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Car Forum / Mazda / Mazda Miata / January 2008Winter Driving in SW Ontario?
My winter vehcile has given up the ghost and I am considering driving my 2000 Miata in the winter now. I would obviously put snow tires on it but can anyone comment on how it handles in the snow and ice? Would be much appreciated. Thanks > My winter vehcile has given up the ghost and I am considering > driving [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Thanks Well, I'm not as far north as you are (I'm in eastern Pennsylvania) but both of my Miatas have stayed on the road all winter. Nora from Canada, who used to post here, also used hers year-round. IIRC, she had a battery tender. Four good snow tires and a lot of common sense are what's needed. For instance, my car stays in the garage when there's ice, but has only been stopped once by snow - and that was a storm that dropped over a foot of that nasty white stuff. Iva & Vixen 2004 Classic Red No more winkin' Miata > My winter vehcile has given up the ghost and I am considering driving > my 2000 Miata in the winter now. I would obviously put snow tires on > it but can anyone comment on how it handles in the snow and ice? With winter tires, the only limiting factor is ground clearance. If you don't have a hard top, be careful clearing snow from the roof--the vinyl gets brittle in cold weather.  SignatureLanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C > With winter tires, the only limiting factor is ground clearance. I'm still using the stock tires (AFAIK). They aren't good in the snow, so I avoid driving when we get fresh stuff. The main thing I've noticed is that the Miata reacts very quickly... if the rear end swings out it does so FAST, more so than other (bigger) cars, so I feel I have to be ready for it. That's sometimes a little nerve-wracking. But I'm due for tires anyway... do I remember someone here saying Goodyear all-weather Eagles did ok in snow? miker SW Ontario? You're practically a southerner. > My winter vehcile has given up the ghost and I am considering > driving my 2000 Miata in the winter now. I would obviously > put snow tires on it but can anyone comment on how it handles > in the snow and ice? With four snow tires, a Miata handles very nicely in snow -- far better than most cars do, IMO. Up here in Minnesota I drive past a lot of SUVs in ditches every winter. An LSD helps for getting going, but will cause the back end to be a bit loose on very shap turns as the two rear wheels fight each other (e.g. u-turns). I do sometimes wish I had ABS in the wintertime. Just don't try to drive in snow too deep: no matter how good the tires are, they've got to have weight on them to work. :) As somebody else warned, vinyl tops and plastic rear windows get brittle when cold, so treat them gently. SignatureGrant Edwards grante Yow! I hope I bought the at right relish ... zzzzzzzzz visi.com ... > My winter vehcile has given up the ghost and I am considering > driving my 2000 Miata in the winter now. I would obviously put > snow tires on it but can anyone comment on how it handles in the > snow and ice? Could someone please explain "snow" and "ice"? These are unfamiliar terms to those of us living in Phoenix... <GD&R> SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org > My winter vehcile has given up the ghost and I am considering driving > my 2000 Miata in the winter now. I would obviously put snow tires on > it but can anyone comment on how it handles in the snow and ice? > Would be much appreciated. > > Thanks I used my Miata as my daily driver when I lived in Edmmonton and I use it here in Vancouver which includes driving up to the local mountains to ski along with trips to Whistler and Kelowna. I won't say that it's the best handling car on snow and ice I've ever driven -- something with four-wheel drive takes that title -- but it's not bad. Yes, it's rear-wheel drive, but the weight distribution puts nearly 50% of the weight on the rears, so they don't spin at the slightest touch of the throttle. The only thing that it absolutely can't handle is deep snow. There's just not enough ground clearance when the snow is deep. SignatureAlan Baker Vancouver, British Columbia "If you raise the ceiling four feet, move the fireplace from that wall to that wall, you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard." Thank you all so much for your comments. It is appreciated. Yes, I do have a hard top -- bought it when I bought the car so it could be safely stored outside in the winter!! Little did I know that it would be a "requirement" now that I will have to drive it. Thanks again! And I goofed, I'm actually in SE Ontario.... but snow and ice are snow and ice. Carol >My winter vehcile has given up the ghost and I am considering driving >my 2000 Miata in the winter now. I would obviously put snow tires on >it but can anyone comment on how it handles in the snow and ice? >Would be much appreciated. > >Thanks > And I goofed, I'm actually in SE Ontario.... but snow and ice are snow > and ice. Well, Carol, that is a *strange* mistake. I am not saying that other people do not make mistakes. In fact, Wednesday I was explaining to my class about how my vectors were oriented according to the right hand rule, thumb/index finger/middle finger. But then it turned out that they were not. Of course, I immediately explained to my students that these notes were designed to be viewed in the mirror, (silly that they did not understand that right away.) It was only a couple of minutes later that I started wondering if I applied the right hand rule with, say, the right hand. Anyway, the point is that *even I* would never get mixed up between east and west. East is at your right hand when facing north; everyone knows that! Leon SignatureLeon :) Bess :) Bozo .) Hey, I believe him, this rule got him from FL to Canada and back IIRC. Of course, it did seem there were allot of (unintended?) detours along the way! Chris 99BBB > It was only a couple of minutes later that I started wondering if I > applied the right hand rule with, say, the right hand. Anyway, the point > is that *even I* would never get mixed up between east and west. East is > at your right hand when facing north; everyone knows that! > > Leon > East is at your right hand when facing north; everyone knows that! And so at the South Pole you cannot face east... it's always to your right, no matter which way you face. miker >> East is at your right hand when facing north; everyone knows >> that! > > And so at the South Pole you cannot face east... it's always to > your right, no matter which way you face. At the south pole there is only one direction, north. No matter which way you face, you're facing north, there is no east or west or south. SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org > >> East is at your right hand when facing north; everyone knows > >> that! [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > At the south pole there is only one direction, north. No matter which > way you face, you're facing north, there is no east or west or south. Thus, at the South Pole you always have both North and East on your right hand. East is always 90 degrees off north, so if every direction is north, then every direction is also east, but 90 degrees out of phase with north, even tho that direction (east) is also north. Except up. I'm not sure which direction up is at the South Pole. miker >> >> East is at your right hand when facing north; everyone knows >> >> that! [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Except up. I'm not sure which direction up is at the South Pole. Nobody knows except for one penguin and he's not telling. SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org > > Except up. I'm not sure which direction up is at the South Pole. > > Nobody knows except for one penguin and he's not telling. Obviously every land direction would be north, but I hadn't thought before about down, which is most directly north since it's the only vector that points in a straight line to the north pole. So up, while not actually pointing to Earth at all, is most sensibly south since it's opposite of the most direct north. miker "miker" <miker4butnospamok@mindspring.com> wrote in message > So up, while not actually > pointing to Earth at all, is most sensibly south since it's opposite of > the > most direct north. > miker ...OK... Which brings to mind, I've often wondered how astronauts navigate the space shuttle. In outer space they don't have N/S/E/W, do they use an a 360 degree circle with an arbitrary zero degrees, and how does that translate into 3 dimensions (never mind the 4th!!!) ... I told you; "never mind the 4th!!! > "miker" <miker4butnospamok@mindspring.com> wrote in message >> So up, while not actually [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > degree circle with an arbitrary zero degrees, and how does that > translate into 3 dimensions (never mind the 4th!!!) All that's needed for navigation is reference points, the astronauts have the earth, the sun, the moon and all the stars. One of the most interesting navagation systems I encountered was in the wheel house of a river boat, there was no compass. There are only two directions on the Mississippi, up river and down river and a compass would only confuse since "up river" can be north, south, east or west, the Mississippi winds around a bunch. There are charts, radar, depth finders, etc. but the main navigation tool is still the same one used by Mark Twain, the pilot's memory. Before becoming a licensed pilot, Twain writes he had to draw the river, every curve, every bridge, every sand bar and that's, believe it or not, still true. The coast guard requires licensed river pilots to be able to draw the river from memory and if you can only draw a portion you get licensed for that portion only. Personally, I think space navigation would be a snap by comparison, you can't hit a barge or a bridge or ground the shuttle on a sand bar that wasn't there yesterday. SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org > Twain writes he had to draw the river, > every curve, every bridge, every sand bar and that's, believe it or > not, still true. That's amazing. I would think an easy part of rivers would be no cross-currents (tho wind could substitute to a degree). As you say, there's only upstream and dowstream. miker > I would think an easy part of rivers would be no cross-currents (tho wind > could substitute to a degree). As you say, there's only upstream and > dowstream. But any Mississippi pilot will tell you that the channel is different on every trip. Sandbars shift, snags move, banks collapse, deep channels fill in. The Coast Guard is constantly shifting channel buoys to help pilots keep up with the changes. And there are indeed cross currents from tributaries, eddies, and underwater obstructions. As for upstream/downstream, when the river's flowing at 10 or 12 knots, a down-bound tow may require a couple of miles to stop! SignatureLanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C > As for upstream/downstream, when the river's flowing at 10 or 12 > knots, a down-bound tow may require a couple of miles to stop! Not with ABS! <GD&R> SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org > > As for upstream/downstream, when the river's flowing at 10 or 12 > > knots, a down-bound tow may require a couple of miles to stop! > > Not with ABS! <GD&R> Astonishing Boat Stopper? Asymptotic Bow Swerve? Atomic Bomb Scuttling? SignatureLanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C >> > As for upstream/downstream, when the river's flowing at 10 or 12 >> > knots, a down-bound tow may require a couple of miles to stop! >> >> Not with ABS! <GD&R> > > Astonishing Boat Stopper? Asymptotic Bow Swerve? Atomic Bomb Scuttling? Absolute Bow to Sand... Async Boat Stopper... >>> > As for upstream/downstream, when the river's flowing at 10 or 12 >>> > knots, a down-bound tow may require a couple of miles to stop! [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Absolute Bow to Sand... > Async Boat Stopper... Amazing Boat Sinker Anti-Boat Scarecrow SignatureLeon :) Bess :) Bozo .) > Anti-Boat Scarecrow A rocket scientist, and THAT's the best he can do?? Sheesh. SignatureLanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C >> Anti-Boat Scarecrow > > A rocket scientist, and THAT's the best he can do?? Sheesh. His profession doesn't require that he be funny..... that's probably a good thing. SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org > >> Anti-Boat Scarecrow > > > > A rocket scientist, and THAT's the best he can do?? Sheesh. > > His profession doesn't require that he be funny..... that's probably a > good thing. No doubt, but I was expecting some pearl of fluid dynamics, or maybe particle physics. Or beer. You know, for us swine... SignatureLanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C >> >> Anti-Boat Scarecrow >> > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > No doubt, but I was expecting some pearl of fluid dynamics, or > maybe particle physics. Or beer. You know, for us swine... How about it, Leon, a six pack for everyone here? SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org >>> >> Anti-Boat Scarecrow >>> > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > How about it, Leon, a six pack for everyone here? After my feelings have been gravely injured? Leon :( SignatureLeon :) Bess :) Bozo .) >>>> >> Anti-Boat Scarecrow >>>> > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > After my feelings have been gravely injured? Yes, you get one beer from each six pack so I doubt your feelings will feel anything! SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org >>>>> >> Anti-Boat Scarecrow >>>>> > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Yes, you get one beer from each six pack so I doubt your feelings will > feel anything! A thousand beers cannot be enough as an anodyne to the perfidy of this group. Leon SignatureLeon :) Bess :) Bozo .) >>>>>> >> Anti-Boat Scarecrow >>>>>> > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > A thousand beers cannot be enough as an anodyne to the perfidy of > this group. OK, no beer for you! SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org >>>>>>> >> Anti-Boat Scarecrow >>>>>>> > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > OK, no beer for you! Oh; more for me, then > A thousand beers cannot be enough as an anodyne to the perfidy of this > group. I think you should've stopped at, oh, maybe six or seven hundred. And watch what you say about androgynes. This is, after all, a Miata newsgroup. :-) SignatureLanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C >> East is at your right hand when facing north; everyone knows that! > > And so at the South Pole you cannot face east... it's always to your > right, no matter which way you face. Actually, at the south pole, everything is east, everything is west, etcetera. If it was also so liberal about left and right, and not much colder than Tallahassee, I would move there is a second. :) Leon SignatureLeon :) Bess :) Bozo .) |
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