1.8 VTi bad snow drivability

[E=MC2]

Listen guys, more than 10 years i drove dad's car on summer or allseason tires during winter, but thats horible comparing to any winter tire. So what you speak is totaly normal behavior of road tire on ice or snow. Winter tire make huge difference (try one and you want believe what you see and feel ). Comparing to any summer tire, my car now is bulldozer , but comparing to other cars with another tires, situation is not good. As malefix, i dont have trouble to direct and steer the car, i dont have problems with breaking... Only moving straight forward.

[philgor]

are the tyre's on the right way round? as they may be directional....

[E=MC2]

heh, dont worry, direction is fine, but good point

[Dave]

Unfortunately the civic M's are pretty poor on snow, although the D series engine models do perform better in the snow that the B series engine models.  I found that out a couple of years ago when we got  really bad winter in Scotland, Works car park, my transit connect van.........fine...........works corsa...........fine...........Ruby........got bloody stuck! No matter what, on normal tyres, it was undriveable. The problem with the Civic M's is that they suffer from really bad understeer in standard form in the wet, so show them snow and it's a no go!

But, there is light at the end of the tunnel! I changed rubys tyres to proper winter tyres, and the difference was huge. I can't remember the name of the tyres but will have a look in the garage for you.

 

I think I also changed the profile for a higher one, but will check to make sure. Your deck should be fine on winter tyres, so it may be a problem with the manufacturer of the tyre. Another thing, get your front wheel alignement checked. This makes a huge difference, and if it is out, then no matter what tyre you get on it, it wont steer/move properly at all. So get her booked in to get the tracking done asap.

 

I'll get back to you on the size/make I got for Ruby, see if that helps.

[E=MC2]

I havent try MC on snow on sumemer tires.  But why should M's be any different from any other car? It is normal FF car. Geometry is the same as other Civic's from that time, suspension is great (form Integra), i just dont see any reason for worse handling. My MC isnt suffer much form under or oversteer. Ok, B engine is heavier than D, so car can oversteer for a little comparing to D, but allso heavy B is harder pressing front tires, so it should go.

So dry and wet conditions driving is pretty good in this car. But winter is not so good.

I allso tried winter on stock suspension, next, and this one winter is on MG ZS180 suspension with rear ARB, also, this winter is with propper (DC2) wheel aligment, and the situation is just getting worse with tire mileage wear.

As i sead, it isnt situation that my car is stucking everywhere,  spinning on road, diching beside road in every corner, hitting cars on street light. It is driving prety ok, at last it has winter tires, it just must go, but it isnt going that well comparing to other FF normal street cars. Specially knowing that this car has relatively heavy front end and almighty LSD.

 

I am prety confused, because i menaged to go skiing many times with dad's Skoda Octavia tdi on summer tires, and now my deck on winter tires stuck.

One example. I am in the not so deep snow, on a small slope, i release the clutch with not so many gas, and front end just moves sideways downhill 10-20cm because od LSD, and i am stuck. Reverse gear, car just pops from that place, again first gear, and the same situation. I move car on the cleared, but snow covered part of the road, again nothing.

At last, when move i have the momentum and i go, bat allso untill some steep hill. For example, other cars made pass on that section, and i am running over ahose tracs, and then just keep stucking on a half of the hill.

 

At first place i point finger on tires, but i would like what to buy.

should i buy:

-any narrower tire - 185/60 R15, but i afraid of ugly car, and bad performance on dry road

-any tire with higher tyre profile - 195/55 but they are prety expencive

-any other winter tire in this dimension

-or some expencive first class 195/50 tire

[Krzys]

I find with tyres you generally get what you pay for, it could be that the snow tyres you have just aren't up to the job?

[E=MC2]

We have phrase here "how much money, so much music" . And its totaly normal, but people here drive even cheaper tires than mine, and have no problems with white stuff.

I am confused, and just scared that i will throw money on cheap or middle priced tires (but tested and approved on other cars), or unnecesery spend huge amonut on expencive ones.

[Krzys]

We have phrase here "how much money, so much music" . And its totaly normal, but people here drive even cheaper tires than mine, and have no problems with white stuff.

I am confused, and just scared that i will throw money on cheap or middle priced tires (but tested and approved on other cars), or unnecesery spend huge amonut on expencive ones.

Yeah that's the only problem, its a shame you can't test any before you buy them!  

 

The way I see it is that every car is different so what works for the others cars you see not getting stuck might not work for the M, she might be fussy about tyres like the B series are about what oil you use! Just an idea!

[dr_broon]

we get quite a bit of snow (for England) where I live, and found that on fresh snow the mc2 was okay just with rainsport2 summer tyres on, but had been ace with the kleber quadraxers on the last couple of winters (all season tyres with snow flake symbol).

had them fitted to the wife's ep1 last year, but it was nowhere near as good as mine.

[Dave]

There has to be an underlying issue somewhere on it mate. I know that once I got winter tyres on Ruby, and alignment done she was ok on the snow. Not brilliant, but ok. I didn't have any hills to negotiate though, well, nothing big anyway. You say the alignment was done (DC2)? I'm not sure the Integra has the same alignment as the Civic M's, might be an idea to contact a Honda dealership to confirm this.