ok guys, we all know our cars suck in bad weather... we are currantly getting snow.. but i had to go to work. so i drove there (6 miles) slowly obviously and doing my best to countersteer for spinning as always... but the plaza that i work in (on the busiest 4 way intersection in the county) has a steep incline entrance-so i get up as much momentum as possible and BLAH couldn't get halfway up and trying to move after that was impossible... i try to spin the tires as much as i could without blowing them up to get to the side so the two lanes of traffic (one coming around a tight corner) could get by.... so im sitting there with my flashers on trying to think about what to do CELL PHONE IS DEAD ACK SHOOT ME so i leave the car running unlocked and jog up the hill to the store i work at and call my father telling him to call the cops, he said they would just tell me to call a towtruck, so i go back outside to get to my car anyway long story short i ended up having the cops block the whole intersection so i could back out into the middle of it and tried to drive home getting stuck several more times... what i NEED TO KNOW is besides tires and and multi hundred dollar chain sets gimme all your good jury-rig ways of helping our cars get better snow traction cause i can't do this much longer!!!!!!!

 

$500.00 winter beater. Or much better move down to florida. there is never any snow here

 

Put some large bags in the back of sand/flour/cement, in the very rear of the hatch in that cubbie are where T-tops are stored. Put a bunch of wieght back there.

 

i put like 300-400 lbs of weights and sand and etc in my trunk and that helps tons!! also tires and etc help

 

i thought about weighing down the back but the manual says that the trunks capacity is 100lbs... and i already got like 50 in there?

 

Chains!!! The ones ive seen were not "multi hundred dollar". My best friend used to have a 94 Camaro. He lived on a big hill, so he had a long, steep driveway. He carried chains in his trunk in the winter because he couldnt get up the driveway without them in snow/ice. I think you could get a set for under $50.

Or you could do what I did and move to Texas.

 

A friend of mine laid a tarp in the hatch (where the t tops go) and then laid bricks down there. Me? I bought a beater and stored the Trans Am. Good luck.

 

tires would deff. help. new england winters are brutal, i have to drive mine rain or shine cuz i cant afford a winter beater cuz im 18 and poor and still in school so boo hoo. but yeah ne ways, right now i only have mud and snow tires on Yokahama a540s. and then right behind the seat i have a huge cement block, must weigh at least 100 lbs or so. and i have 2 rather large rocks, prbly 40 or 50 or more lbs on top of a towel in the t-top storage spot. deff. helps but i wish i had a winter beater. chains rnt legal in mass either so that rules that option out.

jake

 

yeah i got yoko as40's... "all season performance" so they say.. they are also so bald theyre almost drag radials... im in connecticut and i don't even know if chains are legal... i don't even know is tread would help even becuase they get compacted with snow at low speed anyway...

 

yeah, these tires suck in the snow man.

 

Just like in racing, 'spinning the tires' in snow is wasted effort, and 'lost traction' too...

 

well, when there is such a lack of traction that the rear wheel spins when the car is just idleing... flooring it and trying to rip your way thru is the only option and it works, might only move you a little bit but it'll move you cause it'll melt the snow under the tires

 

ill agree w/ frmula there.

 

update: took 100 lbs of freeweights and put them in an old airline carry-on bag and lugged them up and out the 50 yards and 2 flights of steps thru 7 inches of snow to my car... put them in the trunk, also went and filled up with gas, and i will keep it near full from now on when theres bad weather to keep weight on the back.... i also lowered the cold tire pressure in the two backs from 36 to 28psi... seems to have had a slight affect... better than notihing i guess... i'll try to get even more weight back there tomarrow... next mod - a winch. lol

 

I also think it's nuts to add 100's of lbs of weight in the rear...