Hi, I am from alaska and I have a camaro but I am afraid of putting any money into it if I am going to have to sell it and get a winter car. SO I am wondering how well thirdgens get around in the winter. I may have enough money to buy a posi-trac if that will help. thanks a lot,

Ryan

 

i drove mine all winter if you drive it right and dont do anything stupid youll be ok. i drove mine after a real bad snowstorm and while all the other cars were getting stuck i was driving right through the snowbanks. everyone said that i couldnt drive it in the winter but i always prove people wrong

later
paul

ps make sure you have good tires

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1987 Trans AM
305 LG4 5.0L
WS6
700R4
137,000km or 91,333miles
Black on gold trim
t- tops
K&N
Flowmaster 80 series
Sony X-plod deck
prestige 6 x 9s
2 crunch 10" bandpass subs running off the uq7 amp from the factory subs (which i blew with those amps)

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KILLS:

98 Mustang GT, 99? Dodge Ram 2500, 95 Acura Integra, 00 Cavalier (6 car lenghts!!!), many many ricers

 

Any sports car is going to be bad in the snow unless you do a couple things.
1.) Get skinny tires/wheels
2.) Don't lower it if you do a lot of snow driving
3.) Put weight in the rear well.
I'd put about 200 lbs in back when driving in snow. When you brake this will prevent the nose from getting all of the weight AND it will help with "cutting" through snow with the rear.
If you have really bad snow storms then get a chevy suburban 4x4 and be pimpin .

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, Jon (350 TBI!)
91 Red My website

 

Well, my first time driving the Camaro in the snow was very interesting to say the least. What usually takes me 5 min to drive from the auto shop to my house took me 20 min. I got stuck 5 times going up a hill, most of which was driving while looking out the passenger side of the windshield hehe. After getting up the hill, all was fine. Did pretty good for not having much of a tred left and no chains. It was one of those freak snow storms too, a lot of people slid into ditches and the main road to the next town was a parking lot

 

I live in Maine, so I probably have as good a comparison to Alaska as you are going to get on this board!

Personally, I think your crazed to think you can get through an Alaska winter with a 3rd gen as your daily driver. I put mine on the road in March in Maine this year and there was still a fair amount of snow in places, like parking lots. Just to see how it would do I tried driving through a flat parking lot that had a small amount of snow cover. What a joke. It was terrible.

It's very easy to say "you'll be fine if you're careful" or "don't drive in the worst of it." But there will be times when you have no choice. With all due respect to those who give that answer, weather in Maine (and presumably Alaska) isn't like weather in the rest of the country.

If I were you I'd buy the 3rd gen and find a $1500 Subaru to get through the winter. The 3rd gen will last longer and so will you. You can sell the Suby for the same money in the spring.

If you do decide to try the 3rd gen and drive it in the winter, at a minimum be sure to buy the best snow tires you can find. I have used Bridgestone Blizzaks and find them to be superior to anything else. I have heard that some Swedish tire, Hakkapolita or something like that, is quite good too. But you can get the Blizzaks anywhere, including www.tirerack.com. If you have nice rims, splurge and buy the Blizzaks mounted on steel wheels. DON'T RELY ON ALL-SEASON TIRES. That's "all-season" for people in Georgia where it might snow once a winter.

There's my $.02 worth...

 

Hey man anyone that tells you you can't do it is crazy! I have driven a Camaro the last 3 winters. It isn't a 4X4 but the first 2 years I drove with Walmart all season radials and I made out fine. This year I drove my new one with studded 16" tires and it worked good. I look like a snow plow everywhere I go because mine sits low for a stock camaro. You have to know how to drive in snow in the first place. You are from up North so that isn't a prob. I am from the Maritimes and I will be d@mned if someone tells me I can't drive it in the winter too! lol I have one tip.....Speed is the key!

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91 Z28 Camaro
305 TPI
Flowmaster 3" exhaust
700R4 with 2000 Stall and shift kit 3.42 rearend
One sweet sounding system

 

I have two words for you:

Bridgestone Blizzaks

I drove my 350TPI IROC all winter with them and it was the best money I ever spent to make sure my car is safe and straight.

 

I drove mine a couple of times in snow...i did ok... i did learn one thing..when making a left turn, get 90 degrees from where you want to be, and give in a little gas. hehe

it will do ok, if you get GOOD snow tires, or studs, but i am with the other guy. spend $1000 or so, and get another car for the winter.

 

i drove my camaro this past winter here in chicago and the only time i didnt drive it was when we got hit with 13 inches of snow, and thats b/c i couldnt get out of my parking lot. the bifggest thing in snow is the kind of tires you have. a good set makes all the world of difference. weight in the back will help but not to much, remeber the rear springs and shocks are not really made to carry around alot of extra weight all the time. One last point would just be expierence, the more you drive it in the snow the more yourll know how to handle it.

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91 camaro RS
- 305 TBI
Mods: Performer TBI intake, 1" TBI spacer, K+N, jet fan switch ,160 thermo,Accel control module, Jet Stage 2 chip, edelbrock TES headers, Compleate 3" Flowmaster exhaust, Edelbrock springs, KYB struts and shocks, 700R4 built by TSI, SLP tq converter, b+m trans cooler
Soon to come .SLP Posi 323,Spohn LCA's and panhard bar,Ascd ram air hood, Z28 spoiler and grille,white guage faces.

 

I think what some people are trying to say is that a Camaro can drive in the snow, but it's pretty low on the list of best winter performers. I agree with the people who say to get a winter car with snow tires on.

 

hehe i bought my TA for a winter car! hey it was either that or a 89 Honda accord. i drove it all through a colorado winter. well there was a couple nights where i didnt, and early in the morn i smacked a pole which has totally sucked *** , but other than that its decent. my corvette does better, but its no longer going to see rain or snow. i did do one stupid thing, driving down a residental street covered in snow i was screwing arround hiting gas, brake, gas, brake, while turning the wheel all eratic, it was fine till the back end swept arround, causing me to do a 180. it was damn fun and freaky as hell cuz thier was cars parked all along each side. im lucky as hell not to have wrecked, and since then ive kept my snowy screwing arround to deserted parking lots. im also luck my friend didnt soil my seat, he is a big wuss. (thats why i was doing it.)

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1979 L-82 Beefed up Corvette. Bright-orange with orange pearl.
end of summer: NOS!! im thinkin 250 shot. (already have a full race engine.)
god i love this car.

1985 WS6 Trans AM T-tops
bone stock sloth of an engine on its last leg(LG4 w/ 172,000mi)
T-5 tranny. thank god, i couldnt stand an LG4 auto.
Plans for an LT-1,
dual flowmaster exaust,
& a pounding stereo.
but its gotta wait for my Vette to be a badarse before it will be.

 

I don't know about the snow, but where I live it rains on and off for like two months of the year. Its really not that bad. But when the streets get wet, Its dam hard to keep going striaght. Doing a 360 on a crowded street going 40 is scary as hell.Im just glad I didn't hit anyone or cause and accident. From then on, low speedsduring bad weather are the best for me.
I know this doesn't help, but I think its a lesson!

 

Just be careful, especially when it was snowing. Go slow and when you're approaching a green light, anticipate the yellow cause if it changes at the wrong time and you try to beat it, your tires will spin and you'll miss it and blow a red light. If you try to slow down from a fast speed, you'll either slide right through/into another car, or spin. You can never go too slow when its snowing. I took a turn at about 10 MPH and slid and got stuck. And that was with 210 pounds in the back. Good luck.

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1992 Camaro RS
305ci automatic, all stock til I get some cash.
My 1992 RS

 

Yeah, I have a suburban that my parents pay the insurance for, so maybe what I will do is just drive the suburban daily in the winter and then drive the camaro when it is nice. although I hate to pay 1000 dollars for insurance when I won't drive it a lot.

Thanks for all the replies


-Ryan

 

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO THOSE IN MAINE, WE HAVE SOME OF THE WORST SHOW IN AMERICA RIGHT HERE IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. I DROVE MY CAMARO SOME DAYS (BECAUSE IT LOOKED LONELY) AND LIKE EVERYONE SAID YOU HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO DRIVE A SPORTS CAR IN THE SNOW. DON'T DRIVE LIKE IT'S SUMMER OR YOU WILL BE PREPARING. HERE WE HAVE THIS THING CALLED BLACK ICE WHICH IS ICE YOU CAN'T SEE ON THE ROAD. BAD NEWS FOR A SPEEDING CAMAMRO. ALSO I NOTICED THE SNOW AND ICE DID PLENTY OF DAMAGE TO MY CAR'S BODY, WITH THE SCRAPING AND BRUSHING, ETC. I WLL NOT DRIVE IT AGAIN IN THE WINTER. BESIDES I HAVE A 2000 TRAILBLAZER THAT HANDLES AS WELL IN THE SNOW AS THE CAMARO DOES IN THE SUMMER. MY RECOMMENDATION, BY A WINTER CAR/4 X4, ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU ARE IN ALASKA. HELL, NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, HOW MANY 3RD GENS DO YOU SEE UP THERE?

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86 Camaro Black SS Coupe, T Tops, Flowmaster, Custom Paint, Dunlop Road Kings S/R tires, Wheel Country Directional Chrome Wheels, New Leather seats, new carpet and headliner, complete front end suspension rebuild, new Valve seals, and more mods to come
http://www.angelfire.com/sports/niterider/86camaro.html

 

Well, I guess I stand corrected. N.B. gets some fair amount of snow too (though nothing like Maine LOL). Maybe you can drive the d***d thing in the snow.

But where did the "speed is the key" come from? I would think you'd want to take it slow and easy!

bird@javanet.com
snowiest place on earth this winter
Western Mountains of Maine

 

Yes I think I will be driving the suburban this winter because I am getting a new sound system in it and I want to put a shift kit into my camaro. Niterider, I have been surprised watching all the thirdgens running around here in good old AK. They are mostly berlinettas for some reason though. YOu see very few nice ones up here. Mostly 'vettes, fourth gens, and classic muscle cars. I know that this is a GM board, but I must tell everybody that I had my first experience with a true classic today, I drove my first Shelby GT 350. Man it was SWEET as HELL. it had a 351 cleveland instead of the stock 429, but it was plenty fast still.


Thanks,

Ryan

 

You might want to consider getting some good all-season radials; the Dunlop Sport 4000 tires worked fabulous for me when it snowed here; while SUVs were going 35-45 on the freeway, I could easily do 55-60 with no loss of control.

Hope that helps.

Jason

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1989 Trans Am GTA: 350 TPI, N10 Dual Exhaust

Mods: K&N, Dynomax Super Turbo muffler, 3.5" intermediate pipe, twin Dynomax Super converters, Dunlop Sport 4000 tires.

All of us have potential...few ever realize it.

 

 

i live in north western IL and we got a ton of snow last season. i drove my Z28 32 miles one way to work everyday of it. we got blasted with like 12 inches in one or two days. i think it handled better on semi-plowed streets better than most SUV's since i seen like 3-4 of them upside down in ditches. it just depends on how you drive it. as for unplowed streets f-bodys suck, lol. the only problem i had was leaving my house. since i lived on a non-main road it doesnt get plowed till they are done with everything else, in deep snow you get stuck, carry a shovel! as far as a slippery road i think they do just as well as any SUV as long as you got decent treaded tires, i had goodyear eagle 1's on mine through the winter and i didnt have any of those "scary" moments with them.

 

dis-regaurd the first post, had a bit too much to drink

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oil burning
brake squealing
2 minute painted
305 rolling timebomb