Hey all
Im going to be stationed in Ft. Drum, NY in a few weeks, and I will be bringing my 2001 z28. It is mostly stock, but I write to ask you all how our cars perform in the winter months of the NE? Ive heard that snow in the Ft Drum/Watertown area is pretty bad, and that if I dont have a truck or something fornt wheel - I may be in trouble.
Can anyone give me some light as to how true this might be?

 

well, I can honestly say that most of last winter was extremely light for that area of NY. I went to school in Rochester, and was fine there. I just have Toyo Proxie's on the car, however you spell them. Whenever it snowed it was a pain to go anywhere, i almost wrecked numerous times, but was able to keep the girl under enough control to get where i needed to go, but wasn't comfortable driving.

I took my car to NH for a week for spring break, and here are the results:

http://www.rit.edu/~ppg3033/Z28/Spri...k/IMG_0238.jpg

http://www.rit.edu/~ppg3033/Z28/Spri...k/IMG_0245.jpg


Not saying these cars are impossible to drive in winter, that area of NY is fairly flat so you might be ok, but I would highly suggest investing a minimal amount in something like an old honda beater to drive for a month or two... or at least put your car in a garage far, FAR away so you won't be tempted to drive it and bum rides off of people. You won't regret it.

 

Get four snow tires or a winter beater.

Rich

 

Winters can be bad. Snow tires might not cut it on an fcar up there.

If you HAVE to drive regularly, a beater would be your best bet.

 

I agree with the beater or at least some high quality snows all around. My grandparents live in Watertown and i've spent plenty of time up there in the winter. The lake effect that comes of Lake Ontario can be pretty brutal. It's not uncommon to have 3 feet of snow in the yard. The crews did a pretty good job clearing the roads, so if you stayed on the majors with snows, you could probably get by, but if you try and take secondaries or big hills, forget it. Yes, it's flat as mentioned before, but that just opens the roads up to some insane drifts, sometimes you can't even tell where the road is!!

Invest in a rustbucket so you don't have to worry!

 

Well I live in watkins Glen...
and its realy hilly here, and i drove an 87'bmw 325i RWD..
And it was really bad... i dont recomend it...
another thing to consider is road salt they use in NY...
It eats up your car...

 

Yeah, the salt in NY is awful. though if you're really careful, you should be ok... I know Geoff Chadwick, one of my best friends, drove his drop top Z for a winter or two, and they both survived it... i would deffinately recommend a beater if you can afford it though.

 

i had my z dropped off at drum when i got back from iraq and drum area is very nasty for any kind of performance car...i wouldnt recommend driving in any winter months up in watertown area...i live in rochester now and i dont even drive mine in winter here and watertown/drum area is worse....watertown gets hammered fairly often in the winter months and most of the drivers up in that area need some driving courses at best if you get my meaning

 

I grew up in Pulaski, smack dab in the middle of the snowbelt and about 35 miles south of Watertown.. Watertown gets some snow, however most of central and northern NY does a good job of keeping the roads clean.

That being said, buy a beater!! I've had my camaro new since 1995 and drove it through 6 Detroit winters (lived there for 8 years) and it really makes a mess of the bottomside of the car. Detroit uses about as much salt on the roads as NY, they just don't bother plowing.. You'll kick yourself if you plan to keep it and make any engine/exhaust/suspension modifications in the future... The unibody holds up well enough but lots of corrosion/rust to deal with on all the bolt on parts. My best friends when rebuilding the front suspension last year was a 5 lb needed for rusted solid suspension bolts..

If you are bound and determined to drive through winter... I do happen to have a set of 4 Firestone Winterfire snow tires on 1996 5 spoke aluminum camaro wheels... Used to 2 winters and have kept them in my basement for the past 4 years.. Just haven't gotten around to selling them yet..