Might be getting some snow

surveysteve · Post by **surveysteve** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:15 pm

[quote=""Acorn""]Fingers Crossed for snow! I've just bought myself an X5 after a long wait and cant wait to test it out

[/quote]

I'm the same, not long bought mine. Can't wait to find out what its like when things get tricky.

Knowing my luck I'll be sent offshore just as it gets interesting.

dirtymonkey29 · Post by **dirtymonkey29** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:39 pm

If you have the standard staggered set up I think you'll be disappointed in how bad it is with a decent amount of snow on the ground, especially if you have worn tyres. For that exact reason I like many others have a second set of alloys with winter rubber fitted in a smaller size. 17" or 18" non staggered usually.

scooby1doo1 · Post by **scooby1doo1** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:08 am

[quote=""X5Sport""]Toy no2 looks like fun. Always fancied having a go with a chopper but I'd be scared silly of splatting it into the nearest bit of terrain. I'd need stabilisers and gyros, and an anti-crash kit! Got bought a little tiny Syma electric indoor one for Xmas and that's great fun. The cats chase it all over the place. Quite fancy the AR.Drone2 with its HD cam when it arrives in March.[/quote]

It is fun until gravity take hold

That cost just over Â£200 to repair, dumb thumbed it and was in the air for seconds.

Got my first heli just over a yr ago, it's a very long learning curve and needs lot and lots of practice. Every weekend weather permitted is a must, I just don't have time every weekend and this slows me down.

I have the anti crash stabilisation on now, cost for that is over Â£300 but does save on repair bills.

Wanting some snow so i can do some sliding autos, with out it digging in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KJRqSrr ... ata_player

Sent from the phone via talktapa

surveysteve · Post by **surveysteve** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:59 am

[quote=""dirtymonkey29""]If you have the standard staggered set up I think you'll be disappointed in how bad it is with a decent amount of snow on the ground, especially if you have worn tyres. For that exact reason I like many others have a second set of alloys with winter rubber fitted in a smaller size. 17" or 18" non staggered usually.[/quote]

Ah. I do have staggered set up. Well, if I can drive a E39 528 sport with the M alloys in snow and still be able to make it into work whilst folk with FWD can't, I recon I'll be ok with the X5.
May be looking out for a set of winters though. That will mean yet another set in the shed!

How many of us have old sets just lurking in sheds/garages from old vehicles?

squeaky2 · Post by **squeaky2** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:54 am

[quote=""pvr""]If it is a white Transit van, they can do at least 100 mph in any condition

[/quote]

Its a grey transit so very stealthy at night

Main A26 up to calais was terrible. Has to have been the slowest drive back from Paris ive ever had......took 2 1/2hours longer than it should have and turning up at the tunnel at 11.30pm is never good.

Got off the tunnel on the UK side and still nearly didnt get up the ramp as it had just started to snow.

Time to invest in winters for the van i think as im not looking forward to Budapest at the end of the month.

jaynana · Post by **jaynana** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:10 pm

[quote=""scooby1doo1""]
Got my first heli just over a yr ago, it's a very long learning curve and needs lot and lots of practice. Every weekend weather permitted is a must, I just don't have time every weekend and this slows me down.

I have the anti crash stabilisation on now, cost for that is over Â£300 but does save on repair bills.

Sent from the phone via talktapa[/quote]

tell me about the damn challenges of the learning curve! i bought a small hobbyzone or whatever plane last summer. thought plane more fun than heli cos u can do various twists and turns in the air with a plane. flew properly only a few times, smashed silly into the playground more than it flew, pasted many times with gorilla glue, now it can't fly straight even once pasted cos its not straight anymore. sitting in my garage shelf now with no hope of repairing any more

that while what i really want to be able to fly is a lot more fun - like an F18 type super which can to fantstic stuff!!!

i'm thinking - better still why not join a gliding school next summer!! (of course if i crash that it'd have me in it!!!

)

scooby1doo1 · Post by **scooby1doo1** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 1:25 pm

[quote=""jaynana""][quote=""scooby1doo1""]
Got my first heli just over a yr ago, it's a very long learning curve and needs lot and lots of practice. Every weekend weather permitted is a must, I just don't have time every weekend and this slows me down.

I have the anti crash stabilisation on now, cost for that is over Â£300 but does save on repair bills.

Sent from the phone via talktapa[/quote]

tell me about the damn challenges of the learning curve! i bought a small hobbyzone or whatever plane last summer. thought plane more fun than heli cos u can do various twists and turns in the air with a plane. flew properly only a few times, smashed silly into the playground more than it flew, pasted many times with gorilla glue, now it can't fly straight even once pasted cos its not straight anymore. sitting in my garage shelf now with no hope of repairing any more

that while what i really want to be able to fly is a lot more fun - like an F18 type super which can to fantstic stuff!!!

i'm thinking - better still why not join a gliding school next summer!! (of course if i crash that it'd have me in it!!!

)

[/quote]

Helis can do twists and turns mate, just alot hard to learn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5ixu_hM ... _embedded#!

gchristofi · Post by **gchristofi** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:33 pm

Easy. !!!!!!!!!!!

dirtymonkey29 · Post by **dirtymonkey29** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:41 pm

If you didnt see the guy it would look like a woman at the controls

jaynana · Post by **jaynana** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:39 pm

outrageous!

scooby1doo1 · Post by **scooby1doo1** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:31 pm

Well it's here a good few inch of the stuff and it's still coming down, well had to go out to test the beast.

It's not like my scoob at all, but that dint have 285's on, it sets off just fine, up hills no probs, but stopping is scrap any light dab on the brakes and the ABS kicks in.

I was driving in manual with traction off, just used gears to brake like i would in a proper manual.

All in all it's not bad and miles better than the 530d that i had before it, but no way near as good as the scoob.

scooby1doo1 · Post by **scooby1doo1** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:48 am

Not very deep and had to go down some country lane to even get these, but it's still snow and only my tyre tracks. Was some skid marks where one car had tried and failed.

jaynana · Post by **jaynana** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:00 am

went out for dinner last night and had joy in heavy snow. cars were stuck on teh road, some where sliding sideways on rear wheel drive, ppl were pushing them to get them goin. i had the joy of passin em on the other side of the road and comin home

good traction on even normal wheels - can pull off easily with x-diff working nicely. impressive. stoppin was a diff story aright but that's a prob i've had with all big cars cos theyre too heavy to stop in a hurry on snow

having said that my beasty land cruiser before would have tackled snow eyes closed - nothin to beat a low ratio gear box and diff locks to give equal power to all 4 wheels and spinning them at the slowest poss. speed.

also have a few questions if anybody knows:
1. what's the principle of the DSC on the Xs? ie, i know it works together with applying brakes to the wheel that slips, but the brakes part works even with DSC switched off as per the manual. so what does DSC do additionally? reduce power to the driving wheel?

2. is there any visual information on the dash when the X-drive sends power to the front wheels? (on the facelift by default the X-drive stays rear-wheel drive).

storminmike · Post by **storminmike** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:35 pm

[quote=""scooby1doo1""]Well it's here a good few inch of the stuff and it's still coming down, well had to go out to test the beast.

It's not like my scoob at all, but that dint have 285's on, it sets off just fine, up hills no probs, but stopping is scrap any light dab on the brakes and the ABS kicks in.

I was driving in manual with traction off, just used gears to brake like i would in a proper manual.

All in all it's not bad and miles better than the 530d that i had before it, but no way near as good as the scoob.[/quote]

Stopping....ye cannie beat the laws of physics

it's a dam heavy car and the ABS does kick in somewhat. Resist it and use HILL Descent if you feel the need to...is my view...you foot tries to lock all 4 then ABS tries to rescue you...not good on a bend downhill where the bushes will be you neighbour very soon

Negatives: it aint a Bowler Wildcat with snow tyres to suit

Positives: Without being silly the hills (going up) aint to be feared and you get more places than the vast majority of cars will do whilst they're busy on the phone to the RAC man (other rescue services are available) because they've not negotiated a snowflake

Grin factor not getting cold pushing

Big shout to the RAC types given the ineptitude of some drivers...and the RAC vans I guess aren't much better equiped just driven better

gobiman · Post by **gobiman** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:55 pm

Jayana,
I'm no expert (and I'm sure someone can correct me) but DSC is almost like ABS in reverse ( and I think uses the same sensors). When a wheel spins or is about to spin, it cuts power to that wheel and then re-applies it.
I had some fun in the Austrian Alps before Christmas. On some particularly slippery uphills with hairpins (with heavy fresh snow coming down on ice), you could feel slight juddering and the dashboard light flashing as the the car struggled for grip round the corners. Never had a problem although (with winter tyres) and never had to resort to chains which remain in their original packaging in the boot.
Coming downhill, I'd agree on the laws of physics point and did resort to hill descent on a couple of steep ice slopes off the main road - it worked well.

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