help getting traction on 2001 protege lx 2.0

[srvguitarboy]

hi,

has anybody else had trouble driving their lx 2.0 in the snow or rain? Mine is a 2001, and it is hard to get any traction at all when a little snow sticks to the ground, or when it rains. It currently has the Bridgestone Potenza RE092's on it (195/55/15). Is there something that can be done to get better traction? I'm thinking about possibly changing the tires for starters, anybody had luck with this problem? Thanks,

Dave

[nicodeemus]

I run Goodyear Eagle Ultra Grip's on mine and they're amazing in the snow! They're the same tires the RCMP run up here in the winter. Excellent high performance winter tire. It's kinda funny...they're rated to something like 280+ KPH. Who in the world would be going that fast in the snow? Good traction and handling. I use 195/55/15's for the winters. The car has stock 195/50/16's on it in the summer.

[curtis]

motor mounts, lsd, tires and springs should help.

[srvguitarboy]

hmm maybe tires would be a good way to start-they will probably have to be all-season tires though, since there is no place for me to put another set of tires. The limited slip differential sounds like a really good idea too, but how can you tell a difference in the quality of them? www.protegegarage.com has the mazdaspeed one for $640, and corksport has one for $1500 (a Quaife). Is the mazdaspeed a good one? Thanks,

Dave

[curtis]

from what i've heard the 1st mazdaspeed put out had some issues, but protege garage sells the revised lsd, much better. the quaife is the cats ass and can put up with serious punishment, but the mazdaspeed should be good for 200hp easy. if i were you i'd go with the full awr motor mount set (front, rear, side mount inserts) before i get the lsd though. cheaper and very effective for reducing wheel hop.

[srvguitarboy]

motor mounts and diffs and things that make the pro fly lol

from what i've heard the 1st mazdaspeed put out had some issues, but protege garage sells the revised lsd, much better. the quaife is the cats ass and can put up with serious punishment, but the mazdaspeed should be good for 200hp easy. if i were you i'd go with the full awr motor mount set (front, rear, side mount inserts) before i get the lsd though. cheaper and very effective for reducing wheel hop.

The engine mounts sound like a reasonable way to start, not too expensive at $150 a set. I don't know too much about this stuff yet, but would they have to actually pick up the engine in order to installl these? In other words, could installing these get really expensive quick?

As far as the diff, gonna change tires soon (they're wearing out) so the diff will prob wait for a little while.. gonna add some more power to the car hopefully soon (maybe a cold air intake, and an exhaust.. how much extra horse might that give? The general consensus seems to be that the k&n air cones are the best, though almost any aluminum mandrel bent tubing is good.. Any suggestions for a really good exhaust with a nice low rumbling sound (like those new G35's and 350z's!).. Thanks for the help..

Dave

[srvguitarboy]

just saw that corksport makes inserts for the front and back.. is that better than the awr?

[curtis]

well... most of it is a matter of opinion, but personally. i'd take awr over corksport any day. i trust awr a little more because they use all thier own parts on thier race cars. check out thier website for a little more info (http://www.awrracing.com/). i'd personally go with awr's. as for install. it is difficult cause its a tight squeeze, as is just about every part on a protege. but any shop can do it in a few hours. expect to spend about $150 +tax on the install of the mounts. but an lsd install would be much more costly, thats about 5-6 hours labor. and since you dont have the balls in your motor to justify it, i'd hang off on that. as for the CAi in the exhaust, you can expect to see a few horses, more as the quality gets better. as for the intake, you'll probly just as well to get a short ram intake as opposed to a cold air intake. short ram works well on a protege and creates less of a hassle for wet enviroments as well as easier instalation. what i ddi with mine was bought just some generic ractive cheap short ram for abotu $80. than i sole the filter for $20 added an aem intake bypass valve and an aem synthetic filter. got away much cheaper than a high end short ram and still got a nice performance gain. as for exhaust you shuold go with a headers back system, pick up a nice awr header and a deacent cat-back (i.e: magnaflow, racing beat, corksport, etc.). there are many companies that make cat backs, and it's all a matter of opinion. i personally will never put anything but magnaflow on my car. i trust the name and love the sound. and i've had it on all my vehicles to date. but the ricer in me kinda likes the corksport. i kinda like the sound. and if you havent got the $$$ for a magnaflow its a nice alternative.

[dynamho]

This reply is 3 years too late, but wanted to add for future visitors.

To get out of snow where one wheel is slipping, the motor mounts will help little.

Even if you have winter tires on, if you know one wheel is slipping while the other has traction, you have no hope but to push your open diff car. The only solution is an LSD!

The reason is because open differentials route torque to the wheel with the least traction, so if one wheel is slipping, you have zero go.