BoM

everyone with lowered cars, how does it ride in snow?
does it really get nasty underneath the car? with all the snow, slush, salt?

sohc_boy

mine's pretty crappy. i end up snow plowing and not moving. although i would say that the traction problems i have are cuz my tires suk in the snow. i guess if i had tires that were more for all season i would do alot better than i do now. last year it snowed and i couldn't make it out of my apartments driveway. my cars is a 99 ek lowered 2.5" by the way and my tires are sumitomo htr 100's.


[Modified by sohc_boy, 10:23 AM 10/15/2001]

John

hehe, this is a great question...

just remember that lowered cars in the snow are no longer cars... they're snow plows with no traction!

owen_the_soyboy

ride is same, but those roads with frozen chunks/layers/holes are a backbreaker.
nasty? you bet.... and you can accumulate snow that will freeze rock hard into places it can cause a problem.. susp components.. in extreme cases of course... just the right ingredients and mother natures fury.

92sleepR

IT SUCKS!

WAFFLES

Last winter we had two weeks of snow and ice storms, and that is uncommon for OK. After one afternoon of driving I had snow up past the top of the oil pan.

So it farking sawks.

Kalokohan

Snow just accumulates in whatever wheel well space I have left. I'm gonna raise my car to the top of each coiover perch in a couple weeks.

JSTOCK

I say just drop like $500 on a winter rat and have fun plowing through snow banks at your leisure!!!! Makes the snow season much more enjoyable. Shop around....I just picked up a 87' Integra for $400........and I plan on beatin' the **** out of her ALL winter long!!!!! lol

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

SOYBOY!

my car isnt lowered but heres my snow story! I once had to bomb it through a snow bank to get into my unplowed driveway haha (******* roomates never shoveled). The next morning I had a terrible vibration as soon as I got over anything above 20mph. I stopped and couldnt figure it out. It was my first winter with the GSR and I wasnt sure how it would react to extreme cold. I figured it was just snow stuck in the alloys making the wheels off balance. When I got to my destination (Xmas Party) I was able to get it into a garage and look underneith it.. It had snow packed and frozen into ice all in the drivetrain parts. My CV joint was a frggin snow ball. Amazingly enough the only carwash in the area of the xmas party had heated water (almost all dont). So I was able get under the car and melt all that **** out.

So imagine what you can look forward to with a car thats lowered

Word of advice.. If you have summer tires of even the stock michelins still, get some god damn snow tires. I remeber my first winter with the Michlins, even with my LSD my GSR was undriveable. I couldnt even get the stupid thing moving. I invested into some Blizzaks and Steel rims shortly after.


[Modified by Muckman, 6:47 PM 10/15/2001]

BoM

is it a good idea to spray water on the car in the winter? warm water not cold.

i especially hate it when all that crap gets stuck on ur splash guards on teh wheel wells and behind the wheels

4wsB21a

i totally agree with you on that one - i drove a lowered crx with studded snows on it for two years in new hampshire without a problem. and the winters our here suck almost as bad as vermont. that car was great in the snow. i never had a problem with snow buildup, or plowing. my car did just fine. just get a pair of good snow tires, the studs can help out too, and your car will handle fine.

Rain_man

Been there, done that, my car had to be TOWED out of the snow. Even with snow tires and chains I wouldn't drive a lowered car in snow because your bumper turns into a plow and eventually you will get stuck. There is a reason why snow vehicles have more ground clearance.

Daemione

Obviously if you're attempting to impersonate a 4-wheel drive SUV by plowing through snowbanks, there's a higher chance of getting stuck in a lowered car. But with good snow tires, you can plow a surprising amount of material without any problems.

My prelude at stock height & stock body kit has no problems in up to about a foot of snow. At that point, I'm plowing a significant amount. If it's fresh/dry snow, I can get where I need to go in up to 18 inches. At that point, it's generally coming up over the hood.

So for daily non-extreme driving, a lowered car will be fine.

And you just need to resign yourself to crud building up everywhere, and your car looking like crap. Stuff in the wheel wells doesn't hurt anything. It can even help . . . . (slipping on ice, just knock off some crud to drive on for traction . . . ) I just suck it up for the winter, and get the salt sprayed off once a week or so.

One thing I should note is if you have an upgraded sway-bar in the rear . . . . Your car obviously rotates better in the dry, and this effect will be magnified on slippery roads.

Daemione

Not quite 9" . . . . . But very cool pics.

I generally just let my brakes melt things off the inside of my wheels. I can live with a wobble every so often. Maybe I'm just lazy.

Yeah, any winters south of Mass. are pretty sally. Unfortunately, a lot more dangerous, 'cause noone buys snow tires. I was down in New York/New Jersey just before New Years last year during that big storm. It was pretty scary watching people go off the road all around me, just 'cause they didn't know what they were doing.

Loco - what snow tires do you use?


[Modified by Daemione, 1:37 PM 10/16/2001]