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Old 10-08-2006, 01:47 PM   #16
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

Lith1um, I forgot all about crown in the road!
quote:
"If the snow is a light intermittent coating you might be ok. If it gets a chance to get packed hard you will slide sideways off the crown of a road due to the low surface pressure of the wide tires."
My old 1 mile tar and chip road has a humongous crown. If the C4 or the C5 wasn't centered on the crown it would slowly slide off the side, even with the brakes applied. The C6's tires are even wider so it sure wouldn't be any better.
Dyno247365,
The traction control only makes the difference of not going anywhere to barely going forward. Far from anything to brag about. It is not a bad weather car so it is foolish to use it unnecessarily in bad weather.
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Old 10-08-2006, 11:16 PM   #17
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

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Originally Posted by Lith1um
No offense to you man, but you just dont seem to get it.

The people who do have experience say its a headache.

You, who admittedly has no direct experience, seem to have your mind made up. Doesnt appear reason will sway you.

Good luck, but you'll only find out your mother was right. No amount of wishfull thinking will change it. Corvettes can barely move in 2-3 inches of snow.

It's a serious hassle just to move 3 inches, the traction just isnt available unless you put on some serious redneck style snow tires. Traction control doesnt help the situation because there is no traction to control. In fact, with traction control on you often dont get enough wheel speed to even move the car in snow.

Every rut will try to spin the car violently. Getting stuck is a matter of when, not if. It's a serious hassle.

If the snow is a light intermittent coating you might be ok. If it gets a chance to get packed hard you will slide sideways off the crown of a road due to the low surface pressure of the wide tires.

It's not a matter of keeping the car pretty and salt free, it's a traction issue.

It's a serious pain in the arse, but I wish you luck.

Don't take this the wrong way but you seem to be young, I guess you may have to experience it for yourself.

p.s.

Just to let you know where I am coming from I'm pretty aggressive, I love driving in the snow, I love getting a car into a serious drift. It's a blast. So I'm not saying this from the typical pussified corvetter owner who doesnt want to get his car dirty point of view.

I know you said only one vehicle, but I would highly suggest getting an old s10 or something just for snow use. It would problably make your insurance go down a little as a benefit.

Just my 2 cents, hope I didnt offend you.
Nah I had fun reading your post. Just the point of view and INFO I was looking for. I'm 21 but still just understanding the limitations of any cars. Lol you might have pissed off some vette owners though.

L1thium, I understand that it doesn't perform well in bad weather, mostly because it's lower to the ground than I thought, but It's been said to be THE WORST car for the snow, would you agree or disagree to that?
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Old 10-09-2006, 02:14 AM   #18
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

If you put sand bags in the trunk, use directionalish snow tires, and I'm not sure about vettes but if you can get it to run w/ posse rwd, and slip the clutch to control the torque, theoritcally it would be able to drive like other rwd cars...which is horribly. Also it's not worth the hassle of doing all that crap. Get a used ford ranger stick shift for around a grand if you need a snow vehicle.
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Old 10-10-2006, 08:25 PM   #19
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

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Originally Posted by RightWingZionist
If you put sand bags in the trunk, use directionalish snow tires, and I'm not sure about vettes but if you can get it to run w/ posse rwd, and slip the clutch to control the torque, theoritcally it would be able to drive like other rwd cars...which is horribly. Also it's not worth the hassle of doing all that crap. Get a used ford ranger stick shift for around a grand if you need a snow vehicle.
I can only imagine how those things are abused, but I get the hint. guess it's no myth anymore, I'd like to see it for myself though. People may say why bother? I bother everyone and everything.
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Old 01-11-2007, 04:31 PM   #20
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

" Good luck, but you'll only find out your mother was right. No amount of wishfull thinking will change it. Corvettes can barely move in 2-3 inches of snow.

It's a serious hassle just to move 3 inches, the traction just isnt available unless you put on some serious redneck style snow tires. Traction control doesnt help the situation because there is no traction to control. In fact, with traction control on you often dont get enough wheel speed to even move the car in snow.

Every rut will try to spin the car violently. Getting stuck is a matter of when, not if. It's a serious hassle."

Ok - I own an 85 Vette and have never parked it in winter (unless it broke something and I didn't want to fix it in the frozen weather). I live on a mountain in New Hampshire and it has never spun off into a ditch or anything else nasty. It will not go in unplowed snow over 5 inches because it piles up underneath and will high center. But up to that point it goes fine - just don't use Goodyear tires. I have used two sets of Goodrich Comp TA's but they are no longer available - currently has a set of Faulken MS rated tires.

With the original Goodyear Eagles it would get stuck - on a dry sanded hill. But with the TA's and the new tires it goes great.

Sure rear wheel drive takes some practice but I have been driving rear wheel drives in the snow forever.

We used to hold Corvette Club ice races (no studs or chains allowed) in Colorado. Didn't get the trailer queens to try it but we had all sorts of winter events - rallys to the ski areas, a long weekend event in Steamboat springs, what is the point of having one if you park it most of the year.

Oh yeah - the myth about salt hurting vettes - destroying the fiberglass - just that - myth! On pre C4's you can rot the frame out from under an otherwise intact Vette body but sine '84 the only things that rot are the shocks and exhaust system.
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Old 01-11-2007, 04:37 PM   #21
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

" Good luck, but you'll only find out your mother was right. No amount of wishfull thinking will change it. Corvettes can barely move in 2-3 inches of snow.

It's a serious hassle just to move 3 inches, the traction just isnt available unless you put on some serious redneck style snow tires. Traction control doesnt help the situation because there is no traction to control. In fact, with traction control on you often dont get enough wheel speed to even move the car in snow.

Every rut will try to spin the car violently. Getting stuck is a matter of when, not if. It's a serious hassle."

Ok - I own an 85 Vette and have never parked it in winter (unless it broke something and I didn't want to fix it in the frozen weather). I live on a mountain in New Hampshire and it has never spun off into a ditch or anything else nasty. It will not go in unplowed snow over 5 inches because it piles up underneath and will high center. But up to that point it goes fine - just don't use Goodyear tires. I have used two sets of Goodrich Comp TA's but they are no longer available - currently has a set of Faulken MS rated tires.

With the original Goodyear Eagles it would get stuck - on a dry sanded hill. But with the TA's and the new tires it goes great.

Sure rear wheel drive takes some practice but I have been driving rear wheel drives in the snow forever.

We used to hold Corvette Club ice races (no studs or chains allowed) in Colorado. Didn't get the trailer queens to try it but we had all sorts of winter events - rallys to the ski areas, a long weekend event in Steamboat springs, what is the point of having one if you park it most of the year.

Oh yeah - the myth about salt hurting vettes - destroying the fiberglass - just that - myth! On pre C4's you can rot the frame out from under an otherwise intact Vette body but sine '84 the only things that rot are the shocks and exhaust system.
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Old 01-11-2007, 06:52 PM   #22
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

Let's all agree that it all comes down to the God of physics and kill this lame thread.
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Old 02-16-2007, 05:05 AM   #23
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

I know few people here in Finland that drive their C4/C5 corvette around the year. Maybe manual trans is better when driving in snow and in Rovaniemi (= in Arctic Circle) they don't use salt because of -30C in winter and people say that C4 is really nice to drive in snowy roads. Ofcourse it is a bit low
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Old 04-09-2007, 01:09 PM   #24
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

Soluton : get a cheap beater to drive in the winter, it will more that pay for the damage you will cause to your vette by trying to "finess" it around in the snow. Can you drive a vette in snow, sure, but its really not practical.
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Old 08-05-2007, 02:33 PM   #25
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

Modern performance tires' treads aren't made for snow - too much rubber surface and not enough open space between the tread blocks.

An S-rated "all-season" tire will work much better, but probably won't come in sizes bigger than 16 inches for a while. My '64 with 295-50x15 BFG Radial T/A's is not bad in light snow if you use a light throttle foot.

For that matter, you can lose traction and spin around on dry pavement with too heavy a foot!
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Old 08-06-2007, 02:25 PM   #26
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

Big a$$ wiiiiide tires, low to the ground, lots of low end grunt... makes for GREAT snow driving!



My buddy left Las Vegas from the track and took the long way home to see some of Colorado... he was doing just fine in all the snow until it became an all-out white curtain. Here's his '06 Z06 after several hours of bare knuckle driving. They towed him out and he was on his way yet again.

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Old 08-06-2007, 06:54 PM   #27
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

Any chance you could make studded tires fit? Although it still wouldn't help you in snow higher than the air dam.


I live in florida, what the heck do I know about driving in the snow...
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Old 08-07-2007, 12:55 PM   #28
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

Let's take a simple physics lesson here. A couple factors have been pointed out. One being that the car is rear-wheel drive. 2nd, it's low to the ground. Obviously, the more snow ANY vehicle has to push, the more difficult it will be to lug through the snow. 3rd, yes, the tires are wide. The front tires have to push through the snow, while the rears have to develop the traction. Wider tires with a lighter than average car offer less pounds per square inch (pressure = lbs/area) you have actually interacting with the any available friction you're trying to be able to use on snow.

On a side note, snowy, salty winters destroy all cars. Why abuse a great car like a corvette?
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Old 09-12-2007, 12:49 AM   #29
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

i drove mine in the snow last winter bc my truck broke down..... it was not fun at all.... even with less than an inch i could barely go anywhere... but that was with the F1's on it... and i had to drive everytime it snowed bc i plowed for the city soo ive driven in it all
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Old 09-01-2010, 11:59 AM   #30
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Re: Corvettes in Snow Myth?

Ours gets squirly in heavy rain....snow would be a disaster(370 hp)
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