How well does your Focus drive in snow?

[BrApple]

Originally Posted by peridigm

I drove in snow for the first time Friday. I have 18x8's. It was awful. My 80' El Camino with positrac does better in the snow. I'm not buying a new set of wheels and tires though, I'll just drive my Caravan which does great in the snow.

so it sounds like you have the Ti handling package? You do realize that those are summer only tires, and they are not meant to be driven in the winter?

[BaconZombie]

Mine did fine in the snow. A little patience and know-how is all it takes.

[peridigm]

Originally Posted by BrApple

so it sounds like you have the Ti handling package? You do realize that those are summer only tires, and they are not meant to be driven in the winter?

Yup, just didn't think it would be that bad. It was less than 1" of snow, albeit real light stuff, not heavy wet snow.

[aemik]

Originally Posted by peridigm

Yup, just didn't think it would be that bad. It was less than 1" of snow, albeit real light stuff, not heavy wet snow.

Tried summer tires in snow once in my old Accord - sounds like you made it a lot further than I did. I chickened out halfway down my street (sliding so bad the ABS figured I was stopped and gave up) then got stuck trying to go back up curb of my driveway. Sigh.

Focus has been fine on stock tires here in MD so far. I've been impressed.

[paul21]

It seems one of the transmission updates (not sure which one) helped the TCS out quite a bit. Last winter, I could put it to the floor in a parking lot and it would quickly settle out to just over Idle RPM. It made pulling out onto a highway a risky maneuver, but now it's a lot better. The tires on this car are a little wider than other compact cars (215 vs Corolla&Civic 195-205) so it helps a lot to get better all seasons and keep the psi at 35 in the cold. The siping on the all season stock conti's make water and snow driving excessively dangerous sometimes.

[PandaCar]

Yeah, but that's NC snow! Try the white Canadian S#$T, your 18" summer tires won't get you up a 1% gradient!

[BrApple]

Originally Posted by peridigm

Yup, just didn't think it would be that bad. It was less than 1" of snow, albeit real light stuff, not heavy wet snow.

Well that is the thing. Summer tires are not M/S rated. Which means they are not rated or designed to be used in the snow.

[frinesi2]

Had some snow over the last few days and my lowered 5spd SE did great. The stock economy tires drive like stock economy tires so as long as you keep that in mind, you're fine.

I also had a fun game of "confuse the stability control" since it allows a little bit of yaw before catching and attempting to correct.

[Focus YBTC]

Originally Posted by paul21

The siping on the all season stock conti's make water and snow driving excessively dangerous sometimes.

Interesting, siping is supposed to improve snow and water driving performance. All modern winter tires have hundreds of tiny sipes.

[ebiegas]

I have been driving my 2002 svt focus in Michigan with snow tires for years! I do have an Explorer for back up if the snow is too deep.