How well does your Focus drive in snow?

[PandaCar]

Originally Posted by Royal Tee

I have the 18's also and I'm Very interested in this.
Was looking @ the X-Ice also. I understand you got a di$count but What was the price for the matching rims & TPMS?

4 X Ford OEM 16' (match full size spare) = $67.96 ea
4 X Ford OEM TPMS------------------- = $48.11 ea
4 X Michelin X-Ice xi2 215/55 R16 (Approx) = $190.00 ea (balanced and installed) less $70 MIR

15" rims were cheaper but I didn't want 3 rim sizes (18" summer alloy / 16" spare 15" winter)

[PandaCar]

Originally Posted by cacophonous

Xi2 is a good one. Probably better if you are mostly driving highway. They have a long tread life for a winter tire.

However I went with Blizzaks which are softer than Xi2 and have a bit better grip. Down side is they wear a bit faster.

Awesome tires tho.

I would agree with you re: X-Ice vs Blizzak but my choice of X-Ice was due more to longer tread life and in a sense, needing any winter tire, to replace my "Summer Use Only" OEM 18". I did some research and although not the top rated snow tire, the XIce was a decent rain and ice tire (duh) and of course, the price was a factor.

[Starfury]

As with any car, Traction Control can be a help and a hassle.

It's been great on flat roads and slight inclines, but horrible on several steep roads such as the one that I must go up to get to the homestead.

The gripe that I have is that it should be easier to turn the TC off when needed. There doesn't seem to be a setting in the message center to keep it from timing-out and returning to the main screen, unless I haven't found it in the owner's guide.

Driving in snow is dangerous enough without having to fiddle with steering wheel controls- trying to time it just right before reaching the hill and turning it off. If you don't time it just right, the message center returns to the main screen (in my case AVG MPG).

Of course I can swap out the steelies from my trade-in ('02 ZX3) for the proper bolt pattern and mount my old snows to make the TC engage less frequently, but I still think turning off the TC is a PITA.

If anyone knows a way to turn off the TC without the screen timing-out, please give me the knowledge.

[cobie56]

Originally Posted by cacophonous

Those are great all seasons with emphasis on snow/wet conditions. A less expensive alternative is the Conti ExtremeContact DWS. Dry Wet Snow. I run the DWS on my AWD Saab 92x Aero (WRX).

do you find the conti extremecontacts to be noisy? I've not actually driven a car w/ them on but a friend of mine who replaced OEM tires with the contis says that she seems to think they're more noisy than the oems. your opinion?

[coupe3w]

Just drove my 2012 SE for the first time in the snow today. All I can say is get snow tires. This car is just plain scary to drive with the regular tires. I had an 05 Focus ST before this car and it was great in the snow. Oh Ford please make the TC easier to turn on and off with a button instead of going and searching for the right menu, stupid.

[nseah]

Originally Posted by coupe3w

Just drove my 2012 SE for the first time in the snow today. All I can say is get snow tires. This car is just plain scary to drive with the regular tires. I had an 05 Focus ST before this car and it was great in the snow. Oh Ford please make the TC easier to turn on and off with a button instead of going and searching for the right menu, stupid.

YES! the TC kicks is way to often and just spoils the drive. The menu system is too annoying to turn off the TC everytime you drive.

[PratoN]

My cars seems to be slipping on ice much worse this winter - but I think my (winter) tires are under-inflated. Surely, my winter tires aren't bad after 1 year - right?

But I also can't tell if it's the tires or the traction control... For what it's worth, I have the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R's. I'm going to check my tire pressure tonight and I'll get back to you guys tomorrow. It definitely doesn't help that my sloped alley way is an ice rink. haha

[gkirk]

Originally Posted by PratoN

My cars seems to be slipping on ice much worse this winter - but I think my (winter) tires are under-inflated. Surely, my winter tires aren't bad after 1 year - right?

But I also can't tell if it's the tires or the traction control... For what it's worth, I have the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R's. I'm going to check my tire pressure tonight and I'll get back to you guys tomorrow. It definitely doesn't help that my sloped alley way is an ice rink. haha

Winter tires wear out super fast if they are driven in high temps. I learned that one that hard way. the real winter part of the tread is like the first 25-50% of wear and after that they get more and more worthless.

[Vernl]

Second winter with mine...I got a set of rims and winter tires thrown in when I bought mine and its fine in snow..although I need to turn off the traction control to get moving in deep snow or drifts or the computer wont let the car move....a bigger concern for me is going in the ditch or needing a tow since there is No Place to hook on and it would be a lousy situation.I almost considered putting a trailer hitch on the back just for being yanked out of the ditch...so far, I've stayed on the road but sooner or later in a Canadian winter, you get stuck, no matter what your driving

[BrApple]

Second time in the snow and I am impressed but also not impressed at the same time. I think this has alot to do with the stock tires, now with 15k miles on them.

As with the one storm last year the snow was wet. Traction control was alot more active this time, and the stability control kicked in a few times. The car was back and forth driving down the road. I didn't have any problems and didn't get stuck or felt out of control. I did pull the e-brake around one corner and the stability control kicked in at the same time I was counter steering.

So over all I am still very happy with how the Focus performs in the snow, but the stock tires are not going through a third winter.

On a side note, would have been fun to take the Impreza instead. Really want to try out the awd in the snow.