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View Full Version : Snow+Supercharged540=DeathWagon



dbals
12-09-2005, 07:45 AM
Well we got some snow here today in MO and this makes the first time Ive driven the e34 in it. I must say......it really sucks. I cant imagine tring to get anywere without the traction control turned on. I guess I was just a little surprised at how bad it is. I know my car has a little more power than normal, maybe thats why its so bad. Have you ever had to drive an old school camero Z28 like a 84-86 model in the snow? Its like that.....but worse. I dont see how you guys up north get around.......Iam keeping her in the garage.

saj3n
12-09-2005, 07:56 AM
Yea, I might just to garage mine as well... and its not even supercharged.... However, my problem seems to be more related to the fact that I have been too lazy (stubborn) to switch back to my stock wheels/all performance tires... When Tire Rack states that a tire is "Not Acceptable", they know what they are talking about!

Anthony (M5 in Calgary)
12-09-2005, 07:58 AM
Well we got some snow here today in MO and this makes the first time Ive driven the e34 in it. I must say......it really sucks. I cant imagine tring to get anywere without the traction control turned on. I guess I was just a little surprised at how bad it is. I know my car has a little more power than normal, maybe thats why its so bad. Have you ever had to drive an old school camero Z28 like a 84-86 model in the snow? Its like that.....but worse. I dont see how you guys up north get around.......Iam keeping her in the garage.


Snow+supercharged 540+good snow tires= yeeeeeeehhhhhhaaaaaaaaa!

miliue
12-09-2005, 08:13 AM
I just threw about 210lbs of sand in my trunk and I'm fine in Iowa. We've had 10 or so inches now.

winfred
12-09-2005, 08:19 AM
i moved to a city where it snows once every 7-10 years, and then it doesn't stick

peks
12-09-2005, 08:38 AM
anybody in texas just learning how to drive on the ice? my buddy is in the army at ft hood and said they pretty much shut down the base yesterday cause no one could drive anywhere. hes from mn and spent the day laughing at the pansies

kyleN20
12-09-2005, 09:29 AM
i love it, northern cold weather conditioning makes us all laugh when you hear about texas or some **** getting an inch and the state is SHUT DOWN.

callen
12-09-2005, 09:42 AM
it was ice not snow...big difference....also in Central Texas they don't get snow and ice much so no sense getting snow tires...hence when is snows it is a big deal as it would be in MN if no one had the proper tires.....this gets pretty old.

Incantation
12-09-2005, 10:12 AM
curious about your car.. have you got any photos or videos of it in action? dyno charts? etc?

peks
12-09-2005, 10:23 AM
it was ice not snow...big difference....also in Central Texas they don't get snow and ice much so no sense getting snow tires...hence when is snows it is a big deal as it would be in MN if no one had the proper tires.....this gets pretty old.

i drive on the same tires year round, im too poor to get dedicated snows right now, (and dont anyone give me the lecture about being too poor NOT to have snows..:D ) its knowing HOW to drive on ice and snow. an i understand that you dont know how because you dont have experience, but its still funny:p

tim
12-09-2005, 10:57 AM
We get alot of snow and I've found the 540 to be quite good when properly set up, even with just all season radials. 3 or 4 50lb bags of playsand in the rear. On the Auto, use the manual override and start in 2nd gear, then to "d". On a manual, start in second. You have to go slow and really watch out on downhill turns. I use chains to go skiing in the 540it when the road is covered, and the touring doesn't really need the rear weight like the sedan does. Plus the e39 auto has the tiptronic.

Bottom line is you have to know how to drive on this stuff. For alot of people 4 wheel drive is a negative, in that they drive faster than they can stop, or for the curve radius. We had a guy a week ago who took out a neighbor's mailbox and a small tree on an uphill flat curve. His jeep rubicon got high centered on the broken tree. He had no problem getting up to about 35mph or so on uphill grade and I guess it never occured to him that he might not be able to turn or stop at that speed.

Jon K
12-09-2005, 11:33 AM
I haven't tried to drive mine in the snow yet. I know that in the rain it's sketchy, I am not sure it'd even be worth the effort.

dbals
12-09-2005, 12:15 PM
Ill get some photos up and some info on the car as soon as I get it cleaned up from all this F****** snow.

onewhippedpuppy
12-09-2005, 12:58 PM
Nobody ever realizes that 4wd helps you go, not stop. I love my wife's 4Runner in the snow, except it's too easy. RWD is more fun, more challenge.

Jon K
12-09-2005, 01:09 PM
Nobody ever realizes that 4wd helps you go, not stop. I love my wife's 4Runner in the snow, except it's too easy. RWD is more fun, more challenge.

Call me a party pooper but I love knowing that when I drive my mothers land rover i am NOT going to get stuck. My car has LSD and at one point had snow tires, but it was still not reliable in the snow. Fun for not, i'll take 4wd anyday.

Robin-535im
12-09-2005, 01:10 PM
Nobody ever realizes that 4wd helps you go, not stop. I love my wife's 4Runner in the snow, except it's too easy. RWD is more fun, more challenge.
Actually - 4wd helps you stop too...

When in 4wd, your front axles and rear axles are linked mechanically. If one wheel starts to skid, it can't lock up 100% like a 2wd car can, because that would lock up the entire drive train. Of course, you can still slam on the brakes and get all wheels to skid if you *want* to.

When you're in a 4wd and it's slick, a little brake might make one wheel try to lose traction but the other three keep it from locking up, and your brakes actually work a lot better.

I learned this just last year when my pickup kept skidding off the road in 2wd. When in 4wd, it was still slick of course, but the truck stayed right where I wanted it.

Derek A.
12-09-2005, 01:13 PM
I race Jeeps off stoplights in my E34 with snows on it. I am set up with LSD, Snows and I have greater control over the gearing becuase its a stick. Have to watch the throttle - once you break tires loose - you are done.

Tiger
12-09-2005, 01:54 PM
Easy! With a set of Nokian Hakka snow tires.

Jimbo
12-09-2005, 02:19 PM
Well we got some snow here today in MO and this makes the first time Ive driven the e34 in it. I must say......it really sucks. I cant imagine tring to get anywere without the traction control turned on. I guess I was just a little surprised at how bad it is. I know my car has a little more power than normal, maybe thats why its so bad. Have you ever had to drive an old school camero Z28 like a 84-86 model in the snow? Its like that.....but worse. I dont see how you guys up north get around.......Iam keeping her in the garage.

I'm in Lawrence, KS and we just got about 7 inches over the last few days from the same storm that probably hit you. I just got a set of Continental Conti Extreme Contacts over the summer and was actually very impressed how my car handled the snow, and i dont have ASC, just a limited slip. Even though the Continentals are only all-season tires, not snows, they made a huge difference versus the worn Michelins i had last winter. So even if you dont want to buy dedicated snows, a quality all season tire will probably do the trick in this area where we only get a few major snow storms per year.

This is the TireRack write up on the Conti's.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=ContiExtremeContact

ra_pro
12-09-2005, 02:35 PM
I have a 540 and last night we had first good snowfall. This morning I couldn't believe how easily my car handled the snow with new all-season Fuzion tires. The tractional control hardly ever needed to engage.

Beez540
12-09-2005, 02:37 PM
that is encouraging to hear... I have yet to deal with the snow and slush.

onewhippedpuppy
12-09-2005, 02:44 PM
That's a good point with the 4wd, I was just thinking of the people that try to brake like it's dry. Our '03 4Runner has a limited slip rear, and I think center diff as well. Of course it also has traction control, and stability control, so every time I try to do a nice power slide it beeps at me and straightens it out. That is, until I lock the center diff, which disables all the nannies. That's when the fun begins.:)

Jay 535i
12-09-2005, 03:49 PM
We had 4" overnight. I just threw these on my car today:

http://www.nokianrsi.com

The car is totally controllable, buttery goodness. You have to get involved drive properly for it, but this rubber makes the car feel like it was made for snow.

MBXB
12-09-2005, 04:03 PM
When I lived in MN, I use the Hakkas and sandbags in the trunk trick. It worked great!

angrypancake
12-09-2005, 06:48 PM
We got ~12inches, and most of it after I shoveled the first time, ugh. Took the car out with crappy ass all season tires that are around 50% thread, and slid all over the place. Did a semi powerslide down my street and aimed it perfectly for the driveway. Could be scary, getting snows tomorrow. Side note, when some snow got on/in the wheels my brakes basically stopped working. Hit the pedal and a hell of a grinding-ish noise/feel, not a happy camper. Not a clue what it could be, besides, well, snow screwing things up

Jay 535i
12-09-2005, 07:55 PM
Hit the pedal and a hell of a grinding-ish noise/feel

That's exactly how I'd describe the feel of ABS kicking in.