Did you survive this first winter mess?

Every year with the stock rims, I get ice build-up inside the wheel, causing the car to wobble at speeds higher than 50mph.
I have to pull over and break it out.

This year, I've purchases "winter rims" - all black regular rims like on a Corolla, with plastic wheel covers. The covers where 10$ each, not as ugly.

Now I don't have to swap the tire from the wheel twice per year, which damages the tires. At 150$ per tire, 200$ for 4 wheels is worth it, in the long run.

 

Thanks guys for the commentary. I noticed it again enroute to work tonight for the 4PM shift.

I looked at the wheels in the garage today and knocked some of the ice and snow out but could not get to all of it.

It was better on the drive but at 50 MPH or above, bad shaking...so just slowed it down.

We are at 19 Degrees today so I am thinking when I get off work tonight to go to the Coin Car Wash location and just use warm water from the high pressure hoses into each wheel well to get it all out. Thoughts????

I don't think that should harm anything and then drive home from there.

If we could get above freezing I am sure it would melt but not at these temps..for the next few days...

I have the 17" tires/wheels and am hopeful this won't be an ongoing issue. But yesterday's almost 15 inch snowfall was more than the usual 1-2 inches.... and the cause.... ?????

 

the second storm in a week hit san diego. just a light sprinkle on and off, all day. however, winter's ugly head reared itself again... as i was backing out of my parking space, there was water on the camera lens and the picture was all distrorted

 

Used to live in LA County (Long Beach)...came back east for family reasons...miss the terrible NON Winters in LA!

 

I nearly froze to death this morning...it got all the way down to 56 degrees....

 

Oh you poor thing. I hope you have a hot drink and some warm jammies.

Tom

 

A lot of them are excellent drivers. As for sponsors, I don't think many of them have sponsors unless they are in an actual race. The rest of them just don't mind spending money on tires. I was a dork and used to do the same thing all the time and then I came to my senses and sold those cars/trucks. lol

 

are you going to implement this front grill blocking trick i've been reading about?

i've been thinking about it... maybe i'll go to home depot after i run on the beach this morning and pick up some of that 1/2" pipe insulation.

 

On Monday morning, here in the NorthEast, we got blasted with about 6-8" of powder. Car handled great on my commute to school with my WR-G2's and ESC. How come the traction control doesn't beep all the time? Sometimes the light will come on and I will feel my Prius throttle back on a tire. The only way I was able to get the beep to happen was when I went into an empty parking lot and tried to slide. Is there a difference? Does the beep mean that the steering wheel will be harder to turn? I know that when only the light came on, the steering wheel was not harder to turn.

 

Hi Tom,

The beep is for the VSC. The TRAC (traction control) only flashes.

 

Thx for clearing that up. What's the difference exactly? Is it that traction control doesn't allow you to spin out while VSC doesn't allow you to slide?

The traction control can really suck when I'm trying to get up my steep driveway, that's for sure.

 

Hey now... I was freezing in 56 degree weather the other day. Had a shirt, sweatshirt and my coat on and still cold. I was sick too.

And now we're in the middle of our first big storm in L.A. Lots and lots of rain, coming down pretty darn hard at times. Should be done tomorrow morning though. I hope there aren't too many problems in the areas that had the bad fires.

I did get to take the car out on an errand this morning when it wasn't coming down and it drove very nice in the rain. Felt perfectly safe.

 

I live in Green Bay, we got about 16", stayed home on the worst day, plow didn't clear the street. I'm amazed at the traction in ECO mode, no spinning just a slow take off. I've dubbed it the "goat".
Tony Renier
Green Bay, WI

 

The second storm has passed San Diego, and it's now back to upper 60s to low 70s. Perfect high MPG weather! No grill blocking, no AC drain... but those hills are killing me.

The Prius is surviving quite well

 

My new-to-me Prius replaced a Subaru Forester, which was unstoppable in snow. Based on the comments above, I understand the Prius performs OK in the snow. I will miss the Forester for one reason only - its performance in snow.

 

I have been very happy with how my Prius has been handling on snowy/slushy/icy roads. I drove a Subaru Forester for five years before getting the Prius, so I was nervous about not having 4-wheel drive, but I was pleasantly surprised the first time I drove it in snow and felt very in control.

I'm a nanny for two little boys and the family leaves a Honda Odyssey for me to drive them around in, and it was fishtailing and anti-lock-braking all over the place on the same roads that I had no problem with, so lately I've just been putting the kids in my car!

Here's what it looked like this morning after the all-night ice storm, though:



Completely encased in about 1/8 inch of ice. I spent about 10 minutes trying to scrape it off the driver's side window when someone came up and offered me some assistance -- he managed to have all the windows cleared off in about 25 minutes, but snapped my scraper off its handle in the process!

 

Hehehehe. My ribbon blue has looked exactly the same the last couple of days for some reason. Good thing my dealer gave me a scaper at the new owner's meeting a couple months ago. Its been getting lots of use.

 

Thanks Madelinesonja.
I actually have those same two cars now; Odyssey and Prius. I know better than to take the Odyssey up to the snow. Now I feel a bit better about the Prius after your comments.

Merry Christmas!