simmonslr

I also posted this on Bimmerfest. Hope it doesn't offend anyone to post it here, as well.
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So I was coming home from the Annual BMW Dinner about 70 miles from my home last night and had a very memorable experience with my ?08 535xiT/6 with 2600 miles on it.

It had been snowing all day, but I didn?t give it a lot a thought. Pretty common around here this time of year. I also decide to take secondary roads home (which is common for me, too) because of ? well let?s put it this way ? the other drivers. I figured there was a good chance the roads might not be plowed but there was no way I expected what I encountered.

There was about 2 feet of unplowed snow for the entire way, about 24 miles. I was scared stiff. The only way I could keep moving was to stay in the tracks of the one car that had gone before me, keep the traction control off and keep it in a lower gear with the engine revved so that I could have reserve power when I needed it. Some of the scarier moments were when the snow was so deep than instead of going down under the car it rushed up over the hood and blinded us for seconds at a time. If I would have gotten out of the tracks I would have been done ? the snow was 3 feet deep at the sides of the tracks in some places. I saw at least one (probably 2 wheel drive car) that just gave up and pulled into someone?s driveway. Guess they had to leave it set overnight - it?s now 9:30 AM and roads are still not plowed.

The wagon was amazing though. It just kept plowing. We stopped at one place to knock the ice of the wiper blades (and clean out our shorts) and you could smell that the brakes had been working hard doing their job keeping traction even between the wheels on the same axle.

The toughest section was the last 8 miles. The snow was deeper and I had about an 1,000 foot elevation gain. To get up over the top I was in second gear at ~4,000 RPM modulating the throttle to steer to stay in the tracks and then back on the throttle to keep momentum. Scary at 30+ miles per hour. I must admit, I really used skills I learned in the driving schools I?ve taken - - front slides out of the tracks into the deeper snow, push, push, push ? lift throttle to weight the front tires ? steer back into tracks ? get on the throttle ? correct left ? correct right ? repeat. That went on for miles!

When I got to my driveway, the car was bottoming out the whole way in (about an 1/8th of a mile) and the snow was still above my bottoming out tracks by about 8 inches.

Needless to say, I?m very impressed with car (at least once I stopped shaking when I got home) ? but I bet the Hakka 5s helped a lot. 8=)

jmatthe

Do you live in ID? I noticed the colors of the plate...I used to live there as well.

Richard in NC

Or is that Ohio? I recall a few 2 ft snows when I lived in Cleveland and Youngstown.

Obviously you have full snow tires, not all-season?

To clarify, were you in DTC mode? No traction control but still some stability control?

Finally, I'd be concerned in such deep snow about injesting snow (and eventually water) into the engine air intake.

Even my X3 has only an 18 inch advertised fording ability. Fortunately the most ever snow I've driven in NC in nearly 30 years is 6 inches and the roads probably only had 1/2 that on them.

EBMCS03

WOW very pretty! Thats awesome. take some more pics... out side and down the street. I love snow!!!! I'm glad the BMW did its job and got you guys home.

simmonslr

Yes, Northern Idaho. Good eyes.

simmonslr

It would be good to clarify since BMW really confuses this.

I had pressed the DTC button for a couple seconds. The DTC light was illuminated on the dash. I called that turning traction control off, BMW calls it turning DTC on. With the DTC light OFF I couldn't move. The computer kept taking throttle away from me because the tires were spinning. With the light on the tires would spin but I could move. This light on disables the dynamic stability control but leaves the "limited-slip differential effect via braking the slipping wheel" on.

Yes, I have full on studded Nokian Hakka 5 snow tires.

Interesting comment. Sure wouldn't want to hydrolock!

ipp

Nokian makes great snow tires!

luigi524td

You should have mounted a plow on the front of your 5'er ... I'll bet your neighbors would have paid dearly to have a BMW clear their driveways