C5's In The Snow

[MsSchroder]

Remo - you're still on this subject of snow. The pic you attached reminded me of the time I was stationed in Alaska in 1964-66. Lived off-base. Had a white 63 SWC. It was the only car I had. During the winter, late September to May, I ran studded snow tires, 5W oil and lite weight tranny fluid in the 4 speed. The SWC did great in the snow and ice, but I was very careful when I drove. Believe it was due mostly to the positraction, 4 speed, and thinner wheels than the C4-C6 variety. Stopping was more of a problem. Never got stuck. And I drove every day. I remember one Sunday morning I woke up the radio said it was -70 degrees outside, so I stayed inside until it warmed up to minus 45 degrees. The SWC was inside an insulated garage when I was stationed in Fairbanks, with a circulating heater in the cooling system, and a trickle charger on the batt, so it started up and I managed to drive it without a problem. A major worry was parking outside for more than 4 hours, the tires could freeze to the ice, and the tread could be ripped off when starting from a stop. Was very careful on this problem. As for the mods, none as I only had two tail lights.

Drove the convertible in today as it is supposed to be 75 degrees above. Bet Patrick did the same.
Barrett

Remo: Please save this post and file it away for the dark days of winter when it seems that things just couldn't be much worse. This will be a reminder of how bad it could be. Tires freezing to the ice!?! :eek

 

[DRTH VTR]

My brother lived in Fairbanks for a while. He said it got so cold that it was possible to sit on a vinyl car seat and have it shatter. He said that it was common to have three heaters on a car: battery, oil, and interior. The parking meters had electric outlets in them so the cars could be plugged in.

And Remo is afraid of a small skiff of the white stuff... duh:crazy

 

[Remo]

There's No Business Like Snow Business

Remo: Please save this post and file it away for the dark days of winter when it seems that things just couldn't be much worse. This will be a reminder of how bad it could be. Tires freezing to the ice!?! :eek

Actually my family was stationed at Ft. Wainwright (Fairbanks), Alaska and I lived there for two years. I also remember that in the winter the tires of your car would freeze flat (the good old days of nylon based treads) and it would take about two miles of driving to get them rounded back out. Always nice to be waiting for the school bus at 60 below zero. So I have some understanding of harsh temperatures. The snow conditions are much different in mid Alaska. A typical snow storm in that region would only be a few inches and you could drive through it pretty successfully. However, the snow never melted until spring. So after many small storms you could end up with several feet of hard packed dry frozen snow.

But here in New England you can typically get a 24 - 30 inch snow storm and that my friends is hell on earth for the next several days. And as far as I know, even though some claim they do, I've never seen a late model Corvette successfully manueuver through those conditions.

Remo:cool

P.S. - I start this nonsensical thread every year because I'm always interested in the claims by some of our members. I think at some point I'll write a book.

 

[Red Vette]

I never cry into my beer. Makes it taste salty.

As it happens, I was driving the Vette today, and I did have the top down. It's the perfect tonic for the irritation of having the new evil empire in baseball steamroll over your brave, noble, small-market team.


-Patrick

Yes driving the vette with the top down is the best tonic for almost anything and helped me forget about the Bosox sweep of the Rockies. But the truth be known, I doubt if any NL club could have beaten the Bosox in 7 games. Certainly the Rocks should have taken at least two - but that's baseball and as they said in Brooklyn, wait till next year. And in about 18 more weeks, pitchers and catchers report to spring training. That's like groundhog day to us corvette owners in snow country - it means we are about 6 weeks from the time when the vettes come out of storage.

So congratulations to the Bosox and their supporters; it appears that the Curse of the Bambino is gone forever!
Barrett

 

[jay daley]

Regarding snow tires for your motorcycle, any mental institution should have a list of suppliers.

 

[Pinky]

Will you be driving your C5 in the snow this winter?
Remo:cool

Nope! I got enough of that last year - and moved to San Diego!

(oops guess I should update my profile & picture)

 

[Rob_LaMoreaux]

Who makes studded snows for C5's... I have a month or so to get ready to try the snow action in Cleveland...

Nobody that I know of makes or uses studded snows for the C5. The Studless snows like Blizzaks and Pilot Alpines or even the Goodyear Eagle runflats designed for the C5, are so much better than studded snows. If they didn't cost some darn much I'd get a set of snows for my '02, but it is just easier to drive the SVT Focus in the winter.

I had to drive the '02 once in the snow, when the Rustang was in the shop with a bad fuel pump, and it did ok until I got cutoff on a hill and had to stop. After backing down the hill I waited until the traffic was clear and drove the rest of the way to work on the route that didn't have traffic to stop me, aka the dirt road. Then again I drove that poor Mustange GT all 17 winters I owned it, and never had a problem after puting snows on it, so a C5 with snow tires, active handling, traction control and ABS would be easy to drive in winter.

Unless I can find some place to store one of the toy cars the C5 will have to sit in the driveway this winter, since my in-laws don't have the storage space this year,

 

[silverstreak04]

C5's IN THE SNOW

Well, this will be my 3rd winter in a C5. This year I have new All Weather Michelins, but the last couple of years I was using the original factory tires. Here in the Chicago area, we don't get a lot of snow, if a yearly average of 33 inches isn't a lot of snow. We do get some large individual snowfalls however, and my Vette is the only car I have to get to work. But I do have an advantage, I've been driving a Corvette EVERY day of the year for 25 years, a C3 for 11 years, 2 C4's for a total of 12 years and now my C5. NONE of the cars ever had snow tires, but I've always had all weather tires when I replaced the factory originals. I've never been stuck, nor needed a tow, but close a couple of times. After having a C4 with ASR, I learned that in heavy snow, you should turn the ASR OFF! One final note, one day during a 8 inch wet snowfall, I found that I was getting in motion from stoplites faster than front wheel drive cars.

SilverStreak04

 

[SpryGeezer]

Will you be driving your C5 in the snow this winter?
Remo:cool

What? And miss the thrill of my '96 Impreza sedan's unstoppable AWD?

 

[Remo]

What? And miss the thrill of my '96 Impreza sedan's unstoppable AWD?

A 96" AWD Impreza for the winter ride. SpyGeezer, you're a sensible man.
Remo:cool

 

[silverbullit99]

No way,, if I would have to drive it in winter ,,,if it's all I had,, then I would sell it. I'd rather drive my Cherokee

The 350Z and the Land Rover are my son's,,, Toys for all seasons

 

[jay daley]

When it snows I can't bear the thought of all that salt. I just feel better driving WonderCar...my 10 year old Acura 3.0CL which just goes on and on and on. For situations requiring tank-like transportation I have (limited access to) my signifigant other's Acura MDX. But, God forbid I should get it sideways into an Armco. I'd never hear the end of it!

 

[Remo]

Do I hear the Town Plow & Salt Truck?

Even though I probably wouldn't lean a snow shovel against mine - this
is still a good example of how a C5 should spend the winter.
Remo:cool

 

[silverstreak04]

That picture is scary, real scary. My C5 is Silver, I park on the right hand side and my wife's Acura is the very same color as your other car in the garage. The scariest part is the outside light on the garage, I have the very same lights on my garage.

SilverStreak04

 

[hotmtrsports]

I'm going to try running my new C6 this Winter and hope silver ones do better in teh snow than any other color.

I ran a 1999 throughout the whole Winter a few years back except when it was over 3" of snow. I had the hardest time with other drivers looking at me in disgust and getting real close to me and smiling (for real).



Hope for the best!!! hnoes

Chuck M

 

[RC135_Tx]

Will you be driving your C5 in the snow this winter?
Remo:cool

Maybe ... :-}

 

[Blue260]

Most definitely!

 

[Remo]

Most definitely!

Hey Blue260 - I bet those snow drifts in "South Carolina"
are a real challange. Welcome to the CAC.
Remo:cool

 

[Blue260]

Remo, LOL, and thanks for the welcome. I think I'm going to enjoy this forum more then certain...others.
My position at work allows me to speak to a lot of people all over North America and 2 states that had me laughing was Minnesota and yours. The guy from Minnesota told me their 4 seasons consisted of "Winter, Almost Winter, Road Construction, and Mosquito's." A person from your state asked me in January what our temperature was like - after I told him, his reply was "Hell, that's considered swimming weather here!"
Anyway, all joking aside, the older you get (56) and being transplated from So.Cal., anything under 65 deg. seems cold. The only winter problem is SC are the ice storms.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Today Iwill be (don't laugh) "frying" 4 fresh birds today.
chris

 

[XLR8]

Remo, LOL, and thanks for the welcome. I think I'm going to enjoy this forum more then certain...others.
My position at work allows me to speak to a lot of people all over North America and 2 states that had me laughing was Minnesota and yours. The guy from Minnesota told me their 4 seasons consisted of "Winter, Almost Winter, Road Construction, and Mosquito's." A person from your state asked me in January what our temperature was like - after I told him, his reply was "Hell, that's considered swimming weather here!"
Anyway, all joking aside, the older you get (56) and being transplated from So.Cal., anything under 65 deg. seems cold. The only winter problem is SC are the ice storms.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Today Iwill be (don't laugh) "frying" 4 fresh birds today.
chris

Chris, here in Mississippi we claim 4 seasons too - Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer and Christmas. Welcome to the CAC... and BTW - nice '04 CE. When you get through cooking the 'birds', stop by the New Member Introductory Forum here and post a thread so more CAC members can say hello.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Jane Ann