157dB

Negatory on the salt in the trunk.
Unless you like corrosion if and when
(yes it will happen) one of those salt
bags busts open and spills its contents
all over and into every crevasse in the
trunk area.

Ask the guy who bought two gallons of house
paint and put it in the trunk only to discover upon
arrival at home one of the cans had opened up...

If the weather is so bad that you are worried
about getting stuck that it requires you to carry
salt in the trunk, then its weather not worth driving
the Stang in.

Also I would like to see how well
those rear seat latches hold up to 200LBS
of dynamic load in an accident.
2Gs and its 400LBS. 4Gs and its 800LBS
The 800LB gorilla in the trunk could end up
in the front seat with you...

Steve St.Laurent

Had a friend of mine that got in very bad accident with his 1 ton extended cab Dodge truck with sand bags in the bed. I know it's hard to believe but the sand bags came right through both layers of sheet metal (bed and cab), the back seat and right into him. Luckily it didn't kill him but he had MAJOR back and neck issues because of it. After that I stopped using weight in the back of vehicles.

bakerjd

I own only Mustangs so I'm driving the Mustang in the snow, period. I removed the spare and that's where the bags are kept. Not too hard to keep the bags in tact so I don't agree with your corrosion theory. Not too mention if they are opened, get out of situation, drive home, replace with fresh bag and clean up. That's nothing a vacuum can't take care of. Worked out perfectly fine the past two years, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine this year.

Siber Express

The really bad thing about salt in the trunk, salt attracts moisture and melts. a bag of kitty litter works better in a low traction situation and any of that can be wiped up and cleaned easily.
If you want to keep salt in the spare tire well, I would at least get spray in truck bed liner and spray the spare area with that first.
I am glad I live in an area where we don't get a lot of snow, winter tires for me are all season tires and since I work in construction I don't work when it is snowing

snikr

Just get yourself a "beater" to run in the winter (that's why I have a GMC 4x4). But then again, when I was younger I ran my 71 Duster 340 all winter with GOOD snow tires on it. And kitty litter will help get you unstuck (extra traction).

bakerjd

That's why I keep sand in there too. It will be fine. It's only going to be one more winter and then retirement for my '06. I'm really not worried about it. As far as a beater goes, I have a 80 mile/day commute. I need a reliable vehicle and the '06 is just that. I've had no issues for as long as I've owned the vehicle.

THS_Steed06

All,

Thanks for the good advice, info. & testimonials. After reading all of this and doing some research off-site one thing kept plauging my thoughts....What makes a Mustang so bad to drive in snow anyway? Compared say with a BMW 328 or Infiniti G37 whats different?

After the research I found that front drive cars have only one advantage in snow and thats from a dead stop to about 30 M.P.H. After that they have no advantage and the only reason they have that is...yep you guessed it because they have the majority of vehicle weight over the drive wheels.

Mustangs (especially our V6's) have a nearly perfect 50/50 weight distribution (so does BMW) while most FWD cars are at best 60/40 with some even worse. The other factor that plays into this (today anyway) is the traction control systems, which greatly help both drive layouts to control wheel spin. Those of you with that feature are better off than my 2006 which doesn't have it, but its probably what makes those luxury cars more driveable in snow than our Steeds.

So generally speaking I also think that our cars typically shod with performance tires (often Z rated) Pirelli or Nitto vs. Most other FWD commom cars shod with mud and snow rated all season tires that perform better in cold weather due to different rubber coumpounds. Lets face it thats mostly why snow tires are better (not to mention deep wide tread grooves) than all seasons or summer tires.

So combine these factors....
- Less than ideal rubber coumpounds in cold climate
- Less weight over drive wheels
- No traction control
And you have a recipie for trouble. So as I said before the p-zeros must go!

So here is the approach I will be taking to help my car this winter:
- I will be switching from my p-zeros over to my cooper CS4
- Why? They are all season the do have deeper tread, are mud and snow rated and are also T speed rated so they have a better rubber coumpound for cold weather.

- I'm also going to add a small amount of weight to see if I can tip the weight distribution to more like 45/55 by adding about 150 lbs. In the rear (approx. 5% of cars curb weight).

- I'll place the weights where the spare tire goes which will also be a lower center of gravity than just in the trunk.

Hopefully this will give me similar advantage to the FWD cars. I'll let everyone know how it goes after the first snow, but ideally I'll have to drive it once with the p-zeros as a control on snowy streets.

THS_Steed06

Hi everyone,

I thought I would provide an update on the performance of the Cooper CS4 tires since we've actually had some snow now.

So cooper tires:

First they perform very well on wet streets and even track fairly well on snow covered sections. They are surprisingly sure footed on packed snow. I think if you are looking for a budget winter use tire and can't swing money for blizzak's these will do pretty well.

Having driven FWD cars in snow for nearly 20 years before getting into Mustangs I have to say the car is not as challenging to drive as people seem to talk about with this particular set up.

I added 120 lbs of something I can use in the spring (morton water softener pellets, 3 40lb bags) and one small 10 lb bag of sand in case I do get stuck and need it for traction. So far that hasn't been a problem. Total spent was about $20 at Wal-mart. The bags laid out fairly flat and I put them under the fiberboard trunk liner. You actually can't really tell they are under there. Mustang owners though would notice the trunk is a bit more shallow than usual. Adding the weight dropped the rear end by about 3/8 inch and you dont really notice it in the cars stance, and drivers dont flash me thinking my brights are on because the front isn't pitched up too much.

I've driven now in two ice storms and two good heavy snow falls. The ice was a challenge for everybody but the snow driving was decent. Yes the acceleration still requires a light foot but having the 5 speed you can modulate the torque and clutch well to get traction with relative ease. Braking is predictable and the front coopers do well both with steering and stopping.

I had one scary incident yesterday where snow was blowing across a country road and I had clear wet pavement turned suddenly to packed snow glaced ice, I had probably less than 2 seconds (going 50) to scrub at least 30 MPH to traverse this long ice patch. I braked as hard as I dared to keep tracking straight before hitting th ice then let off and coasted. Unfortunately even 20 was a bit too fast for this patch and I was quickly gaining on a car going half that speed...i was going to hit him for sure if I couldnt slow down more. So I gently drifted her towards the shoulder where there was some packed snow I thought if I could get the passenger tires onto there I could quickly pump the brakes and not pitch her sideways while still slowing enough to avoid rear ending this guy. It worked remarkably well and I can say for damn near certain the p-zeros would have failed me. So all of this stuff actually worked!

Thanks to everyone who gave good advice and helped shape the outcome here.

Tom