How well does your Focus drive in snow?

[downincircles]

My Focus drove amazing in the snow with the 15" Blizzacks last night with 2" of packed snow under it.

As far as everyone else's cars, not so much.

[GhiaFan]

When temperatures drop below 7°C (44F), Standard Summer Tires become hard and provide less grip on the road surface. Winter Tires are made from a special tread compound which stays flexible in cold conditions. When I lived in Canada I never found All-season tires to be much better in the cold temps.
They get hard as hockey pucks and grip is next to nil, even without snow or ice on the road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=v74EGIG12So
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v74EGIG12So[/YOUTUBE]

IMO Fords Advance Traction and Stability control in the new Focus is dialed in much better then most others, except BMW system which is one if the best on the market.

[Eurofordfan]

Originally Posted by GhiaFan

When temperatures drop below 7°C (44F), Standard Summer Tires become hard and provide less grip on the road surface. Winter Tires are made from a special tread compound which stays flexible in cold conditions. When I lived in Canada I never found All-season tires to be much better in the cold temps.
They get hard as hockey pucks and grip is next to nil, even without snow or ice on the road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=v74EGIG12So
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v74EGIG12So[/YOUTUBE]

IMO Fords Advance Traction and Stability control in the new Focus is dialed in much better then most others, except BMW system which is one if the best on the market.

There certainly have been some complaints about the TCS -- but as far as the ESC goes, I think Ford is on the other end of the spectrum, compared to Toyota. BMW, I'm told (just as you say) makes it all but invisible.

Eurofordfan

[SydneyRoo]

Got to drive it on some slick roads for the first time a couple nights ago, the Traction Control and stability control seemed to work really, really well... I did an e-brake pull around a corner for fun, and the car seemed to straighten itself out rather quickly! The ABS feedback seemed to be a lot more subtle than my previous cars.

On a downside, I noticed a bunch of tiny scratches in my windshield from scraping ice off of it a few times :(

[cacophonous]

Originally Posted by hotleadsingerguy

Put on some Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3s a few weeks ago (235x40) and they're doing pretty well! It's only snowed twice (and both times not too much), but enough that I could usually tell a difference. If I hit the accelerator too hard I lose a bit, but while driving the traction is pretty great.

Then again, I'm using fairly wide tires...seems like most of the people in this thread are on SE/SELs with smaller tires. The 18s on the Titanium have nice and wide tires lol they work great.

Wider tires do not perform as well as narrower tires in snow. That is why most people go with 15" winter tires even if their summer tires are 17s or 18s.

[st falcon]

Originally Posted by VOLDAR

The last two days we had some black ice on the roads and I can say that there is no difference between my last car and the Focus. The ESP and TC act both as expected, even "smoother" because I didn't feel at all any "break on the wheel" even though the TC light lit for a few times. Today, going from a stop, while my car advanced and the TC light was flashing, the car next to me was spinning wheels and didn't advanced at all (Honda Accord). And yes, we are all imposed by the law to have winter tires before 15 dec til 15 mars so I don't think it was a difference because of my winter tires. The Accord is heavier so it should perform better than a lighter car. But it did not. So, all in all, I am very happy with my Focus and how it behaves on winter roads.

You are required to have snow tires? Wow...snow tires are wonderful, but to be REQUIRED?

[voip-ninja]

Originally Posted by st falcon

You are required to have snow tires? Wow...snow tires are wonderful, but to be REQUIRED?

Of course it's required. For the same reason that we have chain LAWS in colorado that require you to have chains to be on certain roads at certain times of year.

It's the law, because there is an effort made to protect responsible people from idiot people.

[NorthernFocalPoint]

Yup - recently Quebec has been quite forward-thinking compared to most of the other Canadian provinces (it's been great to see how well the province can do once you get the Separatists out of power - unfortunately, it would seem that a majority govt. of any stripe leads to corruption regardless if it's federal or provincial).

It's a given that we get snow/ice every winter (as I write this, it is of course raining outside in December!??!), it's a given that winter tires perform better than your generic all-season tire below 7C, and it's a given that the majority of Quebec drivers (read: Montrealers) are overly aggressive, so why wouldn't you mandate that they have winter tires to protect themselves from each other?! ;)

(Full disclosure: I learned to drive on Montreal roads where it's a race to the for everyone)

Originally Posted by st falcon

You are required to have snow tires? Wow...snow tires are wonderful, but to be REQUIRED?

[jeffylube25]

my car goes HAM in the winter! i'm in alaska with snow, ice and well it's just a beast never got stuck or anything! i have studless winter tires michelin x-ice xi2 and they work great! u just gotta drive to the conditions!

[Superd]

Originally Posted by NorthernFocalPoint

and it's a given that the majority of Quebec drivers (read: Montrealers) are overly aggressive, so why wouldn't you mandate that they have winter tires to protect themselves from each other?! ;)

(Full disclosure: I learned to drive on Montreal roads where it's a race to the for everyone)

hahaha i learned years ago that in montreal a turn signal flashing means "I AM coming over" where in most places a turn signal flashing means "can i come over?" or "i'm thinking of coming over".
So when i am in Montreal i drive like a Montrealer and when in Toronto just drive like a dbag. I am so glad i live just outside of the city and get to deal with polite drivers 99% of the time.