideways, but the ESP would kick in and flick the car "straight" again.... and the momentum would scarcely change at all: i.e. if you were going at a corner, you would be off. If you turned ESP off entirely, then you could get a bit of a Scandanavian flick going (get the car 45-80degrees sideways to your direction of travel) and then back on the power to create some momentum in a new direction.

Winter tyres + quattro is amazing, but you're actually better off with FWD and budget winter tyres than just quattro and summer tyres.

 

[Audi Dynamik]

True, But i wouldn't agree with the last bit sorry.

 

[BahnStormer77]

True, But i wouldn't agree with the last bit sorry.

Don't knock it until you've actually tested it for yourself: I was in a Citroen estate (fwd) with 5 adults and full of luggage when we stopped at a set of traffic lights on a fairly steep slope, in -15C on smooth ice and pulled off without a blip of traction control... when we walked past 5 minutes later, there was some douche in a Range Rover on summer tyres who was taking running starts at the junction and couldn't get up to the lights, let alone stop, hold it on the handbrake and pull away smoothly.

Talk to any Scandanavian, I can't rememebr the exact phrase, but it's something like "4x4 is nice, but get the right tyres first".

 

[riggssuzuki]

Don't knock it until you've actually tested it for yourself: I was in a Citroen estate (fwd) with 5 adults and full of luggage when we stopped at a set of traffic lights on a fairly steep slope, in -15C on smooth ice and pulled off without a blip of traction control... when we walked past 5 minutes later, there was some douche in a Range Rover on summer tyres who was taking running starts at the junction and couldn't get up to the lights, let alone stop, hold it on the handbrake and pull away smoothly.

Talk to any Scandanavian, I can't rememebr the exact phrase, but it's something like "4x4 is nice, but get the right tyres first".

I have to agree. I work in Norway and have owned high power rear wheel drive cars. I have managed to get up roads on rear wheel drive with the correct tyres that 4x4 have struggled on. You really can't comment until you have tried a good set of winter tyres. I have converted a few people here in Scotland and they are amazed at the difference. The fact that you can actually stop in a controlled safe manner on very slippy roads is a huge shock to poeple. Rear or FWD cars with winters will IMHO beat the erse of any 4x4 on summer tyres.

 

[White220]

3 years ago, 13000 miles on my PS2s (on sline SE Quattro Avant) was getting stuck in my street. Spoke to a corsa driver who was having no problem with 2 x Winter tyres on. Spent £900 on 4 wheels and 4 x Conti Winter Sport and was passing other quattros stuck in the street.
Never forget that no tyre brings summer braking to winter roads!

 

[longp2]

I was behind an A5 Quattro during the last bit of snow that we had and he was tip toeing around like bambi on ice, his car was wearing 19" 255 wide alloys (the same as I have on my S4) and he was going nowhere fast!
Even though I have 4 wheel drive I swapped my wheels for a set of 18" with winter tyres as I knew the summer continentals would be crap - too wide.

 

[Audi Dynamik]

The Range Rover's are useless in snow anyway with them big wheels and wide tyres they cant get anywhere, i don't see the point in having a Range Rover which gets stuck in the snow so you have to get winter tyres on it.Thats my opinion anyway. (Makes me laugh when i see something like a young lad in like a W Reg Corsa plough through the snow and a big Range Rover at the side of the road stuck ! )

I have tested mine ( 255 35 19 Quattro) against my wifes (245 40 18 Fwd) both with the same tyres but mine the Quattro with alot less grip and Beat my wife's in the snow as they was side by side accelerating. Braking whise, Quattro slightly better not much, And round corners i would say Quattro slightly better once again.

I can say that the Quattro and Summer Tyres is good in the snow but not excellent obviously but Winter Tyres would make a massive difference but for now i would rather stay put with Summer Tyres as it is good enough for me and we don't have much snow anyway where i am (Saying that we just had a load a couple of weeks ago ! )

And for the Bmw i previously had, just forget it !

 

[riggssuzuki]

Hmm stange. I had a range rover sport 3,6 TDV8. With decent tyres it was basically a discovery and renowned for its good offroad bad conditions performance. I never had an issue ever with it. IN fact for snow conditions i would go as far as saying it couldnt be beat (winter tyres) Saying that i have friends with X5s who all detest the snow handling of theirs. I think a majority of the issue is down to the individual driving the vehicle. Obviously the winter/offroad tyres help enormously but if you cant drive then you just cant drive. (I dont mean you personally by the way)

 

[BahnStormer77]

That whole " wide tyres are bad on ice" thing is from twenty years ago when you needed the tyres to cut through the ice: with modern winter tyres, you just get the same width as the car has for summer tyres: wider gives you more grip because the modern rubber compounds and micro particles actually grip the ice!

 

[longp2]

That whole " wide tyres are bad on ice" thing is from twenty years ago when you needed the tyres to cut through the ice: with modern winter tyres, you just get the same width as the car has for summer tyres: wider gives you more grip because the modern rubber compounds and micro particles actually grip the ice!

Should have said "wide summer tyres are crap" my winters are 235 wide but the ones I had on my VRs were 195 and they seemed to offer better grip.

 

[ScottishA4B9]

That whole " wide tyres are bad on ice" thing is from twenty years ago when you needed the tyres to cut through the ice: with modern winter tyres, you just get the same width as the car has for summer tyres: wider gives you more grip because the modern rubber compounds and micro particles actually grip the ice!

Interesting. Did not know that. Everybody keeps saying the wider tyres are crap in the snow!!! Cheers mate!:icon_thumright:

 

[Audi Dynamik]

the wider the worse imo

 

[MartayMcFly]

Wide vs narrow is still a thing in rallying - they use spindly little tyres in snow so they can cut through to the hard stuff and the studs in the tyres can grip. Wide tyres would then be better in snow on top of ice as you'd not be digging down to the slippery ice as much, just compacting the snow under the wheel. I think the main reason people use smaller/narrower wheels in winter is to avoid damage from slipping into kerbs, and because smaller tyres are cheaper.

Get that snow cleared off your roof too.

 

[Audi Dynamik]

Just had a phone call from my wife, Kurbed the wheel from slipping in the snow !
Another trip to the Bodyshop !

 

[BahnStormer77]

Just had a phone call from my wife, Kurbed the wheel from slipping in the snow !
Another trip to the Bodyshop !

I love how many silly scrapes that I've saved myself.... three and a bit years ago, when I first got the winter tyres, I saved my self a few grands worth of damage within 24hrs of getting the tyres: it would have probably been a knock for knock had I not been able to stop dead on ice, pop it into reverse and back up while an out of control Volvo XC70 coast across the sheet ice on a residential side road.

 

[wolfie138]

all comes down to how you drive too. drive like a tw@ and it's odds on bad things will happen.