Rain

I would have mentioned this but the maintenance & fuel is way too expensive.

 
Laugh, but each winter I see more & more people doing it.
 
Where's that naked bike rally now? Huh?! whimps!

soens
Decided against studded tires, I see.
 
One more thing about winter driving... always carry emergency gear in the trunk.
1. Chains
2. Flares
3. Warm clothes
4. Bottled water
5. Spare tire
6. Jack
7. Tow strap
8. Shovel
9. etc
 

I only have bottled water from that list.
 
I used to have lots of things and was always prepared.  Then I found out that people like to break into cars that have lots of goodies in them (refer back to my November pics of my broken window).  Not sure what to do anymore...

craigb
Today I got stuck 30 miles from home just when a blizzard started.  It took two hours and I did some slow sliding down one hill, but I finally made it home and I'm NOT going anywhere for a while.

Craig ,
Our area got hit pretty good today ...
I just took a look out my window at my car and it is covered in about close to a foot of snow ...my car never looked so good
 
Kenny

craigb
 
I used to have lots of things and was always prepared.  Then I found out that people like to break into cars that have lots of goodies in them (refer back to my November pics of my broken window).  Not sure what to do anymore...

Move to a better neighborhood?

The neighborhood's fine, but my main client is in downtown Portland which is not so fine.

My wife has an awd 2013 Ford Escape that rocks in inhospitable weather. We're having record snow here in Colorado and I continue to be impressed. It also has amazing power for a four banger. Real life average mpg is 24ish but in the snow it gets 20ish. No matter what people tell you, awd is the difference between getting stuck and not getting stuck in the snow especially going uphill. I helped push a 2 wheel drive Mercedes back into his parking space last weekend and then drove off.
 
Rocky

soens
Decided against studded tires, I see.
 
One more thing about winter driving... always carry emergency gear in the trunk.
1. Chains
2. Flares
3. Warm clothes
4. Bottled water
5. Spare tire
6. Jack
7. Tow strap
8. Shovel
9. etc
 

Store the bottled water up front with you (so it doesn't freeze when you turn off the car), add in jumper cables (or emergency starter) and a bag of sand, and you've got a keeper.
 
Studs in tires make a huge difference until they wear down. At that point, they are useless and, if a tire decides to "throw" them, conceivably dangerous. So, it's a judgment call as to get them or not. The argument is whether the increased safety on the road is worth the possibility of hurting someone with a tossed stud. OTOH, I know of no one who has gotten hurt by a stud screaming through the air. Personally, I've not owned them.
 
You just haven't lived until, when traveling to a recording session during a blizzard, you've kissed a telephone pole with the bumper of your AMC Gremlin. Major "ouch". The Gremlin had amazing handling, even w/o adverse conditions: one would point the steering wheel in the direction you wanted to go, the car would consider complying with one's suggestion, and then (usually) get around to doing what one had requested. A generally agreeable car, indeed, but not the type of car to think about driving in a blizzard.

... those were covered in the "etc." part.
 
Sand bags work best if you can put them over the drive wheels like weightless pickups. Front drive cars, not so good as you're putting the weight in the back which lightens the frontend. Have a friend sit on the hood instead.
You can also spread the sand on ice to get more traction. A carpeted floor mat works in a pinch to get out of a snow bank.
 
Studs are good on icey intersections. Steel wears out too quick for me but some higher end tires offer titaniaum studs that last 2 or 3 seasons, according to a friend of mine. Never seen one fly off a tire and they're a bear to get out physically. Had to do that years ago when I couldn't afford summer tires and the fine for each stud was like $15 if caught running them in summer. It's only $50/vehicle now.
 
You should be amazed you AMC still runs. I'm amazed they still make parts for it. Now where did all those Yugos go?!

soens
... those were covered in the "etc." part.
 
Sand bags work best if you can put them over the drive wheels like weightless pickups. Front drive cars, not so good as you're putting the weight in the back which lightens the frontend. Have a friend sit on the hood instead.
You can also spread the sand on ice to get more traction. A carpeted floor mat works in a pinch to get out of a snow bank.
 
Studs are good on icey intersections. Steel wears out too quick for me but some higher end tires offer titaniaum studs that last 2 or 3 seasons, according to a friend of mine. Never seen one fly off a tire and they're a bear to get out physically. Had to do that years ago when I couldn't afford summer tires and the fine for each stud was like $15 if caught running them in summer. It's only $50/vehicle now.
 
You should be amazed you AMC still runs. I'm amazed they still make parts for it. Now where did all those Yugos go?!

Regarding the sandbags: we'd dump the sand on ice for traction. It wasn't a "weight thing" when we used them. 
 
The studs were missing at the end of the winter; we never saw or heard them fly out of the tire (*shudder*). Hopefully, they didn't destroy or, worse, kill anything.
 
The Gremlin is quite dead. The telephone pole affair was its last hurrah, I'm afraid. That was in the late 70's/early 80's, if memory serves. It was the most dangerous car I ever owned just because of the handling.