[“Nut Driver” features updates on Dave Nutting’s attempts to daily drive his 1987 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in Massachusetts 365 days a year]
A few weeks ago I detailed my complete lack of time management and project planning, the end result being the car parked on jack stands for a few days until I could finish the suspension install (Read more about it HERE).
In the end it was all worth it as the car is a blast to drive with the new suspension and I was getting a ton of compliments on the new wheels and tires. To be honest, I was digging the look so much that I completely procrastinated in putting my winter wheels and snow tires on the car and ended up having to drive home through the first storm without them.
Sure, the tires were all seasons, but “all season” really means “three season” if you’re talking about effective starting, braking, and turning. Keep in mind that I’m a snow tire zealot, as there’s really no contest when comparing the two. All of my cars in recent memory have had them, and my Subarus with snow tires were tanks: Driving an AWD car with snow tires is like cheating, and the only time I got stuck was when I high-centered the car while showing off and crawling through deep powder (I never said that I was smart…).
Anyway, that drive home in about four to five inches of that loose, “mashed potato”-like snow was an eye-opening experience coming from the last seven years of AWD vehicle ownership.
Here’s a few voice notes from that drive home:
[box_light]I am the world’s slowest race car driver right now. Hitting every apex, planning out my route. I am literally planning out every single incline in my head as I know that I won’t make it up hill from a stop. This is the most methodical and engaged I have been in years driving in the snow. I’m not complaining about it, I’m just saying that everyone needs to drive a rear wheel drive car with an open rear and crappy all season tires in the winter at least once. This is something that they need to make mandatory in Driver’s Ed: Sell off all of those Front-wheel-drive econoboxes and buy a few old Rear-wheel-drive beaters. If you can do this, you can drive anything in the winter. The one thing killing me is starting from a stop. I find myself screaming profanities every time the person in front of me comes to a stop, as I know that I have to spend the next 30 seconds struggling to get the car going again: Light throttle, pedal back once the wheel spins, counter-steer as the back end starts to kick out (I haven’t had this much unplanned counter-steering in years), and finally get moving as the line of pissed off commuters behind me grows even longer. I’m almost going to miss putting snow tires on the car, because this is quite a trip.[/box_light]
But enough of that, as I can already predict at least one miserable soul jamming away with a comment about how I’m a wuss for not being able to drive in the winter without snow tires. I had a blast driving with all seasons, but I didn’t want to be that guy stuck half-way up the hill with his hazards on and his snow shovel out (Leave that to the BMW owners), so the snow tires went on just in time for last week’s big storm that dumped over a foot of snow across New England.
The gold wheels may not be everyone’s favorite, but I kind of dig them, if only because it will make it easier for the tow trucks to find my car when it’s buried in a snow drift.
The wheels themselves are 15″ thirdgen Firebird SE wheels wrapped in 215/65/15 Blizzak WS60s.
After bombing around with Lohnes for an hour on Friday, I’ve come to realize that AWD is over-rated. Stick a set of snow tires on your RWD car and you need to be a complete novice to get the thing out of sorts unless you intend to. Even 160 HP is more than enough to break the tires loose in the snow, but it’s perfectly controllable. Next is to practice my Scandinavian Flick…
The one thing that kills me (And will eventually kill this car unless I keep up on washing it) is the salt that they dump all over the roads. Ughh.
With that much ground clearance and a set of snows: Yeah, it’s a rally car. That’s why they named it a Monte Carlo, right? Right.
With all of my gushing over how awesome snow tires were, my buddy Bryan still needed some convincing, so I found a snowy parking lot late on Friday and threw him the keys. Think he might have taken a few miles off of the rear tires, but they’re a wear item anyway…
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO CHECK OUT THE CAR BEING TOSSED AROUND A SNOWY PARKING LOT!
A good set of winter tires on a big RWD car can be fun. I daily drove my Thunderbird SC for many years, had a set of H-rated performance winter tires to go on. Great thing with that one, it was a stick car, so I could do the 2nd gear start if I had to … 1st was a very steep ratio in that trans.
I don’t think this qualifies as breaking or wearing out something or making it go any faster. You’ll have to come up with something better, Dave.
I hear that.
Ebay turbo kit? That would cover all three nicely…
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Turbo-Chargers-Parts-/33742/i.html?_from=R40&mvsub=1&_mcatda=true&_nkw=turbocharger%201987%20Chevrolet%20Monte%20Carlo&selfil=1%2C2%2C3&selvel=1987~Chevrolet~Monte%2520Carlo~-~-
way to go! I drove g-body for several years, in maine. much like the apocalypse season we have now (damn that 13 year sun cycle). If not for the lsd of the SS versions I owned, and the real H.O. 305.. I would have given up for engine being a wimp and rear end a kicker to suicide. Other than those 2 extras, jacking it up, keeping it hard.. my daily road routine has crosses on the side of the road. It did wonderful.
I drove my Mustang GT all through the winters of ’92 thru ’96 in CT. I had a pair of Pirelli Winter 210’s on the back and kept two 40# bags of sand on the garage floor that I would throw in the back if the forecast deemed. I never got stuck either…just don’t drive stupid like the a-holes in there 4X4’s. ;^)
Snow driving is such a great skill. One morning after working the nightshift in a blizzard I heard a timid knock at the door. The kid from the next town over couldn’t make it up the grade in his V8 Monza and needed to sleep over. I took him out in his ride, drove up the grade, down the grade and up to the High School parking lot for his tutorial in donuts. Hopefully you will get a really cold windy storm so you can go out and bust drifts. Bonus points if you can white out the entire windshield mid-drift bust. Beware solid objects hiding in drifts.
We get snow once every twenty years…….it’s going to be fun when we get snow this year. Watching all the fools who haven’t seen it out in it. They’ve all but forgotten it…..hehhehehe.
That UPS truck in the background probably has an LS 6.0 in it.
I drove an ’87 Luxury Sport just like this in the snow for 7 years…totally rotted the doors and rear quarter panels out…I regretted destroying that car. I got really good a driving on snow-covered, crowned country roads….put me in one of those drift cars…I would dominate!
Way to wreck a nice ride.
Almost makes me want to take my Monte out in the snow.
Almost.
Oh man the memories! I remember those street corner starts where you’re telling yourself and the car that this is supposed to be a performance oriented vehicule and that you’re currently looking like a granny… until I decided it was enough and I went all out and bought studded snow tires for my Monte Carlo, it was night and day, the fun I had during our winters here.
RWD in the snow is so much fun and it keeps you sharp too. I use the 4X4 on my Suburban only 4 or 5 times during the winter, the rest of the time I’m only using the RWD. When people ask me why I drift the truck and only use 2WD I tell them that it’s not only a lot of fun but if you’re never exceeding the limit (of the tire grip in this case) how will you know where it is and more importantly if you do happen to exceed it how will you recover from it if you’ve never been there?
Got caught 80 miles away from home in 3-4 inches of snow years ago while driving my 85 300zx with mismatched worn out tires. It does make you analyze every move. I hadn’t had to put so much effort into driving since I was 16 with a fresh learners permit.
It does not matter how many times you wash it, the salt WILL KILL this monte if driven through it long enough. How do I know? Dad bought his 84 Monte SS brand new and drove the thing through Iowa salt for 27 years before the engine died at 175,000. The rust damage was too severe to save the car. Washing it only delays the negative effects. Rockers rot very easily on G-bodies. The only way to prevent salt cancer is to never drive the car in the salt.
The worst getaway driver ever!! Lol
I cannot stand it when old people say “snow tires are for people that can’t drive.” I’ve been driving for almost 15 years now, in Northern Canada, and spent plenty of years poor, driving on crappy all-seasons, without a single accident. Then I switched to snows and will never go back. Yes I “can” drive all-seasons in the snow, but it sure isn’t any fun! Snow tires all the way.