First snow of the year in Chicago!
Dec 1, 2006, 09:26 PM
#1
Evolved Member
Thread Starter
iTrader: (7)
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Posts: 826
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
First snow of the year in Chicago!
(Warning this is a lengthy one!)
Well Chicago got hit hard with snow today. I live in th northern suburbs but we got about a full foot of snow in some areas. Anyways this is my 2nd winter with my evo but my 1st winter with snow tires. I bought a set a brand new evo 9 rims for the summer and i'm using my evo 8 rims mounted with Hankook Icebears for the winter. All I have to say is that the car is simply amazing! I used to be very cautious when driving in the snow because ever since I was 16 years old I always drove around with summer tires in the winter. Luckly all that time i never got into any accidents. I thought snow tires would only help with traction but they still wouldn't help me stop, man was I wrong! I can now stop with confidence. Not once did my abs kick in at all while trying to stop. This is also one of the worst snow storms Chicago has seen in awhile, the roads were ridiculous with cars becoming stuck in the snow nearly every 1/2 mile.
Well later on in the day I decided to have some fun and drift around parking lot corners at slow speeds which is very fun since the evo has so much control over the average car. It's kinda funny because when people see you on the road they don't expect you to get traction and they you just take off w/o a problem. I was trying not to get stupid because the car can get fun but also dangerous really quick. My buddy and I decided to drive into a empty parking lot near my house which is the same parking lot we had some fun in last year. The parking lot was not plowed at all! I took a quick look around to make sure that there was nothing I could hit. Every median had a light post in it so I had plenty of space for myself. Anyways the snow was so deep I could barely get the car to drift or spin. After awhile I finally got the car moving but keep in mind we were in a foot of deep thick snow. However the evo handled it with no problem! On my second time around I shifted into 2nd and I wasn't going very fast at all when WHAM! It scared the living crap out of me. The first thing that came to my mind was damn I F%^KED UP my car badly. I have never got into an accident at all and I never want to. I thought I hit a light post but I knew I was no where near one. I got out of my car and looked around and the car seemed completely fine. I was more worried about the body than anything else because it sounded like I smashed the left rear side of my car. I looked at my tires tracks to find out what I hit, and what do I see? But a curb buried beneath the snow. While I was spining my left rear tire hit the curb sideways, went over the curb and dug into the mud in the median and went back down. Luckly the snow ramped my wheel onto the median rather than hitting the curb flat. I was pissed and I felt dumb at the same time. My buddy said it could have been much worse but I figured that I shouldn't have happened at all! I drove my car home and my car did not want to stop at all! However the car seemed to drive fine besides me having to put alot of pressure on the brake pedal to slow down. When I pulled into my garage I took a closer look and the body was fine. The rim on the other hand had a huge chunk taken of the lip but it did not effect the tire seal at all. Upon closer inspection my car did not want to stop because my wheels were filled with snow and slight mud. I knew I hit a curb and everything seemed fine but because of the impact I was sure something had to have bent. Later on in the day I took my car to NTB to get the rear alignment checked and to my suprise my three other wheels were more out of spec than the wheel that hit the curb. They told my that my left rear wheel's camber is fine but the toe was slightly off. They checked out my suspesion along with all the bolts and bushings and it seemed to be just fine. I guess I lucked out! My rear tires looked like this / \ (if you looking from the top). My front right tire's camber was also way off. I guess I definitely needed an alignment no matter what but it suprised me that my alignment was that off and that was the first time I actually hit something. The only thing that hit was the left rear tire. So to conclude I will admit that I am a complete idiot and I am never having fun in the car while there is snow on the ground ever again. I'M DONE! The good news is that Hankook Icebears are great tires for an excellent price. My cheaper than Blizzaks and perform just as well!
Well Chicago got hit hard with snow today. I live in th northern suburbs but we got about a full foot of snow in some areas. Anyways this is my 2nd winter with my evo but my 1st winter with snow tires. I bought a set a brand new evo 9 rims for the summer and i'm using my evo 8 rims mounted with Hankook Icebears for the winter. All I have to say is that the car is simply amazing! I used to be very cautious when driving in the snow because ever since I was 16 years old I always drove around with summer tires in the winter. Luckly all that time i never got into any accidents. I thought snow tires would only help with traction but they still wouldn't help me stop, man was I wrong! I can now stop with confidence. Not once did my abs kick in at all while trying to stop. This is also one of the worst snow storms Chicago has seen in awhile, the roads were ridiculous with cars becoming stuck in the snow nearly every 1/2 mile.
Well later on in the day I decided to have some fun and drift around parking lot corners at slow speeds which is very fun since the evo has so much control over the average car. It's kinda funny because when people see you on the road they don't expect you to get traction and they you just take off w/o a problem. I was trying not to get stupid because the car can get fun but also dangerous really quick. My buddy and I decided to drive into a empty parking lot near my house which is the same parking lot we had some fun in last year. The parking lot was not plowed at all! I took a quick look around to make sure that there was nothing I could hit. Every median had a light post in it so I had plenty of space for myself. Anyways the snow was so deep I could barely get the car to drift or spin. After awhile I finally got the car moving but keep in mind we were in a foot of deep thick snow. However the evo handled it with no problem! On my second time around I shifted into 2nd and I wasn't going very fast at all when WHAM! It scared the living crap out of me. The first thing that came to my mind was damn I F%^KED UP my car badly. I have never got into an accident at all and I never want to. I thought I hit a light post but I knew I was no where near one. I got out of my car and looked around and the car seemed completely fine. I was more worried about the body than anything else because it sounded like I smashed the left rear side of my car. I looked at my tires tracks to find out what I hit, and what do I see? But a curb buried beneath the snow. While I was spining my left rear tire hit the curb sideways, went over the curb and dug into the mud in the median and went back down. Luckly the snow ramped my wheel onto the median rather than hitting the curb flat. I was pissed and I felt dumb at the same time. My buddy said it could have been much worse but I figured that I shouldn't have happened at all! I drove my car home and my car did not want to stop at all! However the car seemed to drive fine besides me having to put alot of pressure on the brake pedal to slow down. When I pulled into my garage I took a closer look and the body was fine. The rim on the other hand had a huge chunk taken of the lip but it did not effect the tire seal at all. Upon closer inspection my car did not want to stop because my wheels were filled with snow and slight mud. I knew I hit a curb and everything seemed fine but because of the impact I was sure something had to have bent. Later on in the day I took my car to NTB to get the rear alignment checked and to my suprise my three other wheels were more out of spec than the wheel that hit the curb. They told my that my left rear wheel's camber is fine but the toe was slightly off. They checked out my suspesion along with all the bolts and bushings and it seemed to be just fine. I guess I lucked out! My rear tires looked like this / \ (if you looking from the top). My front right tire's camber was also way off. I guess I definitely needed an alignment no matter what but it suprised me that my alignment was that off and that was the first time I actually hit something. The only thing that hit was the left rear tire. So to conclude I will admit that I am a complete idiot and I am never having fun in the car while there is snow on the ground ever again. I'M DONE! The good news is that Hankook Icebears are great tires for an excellent price. My cheaper than Blizzaks and perform just as well!
