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Driving in the snow is a lot like skiing or cyclocross biking. It has a lot of nice smeary flow. It’s great fun! But GREAT TIRES are the huge key.
Probably AWD/4WD is also a factor but I’ve never had that. I’m pretty sure that TIRES are the #1 thing. A lotta rally racers never had no AWD…
Snows all around are what you want.
What’s more… If you can swing Hakkas or Blizzaks I’m pretty sure you’ll rule the winter.
Go studs if you won’t get busted.
Those rally drivers know what’s up! They love snow driving, too.
You really don’t lose control or even braking. It’s just different and it’s just less. It takes longer to do things but you can still do it all. Just plan ahead a bit more and also be mellow. Don’t try to horse it.
Take back roads. But main roads aren’t so bad: other drivers are so afraid that they let big gaps go in a normally max-lame suburban driving scene. They think they’re jamming up the road like normal, driving slow in the fast lane, etc., but they’re not! They think they’re driving right across from another car for miles, jamming up two lanes but they’re so anxious they open up huge gaps. …You just drive around them! A car that’s going 25mph is so easy to pass! What looks like a traffic jam can be threaded easily, calmly and not going very fast, either.
Then make sure you keep your snows nice. Take em off as soon as winter is over. Put em on before the first snow. Rob says don’t drive em on pavement over 80mph. Speed heat uses them up fastest of all.
We had Hakkas on our old Volvo (thanks to Rob). Turned that car from one you could hold back on snow with your hand into a rally monster.
Our big Town Car can’t really leave its parking place in snow unless it has snows all around and 200 lbs in the trunk. Then it’s a champ! I recall driving back from Detroit on night with 10″ of snow on the freeway at 55mph. I suppose a couple big SUVs passed us the whole time. We’d go like a white whale thru long expanses of white silence then come up on a cluster of 20 cars and SUVs going 25 then just fly thru them and on into the next miles of empty road. That was quite an evening! But the snows let the Town Car rule!!!
Bridgestone Blizzaks … the #2 snow. (some rate it as a tie with Hakkas, but c’mon)
Nokian Hakkapilitas — best snow tire. often with studs.
