Winter Driving

Not sure if this is the right area but couldn't find any other posts that were similar to my question. I live in Michigan and with snow coming soon I just wanted to know how well the Riv handles the snow and if there were any tips or advice on winter driving. Thanks.

It handles very well while moving, in my opinion. The car feels well balanced in a sliding turn. But you need to have the right tires, or else you can get stuck in deep snow. Central Ohio winters are mild compared to yours, so I keep summer performance tires on all year. I'd try a set of Blizzaks if I lived up north.

If you live in areas of heavy snow, you may also want to consider a slightly narrower snow tire, like a 205-65 instead of the stock 225-60 size.

Otherwise the Riv does very well in the snow, with the right tires. Tires will make all the difference in your winter driving. It's a nice heavy car, so give yourself plenty of stopping room in slick situations, but I agree with AA, it feels well balanced at all times.

Just replaced my Nitto 555R's with some FREE snow tires.. yay! should be EXCELLENT in the snow

Well...the front of the riv is heavy. so be sure you dont take cornors fast cos the car may just go straight!
heavy front and Fwd is good for accelarating and holding the tyres tighter against ground.

*Use good winter tyres not older then 1-2years.
Cos winter tyres are much softer then summer ones they get harder when they age. use tyres what have more then 3-4mm of tyre 'surfice'(or how ever its called).
also it depends where you drive most of the time? in city use lamells(M/S) cos in city the rod's are most of teh time cleaned.use the stock 225wide tyres.

if you live out of the city and if it's allowed there use spike tyres.
cos you will have much worch conditions to drive. recomend 205 or 215 wide tyres

in deep snow turn TRACTION CONTROLL OFF.
cos you dont want teh car to start stoping tyres cos it depends of your speed if you will get stuck or not and it anyways will heat your brakes to much.

Whit good not old tyres you will be fine.
Also on winter drive the car will take more gas..


buyed my car those. will arrive in next week
where dead cheep!!! just 48€ each(normaly winter tyres are liek 100€ each) but they still had 4 stars of 5.





Driver chooses the right speed depending of the wether!

Should I go with an all season tire or winter specific tire? Also is it better to have traction control turned off while driving on snowy highways or leave it on?

on highways on higher speed keep it on. when driving slow under 20miph in deeper snow take it off. cos it helps you avoid getting stuck/owerheating the brakes.

all seeson is good to use only on winter. cos they are so soft and if you would use them on summer they wear out very fast.
also on summer they will make rear of th car black of ruber dust.


where do you drive most of the time? city? outcity?

I do most of my driving on the highway. Usually about 80 miles to and from work.

crosss3 wrote:

Should I go with an all season tire or winter specific tire? Also is it better to have traction control turned off while driving on snowy highways or leave it on?

In deeper snow I need to turn off the traction control or I don't go anywhere... some wheelspin is necessary to get moving sometimes. As to the snow tire question - that all depends on the climate where you live. If it's snowy like middle to northern new england ski country snowy, then you should have snow tires. What do other people in your area do typically?

Here in Boston, you can get away with a good all season tire, but snows definitely make it easier. Move 30 miles north into southern NH and I would say snow tires are a necessity.

Hey Timo, what kind of tires are those?

GoodRide
SW601 225/60 R16 98H

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=10288090.100.21345&typ=R-147265&ranzahl=4&Breite=225&Quer=60&Felge=16&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=20&sort_by=preis&Transport=P&dsco=100&sowigan=Wi

I live in the southwestern part of Michigan so we get some lake effect snow, but I drive to central Michigan. I couldn't really tell you what other people in my area usually do. All I know is there is a lot of truck traffic on I-94.

I see plenty of snow and icy roads in Fargo. No winter tires for me, I run the BFG Traction TA's year round. They do not wear excessively in the summer, and have decent traction in the snow.

Of course the Fargo region is very flat, so that helps with traction, no hills to worry about. I'd probably run winter tires otherwise.

crosss3 wrote:

I live in the southwestern part of Michigan so we get some lake effect snow, but I drive to central Michigan. I couldn't really tell you what other people in my area usually do. All I know is there is a lot of truck traffic on I-94.

But how much snow do you usually get? Do you have to drive in mid-snowstorms or can you wait until the plows come through? Only you can tell us the climate situation where you are and what the winters are like.

If you do get snow tires, you may want to look for some used rims to mount them on, because you shouldn't run snow tires in the warmer months and re-mounting the tires twice a year gets expensive.

do they Salt the rod's in the US on winter?

Yea they do. I guess if my 96 BMW could make it through the snow then the Riv should have no problem. As far as the snow amount it really depends. I leave for work at 5am so sometimes the roads are plowed sometimes they aren't it all depends.

Being FWD, the Riviera should be much better safer than the BMW, imo.

Well i have truyed FWD and RWD on winter.
rwd is more fun. but fwd accelarates much better cos most of teh waight is on the front axel.
on sharp turns rwd is better cos you can 'drift'..just step more on gas and it goes where your front wheels are rolling. but if to much then you loos controll. its easyer to loos con whti a powerfull rwd then whit fwd.

Snowdog wrote:

do they Salt the rod's in the US on winter?

Depends on where you live. Mostly sand is used here. Go to Mnpls/St.Paul MN and it's heavily salted.

Snowdog wrote:

Well i have truyed FWD and RWD on winter.
rwd is more fun. but fwd accelarates much better cos most of teh waight is on the front axel.
on sharp turns rwd is better cos you can 'drift'..just step more on gas and it goes where your front wheels are rolling. but if to much then you loos controll. its easyer to loos con whti a powerfull rwd then whit fwd.

I find RWD is better in most situations, especially if you have a nice heavy car. But FWD is 'easier' in the snow, although you don't have quite as much control once you break loose. In RWD it's easier to recover (see 'drifting' above), with FWD it's harder to loose it in the first place... Driven carefully, both are fine as long as your tires are good!

I've pushed the limits in both types in the snow and I find RWD easier to predict and recover.

I actually prefer RWD in the snow. I find it's easier to correct yourself when you are sliding, and if you get stuck in a rut you aren't screwed for the most part like in a FWD car.

Anyway, to get back on topic...

We just got our first snowfall of the season and it's the first time that I got to try the Riv in the snow. I must say it's scary driving it compared to my old car. Maybe I just have to get used to it. It seems to slide very easy even with my Firestone winterforce tires on it. The traction control is constantly kicking in too.

Which actually leads me to a question. Does having the traction control kicking in do any damage to the transmission or any braking components? It seriously sounds scary when it kicks in. Almost like a creaking groaning sound.

1998 Riv wrote:

Snowdog wrote:

do they Salt the rod's in the US on winter?

Depends on where you live. Mostly sand is used here. Go to Mnpls/St.Paul MN and it's heavily salted.

And how! I wish we would just use straight sand!

If salt is applied when there is a lot of loose snow yet on the road, all it does is make it greasy and more slippery.
This morning for example. I could accelerate and stop quite easily on the side streets. Some of which had yet to be plowed.

As soon as I got onto a main road that had the intersections salted it was slow going starting from a stop. Spin, Spin, Spin!

I had a chat with my tranny shop mechanic (He's from Michigan originally.) when I had a fluid change and he told me that if you do get stuck, be very careful if trying to "rock" it out. He advised that these tranny's will break ... literally break apart... if you hammer it too hard in reverse.
I questioned him further and he said " Up north he replaced many a tranny on Park Aves and others in the winter months due to over acceleration when trying to rock it out in reverse."
Since I didn't buy my Riv till after I moved to NC I haven't had to worry about it, but I don't see why he would BS me on this point.
As a 55 yr old guy who lived in Chicago and Northern WI most of my life, best thing I can suggest is to add some weight in the trunk, drive sober, SLOW DOWN and give yourself plenty of time when traveling in snowy conditions.
This advise may save your Riv and your life.

Why add weight to the trunk? It's FWD...

but SLOW DOWN is the best advice!

Adding weight to the trunk will help it track straighter in windy and uneven road situations...