Jimny snow performance

Bigger tires help a lot.

The jimny is really good at «getting up the hill» type of winter driving, and plows easily through very deep snow if its fresh/cold.

If you really get into real extreme amounts of snow, typically offroad with no grip to be found in the snow , try to go low on tire pressure, 0,7-0,8bar (or even sub 0.5 if you have air available to fill back up close by), 1. Gear low range at very slow speed, and carry on. Its light weight, so it floats if you go slow so tires can pack the snow well. Bigger wheels than stock improves this even more, diameter well as important as width when lowering pressure.

But stay in 4x4 on slippery surface , or its going to bite. Especially downhill. Light rear end, and extremly short wheelbase makes it fun for the experienced driver, but a bit tempremental for the unexperienced.

Good winter tires is a must for any car, for driving in snow/on ice in my opinion.

I have 23 norwegian winters experience in cars, alot of different cars.. Fwd, rwd, 4wd.
I love the jimny on winter roads in both 2wd and 4x4, but i would never send my girlfriend out to drive it in 2wd on snow. And mine`s running brand new quality stud winter tires. (She has no problems driving my 2012 Volvo V70 fwd in any condition.)

This is great info from someone that will know for sure what to do in snow Thank you OlaGB!

It's a personal thing borne out of years of working in aviation, but I don't care for using Bar at all - the units are too large to be accurate for my liking so a quick translation of OlaGB's values is...

0.5 Bar = 7.25 psi
0.7 Bar = 10.15 psi
0.8 Bar = 11.6 psi

Jimny is fine in snow......it's all the other road users you have to get around.

einhorn wrote: Hi,
New to this forum and just the other day had an interesting and useful first drive on snow with my Suzuki Swift 4 x 4.

Frank

Hello Frank.
It's interesting you have a Swift which is the allgrip isn't it. To my mind you have the best solution. If you intend to go mudplugging or some such that's where the Jimny reigns but for general daily driving I think permanent 4x4 is the way to go. For me the problem is that when we have snow is only part of the story as roads can be worthy of 4x4 under other less extreme conditions. Even in snow, there are times when the tarmac is dry.
I have had loads of fourbies, Landrover, Freelander, Lada, Jeep, Vitaras (many of those), Pajeros, Pinin, SJ413, LJ80, Jimny, Junior etc. and have come to the conclusion that today I don't like selectable 4x4. I drive my 3.5L Pajero always in 4x4 and yet strangely in my 2.5TD Pajero I rarely ever needed to use 4x4 except on fields etc. - it was unbeatable in snow!
So tell me what you don't like about your Swift please.

Max Headroom wrote: This is great info from someone that will know for sure what to do in snow Thank you OlaGB!

It's a personal thing borne out of years of working in aviation, but I don't care for using Bar at all - the units are too large to be accurate for my liking so a quick translation of OlaGB's values is...

0.5 Bar = 7.25 psi
0.7 Bar = 10.15 psi
0.8 Bar = 11.6 psi

On larger tires you can even get away with as low as 4-5psi. But thats too low on normal tires.
Stay above 10psi if you need to drive at some speed. The tires sidewalls gets hot at low pressures, and might pop from the bead if not a bit careful.

Normally you dont need to lower pressures, its just for extreme amounts of snow in the terrain