I am going to have to drive my Mustang in the winter.
06-22-2006, 02:31 AM
#21
★★★★★
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Banned Camp (Counselor)
Posts: 10,200
RE: I am going to have to drive my Mustang in the winter.
dont listen to these guys that say use kitty litter and/or sand.
use 4 bags or road salt (2 50LB bags over each rear wheel). the salt is actually useful in the winter besides the fact that its weighing down your car.
you dont need 4 snow tires. a set of (2 rear) studded snows will do just fine.
get studded snows, as just regular winter tires will not cut it in the snow.
also if you can afford it, get yourself a Tlok. its better to have traction to both wheels rather that just 1, espically when you start to lose control.
use 4 bags or road salt (2 50LB bags over each rear wheel). the salt is actually useful in the winter besides the fact that its weighing down your car.
you dont need 4 snow tires. a set of (2 rear) studded snows will do just fine.
get studded snows, as just regular winter tires will not cut it in the snow.
also if you can afford it, get yourself a Tlok. its better to have traction to both wheels rather that just 1, espically when you start to lose control.
06-22-2006, 09:37 AM
#22
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location:
Posts: 3,062
RE: I am going to have to drive my Mustang in the winter.
Personally I would recommend anyone living in an area that gets REAL WINTER, ie lots snow & ice, really needs to have FOUR snow tires not just 2. Those snow tires up front really help steering out a LOT. And, you can rotate them next winter to the rear.
Also get those 4 snow tires mounted on plain stamped steel rims. That way your nice summer mags don't get screwed up, and you can swap summers for winters yourself in the driveway.
Traction lock diffs are a good news / bad news issue. Yes it's great to have both rear tires working for you when you're trying to move thru the snow. But, give the car a bit too much gas in a corner and, TLOC can cause the rear of your car to spin out a lot easier than an open diff. If you have Traction control then in winter LEAVE IT TURNED ON.
Also get those 4 snow tires mounted on plain stamped steel rims. That way your nice summer mags don't get screwed up, and you can swap summers for winters yourself in the driveway.
Traction lock diffs are a good news / bad news issue. Yes it's great to have both rear tires working for you when you're trying to move thru the snow. But, give the car a bit too much gas in a corner and, TLOC can cause the rear of your car to spin out a lot easier than an open diff. If you have Traction control then in winter LEAVE IT TURNED ON.
06-23-2006, 01:33 AM
#24
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location:
Posts: 178
RE: I am going to have to drive my Mustang in the winter.
I drove my stang this past winter And I will say I did farly ok.The only thing I foud out was If your car has traction control You kind of have to figure out when and where to turn it on/off.I am Definatly getting a nother stet of crapy rims and studed snows for next year
06-23-2006, 11:51 PM
#25
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 8,467
RE: I am going to have to drive my Mustang in the winter.
When i drove my Cobra in one winter (I live on Rochester, NY) I bought 4 Dunlop Winter Sport M2s (M3s are out now and better) and my car was so good in the snow. I had no extra weight in the rear, and never got stuck. Half the time i was driving faster than the other traffic. My Cobra doesnt have traction control either, so I think it did well. Sure it wouldnt go through a foot of snow, but it had no problem at all with a couple inches. All that being said, i was driving on 245 width tires to boot 
06-24-2006, 02:52 PM
#26
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 43
RE: I am going to have to drive my Mustang in the winter.
ORIGINAL: GStam66
Hmm, I have a few cinderblocks in my garage, will those do?
Hmm, I have a few cinderblocks in my garage, will those do?
Yeah, call in sick when the lake effect snow hits!
Fwiw, I drove my 96 with manual transmission one winter. I used 4 Blizzak snow tires on steel wheels and it helped a lot. No longer was the Mustang a POS in the snow. Just a small turd. Seriously, this car is so light in the rear end that the car would start sliding when snow was forcast.
Buy a 10 year old Civic?
07-05-2006, 05:41 PM
#27
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location:
Posts: 38
RE: I am going to have to drive my Mustang in the winter.
ORIGINAL: Deannostang
A good set of FOUR (4) quality snow tires and two bags of kitty litter (one for each rear wheel (right & left in trunk) and your car will be perfectly fine in all kinds of winter driving. One more easy step to take that makes a HUGE difference is to be sure to FILL the gas tank when a winter storm is forecast. A full tank adds a nice, evenly balanced load to the rear of the Mustang. If you did that one step religiously, you may not even need to worry about the kitty litter. I am from Upstate NY (Albany) and I know how bad winters can be some years. A full tank of gas with any vehicle makes a very big difference in traction and handling. Don't forget, all GT's have limited slip rearends and some with traction control as well. That gives you two (2) wheels for traction rather than just one.
A good set of FOUR (4) quality snow tires and two bags of kitty litter (one for each rear wheel (right & left in trunk) and your car will be perfectly fine in all kinds of winter driving. One more easy step to take that makes a HUGE difference is to be sure to FILL the gas tank when a winter storm is forecast. A full tank adds a nice, evenly balanced load to the rear of the Mustang. If you did that one step religiously, you may not even need to worry about the kitty litter. I am from Upstate NY (Albany) and I know how bad winters can be some years. A full tank of gas with any vehicle makes a very big difference in traction and handling. Don't forget, all GT's have limited slip rearends and some with traction control as well. That gives you two (2) wheels for traction rather than just one.
I thought I spotted her road and turned down it. It turned out to be unplowed and part of a new development. Mistake number 1. Now I'm on an unplowed road and that is where you will usually get stuck. I now needed to find a way to turn around. I figured if I could keep my momentum going I'd be ok. So I continued down the road which ended in cul de sack and tried to make a wide sweeping turn and unfortunately I ground to halt about half way around and man was I stuck. I could only move about 2 feet forward and back and there didn't seem to be a house for miles.
Ok... Jen... You are stuck... Time to break out the kitty litter. I opened the bags and poured them around my rear wheels and got in. I went into drive first and spun about 6 inches forward. Back to reverse. 6 inches back. Back to drive spun right in place. Reverse spun right in place. Almost no movement at all when I would try to go.
HUH!? I'm stuck worse now? I got out and looked and the kitty litter had turned to this clay slurry that was slicker than any ice I've ever been on. It was so bad my rear wheels would spin at idle without even touching the gas. I looked at the label on the bag and it was 90% clay. Oops!
I guess my tire noises attacted a guy living up on the developed part of the road and he came down and gave me a hand. That was pretty embarrassing picking the wrong kind of kitty litter. From now on I use bags of play sand. They add more weight and I know I'm not gonna get stuck worse on it.
Jen
07-06-2006, 09:47 AM
#30
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location:
Posts: 178
RE: I am going to have to drive my Mustang in the winter.
If you are worryed about the salt and rust.They sell cans of under coating you can spray on your self.and if you can invest in a power washer.and power wash the underside of your stang once a month in the winter.this gets all the salt off.