ok so yesterday up here in NJ we got about 4 inches of snow altogether. The forecast called for rain so i said what the hell ill take my tC in to work. well i made it there no problem since it was raining at the time, but my trip back was another story. I made it the 30 miles back fearing for my life, spinning out was the story of my drive home. So anyway i get to my road My road is a nice little hill so its a bitch to get up and a bitch trying to now slide down the whole damn thing. So i figured i didnt want to slide down my whole road and pass my house, so i thought it would be best to throw it in 2nd and slowly creep up. i made it about half way and all i could do was spin. so i back down my road and back down the road at the bottom a little, so i could attempt my descent from the top... i throw it in first and then into second and im on my way...im going around a curve and all of a sudden i feel the tires lose their grip, i ease up on the gas so i dont spin around in a circle, but next thing i know i go about a 90 degree turn and i am off the lip of the road...Basically im screwed cuz im spinning in dirt..so i finally get my dad to come down in his tacoma and chain the two vehicles together and he pulls me out. The moral of this story: dont drive in the snow with the stock tires ever. later.
My snow story with the stock tires
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I drove in about 3 or 4 inches of ice/snow with stock tires, and I was actually pretty impressed with how well the car handled. There aren't any hills or anything between me and work though, so that helped. I'm pretty comfortable with driving in the snow and ice, so it wasn't too hard for me to figure out just how to steer and accelerate to not spin out. The only time I had any problem was when I was coming out of a driveway that has a really long, steep incline going up to the road. It was covered in ice. I had no problem getting up to the top, but then I stopped to look for traffic (which was dumb, because I could tell nobody was around). Then, when I tried to start going again, I started sliding backwards. Just had to put the parking break on, and that made the wheels spin slow enough that I got traction just fine I guess.
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My car will climb up a mountain with the blizzaks, i have tons of expereince in snow and ice and i thought the stock tires sucked in anything more than a dusting.
my winter tires shipped today, they can't get here fast enough though! i almost got stuck again today just because of a couple inches of slush! i also had a really bad experiance in snow/slush/ice last week that made me decide on new tires. not a good feeling trying to drive up a hill and feel the tires slipping
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I had an interesting time driving down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago when we had the big snow storm a while back...It spun and slipped a little and got stuck once when I had to cut through a bunch of thick snow.
I just stick to driving insanely slow in the snow and hope that helps me. Haven't tried it on hills yet since the biggest hill in Chicago is probably the snow piled up in a parking lot somewhere.
I just stick to driving insanely slow in the snow and hope that helps me. Haven't tried it on hills yet since the biggest hill in Chicago is probably the snow piled up in a parking lot somewhere.
I drove the stock tires all last year through the Buffalo winter, and im sure we get Much more than most of you guys. I was plowing through 2 feet of snow last year numerous times, only had trouble with one hill once in realy slushy granular snow. Dont know why your having such a hard time? Now i have the Blizzaks and my car is a TANK.
i don't believe it's possible to drive the tc through 2 feet of snow with any kind of tires on it. (unless it had some kind of lift kit or something. weighing as much as it does, the car punches through drifts pretty well though
hey shep, you have trd springs? how are they working in the snow?
hey shep, you have trd springs? how are they working in the snow?
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hey man, I live in NJ too. The TC really isn't a bad car for the snow, every try driving a RWD, thats hell in jersey winters. Anyway, the problem with that day was it started as rain, so the roads were wet, then turned into snow/ice so all the rain on roads freeze into ice coated by snow. It was deceiving because it just looked like a little snow, but underneath was a death trap of ice frozen by the earlier rain. I opted to have one of my co-workers pick me up that day because my driveway was hell due to the underlying ice.
I think the type of snow makes a difference. The dry packed "crunchy" snow is ok if you don't drive crazy....but there is the ice under a dusting of snow that only studded tires will help with. I grew up in Nebraska and have driven on all types of snow....it is actually very good practice for skid control.
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When that happens, it is hell driving on the roads. It looks like a thin layer of snow but underneath is very wet, splipery layer of ice. Those conditions are horrible!!!
IMO its not the snow that makes winter driving dangerous, its the other people too dumb to slow down on the ice that makes driving in winter dangerous.
yeah im in jersey too but i dont have winter tires, i drive around in the stocks
but you can be sure that i will NOT be driving when it snows
i got into an accident in my old accord a week before getting my tC due to the snow
not taking that risk again, and im too cheap to buy winter tires plus i would have nowhere to store the stock tires
but you can be sure that i will NOT be driving when it snows
i got into an accident in my old accord a week before getting my tC due to the snow
not taking that risk again, and im too cheap to buy winter tires plus i would have nowhere to store the stock tires
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