well, that's my question.
I am trying to be talked out of a crossfire.
But I am in love.
Does anyone drive, successfully, in the winter?

 

I bought a 07 new in Dec 07...6spd....>28K miles so far....several snow & ice conditions....TC & ESP & ALB work great. Was so impressed with the 07 I picked up a new 08 automatic as a spare....haven't had a chance to drive the automatic in the snow or ice yet.



The automatics do have a button for the transmission...W/S....winter/summer modes.

 

My '05 is a daily driver 12 months per year.

I put 4 snow tires (Blizzak) on for the winter and was quite impressed the first time I drove through 4-6 inches of unplowed snow (that doesn't happen often in NJ but this was a surprise storm and I was on the road at 4AM heading to the airport) - many other SUVs and sedans did not fare as well.

Very well behaved with the electronics and the snow tires. Not sure how it would do with all season tires - I have summer Pilots on mine which begin to lose their grip in the dry mid 30's.

 

Do you have summer tires for the other ones?
I was looking at the Michelin pilot sport a/s plus.. Was hoping they would do the trick.

 

I drive my 6 more in the winter months than I do in the summer..............she loves the cold temps.

 

I drive all winter... its called a Daily Driver for a reason hahaha

 

What kind of tires do you guys have?
All Seasons OR 2 sets?
What brand?

 

i haven't had similiar luck.. i TRY to drive mine all winter but doesn't happen.. i get stuck a LOT and sometimes i just can't even get out of my driveway.. i'm not too far from you in michigan, i had the conti a/s and now i have the goodyear f1 a/s.. whcih helped.. but still not good..id look at getting another car for the winter

 

I have one set of tires yearround............Nitto 555's up front and Nitto 555R2's(roadcourse/drag radials) in the rear.

 

Well, we had a very nice and warm winter for Colorado, so I did a lot of top-down driving. All of our snow came in spring, so I didn't drive "Debbie" a lot then.

 

I've driven the 05 Limited 2 winters. The F1 All Seasons were outstanding and the Contis (when new) were equally as nice. And we're talking west Michigan winters here folks. Deep snow was my only nemesis

 

I drive my Roadster all year long, top down, but in winter I downgrade to a simple SPF 15 sunscreen. In summer I use SPF 30 because the sunshine here in SoCal can be pretty damaging.

But then you're probably looking for feedback on driving in that fluffy white stuff that turns to slush and makes a mess out of everything.

Yeah, I'm no help, am I???

 

All year round, of course living in Florida helps! But when I lived in Minnesota, I had a 300 ZX TT, and of course Blizzaks all around worked wonders! A good set of snow tires for RWD cars works wonders.

 

Thanks guys.

Haha, yeah Mike, not much help
You will be when I need help deciding what clay bar, etc. to buy to get swirls out of my paint

 

Howard, trust me, you will need to invest in a set of blizzaks for the winter if you intend on driving the XF daily. I had A/S on mine last year and got stuck quite a few times, my buddy with a 400HP BMW picked me up and took me to work, I asked how - he said blizzak. I am looking for a set now, maybe since you are in Indiana we could get someone to give us a good deal since the tires are rare and not cheap ($1000 set). Let me know what you decide....

 

Mine is basically a daily driver, all two miles of it. It stays in the garage in bad weather though. When the sreets are passable then I'll drive it. I also leave it home when there is the threat of severe weather. We had a hailstorm a few years back and it did mucho damage to my PT I owned at the time. I'm lucky I have the luxury of being able to walk to work.
Pat

 

I have started to winter in Mexico, Alberta weather is too hard on this old man, .At -40 things break very easily, so my Crossfire is in the garage from late October till late April

 

I drive all year in Colorado. I just put F1-AS's on in the spring. Not too bad in light snow but they seem a little squirrelly on ice and the heavy stuff. When it gets deep I usually leave the Crossfire in the garage and bring out the front-driver with X-Ice Michelins all around. I would definitely invest in Blizzaks or X-Ice tires, I have used both and they do make a huge difference in the winter. Blizzaks are softer and do not like grooved highway very much, tend to follow the groves and push you all over the road.

 

Don't be fooled by some of these posters, HowardJ. Pay special attention to where they live.

I'm sure you daily driver folks in Huston and Las Vagas never have any trouble! Jokers! When was the last time there was snow in downtown Huston? or on the strip in Vegas?

Anyway, it also depends on what part of Indiana you're living in too. I'm sure winter is a lot different in Gary, IN than it is in Terre Haute.

I don't drive my Crossfire in the winter - it goes into storage for 3 months. But these guys that posted about the Blizzaks are correct. They are great tires.

I would even add to that:
Get yourself another set of rims - narrower and smaller size. Narrower so that your car is pressing its weight on a smaller area of tread (not good for racing, but good for driving in the snow). And smaller because we all know pot holes are invisible under a little bit of snow, and who wants to replace a rim? Also smaller diameter rims are SOOOOO much cheaper.

If you're careful about the size you can match the front wheels to the back (not the tires). Go with something like a 17" by 7.5". That's a very common size rim and you'll have some selection and it will be cheaper.

For tires, try 195/55 by 17 on the front and 195/60 by 17 on the back. That will be real close to original tire diameter so your speedometer won't be off by more than 1 mph at speed. (The stock tires are 225/40/18 and 255/35/19)

Be careful though, on those dry winter days, don't go canyon carving. Your narrower tires won't hold the road as well as the wide summer tires, and you could get surprised without any ice on the road!

 

My SRT 6 is my daily driver. I've used a set of Blizzaks the past 2 winters and only had one bad time in a snow storm when it turn over to freezing rain and the roads weren't plowed yet. A 18 mile drive took an hour and a half that day. But it was the only bad time I had driving in 2 winters of snow storms.