Due to factors this year, my Subaru SVX beater had to be put out to pasture a few months ago. I really had no choice but to drive the Cobra in the snow this winter. So after a few Denver snow storms and I can now give an opinion about driving the Cobra in the snow.
And the verdict is ..... It drives lot better in the snow and ice then I thought it would. But there are a few caveats that have to be spelled out first.
The only thing on your car that touches the road is your tires. I know summer tires are absolutely horrid in the snow. All seasons are "so-so" on snow and ice. Never bought snow tires as the Triple Tread all seasons on the SVX were good enough. Though on the Cobra I knew they would not be enough. So I researched snow tires and found that the Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 to be some of the absolute best. In fact is the tire that is used in the Colorado Steamboat Springs winter driving school. And of course "Jimmy" knows all of this and he himself has said snow tires are a must.
The couple of downsides to snow tires are that they are not as wide as I would have wanted as a 245 is the second largest I've seen and 255 is the largest that I found. The widest Blizzak's are the 245/45R17. It fits on the 17x9 rim but it feels sacrilegious to remove the 10.5's and the 315's from behind the car. The second downside is that because of the deep soft siped tread, they feel squirmy on the street. Though maybe this is what drag radials feel like, though I've never driven on drag radials.
Now about that Ford traction control. Well, it rocks on snow and ice. Hands down it does a great job. It detects side ways drift and excessive wheel spinning and compensates in a controlled manner. A lot of times is so good you don't even know is happening until you see the light come up on the dash.
With the snow tires and the traction control, driving on snow and ice is pretty easy. In fact a lot of the time it grips like you were driving on just a wet road and not snow or ice. If anyone has seen this [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5exATIaQiI"]YouTube - 20 Car Pile up P.1 - Ian Smith[/nomedia] video from Colorado Springs a couple of weeks ago, I'm convinced that none of them had snow tires. I drove in the snow and ice that day when everyone was spinning out and couldn't accelerate, I had no issues whatsoever. Just kept the torque and the rpms down when I wanted to get going and everything was great. Slamming the breaks caused the ABS to activate in a very controllable manner and the snow tires caused the car to come to a quick stop. Now I have to be worried about the people behind my car slamming into me.
I can stress enough the incredible grip you get from these tires. It's unreal. I was so impressed I immediately bought a set for my wifes '07 Acura MDX.
So in summery, driving the Cobra in the snow is very possible, as long as you take the right precautions and use the correct tools for the job.
And the verdict is ..... It drives lot better in the snow and ice then I thought it would. But there are a few caveats that have to be spelled out first.
The only thing on your car that touches the road is your tires. I know summer tires are absolutely horrid in the snow. All seasons are "so-so" on snow and ice. Never bought snow tires as the Triple Tread all seasons on the SVX were good enough. Though on the Cobra I knew they would not be enough. So I researched snow tires and found that the Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 to be some of the absolute best. In fact is the tire that is used in the Colorado Steamboat Springs winter driving school. And of course "Jimmy" knows all of this and he himself has said snow tires are a must.
The couple of downsides to snow tires are that they are not as wide as I would have wanted as a 245 is the second largest I've seen and 255 is the largest that I found. The widest Blizzak's are the 245/45R17. It fits on the 17x9 rim but it feels sacrilegious to remove the 10.5's and the 315's from behind the car. The second downside is that because of the deep soft siped tread, they feel squirmy on the street. Though maybe this is what drag radials feel like, though I've never driven on drag radials.
Now about that Ford traction control. Well, it rocks on snow and ice. Hands down it does a great job. It detects side ways drift and excessive wheel spinning and compensates in a controlled manner. A lot of times is so good you don't even know is happening until you see the light come up on the dash.
With the snow tires and the traction control, driving on snow and ice is pretty easy. In fact a lot of the time it grips like you were driving on just a wet road and not snow or ice. If anyone has seen this [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5exATIaQiI"]YouTube - 20 Car Pile up P.1 - Ian Smith[/nomedia] video from Colorado Springs a couple of weeks ago, I'm convinced that none of them had snow tires. I drove in the snow and ice that day when everyone was spinning out and couldn't accelerate, I had no issues whatsoever. Just kept the torque and the rpms down when I wanted to get going and everything was great. Slamming the breaks caused the ABS to activate in a very controllable manner and the snow tires caused the car to come to a quick stop. Now I have to be worried about the people behind my car slamming into me.
I can stress enough the incredible grip you get from these tires. It's unreal. I was so impressed I immediately bought a set for my wifes '07 Acura MDX.
So in summery, driving the Cobra in the snow is very possible, as long as you take the right precautions and use the correct tools for the job.
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... Sorry you have to drive!
