Snow Handling

bounsoul · Jun 18, 2004

Hello,

I was thinking about buying a Mustang but I heard that it handles very poorly in the snow. Being from NY, this is a concern for me. Is this true and is there any way I can remedy this short of getting a ford Focus instead? haha

szer0 · Jun 18, 2004

Well, if you are a very responsible driver, I don't think you'll have a problem. But I'm telling you from experience that you are going to have some scary moments in the snow. I was careful enough this past winter to only have one close call where I was headed straight for a tree and was able to whip the rear wheels around and change direction about a foot short of the tree. Then another time I drove down my entire road sideways...somehow. That wasn't really scary though because I had it under control....that was just fun .

But yeah, if you are one of those drivers who likes to think bad weather is nothing...I'd stick with the focus. It's entirely up to you to be the judge of your driving behavior. Good luck

ryanrule · Jun 18, 2004

i had my stang here in wisconsin for my first winter when i was 16, and didnt hit anything, or go in the ditch. the only prob is gettin goin from a stoplight if its real icy. just dont be a dumbass

Jamez · Jun 18, 2004

ryanrule said:
just dont be a dumbass

That would fix a lot of problems people have.

szer0 · Jun 18, 2004

ryanrule said:
just dont be a dumbass

Yeah that's pretty much what I was trying to say..but I kinda ended up drawing it out. And I didn't want to be so blunt with a new member. But yeah I'm 17 and this is my first car. We're not all bad drivers .

Ghostalker · Jun 18, 2004

yeah, any rear wheel drive will suck in the snow, but that and mustangs are heavy and high torque...
anyway, thinner tires are better for snow, wrapped in snow tires... duh
so i recommend keeping your stock rims (saying you put new ones on) with snow tires on them (mine are in the attic... lol)

szer0 · Jun 18, 2004

Ghostalker said:
yeah, any rear wheel drive will suck in the snow, but that and mustangs are heavy and high torque...
anyway, thinner tires are better for snow, wrapped in snow tires... duh
so i recommend keeping your stock rims (saying you put new ones on) with snow tires on them (mine are in the attic... lol)

Yeah when I eventually get some nicer rims, I'm putting winter tires on the ones I have right now and storing them for the winters. That way I handle better in the winter and I won't ruin my new rims with salt .

Ghostalker · Jun 18, 2004

yeah, up here in CT, we get 'pretty bad' winters, tons of sand and salt is dumped all over the roads, so ond go the stock rims, all im afraid of is my poor exhaust, maybe ill just try to keep my car clean underneath (my exhaust isn't stainless... unlike my bro's stang is...) and rarely used (i could borrow one of my parents cars =D )
and after the winters, almost every road looks like total crap because of all the plows, there are paved roads that feel almost like gravel...

marvinmycat · Jun 19, 2004

For the size car that they are, Mustangs are NOT heavy and high. They are light and about the same height as most mid-sized cars.

Anyway, get some Blizzak tires on your Stang. Firestone offers a deal to switch your winter and summer tires back and forth for you for free twice a year. It's a little expensive, but consider your other options if you only have one set of rims.

I've been driving my Stang aound in the snow for five years now and only once did I have a problem. It was on an "S" curve on the highway and I wasn't really paying attentention to what I was doing when I changed lanes. Did a couple of fish tails going 50 mph, but I kept it under control. I recently put gears and a T-Lok in, so the locker should improve my snow handling this next time around.

Oh yea, I live in Buffalo NY where we get HAMMERED with snow!

zoopa_man · Jun 19, 2004

I live near Rochester, NY and drove my stang last winter. All I can say is don’t' drive like an idiot. If you take your time and go slow you will be fine on the roads. The only trouble I had on the roads were getting going on icy intersections. You just have to feather the gas until you get going. My other problem last year was getting out of my drive way. I have a long gravel drive that slopes up to the road and drifts over every year. I found that once the snow got to be over six inches deep I had to get out the shovel and dig my self a path for the tires to follow.
I spent last winter on my original tires. My opinion is there junk and no good for snow at all and definitely plan on investing in a set of Blizacks. From what I’ve been told you will do just fine in the snow as long as you drive slow and don't do anything you wouldn't do in any other car.

laserstang38 · Jun 19, 2004

I'm wit zoopa on this. I go to school in Rochester, and I did the stock tires as well. I saw about 20 SUV's off the road this winter on my 5 mile drive to school. It's all how causious (sp?) you drive. Best thing you can do when it snows is find an empty parking lot and practice a bit on starts and stops. Especially if yer like me who couldn't afford winter tires.

On a side note, what is with Rochester and all the damn salt they use two days after it snows. I'm from Syracuse, and generally there it is accepted policy to try and salt/plow at the beginning of the snow falling?

zoopa_man · Jun 19, 2004

"I saw about 20 SUV's off the road this winter on my 5 mile drive to school" I can back up that statement as well. SUV drivers thing their invincible with their four wheel drive and big tires. I got news form them....I like driving my mustang in the snow over my fathers bronco. My stang seems to recover from a slide much easier then our bronco.

Since I’m posting again I will also add that I found it easier to drive with the traction control off rather then ON. Believe it or not I couldn't get going from a stop with the traction control ON, I had better luck feathering the gas on my own rather then letting the car try to limit the tire spin for me.

laserstang38 has the right idea about practicing...Every winter on the first snow fall I go down to a large parking lot and practice sliding straight, to the left, to the right, all the way around in a 180 and doing doughnuts. Believe it or not this will help you learn how your car slides in the snow, and what to do when it happens on the road. Sometimes giving the car some gas will stop your slide. Practice when it snows and you'll do fine.

97v6Silver · Jun 20, 2004

hah silly yanks

Ernad · Jun 20, 2004

Ah, I dream of the day when I move to a region where there is no snow and I can keep my summer tires all year round.
Mustangs can be driven in snow, though I would not recommend it. I've been lucky for the last three years, never even turned my car more than 30 degrees. It helps if the car is manual.

zoopa_man · Jun 20, 2004

Everyone loves pictures....And in this one there's just a little snow. I was able to handle this easily...it's when the snow gets to be three times this much that you start to have issues plowing through it. That's when it's shovel time. I wish I had taken pictures of our drive when the drifts on the sides were up to my side view mirrors. That's when I had to shovel..then gun it for the end and either I got out or got stuck and drove the bronco to work. lol

98_stang_guy · Jun 20, 2004

im a 16 year old in wisconsin and havent had any real problems. like said above, dont be a dumbass. rear wheel drive can be fun in the snow and kinda scary at times. but go for it, you'll get used to it.

Ernad · Jun 20, 2004

zoopa_man said:
Everyone loves pictures....And in this one there's just a little snow. I was able to handle this easily...it's when the snow gets to be three times this much that you start to have issues plowing through it. That's when it's shovel time. I wish I had taken pictures of our drive when the drifts on the sides were up to my side view mirrors. That's when I had to shovel..then gun it for the end and either I got out or got stuck and drove the bronco to work. lol
http://forums.stangnet.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=25124

That picture brings back so many bad memories.

98CobraClone · Jun 22, 2004

I drove my procharged stang back and forth to work all winter, no problems at all. It didn't really act up on me, unless I wanted it to. The only problems I really had were getting out of the driveway. Mustangs are like any other car, be careful and you'll be fine.

Ghostalker · Jun 23, 2004

MarvinMyCat said:
For the size car that they are, Mustangs are NOT heavy and high. They are light and about the same height as most mid-sized cars.

I just wish to point out that i said high in torque... not height...

marvinmycat · Jun 23, 2004

Ok sorry, read it wrong then. My bad.

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