Driving in the snow

jimbo_tdi · Post by **jimbo_tdi** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:12 pm

How have you all found your Polos in the snow? Mine's soldiered on so far, we've had a max of 3/4 inches and some roads are still ungritted, but I think the weight of the diesel lump helps a lot. I do need to get some new tyres though

they're at 2mm at the moment, 8K in 5 months has taken it's toll

cupracraig · Post by **cupracraig** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:15 pm

Yep it's done well... Traction control is a bit too keen though and even when it's turned off...it's not really

jakovdub · Post by **jakovdub** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:38 pm

my car is on coilovers and i'm smashing into every single peace of snow! just call me MR.PLOW!

doddy361 · Post by **doddy361** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:00 pm

I have winter tyres on 17" 7.5J Alloys, thing is a beast :L doesn't get stuck anywhere!

Paul87 · Post by **Paul87** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:16 pm

I have had 8-10 inches of snow over the weekend, mostly on ungritted roads. The car worked great the ESP kicked in a few times while accelerating/ braking but it was nothing serious. What tyres do you have fitted?

Grey_Polo · Post by **Grey_Polo** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:37 pm

This is my third Swiss winter with the Polo on snow tyres (of course). Last week I had to make a 50km journey that was white all the way there and back with hills etc. There was never a hint that the car would get stuck. I have only the factory 15mm lower suspension, and the biggest problem is front skirt becoming a plough.

ABS and ESP are fantastic - I doubt there are many places it couldn't go that a 4WD of the same ground clearance could. We get about 3 to 4 weeks a year with snow around here - and more if driving up to ski resorts.

Snow tyre are not compulsory here but 99% fit them as insurance claims can be invalid in case of an accident. They increase grip by about 10 - 15% - but this is so often the difference between getting stuck - or not stopping in time...

Beerbelly · Post by **Beerbelly** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:02 pm

I'm on a spare set of 16" steels with Dunlop winter tyres. No problems in the snow, in fact I prefer it over the wife's Honda CRV.

jimbo_tdi · Post by **jimbo_tdi** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:37 pm

jakovdub wrote:my car is on coilovers and i'm smashing into every single peace of snow! just call me MR.PLOW!

Hahaha Mr. Plow if you're near Rochdale this week come and sort our cul-de-sac out please!

Paul87 wrote:I have had 8-10 inches of snow over the weekend, mostly on ungritted roads. The car worked great the ESP kicked in a few times while accelerating/ braking but it was nothing serious. What tyres do you have fitted?

I found the exact same thing, ESP usually sorts any skidding out before anything serious occurs, my neighbour was trying to get on his drive and the wheels just kept spinning and spinning, his front end was going awol skidding to the left and right. This is a 2010 Focus, I tried getting on the drive and a little skidding occurred but I was revving the engine whilst reversing up, once I stopped revving and just used clutch control it got up no problem. I'm not using any winter tyres or anything, they aren't even any good tyres, they're the Dunlop SP 01's possible the worst rated tyres for snow and the wet! lol god help me.

NMavs · Post by **NMavs** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:58 pm

Got my 15" winters on my gti, with esp off and just grips through everything. Best investment ive ever had haha lost count of all these fancy cars ive gone around sat stranded in the middle of roads near me

lol

jimbo_tdi · Post by **jimbo_tdi** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:10 pm

NMavs wrote:Got my 15" winters on my gti, with esp off and just grips through everything. Best investment ive ever had haha lost count of all these fancy cars ive gone around sat stranded in the middle of roads near me lol

I was debating getting them but you're end, Rawtenstall and Whitworth got most of the white stuff. Just hope it f**ks off soon, we've had our hours fun. My friend at work wanted me to give her a lift because her Qashqai "is sh*t in the weather, told him that we didn't need a fake 4x4" hahaha

NMavs · Post by **NMavs** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:17 pm

Haha yeah its crap up this way. To get to my street you have a choice of 2 very steep hills which never get grited! and dumb ass people think its a good idea to park there cars either side of the hill, and directly at the bottom

Sometimes i wish i had a clapped out banger to roll into the ****

lol Alot of people at my place of work have BMWs

Just laugh as i drive out of the carpark everynight with ease, and there all sat there digging themselves deeper haha

Match · Post by **Match** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:33 pm

I got up a step hill covered in about 4-5 inches of snow with no tyre tracks, the traction control might be a bit on the safe side - it constantly goes off - but it works

R777PHY · Post by **R777PHY** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:56 am

Mine is a 1.2 petrol not had any problems in 5/6 inch snow standard alloys on standard tyres also I took the car into an empty car park and tried it with traction control off was good for the first 5 min then I got a bit heavy footed and had a lot of fun was spinning like mad and drifting around some guy that got stuck in a saxo

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