328i sliding off road

I have a 1997 328i Touring which I bought 2 years ago. I have now had 2 very dangerous moments with it and desperately need some advice!

Some while ago, the roads were a bit damp, I went round a sharp corner at a sensible speed and accelerated away, when suddenly the back end just slid out and the car did a 360 degree turn. Shaken by this, I replaced the back tyres (now Goodyear Eagle F1s) and had the handling checked by my local BMW dealer - nothing detected. All seemed ok until this weekend I was driving my family back from Norfolk and we hit blizzard conditions.

There was about half an inch of wet snow and I was in a convoy of cars doing about 40mph when I just slighly touched the brakes. Immediately the car just seemed to lose all steering control and I slid helplessly into the path of the oncoming traffic, luckily avoiding hitting anyone but ending up in the verge on the other side of the road. The car was undamaged but even getting to the other side I seemed to have no control over the front wheels, and a strange grinding noise came from underneath us. Sat in the blizzard for 4 hrs and was eventually towed home as I did not want to risk my family driving it any further.

However, next day I drove it gingerly round the block and it seems fine - sterring ok and no grinding noise. Now I am really worried this lack of control over the steering will strike again and I will not be so lucky as the previous occasions. It seems that whenever the road conditions are difficult, the car decides to spin! It has traction control, anti-lock brakes, all the usual features, but it seems that my car is less able to handle wet roads than a 1980 Ford Fiesta.

Please can anyone suggest what the problem might be? I would be really grateful for any advice.

I find my 328 a real handfull in snow. The 225 tyres really do it no favours. Goodyear eagle F1s are performance tyres and will be rubbish in the snow. If you look on the Mytyres website they have reviews and most high performance sports tyres get 1 out of 6 for grip in snow.

The grinding noise may be the ABS. It might be worth getting the traction control and the ABS checked though.

Another thought, is this the first RWD car you have driven. They require a different approach to FWD cars and demand a bit more respect.

Final thoughts, IMO 40 mph is too fast for driving on a snow covered road. I was driving in similar conditions today and I stuck to 30mph. The 360 spin could have been due to oil on the road. Like I said RWD cars can catch you out in low grip situations. 

Edited by Peter Fenwick

All, thank you for your comments. I don't think the grinding noise could have been the anti-lock as I was not braking when it was making the noise. As I skidded across the road, I did make a conscious effort not to slam on the brakes as I knew this would reduce my ability to steer, although it didn't make the steering any easier - the car seemed to have a mind of its own and was not going to be distracted from its progress across the road and onto the grass on the other side. However, the noise was at its worst when I was trying to manoevre out of the verge on the wrong side of the road, where the snow-covered grass was slippy, so is this where the traction control might have been trying to kick in? Maybe this was causing the noise....

Actually the AA van that arrived parked up behind me on the verge, then couldn't get out and had to call another recovery truck to pull him out! So you can see that conditions were not good at all.

I appreciate that RWD cars are different to FWD, but my last car was a BMW as well (10 years of BMW driving now!) and I never had any problems with it in adverse conditions. The tyres still have loads of tread but when I bought the F1s I didn't think about snow - grip on wet and dry roads was rated as good but snow wasn't mentioned!
Good point about the skinny tyres on the Fiesta, Peter H - that was not a very good analogy of mine!

I am just worried now that if I can be driving in a straight line in slippy conditions and the slightest touch of the brakes causes the car to veer into oncoming traffic, is it safe to drive? In hindsight maybe 40mph was a bit too quick but I was in a line of traffic and everyone felt safe at that speed (except me when the accident happened!), as the snow was light at that time and only just starting to settle.

If the noise was the traction control I could get that looked at, I suppose, but as for the cause of the skid, maybe the answer is just to never drive in snow, but should I really have to say this? I've seen the adverts showing the Jag driving up a ski slope, and was hoping the BMW could at least handle a few flakes!

I have the same thing in the snow, even the slightest covering and my car is fine one minute and all over the place the next, while FWD cars look at me like I'm a nutter.  I agree that the grinding is probably ABS/ASC control cutting in as it does go beserk. 

I'm not looking forward to the forecasted snow, I think I'll be taking some extra weight in the boot  

It seems that heavier RWD cars aren't so bad in the snow, maybe it's down to the power/weight ratio. 

That was an Irish one, the van fell into the harbour and was lifted out by the red lorry, which fell in on top of it. Then the big green Scania turned up that lifted both the car and the lorry out. There is a set of photos going around at the moment where someone has photoshopped the green lorry falling in as well, funny but not actually what happened.

As for the snow, it happens to FWD cars too. My dad used to have a mk4 astra on 205 R16 tyres and it would just be all over the place in the snow, no grip and throwing the back end at every opportunity. Meanwhile my astra on 165 R14's just kept on gripping and going, so for the winter it is actually worthwhile investing in a set of steels with narrow tyres.

It was of course Sod's Law that every journey I have previously taken up to Norfolk, the boot has been packed to the gunnels, but on this one occasion where I needed some weight in there, the boot was empty! I will know next time to tell the family to jump into the luggage area (328i Touring) next time it starts to snow!

Phillip - thanks for the thought on low steering fluid - it did feel as though I had no steering as soon as the slide had begun but I think this was just the snow! I'll have it checked though.

Scarface says " I have the same thing in the snow, even the slightest covering and my car is fine one minute and all over the place the next, while FWD cars look at me like I'm a nutter.  I agree that the grinding is probably ABS/ASC control cutting in as it does go beserk".  This does sound to me the most likely scenario, as it was certainly going beserk as I tried to scrabble out of the slushy verge. Is it really supposed to make that much noise though? It seems very un-BMW like...

An easy bit of advice if you think your car is skittery in the snow:  Buy a second set of wheels and put winter tyres on.  Eagle F1's are good in the dry, and okay in the wet, but like most other Summer tyres, will be rubish in the snow!

In Germany, it is law to have a set of winter wheels and tyres for just that reason.  It's also a good idea from a saving your alloys from the salt point of view!

I drove from Northumberland to Heathrow and back, yesterday, in my 318is. It also has 225 tyres and enough power to break traction even in slight damp. I don't have traction control. I also have a set of budget tyres (Eurotour, �65 a corner).

Despite the weather being atrocious, I had absolutely no problems, even overtaking lorries on the snow covered A1(M).

I make sure that whenever we get a fall of snow, I find an empty car park and remind myself how to handle the car in a skid in the snow.

Snap! mines a 328i tourer 99 and in snow its as much use as a  husky dog in the sahara! The trouble is the tyre width is not designed for snow/ice and just aquaplanes at the slightest touch of the brakes .Best thing to do is go down to your local snow/hiking shop and buy some clampons or cheaper still get the bus!

Carl is right, winter tyres are the answer.

Here in Germany nearly everyone runs winter tyres from late Nov to Early March - it's not actually law except for on snow covered roads but just makes sense, particularly on larger, powerful, fast cars. I think the BMW engineers who designed your car would be very surprised to find you driving it on snow covered roads at all on summer tyres.

Tyre design is a matter of compromise. Summer tyres are designed for warm and dry roads, and can cope with some rain. Winter tyres are designed for cold (less than 7 degrees C), wet, ice and snow. They are thinner (most people switch to steel wheels two sizes smaller - eg 215 to 195, with big tyres maybe four sizes smaller), have different profiles/tread with more grooves and edges, and most importantly are made of a softer compound. Summer tyres get too hard in cold conditions. The disadvantage of winter tyres is they are usually a bit noisier and use more petrol.

I had never used winter tyres before moving to Germany, but having experienced how much more grip you get, not only on snow, but also on cold wet mornings, I only use winter tyres on all our cars from Nov to Mar. Plus I keep snowchains in the boot for when things get really nasty