Canadian driving in snow

[Peter Cain <cain@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Subject: E28 TRX 220/50/r390 = NO TRACTION!
>
> I just had an accident last night here in Missouri.
> My old '86 528e with a couple mods hit a light pole when I spun out of
> control......
> Sorry, about the WOB, anyways, I was wondering why in the world that my
> TRX 220's get ABSOLUTLEY NO TRACTION in the snow.  I literally mean NO
> TRACTION!  And I seem to get a false sense of traction, too, don't know
> quite what to do with this one...Any info/suggestions (besides snow tires) on this problem would be greatly appreciated.
> Eben Shantz BCCA#163464

Eben and others asking about winter traction:
Sorry to hear about your accident. Here are a few comments from someone who has spent his life living just downwind from Lake Huron, in the London, Ontario snow belt where we get a nice dusting of snow most nights. Wide performance tires may have a good-looking
aggressive tread (assuming it isn't worn down too much) but they will often ride on top of the snow rather than dig in and grip. It's actually better to have narrow, aggressively treaded tires in winter so they can get a grip in the snow and not 'snow-plane'. I have
winter tires like this, plus about an extra 75 pounds of weight in the trunk of my 325iS (sand--can come in handy), plus I keep the gas tank over 1/2 full all the time. Sure it slips at times but traction is usually very good. My next door neighbor has a 325i and puts
on narrow aggressive-tread winter tires on steel wheels each fall (on all four corners) and has no problems either. This is what many people in Scandanavian countries do too.
Cheers,
Peter Cain
London, Ontario

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