Haven't taken into account the pains of damaged fibreglass as oppose to an average car body. Definitely gonna have to be more cautious than I thought and get the slimmest winter tires I can.

 

No problem there^.
Additional data point: IDK if he still lives here or not, but for a few years, back in the '00's, Cheech Marin lived here in PC. He daily drove a black Lamborghini Diablo, year round....I'd see it all them time. Dry, snow, whatever. PC gets ~350"/year of snow and those cars have wide tires.[/QUOTE]
A Diablo? Haha that's awesome. I was hoping to be one of those guys who's having fun with their favourite car regardless of the season. I didnt want to get a winter beater because I want to always be inside what I saved up so much for.

 

On my winter driver Corvettes I used a 255 tire at all four corners (on 8.5" rims) and they worked fine. The key is a tread pattern that can grip. Most of the summer tires and poorer winter tires have large blocks of rubber without good channels to separate them. Most of the good ones for ice also have a lot of fine cuts in the tread.

I had a '71 Trans Am that really surprised me in Iowa. I had M&H Racemaster street and strip tires on it. The tread was very good pattern and they even worked in the snow/ice pretty well. There was even once that I was behind a snow plow. He got stuck going up a slight hill. I went around him in the unplowed snow and proceeded normally. I never expected those tires to work so well, but they did.

I believe the right tires and the right mindset of how to drive on snow and ice are the keys.

 

Ohio gets a different kind of snow than you do out west. The snow we get here is for the most part, wet and heavy. Once it starts packing down, just like a glacier, it turns to ice.

If the OP wants to drive a Corvette let him. It will be a learning experience.

 

I hear you?....but we do get wet snow here, too. Note, too that I said this:

Once, I drove one of those TA's through Ohio, on my way to Telluride and back for a ski trip with buds in college days. IDK....I think that one's state of mind has the most to do with it. I've always KNOWN that it can be done...so I've done it w/o issue.

 

I have done it too, had to. I have just learned what is optimal for winter driving and big fat tires on a light rear wheel drive car isn't it. A person will get away with it, and get away with it, and then there will be that one day where the weather just sets up right and the choice of such being a bad idea gets driven home. There are folks around here that drive their Mustangs and Camaros etc and you see them stuck, down in the ditch, into the guard rail.

We haven't had winters like we got when I was younger, but it the conditions set up right we can get hammered from the "lake effect".

This doesn't even start to talk about the de-icing stuff that is put here. Driving through Ohio is not anything like living in Ohio. Cars are lucky to go 7 to 8 years without significant holes developing in them from all the salt, de-icing stuff. If it can find a way into somewhere it shouldn't do to capillary action. Even though Pennsylvania is only a little over an hour away, they don't use as much and their cars / trucks are in better shape.

The only way I have a rust free 16 year old pickup truck is that I keep it undercoated and quit driving it in the winter many years ago.

Everyone has their opinion from their own experiences. Mine is save the Vette for better weather, drive something more appropriate, because as careful and skillful as you are, consider yourself to be, it is the other guy that is going to get you and getting out of the way, avoiding a wreck with wide tires and a light car is fun.

This is a debate that isn't going to go really anywhere as each person has their mind made up, says your wrong cause you don't know how to drive or don't have the right tires or this or that. It really doesn't matter what anyone really says. If the OP likes people saying to go ahead and drive a Vette in the winter, he will. If he leans more towards the folks that say it is not the best choice, it will be a better weather car.

There is a reason why you may only see 1 or 2 Corvettes all winter long in NE Ohio and lots of people I know already have put theirs away. I am trying for one more week to finalize the evaluation of the steering damper and then mine is going in the garage until spring.

 

Right. There are also people in those same ditches/etc. in Tahoes, Subarus and minivans. The problem isn't the vehicle.

Any given person is going to drive their vehicle...whatever it is, up to the same "limit", relative to the conditions. Idiots, will be idiots and will cruise right on past the vehicle/conditions limits, in ANY VEHICLE....and you see those retards, in ditch on their lids. I see it here all the time. It snows, Parley's Canyon is a "**** show of retards", off the road...in the ditches...on their lids...none in Mustangs, 'Vettes or Camaros. It doesn't matter what they're driving, because neither the car nor the conditions were the problem. They were the problem.
On the other hand, the astute person is totally capable of putting good tires on a 'Vette, Mustang, whatever....and then driving it w/in it's limits for the conditions. They could do the same in a Subaru, too. In either case, not wrecking or wrecking is a fundamental acknowledgement of the limits....and respecting that (or not). You see Mustangs off the roads. I see Subie's, Range Rovers, Tahoe/'Burb's, etc. off the roads. In neither case, is it the vehicle's fault. I pass the Subie's/Rovers etc. that are off the road/on their lids....in our CTS-V. How? Why? Because I'm managing the car and conditions properly.






I hear you. Mine is about to get parked too, because I want it to stay nice and I have a selection of other cars to drive that I consider to be disposable. So...in this debate, I am like you; I'll be parking my 'Vette this winter....but with regard to this conversation and driving 'Vettes in snow, I know that it can be done. The problem with these kinds of debates (whatever the topic) is when one side says "It can't be done". The other side says and can, because they've done it. Of course the debate can continue endlessly as any debate can, but all that needs to happen, is an acknowledgement from the dissenting side.....that others have succesfully done it! And there is the answer; it CAN be done. Can everyone do it? No. But neither can every drive Subarus in snow, successfully and safely. The car isn't the issue that affects snow driving success or failure.

I want to point out that I'm not accusing anyone here, of "they can't drive". I'm simply posting because I know what CAN be done. And you are right...it's my position and my mind is made up, but it's made up b/c I've done it and and been doing it for decades. In fact, I myself have been a retard; I've gone off the road once in my life, in snow/ice and it was in my 4x4 pickup....not in the 'Vette. It's more about respecting the limit of the car and conditions than it is about the car. That day, in that truck, I drove past the limits of the truck and conditions. I've never done that on snow, the the 'Vette or any other "light weight/big tire'd car". But I think the OP was really only asking about corrosion issues w/C4's in snow. Mine held up fine, corrosion wise, the winters that I have driven it.....

 

While I didn't read all of these posts closely, I didn't see it mentioned that a Corvette is a bottom breather and any snow that is deeper than the air dam will be scooped up and crammed into the radiator.

 

I bet the radiator would melt it....

 

I see both sides of this discussion. I have driven a C4 all year even through the snow. I have also driven cars/trucks better suited to the snow/ice.

My current C4's I do not drive them in the salt. That may be different from snow/ice. I want to keep them nice and I don't want the salt caused corrosion. I drive something else when there is snow/ice on the roads (my Impala or truck).

However, even Chevy advertised it as the all weather sports car.


Although this ad was for a '94 and talking about ABS & traction control.

What every you choose to do, try to do it with slippery conditions in mind and whatever you drive in the salt, try to keep it washed off as best you can.

Good luck.

 

True, but we know GM only designs cars for 7 years. We had a Beretta GT (same time era as C4 Corvettes) that GM warrantied from rust through for 7 years. It didn't make it. They had to fix the body under warranty. Salt and anti-icing chemicals will percolate, wick, what ever you want to call it into places that you don't want it and start the process.

I think this then is the actual answer to the entire question, thread, discussion about driving.

How nice is the car and how long do you want to keep it ? How long do you want it to be easy to work on ?

If it is a cheap, slightly above beater class Corvette, probably doesn't matter. Drive it. If it gets wrecked, so what. If it gets corroded, so what. If someone already has driven it in
the snow, etc. It doesn't matter.

 

Well said. That IS the question to ask.

LOL at the "Slightly above beater class Corvette"! That was good!

 

I'd never drive a Corvette in snow. Snow is truck weather in my view. Opinions will vary, everybody has one.

Only place I've ever noticed rust is on the left front frame, just under the battery. The cowls were clear.

But I nipped that in the bud as soon as I noticed it.

Then just a little bit of thin surface rust scattered here and there on the fuel tank.

The car spent its whole life garage kept in Florida before I bought it for $3,500, btw. I only mention that, because a car is only worth what it's worth to the person who owns it.

Other than that, just watch the common things like brake lines. Stuff like that should be swapped out and replaced anyway.

 

There’s only a handful for sale around the whole country and a couple are in Toronto. I hope it’s not this one....way above Beater Class! 🇨🇦
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1527080947

 

My 92 drew the short straw last night. My 91 got the garage. The other ladies are in my hangar.

 

Why does it look like there is 2' of snow on the red car....but 4" on your neighbors roof?? Wind loading?

 

Prevailing winds are out of the West. Blows up the street and swirls around out front. Just like someone has an Areco aimed us.

 

Ahhh....a fellow Mtn Ops guy? Snow maker? Skier...at least?

 

Where is this at ?

 

In a couple months the OP will be back asking how to fix it.