Winter Driving Advice

der Mond · 08-09-2004, 03:23 PM

I’m embarking on an experiment to drive my ’87 Carrera non-turbo coupe all winter here in Fairbanks, Alaska. I plan to put Bridgestone Blizzaks on it, and I’m looking for any other tips from winter 911 drivers. Like, what’s a good floor mat that will fit and hold melted snow and keep it off the carpets, and where can I get one? And, has anyone tried plug-in heaters? Where would I attach one? – Here in Fairbanks on conventional vehicles we usually paste one to the bottom of the oil pan, one to the bottom of the transmission and one around or beneath the battery. They go to a 3-in-one adapter and we plug in to a timer that energizes 6 hours before we plan to start. I will be keeping the car outdoors.

jmarenas · jmarenas's Garage

Make sure the oil tank is FULL for the added weight for traction. You may even find a front Plow Kit on e-bay. I live in Michigan, and wouldnt think about driving in the snow, worry too much about the other guy. Besides as much salt as they put on the roads around here, any metal parts would have to be replaced every other year. Good Luck!!

banjomike · banjomike's Garage

You should put those heaters on the tranny, battery, and on the oil tank. There will be very little oil in the engine so no point putting one there.

Can you get studs in blizzacks?

You might want to get some of those plug in heaters for your butt!

Randy Webb · 08-09-2004, 05:30 PM

It can be done - I sure wouldn't leave town in the car. This sounds really demented -- I don't know if its a joke or you are a student at UA..... Good Luck and watch out for moose crossing.

Rot 911 · 08-09-2004, 05:35 PM

Not sure studded tires are really needed in Fairbanks, not that much ice is there? Anyway sounds like you already have your bases covered. I would definitely switch from 20W50 to something much lighter weight. While we don't get much snow around here, my '86 with Blizzacks does quite well in the snow.

der Mond · 08-10-2004, 09:02 AM

Actually, I have done fine without studs in Alaska thus far. There is ice; my predilection is to try unstudded Blizzaks first. Moose are the biggest threat, so I plan to drive quite conservatively. I also plan to switch to Mobil 1 0W-40 for the winter. Has anyone gone to a brighter headlight system than the OEM '87? I heard I needed to install additional relays, have a new trim ring painted to match the car etc. if I install brighter bulbs. Anyone gone there?

78sc · 78sc's Garage

Hi der Mond,

I don't have any advise for winter driving but just wanted to say hello from a fellow Alaskan/911 owner. I've only taken my car out twice in the winter. It does ok, but like jmarenas said, it's the other people on the road I worry about. I view the winter as a good time to upgrade or work on the car. :-)

Phil

69911e · 08-10-2004, 10:48 AM

I drove my 911 for a couple of month one winter (Audi problems, never own one of those POS without a factory warranty). It always started without a problem, even at -15F. Traction was not a problem, and with Blizzaks, you should be fine. If the idea of salt and poor interior heat does not bother you, go ahead.

MAS · MAS's Garage

If:

1) You are not worried about the effects of salt on your car, and...

2) You have good all-season tires...

3) and you are not plowing through deep snow banks (!)...

... then 911's are excellent in the snow. Their traction is first rate.

-MAS

der Mond · 08-10-2004, 10:59 AM

Actually they use very little salt up here, and I plan to drive my Cherokee on the nasty days. Most of the time once it freezes, you can drive for weeks with a clean car. A friend's '89 Cherokee in Wisconsin had a shock mount point entirely eaten away by rust. My '89 Cherokee has none....

Iggy · 08-10-2004, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jmarenas
Make sure the oil tank is FULL for the added weight for traction. You may even find a front Plow Kit on e-bay. I live in Michigan, and wouldnt think about driving in the snow, worry too much about the other guy. Besides as much salt as they put on the roads around here, any metal parts would have to be replaced every other year. Good Luck!!

I drive my 928 year-round. Summer gets 255/40/17 tires, winter sees 205/55/16 Medalist Winter Kings.

She gets washed every week.....no rust and I've been doing it since 2001.

MAS · MAS's Garage

"Make sure the oil tank is FULL for the added weight for traction."

Um... you already have added weight... rather a lot of "added weight" in the form of a flat six engine directly over the rear wheels. This is a huge advantage over any regular car. Don't add any more oil than you normally would, because if you overfill you'll end up with the excess oil in your airbox. Besides, what difference is a liter extra of oil going to make when you already have several hundred pounds of engine in the rear?

-MAS

KobaltBlau · 08-10-2004, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MAS
2) You have good all-season tires...

Must be winter tires, not all-season! he is considering blizzaks so that's good. I think the sport now tires: blizzak LM-22, pirelli snowsport, dunlop winter sport, pilot alpin etc perform much better than a standard snow tire in the dry, and give up just a little in the snow. My personal exprience is with dunlop winter sport M2 and they rock. However if you have little dry in the winter you might as well use regular blizzaks. I would run 185s on the front if possible, not 205s, and perhaps 205s on the rear, max 225s. I also have some canvas bags of lead shot I can put in the front to improve steering response.

unclebilly · unclebilly's Garage

Here's what I know:

A few years ago, I was driving from Vancouver to Edmonton through the Rockie Mountains in a snow storm, I passed a 911 on the Coquihalla - he was going slow but still going.

I drove my 944 all winter, it is one of the best vehicles I have ever driven for winter traction (even better than some of the 4X4's I've owned). There's something to be said for 50:50 weight distribution. Our patent attourney also has a 944 that he uses as his winter car.

I would suggest that you lube up your door locks and handles with a low temperature lubricant as they tend to become stiff at low temperatures.

creaturecat · 08-10-2004, 12:12 PM

my winter driving advice is: leave the porsche in the garage!

der Mond · 08-10-2004, 12:27 PM

Great advice and some great guffaws too, guys.....

Grady Clay · 08-10-2004, 12:37 PM

der Mond,

It looks like you are covering most bases.

Yes, you want heaters on the battery, washer fluid reservoir, crankcase, transmission, and oil tank. The difficulty is the trans and crankcase don’t have large flat surfaces to attach heaters. I might figure a way to pre-heat the heater duct and defroster, perhaps built out of two hair dryers.
I might invent air restrictors between the cylinder air baffles and below the heads.

Buy a new, best, most powerful battery. Do you have a 1.5 HP starter?

Keep the 911 full of fuel. Depending on your fuel supplier, you might periodically add “fuel antifreeze” methanol additive.

Make sure you have “high octane” windshield washer fluid. There are electrically heated wiper blades.

There are aftermarket electric auxiliary defrosters.

Cloth or wool seat covers will make it more comfortable.

I think you can only add studs to brand new tires. As soon as the tire is driven, you can’t get the studs to stay.

Have a good set of tire chains. Triple the number of rubber bungees. Two pairs of chains is not a bad idea.

Make sure you have your tow eye in your tool kit.

Good long tow strap and a light weight “come-along.” Two short double loop straps can be very handy. Know where to attach towing straps/cables to your car. You don’t want it damaged by some klutz trying to extricate it from a snow drift.

Have all the car basics: jumper cables, starting fluid, fuel de-icer, a long extension cord that is useable in extreme cold, etc.

Make yourself a very complete emergency survival kit, radio, spare cell, etc.

Skinny tires work better than wide ones. The exception is if you use big fat soft off-road tires that normally don’t fit Porsche.

Raise the ride height, soften the springs (torsion bars), get soft shocks.

Do moose respond to deer whistles?

There are two ways to significantly increase the lighting: You can install H1 headlights with two 100W bulbs in each, wired so all four are on when using high beam. You can add “rally” type driving lights. In either case, tape the tops of the lens so there is no light coming “up.”
Yellow fog lights are also important when snowing. You want both aimed drastically toward the left or right so you can see a shadow of the snow on the road.

Of course the “state of tune” of your 911 is very important. Make sure everything is working 100%

The biggest maintenance issue is to change the engine oil several times over the winter. In extremely cold weather even CIS can dilute the oil with gasoline. Any combustion moisture will turn to ice.

About once-a-month, you should hire a shop to leave the 911 overnight up on a lift with the heat turned up, doors & lids open, carpets out, and lots of air circulation. You don’t want an accumulation of moisture or ice.

Even more difficult is the fall and spring with sloppy roads and still really cold nights. The cool part of all this is a stock 911, in good condition, will handle everything just fine. I’m covering all the extreme circumstances but I am a firm believer in “be prepared” on the highway, race track, or mid-winter.

BTW, I used to drive my ’68 911 to Vail and back in all sorts of adverse conditions. I still have a set of Michelin 185-70x15 XWX on 6” rims with 198 studs per tire. Eventually I found studded Michelin M&S 165-78x15 on 4 ½ rims with tubes best.

Best,
Grady

KobaltBlau · 08-10-2004, 12:38 PM

second the 944s are good in the snow comment. with weight in the rear corner boxes and good snow tires it's really surprising. I had an 86 RX7 some years ago which should have had similar weight distribution and it did not compare to the 944 (actually 968) in the snow.

KobaltBlau · 08-10-2004, 12:42 PM

Great post, Grady!

I thought of one other thing: My '81 SC, delivered new in Edmonton, has a higher amperage battery option. I could get the details for you if you're interested, I'm not sure if you can just drop in the bigger battery (it is) or if anything else needs to be modified.

Randy Webb · 08-10-2004, 12:49 PM

You can buy Euro H4's for the better headlights. Yes, you need a relay and can search on that.

A big problem with moose is not that they don't know you are coming. It is that they know it and plan to fight it out. This is a messy problem for the AK railroad, and a dangerous one for cars. Perhaps you can paint a wolf pack in full lope on the car....