I was out visiting a friend in Maple Ridge last night, and had to drive back home as it was snowing. I haven’t driven in the snow in a while, and frankly, my car kind of sucks at it. That being said, here are a few things I learned.
- Driving in near white-out conditions is never a good idea
- The stock tires on a Mazda 3 Sport are complete garbage. Given that they are 17 inches, you might as well be driving a toboggan in the snow
- When you blow a single tire, you should replace both at once, and not just one. My front right tire was replaced due to a blow out, and I had to get a different style. Unfortunately, it’s about 10x better than the stock tires on my car, and it was gripping many times when they others weren’t
- When you can see the road better on your GPS than through your windshield, you should probably pull over and wait it out
I can’t believe you would drive out towards the Valley while there was a snowfall and blizzard warning out. Be careful! We need you around!
Although I’m even more shocked that you actually drove downtown and tried to park at Future Shop (which is like 6 blocks from your house) 😛
Snowfall warning eh. I guess I should read more 😛
I only drove to future shop because I was coming home from the sleep specialist in Burnaby. Normally I probably would have just walked. Although, in -5C I might have taken a cab or bus 🙂
Man I left Richmond at 10:45 last night… walked into my apartment on the North Shore at 1 AM… I also have a Mazda 3, and my tires have never been replaced…i ended up having to park a block down the hill from my place because my car couldn’t get up the damn hill! It’s ok going downhill, but uphill…uh uh, not gonna do it.
My boyfriend has the same car, and he said his original tires were awful. He’s been using good snow tires for the last couple of years, and his Mazda handles quite well in the snow!
I think I can safely stake a claim as the stupidest motorist of all, driving around in my 500hp Mustang with racing drag radial tires in a blizzard. It was downright pathetic.