Tales of a C3, a Goddess and some BMW's.

Deanxm · Unread post by **Deanxm** » 28 Nov 2010, 10:29

With all the snow around and an empty road it would have been rude not to have a little play with the rear wheel drive BMW

It is good fun isnt it, i do miss having a RWD car

D

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 28 Nov 2010, 10:48

I feel cheated

No snow here at all

Just perishingly cold. Not sure what it was first thing but the brass monkeys were shivering...

Glorious sunshine and blue skies now...

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 28 Nov 2010, 11:14

CitroJim wrote:I feel cheated

No snow here at all Just perishingly cold. Not sure what it was first thing but the brass monkeys were shivering...

Glorious sunshine and blue skies now...

We have had quite deep snow for the last 4 days here, its getting deeper. Most of the roads have ice under the snow too, which is tricky. I almost got stuck in the works car park last night, as its a steep uphill drive to the main road, my car just wouldnt move. The main roads were just polished ice. Im not enjoying this weather much

Plus ive got an extended commute every day this week, 90 mile round trip, not looking forward to the time that will take. Might be time to get winter tyres for the C5!

Its snowing again ...

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 28 Nov 2010, 11:22

DickieG wrote:
With all the snow around and an empty road it would have been rude not to have a little play with the rear wheel drive BMW .

Good man! I was testing the MG out yesterday, seemed pretty good with its cheapo Sunny tyres, maybe they were melting the snow??

I've just ordered some Hankook winter tyres for the Transit, downside is i dunno when they will get here..

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 28 Nov 2010, 11:24

Sounds like it might be an idea to add a gritter lorry to your fleet Chris

Or fit the Traction with a snowplough. I can't imagine a bit of snow impairing the forward motion of that one much...

Best car by far in the snow is a 2CV, closely followed by an R4.

Back in the late 70s when I owned an R4, We got well and truly snowed in down in Somerset. Serious deep stuff. Noting could move for a day as the snow was so deep the cars were just small bumps in the snow.

Next day, the first car out was a 2CV, closely followed by my R4. Everything else remained hopelessly stuck.

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 28 Nov 2010, 11:52

Now there is an idea Jim! A gritter and snow plough maybe

We have never had the traction out in the snow, but i guess with its quite skinny tyres and massive front weight it might grip ok?

I remember a few years ago some family friends had two 2cvs which they had from new to use through the winter, as their Mercs were not up to the job. You can guess how they faired with the salt, they eventually got scrapped. 2Cvs and R4s are great in the snow.

I had thought the C1 would be pretty good too, light weight, very skinny 155 tyres and ABS with EBD as standard. It is actually very very good in the snow, there is so much more grip than my C5 has.

My C5 would barely pull out of our drive, but the C1 was having no such problems, not even one wheel spin. The ABS is very effective too, grabbing the wheels with more grip to slow the car as fast as possible. My C5 has that feature but its wide tyres do it no favours in this weather. Its new Michelins are rubbish in the snow, much worse than its Toyos i had fitted last winter.

I might pinch the C1 for this week, its much more secure on the road in snow. With winter tyres it would be virtually unstoppable!

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 28 Nov 2010, 11:59

Citroenmad wrote: I might pinch the C1 for this week, its much more secure on the road in snow. With winter tyres it would be virtually unstoppable!

So that kind of adds weight to my theory that in snow you can't beat light weight and skinny tyres

It's what the 2CV and R4 had in common.

The idea to get a set of winter tyres is becoming very compelling now. Especially if the trend is for harder winters.

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 28 Nov 2010, 12:05

I've ordered snow chains for the front of the Transit, no hope in hell i'm getting stuck with what is predicted next week!

Our salt bin outside is already 90% used, a month back it was brimmed. The Audi driver down the road decided he would grit his whole drive and the round outside his house to make sure he wouldnt get stuck. An we had 1 inch of snow at best yesterday, most of which is now gone anyway. Getting out his drive will be the least of his worries ....

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 28 Nov 2010, 12:18

XantiaMan wrote: Our salt bin outside is already 90% used, a month back it was brimmed. The Audi driver down the road decided he would grit his whole drive and the round outside his house to make sure he wouldnt get stuck.

That sounds incredibly selfish to me

Some people! I mean, it's not that bad yet? Those of us who can still recall 1963 (just), 1970 and 1981 see this latest lot as a bit of a light dusting really.

Apparently B and Q report sales of salt is 1600% up this week. At that rate, the country is going to end up being preserved in brine... I hate to think what damage all this salt does when it ends up in water courses and on agricultural land.

Sounds like the good old populace are panicking again, egged on by a hysterical media..

How about they learn how to safely negotiate snow and ice in the old traditional manner? maybe it's less strain on their tiny brains to go and buy a ton of salt. Personally, I think we as a nation use far too much of it...

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 28 Nov 2010, 12:29

XantiaMan wrote:I've ordered snow chains for the front of the Transit, no hope in hell i'm getting stuck with what is predicted next week!

You say that and you should be OK with the ground clearance that a Transit offers but I recall having snow chains on my old E28 BMW 528i when I went skiing in Italy, the snow was so deep that even with chains the car became stuck due to it sitting on its belly on the deep snow and the wheels spinning as if they were up on axle stands

The biggest issue in snow is that even with a 4 x 4 fitted with snow chains if the road is blocked by stranded car's you still can't go anywhere

Oh and that Audi bloke sound like a right selfish %*&!

Unread post by **myglaren** » 28 Nov 2010, 13:10

While most of the main roads here are clear enough the sidestreets are untouched.

I did try and induce a skid with mine, while parking on Friday night.
Didn't seem to want to skid at all, possibly due to the new tyres.

Having said that I'm probably going to slide it into a bus tonight when I go for daughter #1

Deanxm · Unread post by **Deanxm** » 28 Nov 2010, 13:33

as supposed to have loads of snow overnight and today but so far nothing on the north of the island, Toby has just collected Mikes interior and carried it off in his Coupe (yes it did fit

) and tthere was a slight dribble of snow for 5 mins and that was it, i want some snow!!!

D

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 28 Nov 2010, 14:03

This morning a lady from the bottom of our road parked outside my house, she did ask first but i think she meant on a permanant basis whilst the ice and snow was here!

In lieu of the amount of salt left, i went round her house, moved her Citroen C3 back, and offered to shovel the snow and ice that was there at the moment, and gritted the area for her, plus some up the hill and gave her some advice about getting up the hill, as the weather will be getting worse. It only took 15 minutes of my time, i used less than a bucket of grit and i feel better about helping someone out, rather than 'myself' which is sadly all to common these days, self self self. Not me of course, other people

(and fortunately, those sort of people are NOT on this forum)

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 28 Nov 2010, 16:11

CitroJim wrote: How about they learn how to safely negotiate snow and ice in the old traditional manner? maybe it's less strain on their tiny brains to go and buy a ton of salt. Personally, I think we as a nation use far too much of it...

I hear that! I believe the use of salt creates the smooth ice where previously the snow either melted then ran down the drains or froze as snow. The over-use of salt appears to immediately melt the snow into puddles of standing water which refreezes, across the whole of the road as the salt washes away, to create treacherous ice rinks.

There have even been two occasions many years ago where I've ridden on snow and found it wasn't as bad as expected. One bike was a CG125 going to work and back and the other was on a Norton Commando caught out in a heavy snow drift and a strong crosswind.

On Friday evening, I found my fun drive was curtailed by a gritter lorry making the roads and particularly the roundabouts less grippy as it spread it's gravel - all in anticipation of the snow we didn't get.

What a waste of council tax money.

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 28 Nov 2010, 16:43

Here is Mr Audi with most of the salt designated for his road being used on his drive and road outside his house