How many of you drive your Crossfires in the winter?

I currently store mine for the winter, but I am considering getting a set of winter tires and driving it all year 'round. For those of you who do drive in the winter, how is the handling in the snow?

On another note, I also want to give a big thank you to everyone on the forum. I have learned so much from this community and appreciate how generous everyone is with their time and knowledge.

 

Don't do it. Especially where you live. Unless you absolutely have to do it, why take a chance on somebody else sliding into it?

 

I drive mine as long as its not snowing, although I have driven it in light snow with no traffic. It was a lot of fun, but 4-6 inches with heavy traffic would just be scary, if it'd even move.

 

Just letting you know from my personal experience, comparing this to my gti. FYI

Today with the wind chill the temp was -10 and started up no problem but it was so cold for about 20 minutes my heated seats weren't working
Two weeks ago we had about an inch of snow and i was able to powerslide in the gym parking lot so if about an inch of snow Is capable of making you lose traction definitley get winter tires , other wise I would say It's as good as any other fwd car

 

A good set of snow tires is key for any car or truck. My little Neon SRT4 with full snow tires was far outperforming 4WD cars with A/S tires just because of the extra bite. Of course FWD versus RWD will hurt traction in acceleration, but you shouldn't be hot rodding it in the snow anyway.

 

As good as a fwd car surely you jest.

 

I would hope that's a typo and you meant any RWD, which would not be very good.

 

It sucks in the snow. the Traction control helps a little bit but here in utah we got dumped on a few weeks ago and i could barely move and got stuck i had to have a few people help me get out of the road. i bought some tire cables and with those on i was able to go 30-40mph in some heavy snow. i aslo have some rather new all season tires.

 

You shouldn't do it. This vehicle isn't designed for snow. Cold weather, yes - runs like a champ.

 

Mine is my car, my daily. i drove it in six inches of snow two years ago, with no problems. 12 degrees below freezing today, and we drove to work just fine. just like any car, you need to have the proper skills to handle the car and the weather.

 

And don't forget LUCK.
While you might well be a competent driver in hazardous conditions, can you say the same for all the other drivers you encounter ?

Here in central/south Alabama, it is a known fact that NO ONE is competent in the snow, the previous advice applies : DON'T DO IT !!!!

 

Even with the weight balance, I find it to be slip and slide. Driving does not scare me, sharing the road is totally bad news as I cant accelerate out of the fools way. No snow driving for me.

 

Sounds like some who have posted in this thread were hoping their summer or all season tires would work in the winter - wrong.

I got blizzaks when I was driving mine in the snow and while Indiana is very fickle, it is either no snow for the year, or we get dumped on, I had the car with snow tires on it MANY times in 2-4 inches of snow and it performed like a champ. The other comments are what made me store the car, I am much more worried about someone sliding into me than anything else. Mine was lowered, so if the snow was higher than the front bumper, I did not even try, but for everything else, it worked like a champ, I enjoyed driving it in the winter, other than the salt...

I will have a set of blizzak snow tires for sale whenever I get around to unmounting them and posting them here, if you are interested, let me know...

 

I noticed we share the same city and just wanted to give my two cents....
Many Crossfire owners have commented on good handling in snow, providing it is equipped with four, winter wheels, typically on 18" rims. But why do it? If you can afford all the risks that winter throws at you, then sure go ahead and do it. I see some really nice high end automobiles every day in Toronto during the winter months, but figure the owners don't care and can easily afford any "mishaps"...or the car is leased and again, they don't care. When I first purchased my Crossfire four years ago, I too had the idea that it would be driven in the winter. I invested in four 18" rims, mounted very expensive run-flat rubber on them and was ready to go. The first time it snowed, I looked out the window and couldn't bring myself to drive in the snow. The car sat in the garage all winter that year. The following year I mounted the winter wheel set on the car and the same thing happened! It sat in the garage again for the winter (the car had never been driven in the winter since new)! Shortly after I made the decision to never drive the Crossfire in the winter and ended up selling the winter wheel set that had 0km on them! I lost about $200 as a result, but was happy to find a buyer...

 

Thanks for all the responses everyone. You're all awesome.

Despite the fact that I live in Canada, we don't seem to get snow anymore. We have only had one minor snowfall (4inches) here so far this year. It's been like this for the last 3-4 years too. My winter beater is almost dead and I think next year I'm going to get a set of snow tires and start driving in the winter. I will of course be investing in a set of good snow tires.

Do winter tires exist that can be mounted on a set of OEM Crossfire rims?

 

If you don't have to then don't. Just think of all that salt you will be exposing the car to. Toronto roads are just covered in salt right now. My XF and Gencoupe are sleeping for the winter.

 

See, here’s my conundrum, I’m 34 and don’t have a ton of $ to throw around. Maintaining two cars just doesn’t make sense. I am so in love with my Crossfire it borders on lunacy, so, practically I have to make this into a year ‘round car or get rid of it. The latter of which is something I desperately want to avoid. Maybe I'm trying to make an impractical car practical and should just sell it.Provided I had my way this thing would not see winter period. It hasn’t as of yet. But for four months of the year I drive a 1997 Mazda Protégé that at this point is held together by duck tape, complete with bumper sticker which says “reserve judgement until April” lol

 

Again, mine is a daily, I got the crossfire as my car, so it has to come out in every type of condition. all i can do is prepare my driving skills and my car for the conditions, and hope for the best. I cannot live in fear of the car being hit. those of you that have the crossfire as the summer or toy, sure dont take it out, my 66 plymouth doesnt see the road between November and April. but the crossfire is as good on the snowy roads as any over powered rear wheeled car. put snow tires on it, change the setting to "W", put a shovel in the back and you are ready!

 

Keep the Crossfire ( parked in winter ), lose the zoom zoom and get something a bit more substantial that you won't mind playing bumper-car's in the snow with.
Just my 2cents ......

 

I live in Minnesota. We get a fair amount of snow. I drive my Crossfire year round. I bought a set of 18 inch rims and put a set of Blizzak winter snow tires on it. Make sure you buy larger tires for the back - the 18 inch rims fit just fine on all four corners. I would definitely not try and buy snow tires to fit your stock rims. Removing the summer tires and mounting the winter tires is fine the first couple of times. You may find that you ruin the bead on the third time you try to mount either set. You can get a good set of rims to fit the Crossfire for not alot of money - you'll save it in the long run by not having the remounting charges and by not ruining the beads on the very expensive tires. My Crossfire does just fine in the snow with the Blizzaks, but you have to drive for the conditions. Good Luck!