I know I may be hung for this, but... WINTER DRIVING FD
 

Hahah, no I am not currently doing this, but considering it.
How bad can it be? I would assume with the right tires and some weight in the back it would be like any other car... only thing i'd be worried about is ground clearance
But - I'm not an FD owner *yet* so nothing I say has any value.
What do you all think? by the way, I'm planning on doing this to a dime-a-dozen JDM FD, not a rare USDM one, so this may make everyones reaction a little better? :dunno:

What are you opinions?

Can i ask why?

I mean what enjoyment does anyone get from winter driving their FD? Just to say they could?

I mean i dont know about you but when its frozen tundra outside, the last thing i wanna worry about is putting my baby through the abuse of that type of extreme weather. The cold startup, warming up, driving, being cautious some OTHER driver might run into you. Its so much more convenient and headache free knowing you can get just in your DD and not worry about anything.

You could be dale earlhart but all it takes is ANOTHER idiot driver on the road to ruin your day.

My opinion would be to get a daily driver, a cheap civic or something and use that. Why even put your FD through all that hassle?

^ what he said, why would you ever take an FD in the snow i mean there rare enough why not just take it in the snow and ruin the under body with salt, but hey its your car if you do get it, no one here can stop you from driving it, all i know is mine is gonna be hiding in the garage all nice and warm and dry.

i bought my first rotary in 2004 wich was a FD. I was living in Colorado then and it was my only car. I drove it everyday rain storm, snow storm, or shine. its no big deal. just dont drive like an ass. no modifications need to be done...

Get tires like these... and drive fast... :rock:

http://www.chrisellisonphoto.co.uk/G...ow%20tyres.JPG

well, where I live they dont salt the roads, just gravel. which is on the roads anyways; I'd also get it professionally undercoated.
I figure if people drive their corvettes in the snow whats so bad about a JDM FD? countless FDs were made in Japan. (I mean, if the worst happened god forbid!)
I wouldnt drive it for enjoyment, but just the simple fact that I cant have 3 cars.
I have a project FB that I cant let go of for obvious reasons, and the roads are dry 8 months out of the year usually.. and I'd wager the FD with proper snow tires would do better out in the snow over an FB.
the FD is my dream car and it's just hard to know I "could" have one, but am hesitating because of this winter issue!

A buddy locally drove his FD the past three years, then he got a tank of bad gas and pop goes the motor. It was his only car too, he was stuck riding his motorcycle starting in march, he got lucky we didn't get any more snow. CAN you do it? yes. Personally I wouldn't, I have a hard time taking mine out until after the first good rain washes the salt and gravel away. But with good tires it'll do just fine. Throw some blizzaks on and call it good (just don't try doing burnouts...)
That said another friend drove his rx8 the past two years and never had a problem, he switched to a g35 coupe and found he couldn't go anywhere, I think he regrets selling the 8 and he keeps asking me to sell him my FD. The lack of torque actually is a good thing in the snow.

Damn, seems like you need to get your priorites straight.

The FD is your dream car but you prefer that to do the winter duties over the FB?? lol

Put the FB out there dude, let the FD enjoy the warm garage.

Winter is just one of the many reasons I would only own my FD as a second car.

If you have an FB all you have to do is snow tires. The torque of the engine is much more controllable and the wheels themselves are narrow enough to have good bite in snow. That would be a very fun winter car.

Dave

Here in the bay area the closest thing to snow is rain, and I never take it out when it's raining, haha. It does get rained on sometimes and gets all dirty and crap and I can't stand it. The T2 does bad weather days when I have a choice.

Dave

I drive my FD in the winter, but our winters are fairly mild compared to most....If they salt the roads I don't take her out though.

you are the first person I've heard say that. Did you have chains? snow tires?

I personally have drove once my FD in our local mountains which there was snow that day. Everything was cool (since the road is busy and thus no snow directly on itt) till I got to the cabin that I was headed to. There was snow in the ground (no salt) and there was slight and I mean slight hill. I went nowhere... I had to purchase chains and I was about 500 feet to my destination.

driving an FD in the snow is simply stupid. I know what I'm talking about I live in Canada. Just saying but maybe you should care a little more for your life!

I need to ask this right now... I have been driving my fd near every weekend for the last year. I dont take it out when it snows but I do drive when its less than 50 degrees outside. I start the car, let it sit for 10-15 minutes till the thermastat opens up and then I take it out. Is this bad? If it is i didnt even realize that it was bad for the car.

BTW im stationed in Virginia on the coast and theres not much snow maybe 1-5 inchs total last year.... and it melts away after a few hours.

If you're just doing short drives you'll be fine, but if you're thinking of commuting a distince you'll hate how slow you have to go. I use to drive to work on a military base when I only had my FD and the tires were summers that were pretty bald, even on heavy rains my car would slide around from the puddles. Wasn't bad unless it was actual ice on the road, then your main worry will be hills. I had to avoid stop signs that had a hill leading to them because if I stopped I wouldn't be able to get going again to get up it. I don't think I ever made it over 5 mph around a corner and it would still slide out. Would just turn early and pretty much aim for the curb so the car would slide out into the actual lane and that way I wouldn't go into on coming traffic.

If you're going on major roads without bad ass tires or chains, you're just asking to get into an accident.

If you're just diong it for fun, then definitely, you'd be amazed how a 10 minute commute can take an hour because of empty parking lots.

i struggle with my FD in the rain let along snow, but i drive an NA supra in the winter ( supra is my DD ) and hell, it sucks!! be safe with that thing out in the snow if u do end up doing it!

Neither drving in cold dry weather is awsome you just have to make sure you aren't overboosting. That's all.

Thank god... Alright thanks montego... I hit about 12-13 lbs boost but the pfc is tuned up to 15... So I should be good. Thanks for the input though. Sweet pic also, looks like a bitch playin with her self...

well i plan to drive my fd during the winter mainly cuase it has all the emenities for a dd, its a touring model.
dd option 2 went out the window my 87 t2 chiped a seal recently, once i get around to rebuilding it then i can go back to driving it for the winter.

now if it does snow then ill be throwing my studded snow tires on the race car 2nd gen, gutted out no interior 1 seat, no stereo, heater on a toggle switch. haha... it gets cold in that tin can, but i wouldnt care if that one got wrecked from some idiot.

lol another option is the VERT but who would drive a leaky vert in the winter no way!

I did it when I first got the car. I live in Cleveland Ohio and we have some rough winters.

I only did it for one winter and I had some Bridgestone Blizzacks on the car. To be completely honest it was the best car to drive in the snow I have ever driven. It had great control even in deep snow. The only thing is that the car was still automatic at the time, which made it very easy to accelerate. I'd imagine driving a stick would be much harder.

I used to drive mine in the snow, and it wasn't bad at all. I had Blizzacks on all 4 wheels, stock size, and the car had no mods at the time. Now, wouldn't try it in the driveway.

I drive mine in the winter. Cold ass air makes great power. That is however, I think I was 15 (30 now) the last time we had snow.

Throw you a set of tungsten carbide chains on the rear and 4 - 80lb bags of sacrete in the between the Bose and go. Stay under 5lbs of boost and you'll be ok


later

SO TRUE.
our local automotive enthusiast forum has "snow drift" events in parking lots, of course it's really just us sliding on snow and ice in abandoned parking lots at 1 am with our daily drivers at 10-20 mph. Not the smartest thing, but a blast nonetheless.