Well, that's what it felt like! We started out having an exceptionally mild winter. We had virtually no snow and temps in the mid 40s F through the end of January.
Heh, heh...then came February. The 1st 2 weeks of Feb were single digits for highs to -10 F below for lows. Then came the Valentine's day storm. Some of you know that I live on the shore of Lake Erie. We had sustained winds of 40-45 mph with gusts to 60 mph +. We lost 2 screens, because they literally blew out of out windows. As I write this, there's more than 2' of snow on the ground.
So, I finally got to put the new snow tires to the test. I bought 4 new Hankooks in late November. & mounted them on my stock 16 inchers. My assessment is...meh! They're ok I guess. I know they're better than the Goodyear F1s I had on there.
School's been closed due to the snow (2'+) and cold, (wind chills to -30F) so I hadn't driven the car in a few days. Last night, She Who Must Be Obeyed & I went to the movies. Driving through town everything was all right, but when I got on the freeway, all hell broke loose. The car started vibrating, bouncing up & down, steering wheel ratteling in my hands...WTF??? I couldn't go over 50 mph because it was so bad, I couldn't control the car. Got off at the 1st exit, pulled into a parking lot, got out for a look-see. Nothing wrong...tires all inflated, lug nuts tight, front suspension looked OK. Couldn't see anything in any of the tires.
Then I saw it. On the inside of the wheel, past the 6 spokes, where it's hard to see & reach, snow & Ice was actually impacted on the rims. IME, once you get going, that stuff blows off or spins off. Not this stuff! That crap was on there like a freezer wall that hasn't been defrosted in 5 years. It was profoundly effecting the wheel balance. It actually felt like I was driving on corduroy roads. Since I couldn't reach it with my hands, I had to take the ice scraper, jam it between the spokes to scrape it off. After that, it was smooth sailing.
And everyone lived happily ever after................the end.
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
Yeah, but the suprise was that it didn't fall off, spin off, or blow off. I haven't experienced that before. I had to take a screwdriver & use it like an ice pick to dislodge it.
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
A few years ago, when I had the Dodge Neon, we had an ice storm here. Well this was before I had a garage. I lived in an apartment and the car was left to its own in the elements.
Well I get up leave to go to work. I get on the road I feel like Im in some industral shaker machine. So I do like you and get out and look at everything and I dont notice anything out of the ordinary. I mean the whole car with the exception of the windows is coated in ice about 1/4" or more in thickness.
I try and go down the road some more and I decide this is too risky, this level of vibration is eventually going to break something. So I decided to try and get the ice off and see if it would help. I make it to a car wash and throw in a couple dollars and turn on the power wash, which is usually warm water, heated anyway.
Now imagine how it looks the day after a major ice storm and a guy in the car wash, washing his car. I get all the ice off eventually, including on the wheels.
I drive off and its smooth sailing. I finally came to the conclusion that the ice on the wheels was substantial enough to seriously upset the balance of the wheels. So up until I got into a house with a garage, after any snow or ice event I just drove to the car wash and blew all the stuff off.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
The 1st 2 weeks of Feb were single digits for highs to -10 F below for lows. Then came the Valentine's day storm. Some of you know that I live on the shore of Lake Erie. We had sustained winds of 40-45 mph with gusts to 60 mph +. We lost 2 screens, because they literally blew out of out windows. As I write this, there's more than 2' of snow on the ground. 
I couldn't go over 50 mph because it was so bad, I couldn't control the car. Got off at the 1st exit, pulled into a parking lot, got out for a look-see. Nothing wrong...tires all inflated, lug nuts tight, front suspension looked OK. Couldn't see anything in any of the tires.