Winter driving

[NorthernBloke]

I wouldn't dream of taking my Porsche out in bad weather, even if it was just raining []

As you can see by this picture taken on the Scottish border ealier this year - racked up 18,000 miles since then. I say, If you've got it, use it [8D]

 

[hotblack944]

And me []

This was the filth after just one outing (Pistonheads Dorset Dawdle 4) last year.

Jim.

 

[944Turbo]

ORIGINAL: wizard

This is my first winter with the car and I have had a few too many sideways moments (3)which took me by suprise as these were totally unprovoked i.e off boost. I have decided to keep her locked up in the garage where its safe as it did scare the sh!t out of me.

I am running Falken tyres all round - do these have a tendancy to slip? They are OK in the dry.

I have been doing some work on a friends 944T, his car has falkens on the rear and they are very hard (relative to bridgestones / dunlops / michelins that I have had on my car), they last well but grip is not so good.

I was accelerating on dual carriageway whilst keeping one eye on the boost gauge and it got quite sideways when mine (with a bit more power) wouldn't.

I am suprised however it went sideways off boost, I would check the pressures and consider checking the geometry. There is a lot of adjustability in the suspension so if something has moved it could be a long way off. Apply penetrating oil to all likely nuts and bolts for the week before taking it in and you may save some money on labour.

Tony

 

[Fen]

My S2 coupe was way out of alignment when I got it. It was very squirmy when it was wet. I can't remember what tyres it had then, but one was down to the canvas [&:] when I replaced them with my 18's because they took longer than expected to arrive.

 

[944Turbo]

oh and I have been up to gatwick twice this week so my car is filthy too, but the early starts allowed for some high speed running Unfortunately my autometer boost guage has packed up, it reads -5" to +8 psi whilst the in dash one is off the top of the scale.

Tony

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: 944Turbo
Unfortunately my autometer boost guage has packed up

Time for one of those new ones that changes colour when you go over a set level []

I can't believe my luck with the weather this weekend. I gave the S2 a damned good clean on Thursday morning and after 3 overnight motorway trips to Warwick and back it's still black and gleaming. They were out gritting tonight though []

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

but it does show up the odd squeak from the interior that wasn't there before!

When Dave Malings first had his Ledas fitted we went out for a drive with them set at the max stiffness (24 I think) and it felt like the whole car was going to rattle and shake to pieces. Turned back down to 6 the car was supple and compliant once more. I was very impressed with the amount of adjustability

 

[944Turbo]

I am seriously considering a set at the moment might go without the rear springs though, at least for now,
Tony

 

[Guest]

Hi Peter I have had my 944 for 8 weeks now and drive it everyday.The only time I will not drive it is when it snows.Fortunatly it does not snow very often near to Hull.Happy motoring!Lins. Oh yer cleaned my car on sat morning at 8am by 10 it looked worse than yours!It will be summer soon!!

 

[usermjg]

I have taken mine out in the snow, well we are talking about two years ago, the last time i saw snow and it was fab!! It was a little funny trying to get it back into the garage though, as it's on a little slope and the back end fish tailed all over the shop. I really hope it snows this year. Although i must stress again you must drive within the car's limits and not push to hard, or it really will bite back, as it did to me in the first year of ownership. As i have remarked before even a baby shark has shark teeth.

Marc

 

[carlmthompson]

I sorted out my winter driving today.

As it was probably the last dry day of the year, I washed it, dried it, polished it, polished it again, sealed it with Gloss Protection, cleaned the leather, treated the leather, fixed the non cancelling indicators, put two quick release battery clamps on.......

and then put it to bed for the winter[]

My wife says I'm sad.

I can't argue.

 

[Diver944]

Poor car []let it out for some exercise

......make sure your brakes were fully dry and that the handbrake doesn't rust on []

 

[carlmthompson]

Gave it a ten mile run on the motorway before I put it away (brake less on motorway = less brakedust on clean wheels!)

Also, I don't use the handbrake - just stick it in gear (obviously don't try that in San Fransisco!)

Should mention my sister (and more importantly for the car) young nephew and niece come over from Spain for Chirstmas, so no doubt Uncle Carl will be taking them for a spin! (as long as it's dry of course......)

 

[944Turbo]

I have driven mine in the snow too, as soon as I build any boost it goes sideways Don't get much snow down here in the South though []
Tony

 

[Peter Empson]

I love driving in the snow, although last year was a bit hairy with the wider tyres on and I nearly got stuck a couple of times (not least on our steep drive!). But then I had the oppurtunity to put the narrow phone dials back on if it all got too much, now with the new brakes that isn't even an option []

At least it's low enough to be used as a snow plough now so perhaps if I sort the traction issue out then I could earn a bit of extra money on the side[]
Peter.

 

[wizard]

ORIGINAL: steve 944t

Wizard - I am surprised you are having oversteer even when not on boost. I generally have to provoke my car to get it out of shape. When cornering off boost it has a tendency to understeer if anything. I would say yours is possibly down to tyre choice and/or geometry. I am using Toyo T-1Ss, which are very good, although even the best road tyres are going to struggle with the roads as greasy as they are now.

Steve - I am using Falken Ziex 225x17 on front 255x17 on rear. Probably one of the cheaper tyres on the market. These tend to 'let go' under acceleration in moderatly wet conditions. In the dry they have bags of grip in a straight line but under hard cornering you can literally feel them 'melting' as discovered when chasing an Lotus Exige through the twisty roads in Cornwall during the summer.

I think I have the MO30 option on my car and it may be set a little soft.

 

[Guest]

In need of a clean?

Mine only ever oversteers, haven't had any understeer since I got it. Think some new rear tyres might get bought. At the end of the day I am sure someone will keep a mint example of a 944 for the world to see so I might as well use mine.

 

[944Turbo]

I got understeer yesterday as I turned into a road that was sheet ice, the ABS bought it back into line fortunately.

I also managed to fix my boost gauge. The pipe I teed into had come detached at one end somewhat reducing the pressure/vacuum signal to the gauge, its good again now.

Tony

 

[Fen]

Left the inlaws in central Dorset around 10:40 last night to drive home. About 35 miles into the trip it started to snow. That soon became a blizzard with snow lying over black ice on the apparently ungritted A35.

Then my wiper linkage popped off. I put it back on twice but it came off after 1 wipe each time (I broke it last Monday when I inadvertently started the car with the wipers on intermittent and the driver's one frozen to the screen I guess - it popped off then anyway although it worked for the journey home from work that day). We called the AA about 11:45pm and they said they'd be with us by 1:50 so we pressed on when the snow eased off but pretty soon I was driving by leaning across to the passenger side to see out. I had no tools or anything in the car because I had emptied it on Thursday for a viewing that didn't happen (guy works offshore and was stuck in the M74 chaos Wednesday and Thursday on his way home).

Scary stuff; 3rd gear at idle with the speedo not registering and the accelerator replaced with a "let's go sideways" switch that triggered if I so much as looked at it. Touching the middle pedal was just an ABS system test - no discenable slowing though.

Highlights of the trip were:

Overtaking an all but stuck arctic (Sun newspapers) at 45 degrees with the camber sliding us back toward the truck,

Coming into a 90degree right hander on a downhill outside Honiton fully sideways and unable to touch the pedals (but thankfully at about 4mph), and

Being overtaken on the A30 by a lunatic in a TNT 17.5 tonner who only found out how slippery it was when he couldn't quite get into the outside lane by the time he caught us and went past about 6" from my door mirror at about 40mph faster than us (so about 50 mph then). I was genuinely suprised we didn't pass the wreckage of his truck later on.

All in all an absolute nightmare and undoubtedly the the worst conditions I have ever driven in.

 

[sawood12]

I am also a new (5 months now) daily driver and had my first 'moment' a few days ago whilst in 2nd gear overtaking a slow car on the exit from a small roundabout and onto a nice long straight. It was slightly damp underfoot and the boost caught me out as I was pulling round the car in front. I managed to complete the overtake whilst tankslapping, much to my surprise. The old dear in the car I was overtaking must have had quite a scare! Since then I've been very, very cautious in slippery conditions.

I've noticed that when it's damp it's very easy for the boost to catch you out but my confidence was lifted because for every control input I made the car responded. So at least if you do find yourself cought out at least you have half a chance of recovering the situation. Whilst in my previous car - a golf- I got a bit out of shape on a local roundabout in slippery conditions. I made all the textbook inputs in an attempt to recover the situation but no amount of driver input had any effect, I was merely a passenger heading for the crash barrier. Luckily by the time I 'kissed' the barrier most of my speed had been scrubbed off and damage was mainly to my pride rather than wallet.

Have any of you taken any special precautions about protection against road salt e.g. Waxoil?? My car has no rust on it and I would like to keep it that way.