Winter stangs???

sleepy88

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In a few months the lovely Chicago winters will arrive and the mustang will get tucked away in the garage. Because of this i have a 09' Cobalt ss t/c that I daily drive. Its pretty good on gas and put down 304 hp to the FRONT wheels. That said, its still a tin can and nowhere near as enjoyable as my stang. In addition to these cars also have a some 60's Muscle that obviously sits all winter as well. I find that I am paying 3 car insurance payments (cobalt and mustang are sadly about the same, $100 a month each) and 3 registrations ($400 for the stang in Indiana and just under $300 for the cobalt) and all the maintanence and washing that goes along. This has got me thinking about getting rid of my 11 gt and my cobalt and getting a 13' gt to drive year round. It would actually be much cheaper, even with getting an extra set of wheels and winter tires. Lately I have gotten to the point where the 11 doesnt leave the garage if it MIGHT rain. The new stangs are just amazing cars, and with heated seats ,trac control, and comfort they seem to make a great daily car. It seems that every few years if even that long im getting a new car so I really wouldn't have to worry about the long term effects of the snow. Just looking for others opinions and suggestions. More so from those who drive their stangs in the snow. Thanks!
-Mike
 

stkjock

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I drove a 89 LX 5.0 thru 6 winters, 2 in upstate NY, winter tires on it, drive smart and ur fine.
 

JCCNY

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Why sell the 2011 for a 2013? You can look into collector car ins on the Stang, it's cheap. I just had to prove I had a DD.
 

sleepy88

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I have grabber blue, I really like it....but if i drove it everyday it would be a bit much! Id prol get sterling gray next. I did look into the insurance but I like taking it on road trips and have put about 7k miles on it a year which they wanted me to be around 2500 miles. For what i paid for it...I want more than 2500 miles a year.

I drove a 89 LX 5.0 thru 6 winters, 2 in upstate NY, winter tires on it, drive smart and ur fine.

Thats what i figured. I made it through 2 days of snow in my 500rwhp Grand national on Drag radials.... Damn winter beater broke that year and had no choice.
 

AnotherS197GT

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I have Firestone winter force tires. 2 years on them in mi winters and as long as you don't treat the gas pedal like an on/off switch, you'll be fine. I've never lost my mustang in the snow with them and I've driven in 4+ inches
 

Grabber

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Bridgestone Blizzaks FTW!

I drove through 5 winters in Chicago, with a Vortech Blown GT, and 2 with 4.10 gears, etc.

Drive safely, easy on the throttle, and watch the roads.

GL OP!
 

GallopingFord

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Drive my car all year around. Driven mine plenty of times in MD/VA/NC winters, using my stock BFG tires, the Goodyear Supercar F1 tires (not a great idea), and just put on some new continential extremecontact tires that should be really nice.

Car drives fine, but you just got to shift smooth and make sure your visibility allows you to make adjustments far ahead.
 

scramblr

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I drove through 6 German winters with stock BFGs. The last 3 winters with 4.10s and 500+ ft lbs of torque. As mentioned, if you're going to drive it, give yourself plenty of time and take it easy. These cars handle very well.

In reference to "how did it hold up"...all my BMR powder coated parts aren't powder coated anymore. They all look like shit...salt is a nasty thing, but they're under the car, so re-powder coating will be a thing of the very distant future.
 
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Grabber

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Bridgestone Blizzaks FTW!

I drove through 5 winters in Chicago, with a Vortech Blown GT, and 2 with 4.10 gears, etc.

Drive safely, easy on the throttle, and watch the roads.

GL OP!
 

AnotherS197GT

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I spray off my car underbody at least once a week in the winter. There is a little rust on some of the k member and suspension parts. Other than that, rust free.
 

Mystickeith50

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When I was 17 I drove an lx with skinnies n fatties and drag radials thru the winter.....it can be done lol but not advised lol.
 

sleepy88

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Im not in a position financially where i need to downsize, just would be nice to enjoy the cars I enjoy so much, year round. Of course, its always nice to save money. To the year round guys, would you prefer to only drive it in the summer?
 

sean858

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I've driven my 5.0 for two winters now and it's been fine. I have Bridgestone Blizzaks and except for the one blizzard we had a year or two ago it's almost like there's no snow on the ground with the Blizzaks. Now that I have the Roush TVS installed I'm considering getting a winter beater but I'd have no qualms driving the whole winter on the Blizzaks.
 

GallopingFord

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Im not in a position financially where i need to downsize, just would be nice to enjoy the cars I enjoy so much, year round. Of course, its always nice to save money. To the year round guys, would you prefer to only drive it in the summer?

Sure, I would prefer to leave the car parked in winter months and in the rain, and that was half the reason I almost sold the car a month ago on a new F150. Decided to wait it out, drive it one more year while I'm in college and in the mean time I will search for a mint 94-97 F250.
 

sleepy88

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I've driven my 5.0 for two winters now and it's been fine. I have Bridgestone Blizzaks and except for the one blizzard we had a year or two ago it's almost like there's no snow on the ground with the Blizzaks. Now that I have the Roush TVS installed I'm considering getting a winter beater but I'd have no qualms driving the whole winter on the Blizzaks.

Good to know! Because we have the same winter conditions.
 
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insurance bla bla

Drove a blown 90 LX vert thru several winters in Colorado. Higher bias Eaton posi could be a little dicey on ice, but for the most part, drove sane in snow and it worked fine.

The following is lengthy, so here is a synopsis: It may be worth the read if you are seriously considering "specialty agreed value policy" insurance or "replacement cost value" policy. If you aren't interested in either of those things, suggest you print this post and use it for arse wipe. :roflmao: And click out.

Shark is on specialty "agreed value" policy about 15k higher than book value due to all the mods, so limited use. About 300 a year with high liability limits as well. As others said, have to show another DD (98 Buick beater in my case) AND is supposedly mainly for car club events only; not grocery getter. But when isn't there a Mustang show going on somewhere? Was I headed there?

Well, just sayin' on specialty insurance to look into details and decide if you can live with limitations or not. Way cheaper insurance and for shark and it is probably ok since car gets way less than the 5k a year I estimated on the application. If you decide to go with specialty insurance, suggest you make the yearly mileage as accurate as possible. However, I have heard that if you estimate over 7500 or 10000 on specialty insurance app with some companies, they'll tell you to piss off. Can't prove it, though.

Non-routine usage I would frequently cite if something happens and would be true: Test driving for recent "repairs". Well, new gears and diff rebuild is new repairs and needs test driven/broken in before anyone would trust it for a trip, right? New cam drive hardware and TSS pump? Repairs; needs tested, etc. Not sure if that would float, but I'm always feeding shark more chum (money), so I doubt there would ever be a time when something isn't being tested or broken in..

"...well, I wanted to go to the 'Mustang Destroyers of GM Meet" but I had to first test and break in my new flux capacitor "repair", so that's why 3 cops saw me flip the car while burning the tires sideways at 50 mph..." perish the thought, but lol anyway. ;-)

I've read that "agreed value" policy is far superior to "replacement cost" policy. While either sounds much better than ACV (actual cash value - the typical widespread mundane car insurance policy) policy, agreed value has proof AND agreement of value to be paid in total loss done when you FIRST BUY THE POLICY - that is, in advance of any claim. A few hoops to jump though.

However, I've heard that replacement cost can be fought down to low total loss values much similar to ACV though with different tactics to make it happen - and it won't happen until you make a claim so it is lying in wait like a totally unknown thing; a goddamned trap. Numerous trap door clauses in those policies that I saw.

I think: Best to have agreed value in advance. Helps me sleep at night with my idiotic investment in shark, gold digging predator that she is. However, there are severe limitations on usage in such policies and only you can decide if you'll accept those or not.

Value can be raised each year though it does so about 2% automatically unless declined. More increase only requires a few documents and/or snap shots to get approval in writing - and a bit higher premium, of course.
 
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Silverrider

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I put storage insurance on my car when I park it for the winter, ends up being like 19 dollars a month for full storage insurance, garage burns down, tree falls on it.. everything is covered, just can't drive it..but like stated earlier, why get rid of the 11 for a 13? I guess I would just sell the cobalt and use that money to put into winter tires and to pay off the stang.. or take a big chunk out of it
 
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Good to know about storage insurance. I didn't know what it cost.

I considered it... but... in Colorado, we get 330 blue skies days a year believe it or not. Some of them may be at 15 or 20 degrees, hence an oil pan heater. Point is, I try to drive all winter. Cold is ok; try to avoid snow and muck these days.
 

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