the award for worst snow/ice car is?

AdrianHi

Lack of weight over the driven wheels doesn't help RWD cars either. FWD cars have the engine weight over the driven wheels to help.
Most of the time RWD is better for grip and traction because the weigth transfer when accelerating and cornering works in favour of RWD.

With snow and ice RWD can be as good as FWD with the right winter or in more extreme conditions snow tyres on.
A few BMW owners of the BMW forum use winter tyres and they have had no trouble at all recently.
I kept thinking about getting some winter tyres but didn't . So I'm there with my summer tyres in a RWD BMW on the wet snow and slush going nowhere fast ... useless.
Interestingly when the snow is fresh and dry the traction control system put into the right mode for getting traction on slippery surfaces does work exceptionally well.

I've got some autosocks now which will do to get me out of trouble, I'll think more seriously about winter tyres later in the year when they are back in stock again.

tomstickland

I used to drive my BMW E30 around in the snow without too much trouble. No traction control. Rear wheel drive. I had some quite deep grooved tyres though. It was most fun on flat surfaces where it would hold quite a decent angle forever.

kaya

mercedes c class auto estate, performed so badly i am selling it and will never buy another

AdrianHi

kaya wrote: »

mercedes c class auto estate, performed so badly i am selling it and will never buy another

Buy a second set of the smallest cheapest wheels that will fit, put winter (aka cold weather) tyres on and use those wheels for the months of the year where the temperature is below 7DegC. The summer tyres most in the UK use year round are only really designed for 7DegC at the coldest.
On the grounds that you can resell the extra wheels later and you can onyl put wear on one set a tyres at a time doing this doesn't cost a lot and your RWD car will work very well in the snow and slush.
Winter tyres have a different rubber compound, mutliple sipes (thin grooves) which wipe water off the surface of ice allowing grip and thicker tread blocks with more edges to give grip. It will transform your Merc in the snow dramatically.
Canadians and North Amercans in northern states will tell you winter tyres are the first priority in snow, 4x4 is second priority.
Example winter tyre for cars like a C class Merc:
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/uk/en/continental/automobile/themes/car_tyres/cold_weather_tyres/contiwintercontact_ts_810/cwc_ts_810_en.html

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

sunshinetours

Low profile directional large radius and very wide tyres all certainly do not assist with any modern car

Cold weather/winter tyres are vastly underrated in this country and can make a huge huge difference to any car. My BM has 19" wheels with rubber bands on it which is fine for 10 months of the year here in the sunny south, but when we get snow or ice I know full well my car (whatever I may do) will not perform well in these conditions (despite some people claiming they can drive anything through 10foot of snow becasue of their "experience" !)

As has been mentioned what you can't easily change is the other main problem - the driver!

vikingaero

AdrianHi wrote: »

Buy a second set of the smallest cheapest wheels that will fit, put winter (aka cold weather) tyres on and use those wheels for the months of the year where the temperature is below 7DegC. The summer tyres most in the UK use year round are only really designed for 7DegC at the coldest.
On the grounds that you can resell the extra wheels later and you can onyl put wear on one set a tyres at a time doing this doesn't cost a lot and your RWD car will work very well in the snow and slush.
Winter tyres have a different rubber compound, mutliple sipes (thin grooves) which wipe water off the surface of ice allowing grip and thicker tread blocks with more edges to give grip. It will transform your Merc in the snow dramatically.
Canadians and North Amercans in northern states will tell you winter tyres are the first priority in snow, 4x4 is second priority.
Example winter tyre for cars like a C class Merc:
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/uk/en/continental/automobile/themes/car_tyres/cold_weather_tyres/contiwintercontact_ts_810/cwc_ts_810_en.html

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

In the UK you are far better having snow tires on FWD cars on a cost/benefit basis. I lived in Scotland for a few years and was advised to buy snow tyres and rims only for the front axle on my FWD car. Most people I knew did exactly the same.

On a RWD car you need snow tyres on all 4 wheels. This is because you need snow tyres on the rear for traction and also on the front for directional stability/braking.

AdrianHi

vikingaero wrote: »

In the UK you are far better having snow tires on FWD cars on a cost/benefit basis. I lived in Scotland for a few years and was advised to buy snow tyres and rims only for the front axle on my FWD car. Most people I knew did exactly the same.

On a RWD car you need snow tyres on all 4 wheels. This is because you need snow tyres on the rear for traction and also on the front for directional stability/braking.

Call me fussy but I'm pretty insistent on matching 4 tyres on any car or at least getting very similar tread pattern and quality all round regrdless of which wheels are driven. Winter tyres and summer tyres behave very differently in the cold, I just wouldn't do it.

Bridgestone wrote:

Q: Can I put snow tires on just the drive wheels of my car?

A: Putting just two snow tires on your car is a bad idea. If you have a front-wheel-drive car and put snow tires on the front only, the back wheels won't have anywhere near as much grip as the front wheels. This will make the car much more likely to spin out while braking or cornering. Likewise, if you put snow tires on the just back wheels of a rear-wheel-drive car, the wheels that do the steering won't grip as well as those that provide the power, so the car may not respond when the steering wheel is turned -- it will simply plow straight ahead. Always install snow tires as a full set of four.</B>

Cooper_tyres wrote:

If winter/snow tires are applied to the front axle of any vehicle, winter/snow tires must also be installed on the rear axle. DO NOT apply winter/snow tires only to the front axle. This applies to all passenger and light truck vehicles including front-wheel-drive, 4WD, and AWD vehicles. WARNING! Without winter/snow tires on the rear axle, which have comparable traction qualities to the tires on the front axle, the vehicle may experience adverse handling characteristics. This may result in loss of vehicle control, which could cause serious injury or death.

milliemonster

I have a BMW M sport 320 (its a company car and NOT my choice) and I hate it with a passion, its absolutely rubbish in snow (run flats and rear wheel drive), uncomfortable and I much preferred the VW passat I had in my old job. I can't wait to get rid of it, would never have another BMW

AdrianHi

milliemonster wrote: »

I have a BMW M sport 320 (its a company car and NOT my choice) and I hate it with a passion, its absolutely rubbish in snow (run flats and rear wheel drive), uncomfortable and I much preferred the VW passat I had in my old job. I can't wait to get rid of it, would never have another BMW

You have to really want the general good balance of the car, have the freedom over tyre choice (like may be getting rid of run flats completely or picking the right brand of run flat) to make the current crop of 1, 3 and 5 series work with comfort on anything but good quality tarmac. Some cars mystically work really well without modification.
It doesn't help that cold temperatures do make the run flats behave worse.
What you might find helps if you don't do it already is keeping tyre pressures spot on with a monthly or bi-weekly check. If the pressures get even a bit low it starts to ride more on the stiff sidewall instead of a cushion of air which makes ride and tram lining worse.

At some point BMW will probably sort out suspension tuning properly for use with these tyres, trouble right now is the range of conditions they work right is too narrow for the UK in terms of weather and tarmac quality.