Just skipped through a bit so I might have missed it but everyone here seems to be saying how to drive and what to do to the car, that's all great. But don't forget the most important thing....how OTHER people drive in winter!!!!

I for one most likely wouldn't hesitate to kill if someone slid into my baby.

For that reason alone, GET A WINTER CAR!!

I highly recommend well worn subarus. Absolute tank of a car, exceptional AWD, and will run well into 250,000+ without any problems (save for 97-99 2.5L head gaskets). Not to mention axis spins and super easy drifts are a fun way to pass the time before you can light up the rear end again. Oh, and boxer engines make much better sounds than I-4's.

for me, if i could only have two cars... it's a no brainer -

Camaro/Subie all the way

 

I'm going to try to add to all of this.
If you want your car to last, undercoating or not, park it. An undercoating helps alot, but that won't stop the rust.
Also like Phishman92 said it's not all about how you drive, it how everyone around you drives too.

Me personally I drove mine last winter. That will be the first and last. My car already has quite a bit of rust, but it's getting tore down and completely rebuilt. Then it won't see any snow.

If you want to drive it their is nothing wrong with that. If you can handle the car. If you can't your going to wreck it. Be real easy.
My car drove just fine in the snow. But that has a lot to do with how you drive. For instance, I was pulling up behind a cop at home, the funny part was he was stopped for a light on a bad hill. I slowed down and kept crepping. Light turned green he couldn't move, I passed him to make my left hand turn. In my Camaro.

 

what happens when they come to sell/tear it down and theres an uninsured car in the garage...?

 

If my 86 T/A even thinks it's gonna be frosty it can't get enough traction to get outta the garage.

 

not to much trouble battling the not so hard core winters of SC . then again this is my first year owning a thirdgen, i had my 94' blazer (2wd) last year and it didn't really like cold mornings, or just mornings for that matter. but im driving my third gen but bout the only place we get ice is on our windsheilds .

 

the last few years ive owned my car ive never driven it thru a winter, this year i finally got a winter beater an 84 fiero 4 speed. that car does suprisingly well in the snow and is so much fun to drive and beat the hell out of, but yeah the wait for spring is killing me.

 

i drive in winter but in my town they don't use salt they use sand :S so there is a lot of rock chips and such on my shitty paint..... i need to find a nice cheap car when i start redoing the maro. Or just fix up my previous car :P

 

i live in indiana so the winters are wierd, it can snow one day and be nearly 70 the next. the worst part is ware i am they dont salt just sand so it just turns into a muddy mess, or they dont bother plowing.
that being said i drive my thirdgen in the winter, i cant speak for the v8(its suposed to snow later this week) i have now but the v6 was fine. the only thing i had a problem with was that the moron PO of the v6 had the rear breaks backed off about as far as possible so it would just lock the front. but i also had an 88 ranger the year before, it had a 5 speed manual and sheet metal tacked to frame rails for a bed, so i learned prity well how to drive in snow.
my sujestions would be definently check all of the brakes and get experience driving the car, or even better something harder to control in the snow to practice with, and most importantly dont be stupid about it. its ok to fishtail and slide a little just not around trafic or people

 

My GTA will be driven in the winter, but only when the roads are clear and there's no salt! Don't drive you Camaro in the salt! Even washing it will not get rid of the salt! Salt is VERY corrosive to bare metal! Washing it turns salt into a slurry that will slide everywhere! Best option is to just park the car when it snows and the road crews throw down salt. Here in Pennsylvania PenDot goes crazy and dumps tons of the ****. My brand new mufflers I put on my beater car rusted out in a single winter season due to the crazy amount of salt they like to dump.

I want to drive my car. So as long as there is no snow or salt I will. I don't have the benefit of a garage to store it in (I have to settle for a car cover.)

 

Mine gets driven every winter, but then again in the UK it's wet most of the rear round

Just those horrible salted roads, keep her nice and clean

 

Do you guys realize that you are responding to a post that's 5 years old?

 

lmao

 

Haha......I guess it's something that'll get asked most winters no doubt?

 

OLD thread, but IF anyone needs to STILL know, don't drive your car where they salt the roads…rust will overtake you…period. I see one around here where the doors are 45% GONE… as in not there.
PLUS, mine for one, just goes sideways if there is ANY snow on the ground.

 

I had to drive mine for the three years I was stationed in England and it nearly ruined my underbody. My Subframe Connectors are showing mucho surface rust and I don't know what I can't see. I'm a little afraid of what I might find.

 

Well my drivers side floor is rotten from the back of the driver seat to the pedals......being in England is no good for cars. Far too much salt on the roads

 

I'm not planning on driving my recently purchased 92 camaro in to many winters, albeit I took it out the other day....

I do have an 85 firebird in the garage which was my daily driver in high school and through college...that car saw every season, and has about 300,000 miles on the chassis...when I pulled the carpets, I only had minor surface rust on the floorboards, but have holes in quarters and spare tire area...All in all, it's still a good car considering how much it saw the seasons, and how long it was parked outside.

Keep it washed, and take it easy. I used to do the sandbags in winter, threw them in the trunk area...It did help the car get going (a little) but if it was going up much of a hill on snow, forget it...I can remember driving it back through a blizzard after visiting a girlfriend for a weekend during college....what was normally a 3 hour drive took me 6 hours, and roads that were 60 mph I was doing 30-40 mph max...I can remember the feeling of the back end stepping out around 40 mph on one of those roads, and the minor panic that caused...no cell phone, winter time, middle of no-where Missouri (recipe for disaster). She made it safely, but if I could have chosen to travel on a different day, I would have...should have.

 

If you want your car long term, you keep it off wet salted roads. Keeping it dry goes a long way in preserving the look and health of the body. Salt and water will eat your car fast, especially if you have paint chips or no undercoating.