westernpa25 16 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 (edited) My spark went out to play in the snow today. I'm in the snow belt south of Erie, PA anyone else in a snowy climate? what are your thoughts so far? My first impressions are that I need to lower the PSI in the tires a bit. If I can find a decent set of used rims I'll throw my Altimax winter shoes on. As is it will get me to work and back. Edited December 22, 2012 by westernpa25 Link to post Share on other sites
Greg_E 211 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 MIne doesn't like the wet slushy snow that we get around here. Changing lanes and plowing through the slush ridges is especially hard in this car and it jumps around a lot and feels like it wants to swap ends. The only way to counter this so far is to get on the gas pretty far to make sure the tires pull through the slush. Sliging slush into the fender wells is also extremely loud compared to any of my previous cars. This may sound odd but I might actually need to slow down to the pace of other drivers in the snow, not too happy about that since I'm usually one of the faster snow drivers on the road. I have my cheapo snow tires on 14 inch steel wheels. Need to get in the shop and make them fix my alignment issue before I can really pass judgement on snow performance. Link to post Share on other sites
CappyScags 1 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 For as much as I love my Spark, I can't imagine it doing very well in the snow since it's so little. Thankfully we haven't had any major snow here yet but I'm sure it's coming! I'm still contemplating getting snow tires for it. Link to post Share on other sites
Greg_E 211 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 If you get real snow (and you'll know what I mean), then you should always have a set of snow tires (all four wheels). It's not cheap but I normally suggest an extra set of wheels for the snows, but with these tire pressure monitor systems it makes this very expensive or you get to live with the idiot light on all the time. It's about $200 for a set of sensors, another $100 for the tool needed to program the car for the new sensors, and then of course tires and wheels. If you buy the snows at a place where they will change summer and winter for free each year, then you can save a lot of money by just swapping them. Even if it costs $100 each swap you will get 4 years out of it before you equal the cost of a second set of wheels and tires. BTW, my favorite snows are the Winterforce tires, they work great in the wet sloppy stuff that we get here and are normally fairly cheap. I have a set of cheapo General snows and they are without question not as good. Link to post Share on other sites
westernpa25 16 Posted December 22, 2012 Author Share Posted December 22, 2012 Was able to get out of the driveway with the 8 inches or so we got last night on the all seasons. Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to throw on the winter shoes. Link to post Share on other sites
Greg_E 211 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 That's why I call them summer tires. Sometimes you are OK, but sometimes it isn't worth the fear. I have a very long very steep hill I have to navigate to get to work, it can be very difficult without real snow tires, going up isn't the biggest problem but going down is frightening if you are sliding around. Link to post Share on other sites
BRAVO241 2 Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 I am glad I read this post…I live 25 miles south of Buffalo NY (hilly/snow belt.) After reading the posts, I still think I will buy a Spark come Mar' 2012. Hankook Winter iPikes!!! westernpa25 1 Link to post Share on other sites
robertlane 18 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 I'm in Florida for the week, so I am missing all of the snow - which I MISS! Yes, I like the winter season! Link to post Share on other sites
Greg_E 211 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 We have a bunch here, but I haven't left the house since I came home Friday night, need to try and get it in the shop to fix the pull to the left abd maybe check the fuel level issue (never full and 2 gallons left when it says dead empty with flashing refill light). Link to post Share on other sites
mona 4 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 We haven't had much snow here to speak of, but that's all gonna change today. Expecting 3-6" today, but haven't left the house yet. I will, seriously, after reading these posts consider getting snow tires also. I'll let you know how it handles. To be continued................... Link to post Share on other sites
Lazerface 24 Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 I want to see more of that SVX Love those cars and never get to see many Link to post Share on other sites
westernpa25 16 Posted December 27, 2012 Author Share Posted December 27, 2012 I want to see more of that SVXLove those cars and never get to see many That is actually my best friends car. Its a 1992 pearl white LS-L with about 52k orig miles on it. What makes it really special is this! Link to post Share on other sites
Lazerface 24 Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 What a beauty Link to post Share on other sites
LukeC 3 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Looks great. Man, am I glad to be out west. Link to post Share on other sites
westernpa25 16 Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) Now that I have had several consecutive days of snowfall, my winter weather driving confidence in the Spark is alot greater. It sure isn't the Swedish toboggan that my v70 AWD was (Bork Bork Bork!) but the Spark is perfectly capable at getting around in the snow! Edited December 30, 2012 by westernpa25 Link to post Share on other sites
Greg_E 211 Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 After shoveling off the foot of snow on top of my car I went out for some things and to find a slightly plowed lot to play in, going to need more time to really get used to everything but it does do a really good job in the traction control department. Wasn't able to check stabilitrack and the ABS may not be too useful for me. One thing I noticed is that if you hit traction control on a snow covered road, you are best off if you just keep your foot in the throttle or maybe increase it a little. Going through a corner and having this happen may be different and going to take time to find a course where I can test this. But straight line with snow tires makes this feel pretty good. BRAVO241 1 Link to post Share on other sites
dbnspark 7 Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 I'm really glad I bought the Nokian Hakkapeliitta's. I kept reading the reviews of the Conti's and that one review by the Mini owner convinced me not to buy them. Michellin snow tire had similiar reviews. No Blizzaks available in our size, so I bought the Nokian's. We had 8 inches of snow and I had no problems. Car drove and handled as well as my Mini did with Blizzaks. Link to post Share on other sites
dbnspark 7 Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 BTW I thought the SVX AWD only came with an automatic. I knew they came out with a fwd version. Manual wow, maybe I would have pursued one, if I knew it were available as a manual. Link to post Share on other sites
weetsj 39 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 we are in snow to for 2 weeks now. i was almost with my nose in the snow for the winter i mounted the original wheel with snow tires. it's handeling very well Link to post Share on other sites
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