[Miata] First Winter Drive

[Bryan Wyatt]

Very good point.  Somehow I missed that...
   
  If you're going to go, slow WAY the heck down.  You may be able to go straight ahead forever at a certain speed, but that does not mean by any stretch that you'll be able to slow down from that speed should you need to.  It's not a Miata-specific tip, of course, but with a Miata you have a (relatively) narrow track and short wheelbase.  That means it will want to swap ends pretty readily.  Putting things in the trunk will only exaccerbate that, I'd think (like I said, I never bother).
   
  -Bryan

mark moore <miata at bwr.eastlink.ca> wrote:
        The original question was about sleet and freezing rain. If it were me I wouldn't be moving if that's what's coming, or get out ahead of it. We get a fair bit of that here on Canada's east coast and it's dangerous stuff. I'll drive in blinding snow but not in freezing rain. You'll have to make an informed decision but if it's nasty then remember life is short. No snow tire is going to handle freezing rain well. Cars will step out with no warning to the driver and you don't know what the other cars will do.
  

  Good luck with it. Mark
  

  

  At 9:33 AM -0600 12/1/06, MH wrote:
  - Throttle steer is your friend. <grin>  - Enjoy hollering things like, "get out of my way you 4x4 summer tired idiot!" on your way by.  - You can now take all the ricers and wanna-be at the lights.  - You get to really feel and play with the balance of the car as you run at the limit of adhesion at 30mph.     I am guessing that getting to run a Miata in winter is like running a more powerful car on pavement.  Just guessing because I've never driven anything near supercar status, but the poor winter conditions give the Miata the ability to easily overpower itself.  Now you have to be nice in down shifting, all your transitions on/off power have to be smoother, and you have to be nice to the accelerator pedal.  In the dry I have the bad habit of mashing it to the floor and waiting for the car to catch up.     I really enjoy inclement winter driving when I get to run at the edge of what my ability/conditions/ and the car allow.  (When I am alone on the roads, of course.)   
  With the snows on, (Nokian Hakka's) I have not had any desire for doing the weight in the trunk thing. Balance is fine.  But play with your tire pressure.  +/- 5 lbs changes the feel of snow tires quite a bit.     Marvin     
    
---------------------------------
    From: miata-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:miata-bounces at realbig.com] On Behalf Of Dillon
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 8:16 AM
To: MiataBigList
Subject: [Miata] First Winter Drive
  Hi guys,

I happen to be in downtown Chicago today (got in yesterday morning) for some work stuff.  I have to drive about 70 miles to get home starting this afternoon.  Apparently we're under some sort of crazy snow/sleet/ice storm.  I put a set of used Arctic Alpin winter tires (got them free from the buy who sold me my hard top) on my car last month, so hopefully I'm equipped. 

I haven't driven a rear-wheel drive car in the winter since my old 5.0 mustang ~8 years ago, so this could be an experience.  I have lots of winter-driving experience, but I"m wondering if there are any subtleties specific to the Miata I should be aware of ?  
  Regards,  Dillon  

_______________________________________________
Miata mailing list
Miata at realbig.com
http://ftl.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/miata



No signature...the choice of a New Generation



 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://ftl.realbig.com/pipermail/miata/attachments/20061201/76cc5892/attachment.html