[runrider]

So, this is my first winter with a RWD car. I've been avoiding going out when it snows b/c I dont want to get it all salty & dirty (thats what the honda is for)... but I do have an itch to play with the RWD drivetrain on the slippery roads. Anybody else do this?

[BKV122]

i do it in my AWD

[pg2373]

I like playing in the snow as well but there is just way too much out there!!!!!!

[mmm def]

if you are on summer tires, don't go out.

[flip4335]

Originally Posted by runrider

So, this is my first winter with a RWD car. I've been avoiding going out when it snows b/c I dont want to get it all salty & dirty (thats what the honda is for)... but I do have an itch to play with the RWD drivetrain on the slippery roads. Anybody else do this?

Dude,

Every chance I get! Salt and dirt will always wash away. How else would you be able to know how your vehicle handles if you don't take it out for a ride? I also installed a Quaife diff and boy, what a diff that makes! Most times, the DSC light would go bonkers prior to the install whenever I hit a rough patch...after I installed the Quaife, the light hardly, if ever, lights up, even though I could feel the back end wiggling over the slushy snow we had yesterday in the DC metro area.

If it gets REALLY bad, like right now, I have the Honda Pilot with the big fat wheels/tires to plow through the 3 feet (what seems like 3 ft) of snow.

So, my recommendation....go to an empty parking lot and do some donuts to see how your ride handles and to get used to the drifting. You couldn't imagine how some folks panic when they feel their ride slipping--whether through hydroplaning or snow drifting--and because they didn't acclimate themselves to their new rides, they would overcompensate!!!! I know...driving a FWD car is def different from RWD...as well as AWD. I have had the pleasure of having all three, so I know what to do when I drive each...totally different dynamics and sensations....

Bottom line....go out and play to find out how your RWD ride handles and how you should react in an emergency maneuver....go ahead and splatter your BMW with salt and mud and stuff....it all washes out, but you will be the better...and wiser...for understanding the dynamics of your ride...just in case....

Cheers!

[runrider]

Aside from having a collision, can you damage your car by drifting in the snow?

[vgtek]

Originally Posted by runrider

Aside from having a collision, can you damage your car by drifting in the snow?

nope, its quite fun...best place is an empty parking lot (away from lamps)

[BOSSBMW]

i dunno playin in the snow once or twice i got the little red-gear icon thing on my dash... kinda scared me... not to mention 2/3 times i did it i ended up with a nail in my tire as well.

bad luck for me.

[Verbiage]

Originally Posted by flip4335

Dude,

Every chance I get! Salt and dirt will always wash away. How else would you be able to know how your vehicle handles if you don't take it out for a ride? I also installed a Quaife diff and boy, what a diff that makes! Most times, the DSC light would go bonkers prior to the install whenever I hit a rough patch...after I installed the Quaife, the light hardly, if ever, lights up, even though I could feel the back end wiggling over the slushy snow we had yesterday in the DC metro area.

If it gets REALLY bad, like right now, I have the Honda Pilot with the big fat wheels/tires to plow through the 3 feet (what seems like 3 ft) of snow.

So, my recommendation....go to an empty parking lot and do some donuts to see how your ride handles and to get used to the drifting. You couldn't imagine how some folks panic when they feel their ride slipping--whether through hydroplaning or snow drifting--and because they didn't acclimate themselves to their new rides, they would overcompensate!!!! I know...driving a FWD car is def different from RWD...as well as AWD. I have had the pleasure of having all three, so I know what to do when I drive each...totally different dynamics and sensations....

Bottom line....go out and play to find out how your RWD ride handles and how you should react in an emergency maneuver....go ahead and splatter your BMW with salt and mud and stuff....it all washes out, but you will be the better...and wiser...for understanding the dynamics of your ride...just in case....

Cheers!

Yeah man, have you looked outside lately? RIDICULOUS

My neighborhood looks like one of those crystal balls you shake up and all the fake white snow particles start going apeshit.

But everything said is true

Originally Posted by vgtek

nope, its quite fun...best place is an empty parking lot (away from lamps)

[zzzbullseye]

Get out and do it! Here's a link to a vid of me having fun last weekend. It's kinda boring and I took a beating from the "drifting Nazis", but c'est la vie...

[e60_M5_2020]

Driving RWD w/snow for 5 years. I neither enjoy it, nor despise it; simply a fact of life.

If you're going to practice ("have fun") anything, practice stopping. That's cool you can do doughnuts and drift, but if you don't know how long it takes you to come to a dead stop at various speeds, you won't last long.True for any car. Second, for RWD, practice long, mild corners, this is the prime situation for the rear kicking out. Again, not drifting, rather practicing to notice when you've got traction and when you don't.

[nyc3r]

snow is fun.. but no snow today..

[Wonka]

The snow is too high on the unplowed streets in my neighborhood to be recreational with the car. In northern Baltimore County, there's around 28 inches of snow and it just ended.

[runrider]

red gear icon??? what is that one for? (don't have my manual here) thats the kind of thing I'm afraid of.

[bavarian19]

Originally Posted by Wonka

The snow is too high on the unplowed streets in my neighborhood to be recreational with the car. In northern Baltimore County, there's around 28 inches of snow and it just ended.

We have about 30, and still coming down.

[runrider]

no winter tires here. :-(

beneliezer's post kind of scares me... maybe its just b/c he has the AT, and I don't know how well a torque converter deals with going fast backwards when in D. I have NO idea what that really does mechanically to the car... but I happen to know from experience you can stall an AT by spinning around backwards on ice.

[Wonka]

Originally Posted by bavarian19

We have about 30, and still coming down.

Honestly, I didn't measure so there may be more or less. Everyone is saying 30 so I'll go with it as well.

[Verbiage]

Yup. 30 sounds about right. Finally stopped out here in MD.

[Oulixes]

It is not only fun to drive in snow, it is also quite useful to do it because you learn to control the car. Just take it easy at first and find a safe place to do it.

[runrider]

Originally Posted by Oulixes

It is not only fun to drive in snow, it is also quite useful to do it because you learn to control the car. Just take it easy at first and find a safe place to do it.

Now that sounds like convincing advice to me! I'll be gentle on my baby though.

[Dackz]

I took mine out in the first chances I got on both my all seasons and my winters ( I run all seasons as my summers because in CO we can get snow in May and in September so why chance being caught on summers) and I played around first chance I got to see what it could do. Best bet, like said above, just go out when its not TOO deep and find an empty parking lot free of stuff to hit that you know. Gotta see what it and you can do.

[serg1282]

As long as you're doing it in a parking lot or somewhere else where you're not putting anyone else in danger go for it. Like others have said, it's a great way to learn how to control the car (and have fun).