Well I was stupid. I let myself get caught out last night in the 'noreaster returning from a party at 2:00am with the 308. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Fished-tailed a lot of the way home with less than 1/2" of snow/ice on the major roads. Now my car sits in an all night gas station parking lot about 1.5 miles from home because I couldn't get any traction to go further. Why not leave earlier? The girls were very cute and when they dance Salsa....MMMmmmmm. Anyway, I learned a couple things: 1) With Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires stay out of the snow! 2) With a 308, stay out of the snow! 3) Let the SUVs blow by you in the snow. Stick to a safe speed and stay to the right. 4) The windshield defroster does work well enough with the squirrel running full-tilt so long as the snow isn't too bad 5) When you see the signs that say "Bridge freezes before Road".....believe it!. Every overpass I lost traction. 6) When moving....don't stop! Keep the momentum going. 7) If you start fish-tailing, *ease* off the accelerator to regain control. If you can, up-shift to keep from spinning the wheels and run lower RPM. 8) Leave plenty of room around you so when you do fish-tail, you have some wiggle room. and to those nudges who kept riding my bumper no matter what lane I was in or how much I fish-tailed....It is a Ferrari....it hates snow....back off!....my trunk doesn't need to be any smaller! Now I'm waiting for the snow to end, the streets to be plowed, and my driveway to be shoveled so I can bring my poor, shivering, cranky Italian princess home to a warm garage.
Here you go Clyde don't feel bad baby, me Stuck in CT on a Run and some Hillbillies Pushing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW6dZFwegnE
Ah, the days when FerrariJoe was Ferrari. Before the dark side Just went up to fetch my car. My street isn't too swift, but the secondaries are pretty good. Get to the Exxon & some poor schlep is hand-shoveling the signficantly sized, two island station. I did meet the owner who was kinda pissed that I left the car & he had to park his Mercedees next to the Ferrari. But we reconciled & I told him I'd be back to get it out as soon as he got his lot plowed 'cause there's no way I can get through about 4" of loose pack in his lot with 4" clearance on the car. Dang. And Dad who brought me up in his Subaru Outback is saying "Hey, my Subaru never gets stuck. You shoulda bought a Subaru. And you don't even have snow tires on that car. You coulda got a ticket......." Thanks, dad.
Why was I out? well, can you say "fiesta con Mamasitas Calientes?" I was just stupid enough to get caught in the snow. Extra tires? well, 1) I now know Ferraris really don't belong in the snow. Two tries have convinced me. 2) Just where would I put the spares in the car? A set of golf clubs wouldn't even fit in the trunk. Maybe a bottel of champagne, but that would get too hot & explode in the trunk 3) Ever try & source rims for said 308? I have. Very tough to find and pretty darn pricey. I'll just follow rule #1 next time.
9) When they say it is going to start snowing around mid-night, err on the side of caution and believe them. 10) In case you don't believe them, stick your nose outside periodically to be sure. 11) If you insist on driving your 308 anyway, despite several days advance warning this is going to happen, get your arze home AHEAD of the storm. 12) If you ignore #11 and party-on anyway (women have a tendancy to make you do that), don't complain about it. No one will have any sympathy for you, unless you were also dumb enough not to at least get laid.
Absolutely agree with that comment. No car on earth would do much better with the summer performance tires that are typical on a Ferrari. When I had a Mercedes 300E it couldn't do any better than your experience with the summer tires but equipped with 4 real snow tires, I took it up to Vermont often for skiing without any problems. Proper snows on all four corners would make a significant improvement as long as the snow isn't deep enough to interfere with the low ground clearance. Alex Leventhal drives his 400i all year in New York with 4 Blizzaks (I think that's what he uses) and it works well. Of course, the 308 will never be a fun car in the snow, so the real question is why bother? At least you didn't prang it! John
The car was just brought home & the salt washed off it. She'll get toweled down shortly. Emil, sorry no pics. I was more concerned about getting her out of the lot ASAP before the temp. dropped. Steve, sounds like you've been there. I did #9,10,& 11. It just came down between checks . As I headed up this thread....I was Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'll leave #12 lie/laid/lain/lay Could never quite get that tense right
you got that right... I had pirelli rossos on my A8L and even with the best awd system in the world....I got stuck in my driveway! With the scorpion/ice snows...I can plow past/through anything! Snows make an incredible difference!
wow, didnt see this one........... How many peple does it take to push a Ferrari out of 1 inch of snow? 5 2 to push 2 to take pics 1 to video it hehe
You are the ultimate Ferrari Macho man, Clyde! That 308 is the most well used F car out there. Now, IF you put a set of Pirelli Snowsports or Bridgestone Blizzaks on there for the winter, you would be surprised how well the car does. Its all the tires, man.
Clyde - Buy a Testarossa , mine wasn't too bad in a little snowstorm up in Vermont. Just gotta take it slow , and do it at your comfort level. Also, move south !!! Last week it was 70 - 75 down here in NC !!! I called both my brothers in CT and told them to have fun shovelling Stay warm up north fellas!!!
I kick myself for passing on two opportunities.... Your TR & Vik's 355. Both sweet machines. As to moving south...I've heard those Southern women really know how to make you feel at home You just have to watch out for the Yankee trans-plants Glad to hear your doing well.
Taking a ferrari out in the snow or icey conditions is the equivalent of driving intoxicated, plain and simple. You have absolutely zero control of the car and increase the chances of killing not only yourself, but anyone else on the road. You're luck to have arrived alive.
Best bang for the buck is a set of 4 Blizzaks; the traction in snow is amazing. And the tread singing at any speed over 10mph will add a new dimension to the 308 experience.
I doubt Clyde is going to convert the 308 into a winer vehicle, but if you're looking for winter tires I recommend the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme tire from EuroTire. Normally winter tires are noisy and harsh in warm weather, but we just put some on a Maser CC Coupe a couple months ago and the ride has been great and quiet. I honestly can't tell any difference from summer tires, although I'm certain they won't handle anything like summer tires at the limit. The Vredestein's are designed by Giugiaro and say this on the sidewall. I had Vredsteins winters a few years ago and they were great in snow but I didn't like didn't like the ride and noise, but these new versions are great. The other good thing about Vredestein (I'm told by the EuroTire but haven't otherwise verified) is that they make them year round, where most of the other manufacturers like Pirelli, etc only make winter tires for the season, so if you lose a tire mid/late winter, it's difficult to get replacements.
As I said, I was stupid, stupid, stupid for getting caught in the snow. No snow tires in the 308's future. It's suppose to snow later tonight??? Well, my car will be staying in the garage for the rest of today as well
