Driving a Camaro in the winter?

[Blueyes21]

Hi all, I was just wondering what everyones experiance is with driving this car in the wintertime is. As I will be driving my camaro Ls through the winter and it is my first time drving a RWD car. I heard they can be difficult obviousily im planning on gettting a good set of winter tires and i'm hoping with new technologies that it is a bit easy. So you whats your experiance/tips for winter driving.

Note I'm from Ontario Canada(Oshawa)

[irocnroll]

There are many topics on this already in the forum.

[TommyTSquared]

For a non-typical Texas winter (and according the almanac we should be having typical ones for the next few years) it worked just fine.

[wylde1]

Good set of winter tires and you'll be ready to rock. I drove my S-10 all year round. It had a 400 HP 6.6L smallblock in it with gobs of torque. it weighed 1400 kg's with me in it and hardly any of that was over the back end haha. I strapped some weight down in the box, put a set of studded nokians on there and never had a problem. Good tires make a HUGE difference. I will never go another winter without full on winter tires if I have my way.

the biggest thing with RWD is how you manage a slide. in a FWD car if your back end starts to come around, you give it power so your front end can correct it. In a RWD car you need to do the opposite, just get off the power and steer out of trouble. In any case if your front wheels lose traction you're effed anyways haha

just take your time you'll get used to it. The Camaro will be better in winter than many other options.

[heRS]

Texas is not Ontario... lol I live in a snow belt and I plan to put my RS in my shop building and drive my trusty 4x4 pickup during the winter.
Driving a rear wheel drive car in the winter can be exciting, When you get that first snow, I suggest a large empty parking lot to familiarize yourself with the possibilities before you hit the streets.
Your stabilitrac should help a lot if you must drive your Camaro but consider buying a rwd beater with a heater for $500. for a winter driver if you're at all nervous.

[wylde1]

Originally Posted by roadweasel

Texas is not Ontario... lol I live in a snow belt and I plan to put my RS in my shop building and drive my trusty 4x4 pickup during the winter.
Driving a rear wheel drive car in the winter can be exciting, When you get that first snow, I suggest a large empty parking lot to familiarize yourself with the possibilities before you hit the streets.
Your stabilitrac should help a lot if you must drive your Camaro but consider buying a rwd beater with a heater for $500. for a winter driver if you're at all nervous.

haha very true. I'm pretty sure the tires don't have frozen flat spots on them from sitting outside overnight in Texas.

I do like Texas winter though haha last year we met up with a buddy in december in Houston right after they got a snowfall. Those were some funny stories haha. We rented Harleys from Houston and rode to Galveston and up/down the coast all day and it was beautiful. You have to understand though, as a Canadian it was absolutely mind blowing to be on a motorcycle in December haha. it was like 50 ish degrees there, and -40 or so at home....

[Blueyes21]

Yah ive heard about putting extra weight in the trunk. But how muc weight excatly should you put? Like could I just buy a couple of salt bags and throw them in the trunk?

[TommyTSquared]

Originally Posted by roadweasel

Texas is not Ontario... lol I live in a snow belt and I plan to put my RS in my shop building and drive my trusty 4x4 pickup during the winter.
Driving a rear wheel drive car in the winter can be exciting, When you get that first snow, I suggest a large empty parking lot to familiarize yourself with the possibilities before you hit the streets.
Your stabilitrac should help a lot if you must drive your Camaro but consider buying a rwd beater with a heater for $500. for a winter driver if you're at all nervous.

Hey now!! I'm not going to Ontario in my car, so it works well in the winter time for me ;D!

[lets_go_bills]

I live in Ontario too and I'll be slapping on a set of winter tires on my Camaro. As long as you have winter tires, you're good to go.

[zen]

Don't put bags of salt or sand in the trunk as they will absorb moisture and create rust. Buy a package of Asphalt roofing shingles (~40lbs). They lay flat along the back of the trunk and if you get stuck, pull out a shingle and lay it in front of the rear tire.

[wylde1]

Originally Posted by Blueyes21

Yah ive heard about putting extra weight in the trunk. But how muc weight excatly should you put? Like could I just buy a couple of salt bags and throw them in the trunk?

Yeah that'd work. Or if you want to avoid something that might break open and make a mess a couple of cinder blocks would work. just bungee or strap them to soemthing so they can't move. You don't need a ton of weight, something in the area of 40-50 lbs would be PLENTY to help out.

a couple of things i've done with my truck over the years.

- sand bags
- cinder blocks
- patio stones
- milk jugs full of water

and my favorite - an airmattress filled with water. It'll freeze and become a solid weight in the winter, then in the spring it'll thaw and you can just drain it and roll it up. Don't have to store bags of stuff or blocks anywhere.

[leviticus88]

Originally Posted by wylde1

Good set of winter tires and you'll be ready to rock. I drove my S-10 all year round. It had a 400 HP 6.6L smallblock in it with gobs of torque. it weighed 1400 kg's with me in it and hardly any of that was over the back end haha. I strapped some weight down in the box, put a set of studded nokians on there and never had a problem. Good tires make a HUGE difference. I will never go another winter without full on winter tires if I have my way.

the biggest thing with RWD is how you manage a slide. in a FWD car if your back end starts to come around, you give it power so your front end can correct it. In a RWD car you need to do the opposite, just get off the power and steer out of trouble. In any case if your front wheels lose traction you're effed anyways haha

just take your time you'll get used to it. The Camaro will be better in winter than many other options.

I've never had a fwd car yet, that liked to bring the back end around in the snow or ice. My experince is that they push and hate to turn. On the other hand, my rwd cars loved to bring the back around all day long...

[ss ZHO]

Originally Posted by Blueyes21

Yah ive heard about putting extra weight in the trunk. But how muc weight excatly should you put? Like could I just buy a couple of salt bags and throw them in the trunk?

I my 99, I used (4) 50 lb salt bags (200 lbs). It definitely helps.

[wylde1]

Originally Posted by leviticus88

I've never had a fwd car yet, that liked to bring the back end around in the snow or ice. My experince is that they push and hate to turn. On the other hand, my rwd cars loved to bring the back around all day long...

thats because it's braking traction on the front wheels. That just means you're going to fast in general.

It depends on speed and how much grip there is and wether your under braking or not. If you're in a turn and your braking, if the front wheels have more traction than the back, the back end will try to come around. in a RWD it's just easier to break the traction in the back.

add a little scandinavian flick in there and you can make that sucker come around no problem. winter was my favorite time to own a FWD car haha because you could actually get it loose. other than that FWD is boring