Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

I saw a silver C5 driving on US30 on my way to work this morning. I see it often on my way in. The thing is, it's raining and the water on the road is full of salt from the snow that we had a few days ago. I saw a blue C6 yesterday when I was out for lunch (a beautiful car by the way) . The roads were dry but there was still a lot of salt residue on the roads. That stuff has to be getting up onto the underside of the car.

Do any of you drive your 'vette in the winter? And I'm not talking about SoCal winter. I'm talking about snow, ice and salt winter.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

We get a lot of salt out here in Reno. I try to avoid drivin' my C3 in the winter if at all possible. Since the "Starship is down for the 454 transplant, I won't have that prob this year. I have seen a couple of C6's out and about though.[&o]

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

We don't get alot of snow and ice here in the sunny south. But, we pull out the big ole Z71 truck and it runs the snow covered streets. That's the only time the vette gets parked for a day or so.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

Well we don't get any snow here, just allot of freezing temps and rain, and of course the fog. We won't drive our Vette if it is going to be raining, and even the chance of it. We have plenty of other vehicles for that.
We'll take her out, but only if we know it ill be clear out.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

Yeah I have a 4WD truck for the snow and another car for every day driving. There's a couple of reasons that I asked.

1) It seems like winter driving (and I mean the salt and road grime that covers the car) is going to devalue the vehicle quite a bit in the long run. I suppose that if you have a ton of money and you're not worried about that aspect then it's not an issue. You buy a new Corvette, drive it until it's used up and then sell/trade it in just like you would with any other car. I don't fit this category. My 'vette represents a significant amount of asset. I need to protect it's value.

2) My 'vette does not handle very well on wet roads. Sure, I can keep it under control if I drive like an old lady (not to offend any old ladies here, just to imply nice and easy:) ). But that's kind of hard to do, especially with a six speed. I don't beat on my 'vette but I do enjoy 'spirited' driving. I can't imagine trying to do that on snow or ice. Not to mention the fact that I suspect it would get stuck in two inches of snow.


I was just curious if the rest of you do or don't drive your 'vettes in the nasty stuff. It's been over two weeks since I've had mine out and I'm starting to jones a little.

Thanks for your input.

Dale

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

Yeh, we don't get snow up here, much... but when we do, the Corvette gets parked for the exact reasons you outlined above. We just had a freak blizzard come through here a couple weeks ago, the city was pretty much shut right down. I didn't have a chance to pilot the Corvette for near 10 days.... drove me BATTY!!! My poor wife had to put up with the brunt of a 5 year old grumpy-face who couldn't drive his beloved Vette..... :D

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

"drive like a little old lady". I didn't tell you the whole truth when I answered the first time. A short time after I got my last vette, it snowed and I started out that morning. DH was not here and I thought , yeah, she'll make it through this snow. I came zipping out of the garage onto the pavement, next thing I new she was sideways looking for a telephone pole. Of course, standing on the brakes just added to what was about to happen. By the time I had it stopped, we had gone sideways down the drive into the street and it was like I was ice skating. I could not get it out of the street back in the drive, all it was doing was just spinning and going sideways. Thank goodness we live on a cul de sac and very few folks come down. I could hardly wait for DH to get home and get my baby back in the house. That was the last snow driving day in my vette. Somedays we little old ladies are our own worst enemies.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

At least you had the sence to know when to quit!;) We get Calif. transplants around here, that think they are invincable. I see them in the ditch all the time, and most of them are drivin' 4 wheel drives.:eek:

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

My heart stopped beating right about here....
Let's just say my pucker factor hit about 11 there!!! Oooooooof.....

Glad to read the happy ending to THAT story, I tell you whut... :D:D:D

DUDE!! Same here!!! They must either be turnin' left in LA and headin' our way, or turnin' right and headin' your way!!!

The "Drive By Point and Laugh" is one of my favorite weapons for these clowns.:D

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

I drive mine everyday there is not snow on the roads, otherwise I drive my 240sx or my moms dodge ram, yeah its got a hemi.:D

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

A little, on nince shiny days, and always very aware that cold weather turns high performance tires to low traction super skidmores.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

Being that my car is my daily driver (for now), I have to drive it wether or not it is icy or rainy or cold or snowy or dry or whatever. It kind of sucks, but my mom is going to be buying a new car after the holidays and she is going to sell (or hopefully give lol) me her Saturn L200 for whatever she would get on a trade in (but hopefully just give it to me cause im cheap lol). But, my car handles just fine in the snow. Im not that experienced of a driver when it comes to ice or anything, but i ALWAYS pay attention to the cars around me ESPECIALLY in the snow and ice. So if i see someone sliding or gettin squirrely up ahead, i slow down and make sure to keep the wheel as steady as possible.

Matt

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

I don't drive mine in the snow or the rain. Luckly for me last year was a pretty tame winter here in Maryland. We probably had less than a week or two of total snow all winter. I'm just hoping we have the same luck this year.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

I drive mine all winter, I put these really good tires on so it gets tracton. Hahahahah. I am in Palm Springs CA and it is getting a little cold here now. 70 durring the day and 45 at night. I suffer hard during the summer when most of you have the perfect weather, but now I get to enjoy the Vette and my bike durring the winter. Don't be too hard on me, I am an experienced snow driver, lived in Seattle for the last 20 years and spent the winters skiing with every cent we could muster up, we used to drive around with a chain in my trk and pull people out of ditches when it snowed.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

I found out about the cold tire traction (or lack of) the hard way. I was just lucky that none of the other 50 cars in the vicinity was a cop as I went sideways on a three lane highway. I was also lucky that I didn't stain the seat. :(

Do you worry about the salt residue on the roads eating into your frame?

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

Yes I carry a chain and a snatch-em-strap in my truck.

That reminds me of a funny story. There was a guy with a 4WD jeep SUV stuck in a drift just down the road from my house one day while I was out plowing my driveway with my tractor. So I drive on down and offer to pull him out. No Problem. I back up to his back end and he wraps the chain around his hitch. I get in the tractor and put it into 1st and start pulling nice and slow. I figured he knew not to do anything but just sit in neutral and let me pull. But no, I go about 15 feet and look back to see his back wheels just spinning like mad. Just as I get the tractor stopped, his rear tires hit clean pavement and he hooked up big time. He hit the grader blade on the back of the tractor so hard that it caved in the tailgate and broke out the back window on the Jeep.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

That's when you walk nice and slow and hand him his piece of paper, and say, "Here's your sign bud"

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

We dont get much snow, but every once in a while it does ice up. I call those days NATURAL SELECTION days! Everyone that ends up in a gaurdrail shouldnt be driving anyways lol.
I take the truck on those days not because i dont trust myself, but because i dont trust the people around me. Keep it slow, but more importantly keep the speed constant....how hard is that

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

Oh that is funny, I can totaly picture that happening.
In Seattle it doesnt snow that much, but when it does its a mess because of all the hills and valleys. If you are not chained up or have studs on for the winter you cannot control your car if you come to a down hill with someone screwing up in front of you. I always was studded up in winter or I didn't drive that car. HELLO!@ It was like winter playland. Crusing around yanking people out, helping them get home where it was warm.

But with a Vette, if you have to or need to drive it, put some studs on it so you can bite in the rear. If you do the right maintanance underneath you can keep it from deterioating but your car is going to suffer some and be at risk to get hurt.

RE: Do you drive your Corvette in the winter?
 

I have always put my vettes up for the winter (NE Ohio) and have a winter car (about 6 months each), now I'm living in N.C. I sold my winter car and driving my vette year round. I love it.

Ya, I drive my Corvette in all seasons... I can't go anywhere without my car... I love very much my car...

I live in Ca. so YES