For those of you like me (New Jersey) who have to drive thier car in the snow, what do you do to help the car not drive sideways?
I'm getting winter tires for my stock rims, and i'm thinking of buying heavy salt bags for the rear, for wieght and if i get stuck i can break open a bag? I know, I know......i should get a beater truck, i want to but $$$$'s a little tight tight!!!!!

 

Living in Canada, I was forced to drive my V6 Firebird in snow... I always put about 200 pounds of sand bags in the back... and tried to be very careful on the throttle...

My V6 was hard enough to keep driving straight... I'd hate to have to drive a V8 in the snow....

 

don't drive a 3rdgen but you could put a couple of sandbags in your trunk. your gas milage dropps but it keeps your rear fermly on the ground.

EDIT: 88firebird beat me to it

 

I would seriously try to find SOMETHING as a winter beater. Car/truck whatever. A 3rdgen will _NOT_ make a good, or even decent winter car. Why risk it?

 

Biggest help is snow tires if you can afford them. Michelin Arctic Alpins are AMAZING. The difference between all seasons is HUGE.

I had a 5.0 Mu&^@#g with Alpins that I used to love driving in the winter - once you master the drift, it's like rally driving for 5 months.

 

I'd rather have a bag of sand than salt, I wouldn't want it to break open in my trunk and i sure wouldn't want it to spin up in my wheelwells.....

 

I agree... the two best things you can do are snow tires and weight in the back. Blizzaks are a good tire choice on top of the Alpines. Use sand or cinder blocks in the trunk... salt just plain sucks unless it's melting ice. Keep it away from your car.

A few other things to consider: align the car and check your brakes, especially the rears. Give your weatherstripping a silicone treatment. And wax the hell out of the car before snow season comes. I mean the HELL out of it. Remove the ground effects and wax under there. Keep the GFX off if you can deal with the car looking funny. Remove the door sills and wax the underside and inside of the doors and door jambs. Wax the underside of the hatch and around the hatch weatherstripping.

If you want to keep going: Give the dashpad a good treatment of leather and vinyl conditioner while it's still warm. Then do it again before it starts getting below freezing at night. Give the pad another treatment of conditioner as spring comes around, too. Your springs look stock... keep em that way; you'll need all the ground clearance you can get. Get some rubber floor mats to protect the carpet. Switch to a lighter weight oil and use a fuel additive every 4 or 5 tanks of gas to remove moisture. Get new wiper blades and RainX your windshield. Wash off the car when you get home if the temperature is above freezing and will be for another couple hours so the car can dry off. If your catback is stainless, treat it to some WD40 after rinsing. Keep some de-icer on hand for frozen door locks.

Some warnings! Do NOT dump hot or even warm water on your windows or hatch to melt ice! Get a scraper or watch your windows explode. Do not mess with the dashpad if you can help it. The dashpad undergoes more extreme temperature changes during the winter than it does in the summer, and can easily crack if mishandled. Do NOT use Armor-All on the dash (or anything, really)! It will hurt more than help in the long run. And some friendly advice: do NOT tailgate anyone! Black ice is the bane of all winter drivers in the Northeast... so be forewarned: it could take you 100-150 feet to stop from 25 mph on that evil crap at least.

And last but not least: Get some great winter donut and drifting videos!

 

THANX FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!!! I WILL TAKE ALL OF THIS IN CONSIDERATION!!!!! I HAVE TO ADMIT IT IS FUN TO GO TO MY LOCAL SHOPPING CENTRE PARKING LOT AND DO ALOT OF DONUTS!!!!! JUST WATCH THOSE POLES!!!!

 

That IS a lot of fun!!!! A couple winters ago, I used to work til about 8, 8:30 in the evening, and my buddy worked til around 9. So any night when we went out after work, I usually wasted that 1/2 hour or so doing donuts in the parking lot of a local college. Man I wish I had some videos of that.... SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

 

Maximus, where in NJ are you? We need to get a bunch of people together for a winter video session. Perhaps njfbody and njfboa would come out.

 

If you are buying new snow tires you could use that money to buy a beater. I bought a 87 toyota pickup that changed its own oil for a hundred bucks, I threw in 2 75lbs sandbags and that thing could go through anything.

 

Let's face facts.... some people don't have the space to store their F-body. Winterizing is the point of this thread.

 

Seeing that he clearly states in his first post that he cant afford a beater for the winter.... I would suggest using kitty litter instead of bags of salt. It wouldnt make such a huge mess like salt or sand, and would be easier to clean up then both of them. Also it works great if you get stuck in the snow and need to throw something down.

 

CaysE....I live in Burlington County (South Jersey)/Marlton!
That does sound awesome the funny thing is if we meet, we'd have to drive our cars in the snow to get there
I'm always game for meeting fellow 3rd-geners!!!

 

last year when we had those two bad storms, i pretty much found using first, and sometimes second gear useless. all the tires would do is spin, even with no throttle, so i was starting in third with a only a little gas. basically throw a lot of weight in the trunk, then drive around like a little old lady, haha. and it's also a big help to know how to control your car when it's sideways, because even with everything everyone's said, it's almost inevitable it will goes sideways a few times.

 

I here ya. I also have to drive my car threw the winter, my car has a stock clutch and I do think its getting old, but still works. Will the winter takes it toll on it? Meaning is the winter harder on the clutch? Thanks

 

this is what i do

 

Maximus, just becareful you dont ruin your car, I think its one of the best on the board. I just would hate to see it get ruined

 

haha jgolden got the right idea

 

yeah i have to drive my thirdgen this winter too im gonna try for a beater next winter. I have no money as of now and i have a v8 with a 5speed and posi with very bald tires out back. Im saving for two rear tires but i doubt ill have the money by winter. Im definately gonna try the sandbag idea. I drove my 85 bird during the winter last year andthat was fun but i dont wanna ruin the camaro.

 

I wasnt trying start a war here,I was just stating a fact, thats all, sorry if I offended anyone here. This is my winter beater

 

I MAY BE ABLE TO SHELL OUT SOME BUCK$ FOR A BEATER.....IT;S IN THE WORKS!!!! BUT IF NOT, I WILL DEFINATELY BE PUTTING WINTER TIRES ON MY STOCK RIMS W/ ENOUGH SANDBAGS/KITTY LITTER TO MAKE A CASTLE

 

Ill trade you your camaro for my '94 taurus, its a good winter car :lala:

 

o man you need to find a winter beater, you got a nice car there. I think you should really try to find somthing for winter. Your car is sweet and you dont wanna wreck it.

Can you take the air dam off to gain some more ground clearance , you wont overheat in the winter without it will you ?

 

I'VE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM W/ THE AIR DAM, IT'S STAYING STRAIGHT! THAT'S THE PROBLEM! YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE THE DISTANCE PEOPLE FOLLOW YOU ONCE THEY SEE YOU DRIVE SIDEWAYS, IT'S GREAT!

 

im gonna have to prep my car for winter too, if for nothing more just to use in case I cant take the other car... last winter was horrible, couldnt move it in the driveway, let alone get out of it (20-25 degree slope up)

anyways I dont think my car seen much winter driving before, even though the floorpan is pretty rusty, and the engine crossmember, axle.. all that plenty of rust but not bad... the subframes are rust free
while under there though i noticed they have holes in them.. for drainage or whatever... but the way they are designed looks like they are just going to hold stuff in, like salt packed snow/dirt when im bottoming out on a whopping 6" of snow

thinking about plugging areas like that up to help prevent that, is that adviseable?

 

oh how i count the days until i can call a $30,000 truck my "winter beater" lol.

for 2 years i had my 87 camaro lt with a 305. all i had on it were some all season tires, no weight in the back. i started to go sideways once, that was the only time i started to lose control, but i was able to swing it right back. it was fun as hell ripping donuts around parking lots though.

right now i'm driving a 95 talon as my beat for my 100 mile per day commute, i will probably just get a second set of rims with snow tires for the winter. however, if i do decide to get a winter beater, i don't think you can beat an old jeep cherokee.

 

.. i know thats right.. i bought my 89 for 300$ running good and all

 

lol get a winter beater man... here is my 94 dodge dakota sport "2 wheel drive":lala: that ill be driving this winter... it should be as fun as driving a camaro in the winter but hopefuly a little better.

 

I love California.

~runs from forum~

 

yeah I know but last feb my 84 gmc jimmy was totaled out on the interstate, so I used what I got from my insurance and tax returns for the down payment on my truck, it is actually my daily driver. But for 2 years I did drive my iroc in the winter when I first got it and I have to tell you it totally sucked. here is a pic of my jimmy

 

Studded snows all the way around.

Each snow storm, the 1st vehicle in the ditch I pass by is a 4WD.

Without fail...

 

This is my winter beater...



Cause there is no way this is going to see a flake of snow...

 

That's cause they can't drive!!!!

 

Yeah, funny how they think four wheel drive means better braking.

 

I have Kumho Supra 712s on my car (considered "high performance summer tires" on tirerack). The tread pattern on them looks horrible for cutting snow.

What's the narrowest tires I could put on a set of 15x7's, and if someone has a set around Chicago, I'll take them from you. Would I be able to put something like a 185 on a 7" rim? It'll look stupid, but they'll be cheap tires and great for winter traction hopefully.

I'll be kitty littering as well..

EDIT: Crap! I forgot I have the LS1 rear with the huge LS1 brakes. No chance of stocker 15" rims fitting the rear on this car. I knew there'd be some downside of having huge rear brakes... Guess I'll just try not to drive unless I have to when the weather gets bad. It really isn't *THAT* bad most of the time around here, just wet usually. My tires handle extremely well in wet weather, I just don't trust them in some snow.

 

Dang Maximus...
That's WAY TOO NICE of a Camaro be be tromping around in the salty snow with... <begs you not too>

Winter beat it... even if it's <shhhhh> a **** product... what the heck, it's just for the winter. That's what those POS's are for anyhow !!

Repeat after me:
Don't drive the Camaro in the snow...
Don't drive the Camaro in the snow...
Don't drive the Camaro in the snow...
<ok, that's enough of that>

 

Never drive your car in the winter. That salt will eat the hell out of your underbody. But hey, gotta make do with what ya got sometimes

 

i second mr. metal...

 

Yeah, don't drive it in the snow unless you're going out to play around you can take it home and wash inside a garage IMMEDIATELY after. I bought my 82 two years ago January, and drove it around. The first day above freezing I took it to the car wash and the paint around the rear wheel wells just flaked right off. Plus, it's a PITA driving around unless no one else is on the roads. I know, I delivered pizza last winter with it.

If you ABSOLUTELY have to drive it, take it to an empty parking lot to learn how it handles with different braking and cornering manuvers. This could save your @ss one day, honestly.

Also, and I don't know if this was just a casting fault in my 2.8L, or should be general knowledge, I wouldn't raise the RPM to above idle until the engine got up to around 100 degrees or so. That's why I'm swapping a 305 in right now. The block heated up too fast (I guess) and the #3 cylinder wall cracked and basically bent INTO the cylinder, trapping piston in the upper half of the cylinder, snapped the wrist pin, and drove the rod into the adjacent cylinder. Apparently my block didn't like the rapid temperature change.

Just my