Winter is coming

This year has been the most productive Machine Zealots' year yet. We've attended many auto shows, and for the first time, took the STI out to autocross. I've personally learned a lot about the car, mostly driving techniques, but there is still so much more to learn. However, now that summer has come to a close, it's time to learn about the car in another set of shoes. Before swapping to the winter wheels though, I took the time to thoroughly wash and clean them.

Although the water was freezing cold, I felt that it was worth the extra effort to clean these wheels while they were off. These tires are so soft compared to the Bridgestone Potenza RE070s, everything feels less responsive. However, these soft tires make it a much easier daily driver. To be honest, I actually miss these silver BBS wheels!

There was barely any snow last year, but I hope this winter will be filled with snow everywhere. I really want to drive the STI in fresh snow. I also really want to find some snow filled mountain roads to drive and practice on, like those insane snow touge events they hold in Japan!

AWD and Winter Tires

In the autumn of 2011, I had prepared for the upcoming winter by placing on a set of Dunlop Winter Tires. In the hopes of filming an awesome snow episode and a full review of the tires, I had waited a long time for snow to fall. Just a couple of days ago, snow had fallen, but there was only five to ten centimeters of precipitation. There was only enough snow for me to drive and test the tires in, but not enough snow for a good shooting location. Therefore, as of now, I cannot deliver a snow episode. However, I could give you guys a written review.

When I had initially put on the new tires, Spades had reviewed that the tires were extremely soft compared to the summer tires. However, since winter tires were made for extremely cold temperatures, it wasn't until the snow fall that I could see how great these tires were. I was able to push the car faster than most cars on the road with the same amount of confidence. It hardly felt like I was driving on snow and ice and if there was a loss in tire traction, the Symmetrical AWD system more than made up for it.

In a small open parking lot, I had an opportunity to test the grip of the tires with a simple skid pad turning excersize. With the steering wheel turned to full lock, I had started to experiment with different speeds, gears, and weight transfers. At speeds enough to swing yourself out of your seat, the car finally started to lose traction. However, you can't even blame the tires or the AWD system, at those sort of speeds, it was all physics baby!

Stop and go traffic on a snow covered incline plane was simple as well, absolutely no loss in traction.

In conclusion, these tires were a very good investment. However, I am pretty sure most winter tires slapped on any AWD Subaru will give you similar results, so feel free to check out other brands and models. Also, just a reminder for everyone that AWD plus winter tires does NOT make you invincible. If you are driving 60 MPH on a snow covered zig zag mountain run, please attempt at your own discretion. More than likely, you will lose traction, and physics will dissapoint you as you drop to your doom. Yes, based on what I said, it sounds like I felt invincible, but I was also driving safely and responsibly.

If there is more snow fall in the coming weeks, I will try to film something. Otherwise, drive safe everyone!

Snow, Ice, and a Mod

So it's the most wonderful time of the year... Not. Unfortunately, I absolutely hate snow. It's near winter now, and people all around are winter preping their cars. Whether it's snow tires, snow chains, snow shovels, or even a nice cup of instant hot chocolate, it seems like winter will be a piece of cake. Might not be for the Camaro though, we'll have to see. Afterall, this is my Camaro's first winter.

This does make me curious though, "How well does the Camaro drive in the snow?". More importantly, I want to know the difference in driving in severe conditions with Traction Control and Stability Control both on and off. I think this will make for a good test and review later down the line. I know some of you car owners never see snow, while others face snow for half a year. Eitherway, it will be interesting to see how this car does in the snow with stock all-season tires, and some good old fashion handling.

On another note, I know I said I wouldn't mod anymore until 2011. It's only November afterall, and I went to get another goodie for my car. It's too addicting. However, on the plus side, this mod is meant to help provide longevity to the car, and it wasn't all that expensive.

It's an oil catch can. For those of you who don't know what it is, I will do a more thorough review and explaination later on when I have this baby installed. Right now, I am waiting on a couple items missing from my package. Sadly, the person who sold this to me, Tracy, had recently gone through a great ordeal, and was just brought out of surgery not so long ago. He is very weak right now, but he says he is resting now, so I assume he is recovering. I hope you get well soon Tracy, and I will be awaiting for the rest of the items so I can get this installation on the way!