Snow experience with the 04 Solara

by **slingshot** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 4:44 pm

With this big storm in the East, I'm sure many here are testing snow performance for the first time. Here is my initial experience. Let's hear yours.

Driving in a few inches of snow was not at all a white knuckle experience and I experienced no slipping. The traction control light came on briefly a few times as I made some turns. The OEM tires seemed to do fine. What I noticed was that this car really needs mud flaps big-time! Too much of the white stuff was being splashed on the rocker panels.

by **Guest** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 4:50 pm

I expeirenced the snow as well. Im a new driver and this is my first winter, so any expiereince would have been a white nuckle one. The solara handled admirably, although there was some slipping. As long as you accelerate slow and don't brake hard everything should be fine. I am concidering buying snow tires, what do you guys think, which ones are the best? Good luck to all you winter drivers!

by **Hammerli** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 4:56 pm

Anonymous wrote:I expeirenced the snow as well. Im a new driver and this is my first winter, so any expiereince would have been a white nuckle one. The solara handled admirably, although there was some slipping. As long as you accelerate slow and don't brake hard everything should be fine. I am concidering buying snow tires, what do you guys think, which ones are the best? Good luck to all you winter drivers!

There are almost no choices in stock 17" size. All Tire Rack had was Blizzak WS-50. I haven't had them in snow yet, but they should be MUCH better than the stock tires. You could go to a 225/50/17, which has a lot more options, and is extremely close in dimensions. I think the Dunlop Winter Sport M3 would be an excellent choice for the Solara. They are supposed to be one of the quieter snow tires, with decent dry handling and wear as well.

by **Prophet** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 5:31 pm

Drove 40 miles home today in the snow and ice here in NY and all went well.

Traction control did kick in once when I braked after seeing a bunch of cars spinning all over the place in front of me...Held me perfectly straight, and I was very impressed. No skids or slipping anywhere.

by **angelo** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 7:02 am

I also drove today in the snow and the stock 17" tires handled reasonably well, esp. with the help ot the stability control.
What bothers we is the amount of snow that stays on the rims - it should totaly f*** the balance...

by **Blazed04** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:48 am

I like the way this car handles in the snow. Although im not sure why...the rear end got a little lose a couple of times? But overall the car does very well in the snow whether it was 2inches, or the final 20inches. :lol:

by **angelo** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:43 pm

Prophet wrote:Drove 40 miles home today in the snow and ice here in NY and all went well.

Traction control did kick in once when I braked after seeing a bunch of cars spinning all over the place in front of me...Held me perfectly straight, and I was very impressed. No skids or slipping anywhere.

It should have been the stability control that kicked in.

by **slingshot** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 4:21 pm

When the stability control kicks in, you hear a loud beeping. When the traction control kicks in , you see its icon appear below the tach meter briefly.

by **Prophet** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 7:09 pm

When the traction control kicks in , you see its icon appear below the tach meter briefly.

Yep, it was traction control. Nice to see it works!

by **jimhoff** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 3:11 am

I was very impressed with the ice & snow traction. I have a pretty basic model and there is no limited slip differential as I confirmed, but it's good with the stock Michelins.

Next year I'll spring for studded snow tires or studless snow tires. I would not hesitate to drive this thing in 2 or 3 inches of wet snow or on ice.

The 4-channel ABS is good--but sometimes I still think it's better to ease-off the brakes a bit and "re-catch" the road.

More than 2-3" snow or on hills I'll take the 4wd. Also I'd rather get hit by an out-of-control car in a truck than this thing.

The car did come with one great option: the sliding moon roof. If I get burried in a snow bank and can't open either door - I can escape out the moon roof

by **angelo** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 8:32 am

jimhoff wrote:I was very impressed with the ice & snow traction. I have a pretty basic model and there is no limited slip differential as I confirmed, but it's good with the stock Michelins.

Next year I'll spring for studded snow tires or studless snow tires. I would not hesitate to drive this thing in 2 or 3 inches of wet snow or on ice.

The 4-channel ABS is good--but sometimes I still think it's better to ease-off the brakes a bit and "re-catch" the road.

More than 2-3" snow or on hills I'll take the 4wd. Also I'd rather get hit by an out-of-control car in a truck than this thing.

The car did come with one great option: the sliding moon roof. If I get burried in a snow bank and can't open either door - I can escape out the moon roof

I don't think there is any Solara with limited slip differential, at least not a stock one...

by **lmaoff** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 5:42 am

since when a fwd car has a differential?

by **Pingi3** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 1:44 pm

FWD can have LSD, for example the nissan SPEC V has LSD and its a FWD car

by **bigpow** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 2:34 pm

Acura TL '04 with 6MT has v (very) Limited Slip Diff.

by **camtrek** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 3:09 pm

In my Lexus GS, i love activating VSC and tRAC, as i was coming up my street I would floor it and TRAC would cut my throttle but still have enough to increase speed, rev's would be in the 5000's and I would just be hearing beep beep etc. as I would be going down the street kicking up snow everywhere. Donuts are fun in RWD too.

Snow experience with the 04 Solara

Snow experience with the 04 Solara

rims

LSD ?!?

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