Hi all,

New owner of a 98 XK8 convertible.

I was told that I should be VERY concerned if I get stuck in anything more than a snowflake.
I don't intend on pushing a snowplow, but there will be cold winter days in NY where I may be tempted to take the car.

Do snow tires or all season make a difference? Should I bother?

 

Have any of these people owned and driven an XK8 in snow or are they just random 'experts'?

Your car will do no better/no worse than any other car with similar ground clearance. Tires do make a huge difference.

 

Don't they use salt? If so, I would wait for spring. Look at all the corrosion our members across the pond have suffered.

 

Of course everyone is an expert. And I'm sure not one of them ever sat in one of these timeless classics


I'm sorry that wasn't my question....
I was merely concerned that I may get caught in a surprise light snowfall and never make it home.

Last year our winter was dry, with just a few storms.

 

We have driven our xk8 & stype in the snow for several years without problems.

Gus
www.jagrepair.com

 

I am in Cincy, my first jag we owned in 99'ish saw snow. I run all season performance tires on my cars, not a snow tire but not a summer tire. Mine did ok in a few inches or so. Just take your time and let the car traction control aids work for you.
As for corrosion, I didn't drive mine then or now if the salt was on the ground, always took it to the self wash and sprayed off the bottom and wheel wells then waited for the next rain to wash the salt away.

 

I have driven my XK8 and XKR in snow and ice using the same techniques applicable to any other rear wheel drive car. Here we usually get a nice layer of ice before the snow shows up. I must say that I've never had to put the Jag in gear, get out an push to get it going, like I did with my Pinto!

Mike

 

I drove my XKR one winter. I'm in Michigan, where it REALLY snows, not where you get 3 or 4 inches and freak out. You pretty much need to put snow tires on. With them on, it was ok.

I've driven my XJR through 2 winters and really it's no better or worse than XKR. I have Michelin Alpin snow tires on it and it goes just fine. Ground clearance is not really different at all between the two cars. It's not like my A8 with AWD and Blizzaks but it doesn't get stuck.

Both cars have no rust, but only limited exposure will do that. My XKR is immaculate underneath and thats why after one winter I said no mas. My XJR is the winter beater and although mint underneath, since it isn't worth much, when it rusts, I'll just buy another car.

 

You'll be fine. Nothing like the XJ6 series3, that had the traction of a hockey puck. My xk8 does fine in the snow.

 

Live in Chicago area. Depends totally on the tires.

When my XKR and had factory tires (summer tires) I drove it once or twice on snowy or icey roads and the traction was worse than any other car I've ever driven on snow!!

The first time I bought new tires I switched to all season tires (Michelin Pilot Sport A/S) and after that it drove just fine in snow - although I do not drive it much on snow and have never driven in more than a light snow, or slightly snowy roads. But if I had to run an errand and for some reason our other car wasn't available to me and it was a little snowy out I'd have no problems driving it with the all season tires. If I still had the summer type tires I wouldn't consider it unless it was an emergency and I had no other options.

If for some reason I used this car regularly/frequently in the winter I'd consider buying snow tires for it.

 

I've gotten caught a couple times in some pretty good snow on summer tires (I store for winters, but I push the season and a few times I left during what I thought was a nice day and ended up in snow) On summer tires the car had terrible traction, but broke free in a very predictable way, so it wasn't so bad. I'm now running all seasons in an effort to get a bit more life out of my tires, so that would probably help things out. While I haven't run the car with winter tires, if I didn't fear the potential rust problems and if I didn't have to occasionally deal with serious amounts of snow where the low front would drag, I think the car would be great in winter. Of course I actually prefer a RWD car in winter and have grown up driving some poorly equipped vehicles through heavy snows, so I may be a little biased. I drove an '87 Cougar with a 5.0L V8 that preferred to go down the road sideways. It too was fairly predictable, but not like the Jag.

 

During development of the XK8, Jaguar set up a winter weather testing facility at Timmins in Ontario. They get some serious snow there.

Graham

 

It seemed to work pretty well in the Bond movie, but I managed to get stuck in a 1/4 inch of snow.

 

Both of our Jaguars stay safely at home when the snow flies and our Subaru Outback does all the work during those times. Snow tires or not, nothing beats all-wheel-drive in those conditions....