eseibel67

iTrader: (10)

[QUOTE=Camaroz;13323922]Good set of blizzaks and you'll be fine. Just make sure you wash the salt off the car from time to time and it won't hurt it.[/QUOTE]

This is wrong. Take it from a Canadian, salt spray will permanently damage the car. Even if you wash it every day.

Finkledbody

Lol. It really isn't that bad, I've been through 5 winters with my firebird here in MAINE where its winter for 7 months out of the year. I've done it with summer tires, all season tires, bald as hell tires and have never even bothered with winter tires or studs for that matter. I usually put 150 lbs of cat litter in the trunk, a shovel, and a full tank of gas and will go through blizzards where we get up to 3 or 4 feet of snow at a time. In a single winter we will see over 200 inches of snow.

So like everyone else said, its doable. If someone is really worried about it, some blizzaks with studs, 100+ lbs of weight in the trunk, a shovel, full tank of gas, and avoid storms. You will make it anywhere... Just leave 10 or 15 minutes earlier than you usually do and be careful.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Tires, tires, tires. My driveway is on an angle too, and on 275/40/17 BFG KDWS I was unable to back up the driveway either, with just a coating of snow. Then I put some 225/55/16 Blizzaks on, after that I could pull in any way I wanted even with 4-6" of standing snow on the pavement.

Yes, like us Chicago people that often have snow from as early as October to as late as April. We had nearly 70" of snow two winters ago, I drove 80 miles per day in it, with snow tires and extra trunk weight. No problems at all.

This I agree with 100%. You can easily drive an F-body in the snow, but it's going to take a serious toll on it's condition. People *think* they can avoid that with regular washing, but they are wrong. I know this because my '98 car has never been driven in a single winter, but my '02 has been a year-round DD, and even though I wash it constantly and wax it a ton before winter, it's still obvious how much better the condition is on my '98 when you compare them. Undercarrige rust is totally unavoidable if you drive it in the snow/salt.

Don't drive any car in the snow/salt if you want it to stay super nice for a long time. This is not F-body specific, it applies to all cars.

Camaroz

iTrader: (2)

Haha, Want some underbody pics of my Z? Canada uses a different type of ice melt I'm pretty sure anyways, Plus most states don't use salt around here anymore. A coat of wax will protect the finish very well. If you're that **** undercoat the undercarriage of the car. My wheels still also shine like new and I have 148~K and it's lived in New England it's entire life. My old 97 Dodge Cummins with 268K was a plow truck and the only thing that were rotted were things that weren't washed.

No offense but learn how to drive! I drove around on straight up cheap summer tires in NE year round. Set (4) of good snows and you'll be fine (Turning and Braking is much less worrisome with snows upfront).

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Personal experiance in the Chicagoland area forces me to disagree with you. Undercoating is not enough, and the finish still takes a lot of abuse. This is easy to notice for those of us that have both DDs and garage queens to compare.

Anyone that thinks winter weather won't cause accelerated deterioration is kidding themselves.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

I used to be one to say ehh just take it easy and you'll be just fine.

Well, sometimes that doesn't work out so well. Yeah, you can get into trouble with ANY vehicle, but better the beater than your nice car. Don't want this to happen to you:



That was this past January. A little hard to tell from the pic because of all the snow + phone pic, but it busted up my bumper, grill, fender, hood, headlight, and turn signal, plus shoved the bumper upward. This was a pretty low speed impact with a guard rail. The feeling of being out of control wasn't cool, and it was the most sickening sound and feeling when I hit that rail. The crunch-shatter noise made me want to hurl

ZigZagZ

I went to grade school in Muskegon Michigan, and high school in Chicago. The nicest cars on the road were always stored during the winter months. Daily drivers inevitably rusted out.

SuperSport346

iTrader: (2)

If you're young, the money you save on insurance on a V8 f-body for a couple months will just about pay for your beater.

It's possible to drive it all winter. I live in Michigan and a good friend of mine drove his 2006 Mustang all winter. He had new tires (all seasons, not snow tires), and just kept the gas tank full. He had a little trouble, but I don't think he ever actually got stuck. He'd borrow his mom's car if we ever got more than 6 inches however...

01 Trans-Am WS6

iTrader: (5)

I guess it is my fault, I did not put extra weight in the trunk, prolly did not have a full tank, etc. Kinda always seemed to get caught up in it at the wrong times. When I know ahead of time I do not drive the car when its gonna snow.

Revoroller

iTrader: (9)

I live in Gillette, Wyoming. Pretty much 9 months out of the year we have snow, two days ago we had 5inches of snow....my 99 Z is my DD and I have no issues in the snow, takes some time to learn especially with a stick but after a week you'll get used to it and have no issues.

RSbeast

Maybe Canada doesn't use salt; but here in the RUST BELT, they use anything they can think of including BRINE. I swear the last few winters have done more damage to a cars' condition in one season than 4-5 of old. Salt and brine gets in every crack and crevice and you CANNOT simply just 'wash it off' and it's not coming off at the spray wash or with an undercar. Aside from that; I pull gravel out from underneath the rear bumper and fenderwells by the HANDFULS.

If you do not want a car to be junk (go look underneath 3yr old used cars up here in Ohio) do NOT drive you car in the winter. Doesn't matter if it's ONLY an f-body. I happened to like my clean one and they aren't making any more 4th gens. Buy a beater, save the nice car or just buy something normal to ruin.

sixvi6-camaro

iTrader: (9)

Who cares.. go ahead and buy an f-body, for Ferrari or Bentley and drive it any time you want. many people will say not to drive a 4th gen because they are no longer being made or rare or whatever.. blahh blahh Hell I have a neighbor that is driving a factory paint pink Geo Tracker that looks like it is in excelent shape. I bet that car is much more rare than an f-body.. lol. anyways by driving your car all year around you are simply giving the multitude of Garage queen cars a boost in price.

I drive mine an all weather in Chicago with no problems. Just snow tires on it. I have videos.. http://www.fquick.com/videos/LS1_F-body_in_snow___/4727 notice I have no problems keeping right up with the 4wd's and wrong wheel drive cars that many people claim are soooo much better in snow.

SSmoken

iTrader: (26)

i drive mine in the snow and ice...............ON MICKEY T'S!!!!

Camaro_94

iTrader: (5)

I dont want to be thinking about winter already! LOL!

Can you drive a T/A in the winter? Yes...

Should you? NO!

With good winter tires and weight in the trunk, you can drive one in the winter. It will not be fun though.

I have driven 3 f-bodies (2 V6 Camaro's & a high milage 94 Formula) through the snow. My SS will be stored away. I've learned my lesson and wont introduce my rust free SS to those conditions!

Get a winter beater!

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I think it's a lot of fun to drive right past 2WD SUVs/mini-vans and FWD sedans that are stuck in heavy snow.....while driving my RWD F-body.

In my case, the '02 Z *is* my beater.

WSsick

iTrader: (13)

LONG ANSWER:
i tried once on some fresh snow (no salt) and the slightest incline, not even worthy of being called a hill, was hard as hell to get up. i had to start in 3rd to get her moving! my driveway is even bad, but i just gained a bunch of speed and got it up as far as it would go, which ended up being about halfway lol

SHORT ANSWER:
dont bother unless you follow RPM's formula for success. actually, michigan snow is insane. you are going to want a beater.

PUNISHER TA

iTrader: (13)

When my car is done, (454 LSX) I will be driving it year round.

Everyone needs to stop being pussies, there is plenty of stuff you can do to help.

First snow tires has already been mentioned.

Secondly, theres a wax im going to try, thats very thick, and slightly foggy, but it should help protect her a bit

Thirdly, I undercoated my car, and I will be using another waxy coating designed for underbodies.

Im gonna get some weight for the trunk.

In closing, someone said earlier that its just a f-body and not a ferrari. while I agree, ill take it a step further, and say they are both just cars, meant to be driven! I cant stand people who garage their cars in the slightest.

/END RANT


Sell your truck, and get a T/A its awesome, they dont be a *****, and drive the **** out of it. Goodluck.

NeedaV8foundation

iTrader: (4)

i drove my trans am in the winter for a month when i was forced to. I had a few bags of sand in the trunk and put on blizzaks off of a friends car, that thing would not go anywhere in the snow, there were multiple times where i said F-it and had someone pick me up and left the car till the next day....

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

You would absolutely hate me then. I have two cars that spend 90% of the time in my garage.

But I have no problem with people that choose to DD nice cars. Your car, your choice. I just have a problem with people who *think* that their winter DD'ed car can be kept as nice as a garage queen. Those people are either foolish or ignorant.

I live in the same region, I used the exact same equpitment (tires, weight), and had the exact opposite experiance.

02stang2113

Im in mi also... i dont have a fbody YET but for the last 3 years i have had 3 different mustang gt's and drove them all year around. I put snow tires on along with 50-100 lbs of sand in the trunk and i have NEVER had any problems, just drive careful its not that bad