Only light snow so far today, but “they” are claiming another possible 6-9″! UPDATE: This is what the roads were like when I headed home (early):
My new non-runflat tires are performing adequately; fine for driving reasonably plowed roads but I can easily lose traction if I accelerate or brake hard (experimentally – I don’t drive that way!) The traction control & ABS are excellent at maintaining correct direction; without ABS I would not be happy in this weather.
It would be interesting to compare with real snow tires, as there are some places where I would like more traction – mostly on slopes which have not been cleared of snow; I know that if I had to stop I would not be able to go forward up a slope any more. And going down such slopes I am very careful to keep my speed low, in case the tires & ABS together cannot stop GBMINI (not happened yet and I don’t want it too).
Question for any experts reading this: Would an LSD help with maintaining traction from a stop when going up a slippery hill? Or is it only beneficial on curves?
M&I / GBMINI 
The LSD would help in that case if one tire had more traction than the other. Which is often the case…right side of the road often has more snow packed into ice. DSC would cut acceleration of both to the level of the weakest link, the right tire’s traction. But LSD would shift more power to the left. I’m sure it will not be a huge difference but you might be in the situation where it makes a difference of getting up that hill or not.
Was unaware that ASC/DSC had such an effect on traction in the snow. You are bringing out a subject that Mini drivers need to be aware of. I have not driven my Mini this year, so will try it in snow. Thanks for the heads-up.
Al.
Al – definitely get out and play with the MINI in the snow! Avoid more than 3″ or so as the MINI will “drown”.
On the way home (early) today in another snow storm, I came up Cherry St which is a steep uphill with a tight left then right on the way up.
I was very pleased that (admittedly from a running start) I had no problem going up – I obviously lost some speed climbing, and had a small sideways drift on the tight left, but GBMINI continues to give me confidence on the road in this weather 🙂
Ian, worth driving someones MINI with dedicated snows just to see the difference. I went from summers to snows so it was obviously drastic…I have a feeling though that when you talking about going uphill – I could do it just fine and gain speed. Not that you’d necessarily want to, just saying…
Ian, I’ve got an ’04 JCW w/ Nokian Hakks on R81s (15″)…you’re welcome to drive it anytime…. but I’m way out west of Boston, not on the north shore. I’ve been very happy w/ it in the light snow to date. I’ve missed this storm by being in DC and return in a couple of days. Thankfully my car is inside the Term B parking garage so I won’t be buried. But, I may have trouble seeing over the mounds of snow — could mount my daughter’s orange bike flag on a pole on the bumper .
I think I’ve seen other posts on MINI2 that suggest turning off DSC to get started in snow or slippery situations. The wheelspin causes the software to cut out power. Of course, that was before v.39 so I’m not sure if it still holds true.
hi ian poor gbmini it cant breathe under that snow each time buy it a oxygen mask LOL