Winter driving
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Drove my 450 Smart during winter in the Swiss Alps. Uphill is not a problem..... BUT DOWNHILL IS!!
Straight forward: Be carefull. The Smart is very light.... so on icy roads it needs a veeeeery careful right foot.....
Because of this, my two Smarts (451, 452) stay in a lovely warm place during winter time. Just my 2 cents after driving Smart for over 20 years.
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Straight forward: Be carefull. The Smart is very light.... so on icy roads it needs a veeeeery careful right foot.....
Because of this, my two Smarts (451, 452) stay in a lovely warm place during winter time. Just my 2 cents after driving Smart for over 20 years.
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Just a few days ago, I had to drive my 451 electric on some slippery wet-icy snow covered hilly streets. I have winter tires only on the rear (Continental Winter-Contact - the only snow tire that seems to be currently available for the Smart 451). It did just fine. The only dicey part was descending a short 18 percent hill near the house, which requires creeping at walking speed to prevent tobogganing (except a toboggan does not spin while sliding down the hill!). Obviously, snows on all four wheels would have done better but descending this hill in slippey-snow (in the local language) is problematic in any car.
Where are you in Wisconsin and are you new to the area? If you are in Madison or Milwaukee the streets are cleared by plows like some sort of military invasion. My street is cleaned just constantly and many folks I know here in Madison drive around all winter on old, hardened, bald tires. I'm not advising that you try this, and I don't do it, but they seem to get by with it.
My last winter car had dedicated snow tires on it. For this winter I have two options, both of which have new "all-season" tires but not real winter tires. I've only had the Smart a couple of weeks.
We haven't had more than a dusting of snow so I haven't been able to try the Smart in the snow. When I was in high school there were still a few old 70s beetles around and I remember that with rear engine, rear drive, and skinny tires they hardly ever had trouble in heavy snow.
I'm looking forward to driving a car with plastic body panels - no rust creeping through. I guess time will tell if these cars, like Saturns, will rust structurally on the underside in such a way as to keep them from staying on the road in the long term.
Paul
My last winter car had dedicated snow tires on it. For this winter I have two options, both of which have new "all-season" tires but not real winter tires. I've only had the Smart a couple of weeks.
We haven't had more than a dusting of snow so I haven't been able to try the Smart in the snow. When I was in high school there were still a few old 70s beetles around and I remember that with rear engine, rear drive, and skinny tires they hardly ever had trouble in heavy snow.
I'm looking forward to driving a car with plastic body panels - no rust creeping through. I guess time will tell if these cars, like Saturns, will rust structurally on the underside in such a way as to keep them from staying on the road in the long term.
Paul
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This will be my first winter in Minnesota with my 451. After reading posts from Canadians on this site, I decided to get new tires put on a couple of weeks ago. The Canucks suggested Vredestein Quatrac 5 which are all season but have the Mountain Symbol on them. I'm excited to see how they work. By the way, I'm from Rice Lake, where are you from?
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105 Posts
Just put my snows on, got them last year, Yokohama 145 snows.
They worked very well, my 451 gas has my steel wheels on it with snows, had the yokahama's put on my alloys this year.
It becomes a snow mobile with good snows!
ALL SEASON ARE NOT WINTER TIRES, come by and try mine you will feel the difference, soft rubber compared to hard rubber designed to be used all summer without melting.
I've just put General Altimax Arctic 12's (185/60 R15) on my rear wheels in preparation for snow. At first, I couldn't find a good winter tire for the front 165/65 R15's. I'm now thinking about buying some Vredstein Quatrac 5 snow-rated, all-season tires for the front. I'm hoping that these will be a bit better than the all-season Conti's the car came with. Has anyone tried them?
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83 Posts
I believe the only true stud less snow tires available for the 451's are the Continental's. I put them on all 4 corners of my '09 and it makes a world of difference! Do I get the same traction as an AWD or 4X4? No, of course not, but it's a huge improvement over the all season Continental's and there's no way I'd try and drive any smart in the winter with all season tires.
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858 Posts
I've been running Quatrac tires for years and the 5's are the best yet...
I live in Montreal, Canada. I had a 2013 pure running conti ts800 on all 4 corners ‘cause it’s the law here in winter. Never had a problem until an idiot suv driver plowed into my son driving it. The car was totaled... Son walked away without a scratch. So... needed another car and I’m getting a 2015 on Thursday... it’s getting a set of ts800 too.
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