Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Utah > Salt Lake City area
 [Register]
Salt Lake City area Salt Lake County - Davis County - Weber County
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 01-31-2014, 08:31 PM
 
27 posts, read 48,119 times
Reputation: 11

Advertisements

I came across this forum searching for tips on our move to Utah coming up soon (still deciding what town to live) and I'm curious to know if a REAR wheel drive with all season tires may be a problem? I have a v-8 charger that I LOVE, and havent had to experience snow/ice in it. I'm nervous about the winters in it..even if I was in a all wheel drive cause snow is NOT what im use to..Vegas and Fl have been my home states..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-31-2014, 09:56 PM
 
164 posts, read 329,282 times
Reputation: 163
IMO with good winter tires you will be fine. I have lived in Utah my whole life and drove a mid 70s 2-wheel drive truck with no problems
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-31-2014, 11:19 PM
 
Location: Central City, SLC
762 posts, read 2,118,877 times
Reputation: 782
If you stay in the city, you should be fine. I drove a RWD sports car all winter for ten years and only sort-of got stuck once. But I lived and worked right in town and didn't ever travel south or west, where lake effect snow can be worse---and I definitely never went up the canyons or on the benches. SLC and most of SLCo plows very well, and downtown gets less snow than almost every other area of the valley.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-01-2014, 06:57 AM
 
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
5,921 posts, read 13,858,315 times
Reputation: 5229
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattsk42 View Post
Snow storms or just snow flakes?
For some unknown reason, in Utah during the weather forecast, they never say, *It snows*, or *It rains* ...
It is always, we have a rain storm, or we have a snow storm ...

They do say, very seldom, *A light dusting* !
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-01-2014, 08:43 AM
 
Location: Salt Lake City
28,098 posts, read 29,970,289 times
Reputation: 13123
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnson15 View Post
IMO with good winter tires you will be fine. I have lived in Utah my whole life and drove a mid 70s 2-wheel drive truck with no problems
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zionide View Post
If you stay in the city, you should be fine. I drove a RWD sports car all winter for ten years and only sort-of got stuck once. But I lived and worked right in town and didn't ever travel south or west, where lake effect snow can be worse---and I definitely never went up the canyons or on the benches. SLC and most of SLCo plows very well, and downtown gets less snow than almost every other area of the valley.
I've got to disagree here. 95% of the time, rear-wheel drive would be fine, but I would definitely not head out into rush-hour traffic right after a snowstorm with rear-wheel drive. That may be on five or six days a year, but I've been in situations with front-wheel drive where I wished I had 4-wheel drive. If you have alternate transportation for those days, fine. Otherwise, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-01-2014, 11:48 AM
 
Location: SLC
3,097 posts, read 2,224,306 times
Reputation: 9046
IMHO, there are a number of factors, apart from FWD/RWD/AWD. Most people, when driving RWD, put additional weight on the drive tires to add to traction. Also, narrow(er) winter tires go a long way.

If you stay in the city or areas with moderate inclines - and take additional measures including sensible driving, you'd be fine with RWD. However, steep slopes can make the calculus more difficult. We live up on East benches and on multiple occasions, we have had difficulty getting to our home with FWD equipped with snow tires. If we had narrower tires, we'd probably have made it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-01-2014, 11:50 AM
 
Location: Mostly in my head
19,855 posts, read 65,835,634 times
Reputation: 19380
I snow-planed on W. temple after leaving the Symphony one night and almost took out 2 oblivious pedestrians who were crossing in the middle of the block. It had started to snow heavily and the plows weren't out yet. I was driving a 2001 Honda Accord. I traded it in on an AWD Subaru wagon very soon thereafter. Never had any more trouble, even when I slammed on the brakes on snow over ice on my street.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-01-2014, 11:58 AM
 
Location: SLC
3,097 posts, read 2,224,306 times
Reputation: 9046
As far as I am aware, FWD/AWD are not of any help in stopping. Stopping distance on snow is primarily a function of tires, breaking (ABS or otherwise) and weight balance of the vehicle.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-01-2014, 12:37 PM
 
Location: Salt Lake City
28,098 posts, read 29,970,289 times
Reputation: 13123
Quote:
Originally Posted by kavm View Post
IMHO, there are a number of factors, apart from FWD/RWD/AWD. Most people, when driving RWD, put additional weight on the drive tires to add to traction. Also, narrow(er) winter tires go a long way.

If you stay in the city or areas with moderate inclines - and take additional measures including sensible driving, you'd be fine with RWD. However, steep slopes can make the calculus more difficult. We live up on East benches and on multiple occasions, we have had difficulty getting to our home with FWD equipped with snow tires. If we had narrower tires, we'd probably have made it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kavm View Post
As far as I am aware, FWD/AWD are not of any help in stopping. Stopping distance on snow is primarily a function of tires, breaking (ABS or otherwise) and weight balance of the vehicle.
You're right about the isse of stopping. FWD/AWD isn't going to be a factor, but as kavm said, going uphill on a snowpacked street with even FWD and good snow tires can be a harrowing experience.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-01-2014, 12:45 PM
 
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
24,471 posts, read 26,008,272 times
Reputation: 59848
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katzpur View Post
You're right about the isse of stopping. FWD/AWD isn't going to be a factor, but as kavm said, going uphill on a snowpacked street with even FWD and good snow tires can be a harrowing experience.
Funny thread was going on in the Automotive thread, some folks were advocating beaching up the hill with a FWD car because the traction is better.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Utah > Salt Lake City area
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:56 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top