Getting near that depressing time of year-Winter storage

[Lorne34]

I've been at both ends of this. From 1999 to 2019, I resided in St. Petersburg where I always had garages and warm sunny weather in the winter.

I relocated out west to Reno/Sparks Nevada last year and had to hibernate a car, the 350 for the first time in my life.

And now I'm in between residences as my lease expired before my new place will be ready. So, I have my stuff and Corvette C7Z in storage and My Raptor and GT350 parked at work. Snow expected this week too.

Florida 2019

Winter in Reno

Present day

My son and daughter in law are in Reno NV. I didn't think they got a lot of cold/snowy weather out there. They do love to ski/snowboard, but head to Northern CA for that. How long do you have to store it until the weather is decent again?

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[Purerock105]

My son and daughter in law are in Reno NV. I didn't think they got a lot of cold/snowy weather out there. They do love to ski/snowboard, but head to Northern CA for that. How long do you have to store it until the weather is decent again?

If you're running Max Performance "Summer" tires, you've got til around Nov 1. Last year's first snow was Nov 8. And even after a snow the temps can rise to 50 or so, the chemicals that NDOT put down are horrible. You won't have a clean car if you can get the tires to warm up. I brought the 350 out of the garage around April, so November-ish to April.

10-Day forecast.

 

[Lorne34]

If you're running Max Performance "Summer" tires, you've got til around Nov 1. Last year's first snow was Nov 8. And even after a snow the temps can rise to 50 or so, the chemicals that NDOT put down are horrible. You won't have a clean car if you can get the tires to warm up. I brought the 350 out of the garage around April, so November-ish to April.

10-Day forecast.

LOL.. thanks for the reply... that is exactly the scenario here in Wisconsin. I was able to drive my 350 into early November without any snow, but by mid Nov the temps drop into the 30's-40's and the MPSS tires get squirrely. I end up storing mine from November to beginning of April as well.... Today is was 1 degree F outside.... luckily no wind otherwise we would have easily been -10 below with the wind chill factor... (here is picture of our patio and pond).
My ideal scenario would be to rent a condo in FL from Jan (after the holidays) until the end of March (3 mo) and bring the shelby down there... but that is a ways off...
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[Hack]

The cure for this illness is a cheap 80's Crown vic/grand mark or Caprice that you added some oats to, but don't care enough about to worry if someone hits it or the salt monster returns it to earth. Boxy grand mark with cop crown vic dual exhaust with flowmasters or ? sounds almost as good as a fox body mustang. Keeping the fire lit all winter.

I used to drive a Fox Mustang year round as recently as 2011, and I don't miss it. I'm completely spoiled having advancetrac and the other aids in modern cars. I'd put really good tires on the Fox, but I still had to constantly be on edge ready to catch a slide. Too much torque even in a mild 302 with just GT40 heads and a cam.

I think a regular 2015+ Mustang GT or even EB Mustang would be a decent choice, but I wouldn't go back to a Crown Vic either. It's too much fun to drive faster and have the aids there to lend a hand. I actually love my FiST in the winter - as long as traffic stays out of my way.

 

[SL8888]

I'm with you guys in Wisconsin & Minnesota. Here in NW Ohio this morning it was 22 degrees, but the worst part is that they spray the roads with that bullshit salt brine crap.
So I'm done for the year also...

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

I'm just outside Cleveland, so I feel your pain. I've spent 47 of my 55 years here so I know what winter/road salt can do to a car. I put mine away by Halloween every year and don't bring it back out until we've had at least 2 good heavy spring rains to wash away all the brine/salt residue.

 

[T.O.Bullitt]

Winter what?

 

[Postal Bob]

Like some said, with all the salt mixtures they throw down on the roads in Winter, I would never take my car out in that stuff. These cars sit so low as it is, they would be constantly attacked by the salts, and you couldn't even get to the bottom to hose it off. I'll just patiently wait till the weather warms, and the roads are no longer coated in salt dust.

 

[SL8888]

Winter what?

Put that beauty back in the garage, its too nice a car !!!

 

[T.O.Bullitt]

Put that beauty back in the garage, its too nice a car !!!

Garage, shmarage:
“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light.”

 

[SL8888]

Garage, shmarage:
“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light.”

I get the "Verse", hope that other drivers up your way are better than the clowns that we have around here...

 

[ICU812]

I used to drive a Fox Mustang year round as recently as 2011, and I don't miss it. I'm completely spoiled having advancetrac and the other aids in modern cars. I'd put really good tires on the Fox, but I still had to constantly be on edge ready to catch a slide. Too much torque even in a mild 302 with just GT40 heads and a cam.

I think a regular 2015+ Mustang GT or even EB Mustang would be a decent choice, but I wouldn't go back to a Crown Vic either. It's too much fun to drive faster and have the aids there to lend a hand. I actually love my FiST in the winter - as long as traffic stays out of my way.

That is the thing, the fox mustang wheel base is short, the full sized grand mark/crown vic, caprice wheel base is longer, AND the cars are heavy, So winter driving is fun as you can control the slide , no nannies thinking they know better than you , to make the vehicles dynamics unpredictable. And you can control the slide with your right foot, car under steering because of the nose sliding, kick the rear around. The longer the wheel base the better.
They are cheap cars, easy to keep running, and if the rock salt and that evil fluid they treat the roads with, return it to earth after 8 years of use as a winter beater, get another and rinse and repeat . It really is a blast, making winters when up north more manageable .
Part of the reason I hate the new vehicles electric parking brake set up's.
The cable type, if you found yourself in a slide and reaching the point of no return of an angle, pull up on the e-brake and it pull the rear back in line. sliding while try'n to stop, you used to be able to put your rear drive vehicle in r at speed and gun it, it straight'n out the slide and halp bring the car to a stop before running the stop sign/light, but todays nannies won't allow you to put the vehicle in R if the car is moving so, another snow and ice, driving skill neutered because well the computer knows best, must save the drivetrain and allow the car to be wadded up like a ball in a wreck, but at least the drivetrain wasn't harmed. pfft.

 

[matthewr87]

Winter what?

Nice. I used to drive my Mustangs year round when I lived in Southern Ontario. Both the V6 and the GT with winter tires were perfectly fine. But given the tires on the GT350 it remains in the garage when temps stay below 7 C here in Maryland, which so far this year looks like it won't be until January hopefully.

 

[Purerock105]

This is Caltrans on US395 north of Bishop California. In advance for snow tonight. God only knows what's in that concoction. Lol

 

[Hack]

That is the thing, the fox mustang wheel base is short, the full sized grand mark/crown vic, caprice wheel base is longer, AND the cars are heavy, So winter driving is fun as you can control the slide , no nannies thinking they know better than you , to make the vehicles dynamics unpredictable. And you can control the slide with your right foot, car under steering because of the nose sliding, kick the rear around. The longer the wheel base the better.
They are cheap cars, easy to keep running, and if the rock salt and that evil fluid they treat the roads with, return it to earth after 8 years of use as a winter beater, get another and rinse and repeat . It really is a blast, making winters when up north more manageable .
Part of the reason I hate the new vehicles electric parking brake set up's.
The cable type, if you found yourself in a slide and reaching the point of no return of an angle, pull up on the e-brake and it pull the rear back in line. sliding while try'n to stop, you used to be able to put your rear drive vehicle in r at speed and gun it, it straight'n out the slide and halp bring the car to a stop before running the stop sign/light, but todays nannies won't allow you to put the vehicle in R if the car is moving so, another snow and ice, driving skill neutered because well the computer knows best, must save the drivetrain and allow the car to be wadded up like a ball in a wreck, but at least the drivetrain wasn't harmed. pfft.

I agree it can be fun to drift around, but Mustangs and Fiestas and many other modern cars have the ability to turn off traction control, so if you really want to do it you can. And the Fiesta does have a mechanical e-brake, so there is that.

I get a little too annoyed when I can't out-accelerate everyone else on the road. Heavy cars are bad for acceleration - especially when they aren't getting enough traction because the weight is not over the driven wheels. The nice thing about the FiST is it has about the same power as a Fox Mustang, but weighs about 400 lbs less and it gets a lot more traction in the winter. The ST nannies are a little laissez faire - you can spin the fronts quite a bit without turning the nannies off.

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