Snow-Round 2

[Sully008]

Well, Mother Nature finally woke up and realized that we haven't gotten our "real" snowfall yet, so she sent it. And boy did she send it. Here's some pics of the Marauder this morning as I got up to go to work:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/9/6/0/Snow2.jpg

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/9/6/0/Snow1.jpg

It's been snowing since 4pm yesterday, and were expecting another 10cm today...Hope you guys in the midwest are alright.

[TripleTransAm]

We got a dusting of snow and slush this morning (was still falling when I got to work).

Lemme tell you: the stock KDWS tires, even with nothing more than 3000 miles on them, are absolute garbage in slippery conditions. I cannot understand how they came up with the "S" in "KDWS"... I suspect they went outside on a hot day in July and threw some fine crushed ice onto the blistering pavement, moved the car through the melting powder, and went "Hey, the car kept moving... KILLER, dude!!!".

It was a real white knuckle ride for the 1st 5 minutes of my drive until I got to the bottom of the plateau on which I live, and the 2 degree Celsius difference was enough to result in wet but grippable pavement. We'll get rain for the rest of the week, so I'll get around to slapping on the winter rims and tires this weekend.

[Sully008]

I would've looked out the window and crawled back into bed if I still had the stock tires on today.:D I have the Pirelli Scorpion Ice and Snow tires, and I still had trouble getting grip in the white stuff. I got stuck backing out of my driveway, luckily my neighbours helped get me on my way. The Trac Lock rear diff is a different animal in the snow. One side kept locking up so I couldn't get the rear straightened out. Any tricks on driving this beast in the snow? (I'm used to RWD in the snow, just not one w/Trac Lock.)

[Badger]

First off what you are experiencing is typical of a limited slip diff.
Yaw control is one of the nice things about the Electronic Traction Control on the 04s.
Tricks with driving trac-lok....easy on the throttle, guide the nose into the turn then blip the gas gently. The back end will swing around. Be careful on slippery surfaces in turns. The axles linked togther with a clutch will tend to make the back end swing out with less warning.

[TripleTransAm]

No experience with the Pirellis, but I had no issues of the sort with my almost-new Arctic Alpins last winter. I even tried to lose it a few times just to get an idea of the grip thresholds and things were very controlled - never got stuck at all. Traction control did a great job overall, except for one particularly icy situation in a slow turn from a dead stop in a low spot on the road... the TC did its best but it took a LONG time to get moving. With the TC off, no doubt I would have taken just as long, if not longer (from the occasional mad spin, it was THAT slippery).

The car did get my entire household to the hospital through a snow storm at ludicrous speeds last March when my second child was born. Not something I'd want to repeat, but the whole tire package came through for me. (120 kph down the highways at 1 am, quick accelerations from the slow downs at stop signs with headlights flashing... and I *still* missed my second son's birth by 2-3 minutes as I rushed back out to move my car out of the way of emergency vehicles. Time of admission: 1:10 am, time of birth: 1:15 am!).

[ADE 1000]

I would've looked out the window and crawled back into bed if I still had the stock tires on today.:D I have the Pirelli Scorpion Ice and Snow tires, and I still had trouble getting grip in the white stuff. I got stuck backing out of my driveway, luckily my neighbours helped get me on my way. The Trac Lock rear diff is a different animal in the snow. One side kept locking up so I couldn't get the rear straightened out. Any tricks on driving this beast in the snow? (I'm used to RWD in the snow, just not one w/Trac Lock.)

I have the Pirellis as well, but I thought they were great last year. I could not seem to get stuck if I tried.

[CRUZTAKER]

I still had trouble getting grip in the white stuff.

Italian snow tires.:rolleyes:

Kelly wintermarks blow through a foot of snow no problem.
Hope we get some snow soon. I am putting the Kelly studded on today.;)

[Sully008]

First off what you are experiencing is typical of a limited slip diff.
Yaw control is one of the nice things about the Electronic Traction Control on the 04s.
Tricks with driving trac-lok....easy on the throttle, guide the nose into the turn then blip the gas gently. The back end will swing around. Be careful on slippery surfaces in turns. The axles linked togther with a clutch will tend to make the back end swing out with less warning.

Maybe I'll try driving with the ETC on. I turned it off because since I was stuck I wanted that "controlled wheelspin" to get out without the ETC cutting the power. And I was on a slippery surface trying to straighten out.That's when I noticed the rear locking up and I was getting nowhere quick.

TTT- That sucks about missing your child's birth by 2 mins. But your Marauder got your family there safely, and that's all that matters.:beer:

[Sully008]

Italian snow tires.:rolleyes:

Kelly wintermarks blow through a foot of snow no problem.
Hope we get some snow soon. I am putting the Kelly studded on today.;)


The tires/wheels came with the car. They're practically brand new (maybe that's why, they aren't that good??) I'll know more when I drive home tonight. First impressions, they didn't impress me all that much. I'd go studded, except that chains and studs are illegal within the city limits.:mad:

[TripleTransAm]

I've given props to Ford's TC implementation before, and I'm sure I'll do it again this coming winter. It's much less intrusive and much smoother than some of the other systems I've tried, and in slippery conditions smoothness counts for a LOT!

I'm not a big fan of spinning my way out of a stuck situation, because more often than not I am simply polishing a nice round bed on which to lay the tire, lessening traction with every second.

The whole birth situation is something I'll not want to repeat. Water breaking at 12:20 am, grabbing a drowsy 3 year old and getting him dressed in record time while my wife got her stuff in order, then all of us in the car and on the move by 12:40 am. The ride to this hospital takes 50 minutes on average, WITHOUT a blowing snowstorm. :) That early morning, we got there in 30 minutes. My wife swears if I hadn't dumped the Marauder at the doorstep of the emergency ward, she'd have given birth right there in the car in the parking lot.

[Sully008]

Usually I don't go into "spin" mode when getting unstuck, but I'll give her some gas once I get her moving to get through the deeper stuff. I think I'll add some weight to the back end and see if that'll help "bite".

[Badger]

The spin mode only really works if the snow is soft and the underlying ground is above freezing. Otherwise you just waste rubber and shine a nice piece of ice under your wheels. Add about 200-300 lbs of sand to your trunk. Use the throttle very slowly.

[Sully008]

The spin mode only really works if the snow is soft and the underlying ground is above freezing. Otherwise you just waste rubber and shine a nice piece of ice under your wheels. Add about 200-300 lbs of sand to your trunk. Use the throttle very slowly.

Yup, that's what it was, fresh snow so there was no ice built up yet. I was trying to get to the concrete. Now to find 200 lbs. of sand...

[Eric91Z]

Well, I have this really nice winter wheels and tire package sitting in the garage waiting for snow. This past weekend they said there was a chance of snow for today, but no accumulation. So, I thought another couple weeks with the stock wheels/tires and didn't put the winter set on.

Today, it was raining all morning and sometime early afternoon it turned to snow. It is that thick, heavy, wet stuff because it is still right around freezing or slightly above. So far mostly just wet on the streets, but accumulation on vehicles and the grass. I am hoping the roads won't be too bad at 10:00pm when I head home from work. Then will be up for a little while after I get home to switch wheels/tires...

[duhtroll]

Eric -

My KDW2s handled very well on the way home at 7PM from LeGrand. I was more than impressed. Either it's not slick or these are better in snow than I thought. My snows go on T-day weekend.

[Eric91Z]

I hope they do OK. I have the original tires on the car with 12,000 miles and the tread is still looking good. Roads are showing mostly snow covered on my drive home right now and I still have another 2 hours until I get off work. Hope I make it home OK to get the winter wheels/tires on there. Just need to be patient and take my time...

[Eric91Z]

The Day After:

Well, got out of work about 10:00pm and the snow had mostly stopped blowing, but 40mph sustained winds with gusts to 50mph last night. I had to stop and get gas as I wanted a full tank for the drive home. What was originally slush earlier in the day had turned to mostly snow pack and ice for the drive home. Then, to make matters worse, I drive home north and the wind was coming from WNW direction. I drive county highways on the way home surrounded by mostly now empty corn fields. Needless to say, do to the wide open fields, about 3 1/2 inches of snow yesterday afternoon, and high winds, I drove home in mostly 0 visability white out. NOT FUN!!!!!

My average speed for the trip was in the 25-30mph range and took me about an hour and a half to get home on my 40 mile trip. This was all on the stock KDWS tires. They got me home, but I would not recommend them for the winter. Any time I would apply light throttle to help maintain speed or go up a small hill, the back end would immediately kick out. 2 or 3 times I was mostly sideway on the road - at 20 mph. Not fun. Got close to home and about rear ended a county Sheriff who was almost stopped on the highway in one of the white out areas. All of the sudden he was just there. Folloed him the rest of the way in to town and he was doing about the same speed with his back end kicking out, too. Yes, he was driving a CVPI.

Anyway, got home and our street and our driveway was basically hard pack snow/ice. It was like a whole new surface to the road. Not overly slick, but driving on it didn't even leave tire marks. Was able to put up the slope of the driveway and in to the garage after pulling the wife's car out (you can see the slope in the Signature picture).

Immediately swapped the stock wheels/tires for the winter set at 12:00am. Definitely doesn't look pretty, but looks functional. Parked both cars and got ready for bed. Unfortunately, the baby was not sleeping, so I was up until after 2:00am when we finally got her to sleep on our bed.

Now, this morning got up and gave myself extra time to get to work. Other than a little spinning from a couple of stops, had ZERO concerns with the Pirelli's. These things work great. Granted, visability was about 100% better and roads were driveable, but I was able to run 45-50mph instead of 25-30. Except for a couple of stretches of slower speeds because of a single car. And there was 6 or 7 of us backed up behind that person.

And the overall ride and handling with them is quite nice. Actually a little smoother than the stock setup. But very reassuring on the drive in today. I would highly recommend the setup to any one that has to drive their car daily and live where you have snow and ice. No issues with the traction control or anything else. Traction control kicked in now and then, but did allow wheel spin to get the car moving. ABS worked, too, but did get the backend to kick out on one stop when the ABS came on.

Sorry to ramble on. First time in a RWD car in many, many years in Iowa winter. I have driven F-Bodies, full size, and trucks in the past, just has been a while. So far very pleased with the Pirelli/CVPI tire/wheel setup on packed snow and ice. No drifts or powder test yet. Get your self dedicated winter tires if you are going to drive this car in winter weather. MUCH better than the KDWS.

[TripleTransAm]

Forgot to mention: one other very nice detail with Ford transmissions is the ability to start in 2nd gear. This, combined with the excellent TC, should make you unbeatable in 99% of winter conditions. A large RWD car like this is excellently balanced, and I believe this detail far surpasses the RWD/FWD arguments when it comes to winter effectiveness (provided the car is properly shod, of course).

This may simply be perception, but I'd almost swear the car has an easier time backing up a slippery slope than moving forward, in the scenario of an inclined driveway. On the winters I stored my Marauder, I'd occasionally have to move it out of the driveway for the more complete snow removal jobs, and to get it back up the driveway, I found reverse worked nicely, perhaps nicer than pushing the car forward. Perhaps it's a gear-ratio thing? I think reverse is 2.32:1 whereas first is 2.84:1?

[Sully008]

Hey guys, just an update. I drove the car around today and the tires felt better. Nothing really changed, other than it's colder today than yesterday. What psi are you guys running your winter tires at? I was running 38 psi on the stock KDWS, the snow tires are at 32 psi right now. Too low?

[cb13]

my "snow tires" are a lifted jeep wrangler with a hard top and a winch!

granted, it is more expensive than a set of cvpi take-offs wrapped in some good winter rubber.....but it is a lot more fun!

[TripleTransAm]

Hey guys, just an update. I drove the car around today and the tires felt better. Nothing really changed, other than it's colder today than yesterday. What psi are you guys running your winter tires at? I was running 38 psi on the stock KDWS, the snow tires are at 32 psi right now. Too low?


A few years back, the rage was to underinflate winter tires to increase footprint. Honestly, my gut feeling is that I want the contact patch behaving exactly the way the manufacturer intended it to... so if they say 32 psi, I'm using 32 psi and getting the grip that was engineered into that tire. I don't want tread blocks squirming out of position and not doing the job the way they were designed.

Add to that the fact that winter tire sidewalls tend to be softer as it is, I wouldn't want any more squirm than I already have with winter tires. Overinflate, and then I'll be wearing that softer tire compound right down the middle.

So I tend to stick to recommended inflations, period.

[Eric91Z]

I would have to agree with TTA on this. I would run what the manufacturer recommends. I think the operation of winter tires are a little more specific based on compound and design.

[Sully008]

Okay, the sidewall of the tire said 32psi, so that's where I started. I'll leave it there for now.