miata in ice and snow

as a followup to a query of several months ago about the miata on snow
and ice, the northern owners who said it ran well in winter were right-on.
it functions at least as well and maybe better than the big guys although
once you're on pure ice, you're more like a ski. an important drawback, and
one that keeps our '91 in the garage during the worst of days, is that i
don't want the bozos whacking into it (or me) on slippery streets. beyond
that, the miata is a great 12-month performer in any climate, sez i. art,
'91, ex-balmy san francisco, now icy spokane, wash.

"Art McGinn" > wrote in message
. ..
> as a followup to a query of several months ago about the miata on snow
> and ice, the northern owners who said it ran well in winter were right-on.
> it functions at least as well and maybe better than the big guys although
> once you're on pure ice, you're more like a ski.

No car can drive on pure ice without chains or studs. The tire is way more
important than the car. With the tires that came OEM on my '96, you
couldn't even drive in the rain.

true enough. our '91 is using all-weather and we're satisfied. mostly
what you've gotta do is crawl in snow and hope there is no ice. there's a
big debate in snow country over studs vs. snow tires of various types. in
farm or woodsy areas you need studs (chains seem to be rare). but they also
chew-up paved roads, from city arterials to freeways, forcing many, many
millions of dollars to eliminate the ruts they dig. the (washington state)
highway patrol doesn't use them for that reason. but if you need 'em, you
need 'em. they are, of course, illegal in some states. as vonnegut says, so
it goes.



"Frank Berger" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Art McGinn" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> as a followup to a query of several months ago about the miata on snow
>> and ice, the northern owners who said it ran well in winter were
>> right-on. it functions at least as well and maybe better than the big
>> guys although once you're on pure ice, you're more like a ski.
>
> No car can drive on pure ice without chains or studs. The tire is way
> more important than the car. With the tires that came OEM on my '96, you
> couldn't even drive in the rain.
>
>

"and so it goes" !! In Seattle this week, not much of anything "goes" !
:-) We had up to 8 inches of snow and then the ice! "Bing" is inside
in it's nice garage and will stay there until the "ice" goes. Our '02
Honde Accord ES/LE has snow tires and goes OK, but we sure have some
dumbass drivers here in the snow and it is a, "war of the fenders" with
some of them. When the sonw comes, they just stop and leave their cars!!
(that might be at the side of the road, or in the middle of the road.
Tha snow plows can't get down the roads, so everyone gets stuck. I sure
wish they would go back to where they came from. :-)

About 1 inch of ice and 8 inches of snow here in an eight hour time
space.

Bruce Bing '03 LS ( and cold )

i lived in seattle from 1941 to late 1945 and there was exactly one (1)
snowfall of about an inch, which melted by noon, at just about the time of
the battle of the bulge (is this dating me?). but that stormlet shut down
the city of seattle good and proper. hard to imagine that hilly, wonderful
world-class city in the grips of a minneapolis-type winter. it must be a
city of 10,000 ski-jumps. abandoned cars? that sounds like washington d-c,
with any serious snow. downtown manhattan simply clears out, leaving a
white-blanketed ghost town. seattle really has joined the big leagues. so
move to spokane, where bad weather is normal and barely noticed. miatas are
also rare enough that the drivers sometimes wave at each other, like the
early days of the vw bug.



"BRUCE HASKIN" > wrote in message
...
> "and so it goes" !! In Seattle this week, not much of anything "goes" !
> :-) We had up to 8 inches of snow and then the ice! "Bing" is inside
> in it's nice garage and will stay there until the "ice" goes. Our '02
> Honde Accord ES/LE has snow tires and goes OK, but we sure have some
> dumbass drivers here in the snow and it is a, "war of the fenders" with
> some of them. When the sonw comes, they just stop and leave their cars!!
> (that might be at the side of the road, or in the middle of the road.
> Tha snow plows can't get down the roads, so everyone gets stuck. I sure
> wish they would go back to where they came from. :-)
>
> About 1 inch of ice and 8 inches of snow here in an eight hour time
> space.
>
> Bruce Bing '03 LS ( and cold )
>

Art McGinn wrote:
> as a followup to a query of several months ago about the miata on snow
> and ice, the northern owners who said it ran well in winter were right-on.
> it functions at least as well and maybe better than the big guys although
> once you're on pure ice, you're more like a ski. an important drawback, and
> one that keeps our '91 in the garage during the worst of days, is that i
> don't want the bozos whacking into it (or me) on slippery streets. beyond
> that, the miata is a great 12-month performer in any climate, sez i. art,
> '91, ex-balmy san francisco, now icy spokane, wash.
>

Click on the picture on the right-bottom. http://johnmcgaw.com/day5.html
Yes, a '91 Miata can be driven in some pretty nasty conditions but
certain limitations apply. Like if snow starts packing in the wheel
wells you can find the vehicle unsteerable and the suspension
uncompressable. Of course an early-season blizzard in the Yukon
Territory of Canada is not what most Miata drivers face regularly.

BTW: the car survived the ordeal quit well and after 15 years it was
traded last spring for an '06. The only dent anywhere on it was a small
one inflicted by a shopping cart in a parking lot.


--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Ouch!

Chris
99BBB

"BRUCE HASKIN" > wrote in message
...
> "and so it goes" !! In Seattle this week, not much of anything "goes" !
> :-) We had up to 8 inches of snow and then the ice! "Bing" is inside
> in it's nice garage and will stay there until the "ice" goes. Our '02
> Honde Accord ES/LE has snow tires and goes OK, but we sure have some
> dumbass drivers here in the snow and it is a, "war of the fenders" with
> some of them. When the sonw comes, they just stop and leave their cars!!
> (that might be at the side of the road, or in the middle of the road.
> Tha snow plows can't get down the roads, so everyone gets stuck. I sure
> wish they would go back to where they came from. :-)
>
> About 1 inch of ice and 8 inches of snow here in an eight hour time
> space.
>
> Bruce Bing '03 LS ( and cold )
>

Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
> Ouch!
>
> Chris
> 99BBB

It makes our summers seem not quite that bad....

Pat