Winter driving: How much weight should I put in the trunk?

[w.neurauter]

Before I put my snow tires on and tried weight in the trunk it almost seemed to make it worse. It didn't help a bit getting going and the few times that the backen kicked out around a corner it seemed harder to get it back under control. I guess it makes sense that the more weight in the back will increase the pendelum effect when fish tailing.

 

[XtorT'r]

Bah! Don't sell the stang! Just get a set of Dunlop M3's and your stang will be as capable in the snow as 99% of the trucks and suvs that are out there. Even though I have a relatively wide set of 245/45/17 they perform incredibly. Before I got the tires I would have trouble getting out of my parking lot with just an inch or two on the ground. In order to test the limits of their traction I did everything I could to try and get stuck. I was unable to create a situation where I couldn't go where I wanted to. Even on steep snow covered inclines where others were having trouble I could come from a dead stop and pull away with confidence.

As far as weight goes I put a hundred pounds of salt in my trunk once and the only thing it seemed to do was warp the floor of the trunk. And it is absolutely not needed with a good set of tires.

Anyway I really can't say enough of the importance of having a good set of snow tires for a DD stang. They've certainly made driving in winter a lot of fun.

I know a way to get stuck with them on, change your rear diff fluid and forget to put in friction modifyer. That sucked.

 

[AmBo]

I run 17x8 blizzaks in the back and 17x8 all seasons up front in the winter. Best investment ever. I never got stuck in the snow.

Also, one time I was at a red light with a plow behind me. Like one of the BIG HUGE dump truck plows. I just took off when it went green, looked in my rear view mirror and saw the plow that was behind me was now sideways in the middle of the intersection. Mustang w/snow tires FTW!

 

[Dusstbuster]

Weight in the trunk is a catch22 really...sure you have better control of the rear end, but you're also sacrificing stopping distance by adding that much more inertial mass to the car.