how does you car handle in the snow and rain
 

how does your car handle in the snow and rain??? i have to drive not over like 3500 rpm i drive like a grandaman ^ ^

Rain, no problem with the *right* tires. Snow? Fuggheedaaboudit. Instant death.

Most people here won't drive their FD in the snow (and in many cases rain) for obvious reasons. You should definitly look towards getting a winter beater.

hahaha yeh i got caught in the snow started to fall and felt my car drifting away and had to drive 5 mph in the 20mPH in the highway!!!

I've driven mine in the snow and it's a handfull :o: FWIW any performance tire is terrible in the white stuff, they just don't work at low temps. True snow tires make immense improvements to any car, but with the lightweight FD in mind there are certainly easier and better things to drive. If I had wide wheels/tires on my FD I would absolutely never attempt driving in the snow. As it is now it snows or ices in Dallas one or two days out of the year and I don't have far to go so I'm just very cautious.

Rain is never a problem as long as you have decent rubber with decent tread depth. I've towed my tire trailer numerous times in heavy rain and never had problems.

mines a daily driver, so i was driving through the recent snow... it was horrible. but I drove my old ass torquey trans am through the snow for 3 years and havent crashed yet :)

As long as you drive carefully, the FD handles just fine in the rain. I'm actually amazed at how much lateral grip I still have, even with Dunlop SP8000s (not the best rain repuation). However, it can be easier to hydroplane on the highway (also depends on tire), due to the light weight and wide tires.

Living in the Cali Bay Area, I won't be driving my FD in snow anytime soon. I did drive my 79 RX-7 through four Michigan/Indiana winters. I never went into the ditch or crashed it, but that car was a fricking handful in the white stuff (2300 lbs not good for snow traction...).

The car is O.K. in the rain as long as I stay off the boost. I've drivin it 5 or 6 times in the snow and it's not too fun. If you pay attention and take it slow, you should be good to go. Trying to go up hills from a stop in the snow is nearly impossible, though :).

Mine is just plain awful in the snow and rain, hence the winter beater :)

Snow? HA! The east coast got hit pretty hard this past weekend w/ snow. On friday morning (after about 6 inches Thurs night) i attempted to get my car out to drive to work. I pulled out of my parking space and got about 30 feet. Once I hit the uphill slope my tires started spinning like the Prize Wheel on The Price is Right. It took 20 minutes of shoveling and 3 neighbors and myself to push the car into a parking spot.

Its a surreal experience digging a car INTO a parking spot. Thank God for telecommuting.

As a result, I am currently looking for a winter beater.

I had to see for myself how good my fd was in the snow. With brand new pirelli's it was plain scary. The road was covered with packed snow. Everytime I would shift i would fishtail and it all ended when i just spun out and ended up perpendictal to the road. This was all at like 5mph. I called my dad who tried to push me back on to some traction but he couldn't but i finally got it out after 2 other people stopped to help. I will never ever drive it in the snow again.

I bought my car in January, and thought it'd be ok if I just took it easy in the snow. Holy shit was I wrong. I ended up driving all last winter, and swore the same thing you just did, that it'd never be moving in the snow again.

It's just not right to have your car start spinning entirely unprovoked, but as you pointed out, it happens. I remember one day driving from Ithaca NY back to Mass, and I was on this windy little road on a steep descent, the car started spinning, twice. No throttle inputs, no steering input, no braking, it just started spinning. That was during a 7 hour drive in 5-6 inches of snow. Not fun.

I hear ya. I used to like driving in snow, with a FWD sedan, it was kinda a challenge. But with the FD it's just life threatening...

Hence I never saw any serious salt damage when I was shopping for one... :D The Snow Just makes it impossible to drive in the winter... :D

Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50... God made these tires to put on our cars. Buy a set of steel rims and slap them on.

It's even better if you get narrower tires rather than stock size. They're about 113-130 a piece. When I had these on last winter, it was a religious experience how much of a difference it was. I could out manuever and drive AWD cars, SUB's, trucks, etc.... of course, they didn't have snow tires on!

SUV's not SUBs!!! It doesn't matter how good a driver you are when you don't have traction... you're just a passenger.

man I remember when my car was literally driving side ways on the highway and I couln't get it to go straight again, eveyrone behind me just stopped and watched me for like 5 mins going side ways lolz, it was nuts! Not fun at all, ended up leaving the car at the closest exit and taking the train home. :(

I dont get whats so difficult about driving a FD in the snow. Last year my dad's BMW 540i had BALD Dunlop sport 2000's on it, and you literally could not pull away from a stoplight w/o going sideways, so we took my FD everywhere. The FD had falken 451's all the way around with about 50% tread and it was more than up to the challenge. Never spun the wheels once as long as u kept it out of boost. This winter it will be my daily, but i will soon have a set of steelies and some Dunlop Winter M2 sports because im not too sure id trust S03 rubber in the white stuff. But bottom line....the car is capable of driving in snow if you can restrain ur right foot! ;)

-Zach

You can drive your FD in the snow--even up to 3 inches--with snow tires.

They make a HUGE difference. You can actually stop on an incline and still go forward when you give some gas.

If you can't get a junk second car then your next best bet is to go to the tire/wheel sale section.

I'm selling Michelin Pilot Alpins for about $100 a tire.

Tires in NJ.

it sucks in the rain and snow.

It doesn't snow here, so that's not an issue. I like to leave it at home if it rains. If I do get caught in the rain, I drive the FD like a little old lady. I don't know how well it handles in the rain, and I'm not going to find out.

fd handles fine in the rain. i have driven quite fast on the freeway with lots of rain. it's all about the tires though. if you have tires with big grooves designed for the wet then things should be fine. you should be driving much slower in these conditions anyways. remember to user smooth inputs to the gas, brake, and steering otherwise you might as well be driving on slicks!

i only go fast in rain if im trying to get sideways, if not i only go 35, 40mph max

110 in the rain on the highway is entirely doable if you have good tires. The rearend never came out once, but i also had a 10-5-3 boost pattern so who knows what attributed to the stability ;)

110 mph on highway in rain = darwin award victim waiting to happen

haha probably right rynberg, it was totally insane and def isnt gonna be done again netime soon by me...coulda been worse, i didnt have rocket boosters on my car ;)

If I step into it kind of like greased ballbearings in a tephlon frying pan...lol

I did two winters in the mountains of SoCal, not a tremendous amount of snow, but steep windy roads. It wasn't the worse, I preferred it to a 4wd Durango when it (the seven) had chains on the rear. Wasn't terrible, but I really wouldn't suggest it to somebody with a good body or paint. It can be done, but, in hindsight, I should have bought a beat up subaru and used it. I really like it in the rain, makes stuff more interesting, just not at high speeds with low tread, thats a recipe for disaster.

s-03s love the rain ;)

never been in the white stuff though.

My car handles snow and rain just fine - in the garage.

Actually I'm not that ghey but it will never see snow or salty roads if I have a choice.

Dave

well, we dont get snow in perth, but the first time i drove it in the rain, anything more then around 4000 revs and the back would step out, try accelerating during a corner and the back would step out.

then again, its one of the characteristics or lsd equipped cars, poor wet weather performance.

Crappy in rain conditions which it's only seen maybe 4 times in 4 years. Snow conditions = never. Best investment was a winter beater. No reason to risk an FD in the snow.

how does your car handle in the snow and rain
 

The RX7 handles great in the rain, so long as the tires are not cooked-out, hard-as-rock with no tread and the alignment is right. Toe-out on the rear is definitely a bad thing for handling in the rain.

When I first got my car five years ago, the tires were so old that sparks practically flew off them :-). At 30 mph on a wet highway, it was instant KYABG. With new rubber and an alignment, it is very sticky.

Its all about the tires=====really.

I got caught in some heavy rain with drag radials once, and it wasn't a fun experience. I couldn't imagine driving the car in snow...and not just because of it's ability, but other moron drivers.

With the proper tires, rain should be okay, but the car is staying parked whenever possible, as long as ice and snow is on the ground.

How about that Maryland weather?:)

LOL!!!! Drove my GSL-SE in everything...unwisely....would never do it with my current. Would walk before rain or snow....fortunately in CA snow and salt are non-issues.

oops-at least where I'm located.

car doesnt handle in the rain dont really have rain tires and as for snow except for a few donuts out side my house the car never sees it.

update
 

okay, today in the STL area we had rain on and off all day, freezing temperatures, and 30min before i got out of school, snow flurries :eek: So i drove my car home in it with S03's all around.....they are NOT suitable for snow. Everytime i moderately braked, i got abs for a second or two. Wheelspin wasnt a factor if i slowly slipped the clutch out. Keep in mind the ground was still wet so it wasnt sticking newhere, but still snow weather. Can you drive in snow? yes if you have discretion and can change ur driving style. Would i recommend it without snow tires? Absolutely not, which is why my new Blizzak WS-50's will be on my doorstep 2morrow ;)

Just thought id share today's experience.
-Zach

i got caught coming home to indiana from atlanta (nopi nationals) with drag radials on the back and it started pouring like crazy. i drove 35-40mph most of the way home and was still getting nasty, i was just in a hurry. i got caught the other day in a light snow dusting with the same tires. they said HELL NO! lol i'm gettin ready to put a set of g-force kdws on the back,which i already have on the front, to help in case it happens again

Re: how does you car handle in the snow and rain
 

It handles great.!!!

I love SIDEWAYS!!! RAIN IS MY FAVORITE SEASON!!:D

In the rain the car is fine. Obviously you have to watch the power, but handling, braking are not a problem. The car is quite well balanced and as mentioned previously in this thread has a ton of grip.

The snow, never tried.

thesaint

Snow: Don't.

Rain: Slow down and drive normal. Don't try to drive faster than other people just to make a point (can't stand idiots who do that) NOR should you attempt to drive like Tommi Makkinen.

From past (unwanted) experience, I'd say the 7 is drivable in light snow with performance tires. But that's if you take it very easy on the throttle, brakes, steering, do slip the clutch, and are immune to the fact that your car will rust badly (because of all that road salt). Of course none of the driving tips applies once snow starts to accumulate. Oh, did I mention to stay away from hills (inclines/declines)? :)

Don't have a problem with rain. Just stop driving like a maniac. It works!

Drove the Fd in a few inches of snow today, with Blizzak Ws-50 tires mounted on 16x6.5 rims. It was more than fine. Since the car is a lightweight, it slid a little if you got on the throttle or cut a corner sharply. Other than that, it was very well footed, even up and down pretty good sized hills. If you can change ur driving style and have good tires, its possible to have a daily driver FD in snow. Keep in mind im only running like 280-290 horsepower, and if my car was a single turbo running 450hp i would NEVER touch snow :)

-Zach