Had my first winter driving experience

[fionic]

in my GT (not EVER, of course, being from/living in IL). I have 255 winters all around on the stock PP wheels (plan on getting lighter ones come spring for the summer tires). (these, if interested http://www.discounttire.com/infohankookw310/hankookw310.html , the blizzaks/nokians were much too expensive)

She handles beautifully in snow. Mind you it was only about 1" of fresh powder/ slush. Snow/wet mode unnecessary. I was never remotely worried about losing control of my car. Only went on 50mph roads so no idea about highway.

Had a chance to mess around in an empty parking lot. BOY was that fun. Even with traction control off the car gained traction pretty quickly when off throttle. Was able to make some perfect 8s

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[mc lane]

Good to hear
would be great, if you had the Chance to post a Little vid, too...
can't wait to see your GT out in the snow

 

[fionic]

sorry, was kind of a spontaneous thing (happened to need to go to the store and it had magically snowed). didn't have my phone or camera on me :/ perhaps next time

 

[Stam616]

I'm very curious at how this car will handle in winter. I have no choice but to drive it all year long and I'll be concerned more about next winter than this one as I'll be ordering my car in Feb. I'll be getting a set of winter tires over the summer, if I can afford to get a set of stock 17 in wheels from the V6 I'll use them to get snow tires and keep the 18' Foundry wheels for spring thru fall. I'm looking at getting The V6 051A pkg with A/T and I'd like to get as much info as possible on winter driving to give me an idea on what to expect.

 

[KCTom]

Snowed here a couple weeks ago. I had to back the car out of the garage and turn it around and back it into the garage again. Got snowflakes on it as we just started to get flurries. I was pissed.

 

[PJE]

I'm very curious at how this car will handle in winter. I have no choice but to drive it all year long and I'll be concerned more about next winter than this one as I'll be ordering my car in Feb. I'll be getting a set of winter tires over the summer, if I can afford to get a set of stock 17 in wheels from the V6 I'll use them to get snow tires and keep the 18' Foundry wheels for spring thru fall. I'm looking at getting The V6 051A pkg with A/T and I'd like to get as much info as possible on winter driving to give me an idea on what to expect.

I ordered 18" Foundry wheels on my base Ecoboost. I then bought some 18" wheels off a base GT (same as Ecoboost Premium). 17" wheels look a little too small on the S550 in my opinion, although winter tires are a fair bit cheaper in the smaller size. As I'll be using the winter wheels from November to April (approx) I went with the larger size...

 

[Stam616]

I ordered 18" Foundry wheels on my base Ecoboost. I then bought some 18" wheels off a base GT (same as Ecoboost Premium). 17" wheels look a little too small on the S550 in my opinion, although winter tires are a fair bit cheaper in the smaller size. As I'll be using the winter wheels from November to April (approx) I went with the larger size...

I appreciate your response and yes the 18's look better but if I can get 17's I think it would not only be cheaper but better for winter driving. Optimum width would be 7 inches and a higher sidewall would be good as well. As for looks well I'm not concerned about that when it snows lol I love the foundry wheels so I'd like to use them when the weather is nicer but I think your way is fine too.

 

[PJE]

I haven't had much bad weather so far, but the 235/50r18 winter tires give a lot of confidence in the cold. Narrower tires would bite through the snow better, but so far so good!

 

[Hack]

Snowed here a couple weeks ago. I had to back the car out of the garage and turn it around and back it into the garage again. Got snowflakes on it as we just started to get flurries. I was pissed.

Very funny!

I have to admit I didn't enjoy strapping on the snow tires the first day after I bought it. I went on a 6 hour (each way) trip for Christmas. We had sleet and snow during the trip and around town it was quite slippery. I didn't have any problems. The car warms up quickly, defrosts and heats well in below zero weather and is no problem to control on the road. I even set the cruise at 81 with a little ice on the road (after driving several miles in it to make sure I wasn't going to have a problem sliding around). BTW this was on the interstate in ND where the speed limit is 75. I was even getting passed by some people at that speed.

Lots of salt everywhere this time of year and no way to keep it clean other than not using it. It's too fun though. I find myself going for drives just because I want to.

Got a thumbs up from a fellow Mustang driver today.

 

[Papaya]

Don't worry!

I'm very curious at how this car will handle in winter. I have no choice but to drive it all year long and I'll be concerned more about next winter than this one as I'll be ordering my car in Feb. I'll be getting a set of winter tires over the summer, if I can afford to get a set of stock 17 in wheels from the V6 I'll use them to get snow tires and keep the 18' Foundry wheels for spring thru fall. I'm looking at getting The V6 051A pkg with A/T and I'd like to get as much info as possible on winter driving to give me an idea on what to expect.

Drove my EB with GT WinterPro HP on Friday last week through 6"-8" snow to work. No problem with the snow-mode on. You can really feel less power when you start driving and the much better handling in that mode. Now on compact snow and icy roads - everything is fine - as long you keep the car in snow-mode. In normal-mode - "fishtailing" all the way. The back comes out as soon you put your food down. In snow-mode it's a much better grip.

 

[BmacIL]

I appreciate your response and yes the 18's look better but if I can get 17's I think it would not only be cheaper but better for winter driving. Optimum width would be 7 inches and a higher sidewall would be good as well. As for looks well I'm not concerned about that when it snows lol I love the foundry wheels so I'd like to use them when the weather is nicer but I think your way is fine too.

You can get a very capable and inexpensive winter set on 17's on tire rack. To me they look good enough on non-steel wheels and the extra grip from a higher aspect ratio tire is worth it.

 

[JWS]

Salt

Very funny!

I have to admit I didn't enjoy strapping on the snow tires the first day after I bought it. I went on a 6 hour (each way) trip for Christmas. We had sleet and snow during the trip and around town it was quite slippery. I didn't have any problems. The car warms up quickly, defrosts and heats well in below zero weather and is no problem to control on the road. I even set the cruise at 81 with a little ice on the road (after driving several miles in it to make sure I wasn't going to have a problem sliding around). BTW this was on the interstate in ND where the speed limit is 75. I was even getting passed by some people at that speed.

Lots of salt everywhere this time of year and no way to keep it clean other than not using it. It's too fun though. I find myself going for drives just because I want to.

Got a thumbs up from a fellow Mustang driver today.

My car was waiting in Dearborn for about five weeks (Nov 5th to the middle of December) waiting for transport to Florida. This is what my exhaust looks like. Every other Mustang I've seen is clean as a whistle. The Mufflers are fine, but every extrusion scratch and weld joint and hangar is covered in Rust! With all of you up North on Salted Roads, are you seeing anything similar?

 

[Kbreese]

You don't need 17's and skinny tires. OP's setup with 255 winter tires on 19's is plenty is plenty adequate. Personally, I have 275/40/19 on all 4 corners on my 2012 5.0 and get around fine in the snow (Taking it easy), and they are not even winter tires, they are A/S tires. If you are getting dedicated winter/snow tires there is no need to neuter your cars looks for several months out of the year. But hey, whatever makes you happy.

 

[fionic]

You don't need 17's and skinny tires. OP's setup with 255 winter tires on 18's is plenty is plenty adequate. Personally, I have 275/40/19 on all 4 corners on my 2012 5.0 and get around fine in the snow (Taking it easy), and they are not even winter tires, they are A/S tires. If you are getting dedicated winter/snow tires there is no need to neuter your cars looks for several months out of the year. But hey, whatever makes you happy.

GT PP wheels, so they are 255s on 19s

Drove even more in snow this morning. They work well.

 

[Kbreese]

GT PP wheels, so they are 255s on 19s

Drove even more in snow this morning. They work well.

Yup, sorry, for some reason I thought you got aftermarket 18's. I actually have a backup set of 235 blizzak's on my 18" stock wheels, but have not needed to use them, plus it's nice not to have to worry about swapping wheels and tires and losing the looks of my aftermarket setup, so I went with a compromise setup I can run year round: 19x9.5 RTR wheels w/275/40 Conti DWS tires. But your setup is perfect for snow.

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