Snow Fall in Texas damages Corvette
12-09-2013, 07:35 PM
#21
Melting Slicks
12-09-2013, 07:45 PM
#22
Drifting
I drove up to Eagan on Saturday to avoid the snow. I thought it was cold in Missouri. It's frigid here in the cities and very slippery. Luckily, the hotel is just around the corner from work and I have my winter car, not my Vette.
12-09-2013, 07:56 PM
#23
Welcome to our wonderful state. It's gonna be ugly cold for the next few days with just enough snow to muck up the roads. Good thing you have your winter car. Driving a C6, especially a GS, would be suicide in this kind of weather.
12-09-2013, 08:02 PM
#24
Team Owner
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Been in Texas all my life and believe me we do not get enough snow/ice to have a clue how to drive on it. That is why I don't.
Hmmm, wonder who will win tonight? LOL
12-09-2013, 08:09 PM
#25
Le Mans Master
12-09-2013, 08:12 PM
#26
12-09-2013, 08:28 PM
#27
Le Mans Master
Speak for yourself! 
I drive mine year around in the lovely 'burbs of Chicago. Nobody should be out driving on ICE IMHO. But reasonable snow in a properly equipped Corvette is OK.
I crack up at folks who are afraid of their $60,000 'vette being damaged by "other drivers", yet they have no concern to take their equally valued (name the car) on the road to be exposed to those same other drivers.
I drive mine year around in the lovely 'burbs of Chicago. Nobody should be out driving on ICE IMHO. But reasonable snow in a properly equipped Corvette is OK.
I crack up at folks who are afraid of their $60,000 'vette being damaged by "other drivers", yet they have no concern to take their equally valued (name the car) on the road to be exposed to those same other drivers.
12-09-2013, 08:36 PM
#28
Race Car Tech
Speak for yourself!
I drive mine year around in the lovely 'burbs of Chicago. Nobody should be out driving on ICE IMHO. But reasonable snow in a properly equipped Corvette is OK.
I crack up at folks who are afraid of their $60,000 'vette being damaged by "other drivers", yet they have no concern to take their equally valued (name the car) on the road to be exposed to those same other drivers.
I drive mine year around in the lovely 'burbs of Chicago. Nobody should be out driving on ICE IMHO. But reasonable snow in a properly equipped Corvette is OK.
I crack up at folks who are afraid of their $60,000 'vette being damaged by "other drivers", yet they have no concern to take their equally valued (name the car) on the road to be exposed to those same other drivers.
I don't have to, so I don't. I'd just as soon get my other vehicle full of slush, salt, brine and sand beaten. I'll leave my vette where it is, and drive it when the roads are clear and clean.
The great thing about life, we all make choices, sometimes good, sometimes bad. No one can tell me that a vette is a great handling car on ice or snow. Define properly equipped?
I believe I'm making a good choice IMO
12-09-2013, 09:00 PM
#29
Le Mans Master
And the slush and salt (aka brine) do wash off.
Read my post. I do not drive ANY of my cars on ice. NO VEHICLE is safe on that stuff.
For snow up to 3" or not much more, my C6 does good on Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP tires. They go on in late Oct. and come off in April. If much snow is expected or possible, I'll take another car.
Great handling is a poor choice of words as NO VEHICLE is "great" handling in snow. I used the term "OK", and if you know how to drive a rear-wheel drive var, and that includes several factors including a soft right foot on the gas and brake, it does OK.
And your choice not to drive your car is the right one. For you!
When I bought my first cars (Austin Healeys in the early '60s and my first Corvette in '67), we did not have toys. We bought them and drove them out of necessity. So my choice is right for me.
12-09-2013, 09:06 PM
#30
Race Director
Same ice/snow storm here in Oklahoma City and then at 12:10 PM on Saturday we had a 4.8 earthquake. The temp here is in the teens and twenties so we don't have anything falling from the melt yet. I saw a VW bug convertible get destroyed by an ice slide from only a two story roof several years ago. She had a car full up to the top of the seat backs with snow and ice and no insurance to replace the top bows rag top, windshield and hood. 
12-10-2013, 10:28 AM
#32
You guys from Texas got spanked!
Can't drive with a little snow, and can't play football either.
12-10-2013, 10:38 AM
#33
Team Owner
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12-10-2013, 10:51 AM
#34
I was lived in the Chicagoland area all my life and have seen plenty of ice and snow storms. My vette does NOT get put away for the winter, I do have. My other car is a Tahoe and that's 2 wheel drive. I've had Mustangs, Camaros, a Monza, and many 2 wd SUVs, all cars are the same, once you remember that going is not the problem, stopping is. Texas ice, bring it on.
12-10-2013, 05:29 PM
#36
Heel & Toe
Given that I spent most of the last two decades in Minneapolis before moving here to the Dallar area this summer, I must say I am surprised of the crippling effects of this past weekend's storm.
If I was to rewind the clock 12 months and see the news coverage of this TX ice storm from a sofa in MN I would be laughing and calling all of the TX drivers pansies......and I would be WRONG!!
In North Dallas we received nearly 4 inches of sleet/freezing rain, to the point that it looks like snow is covering lawns/roofs/cars, etc. However, it isn't, it is pure ice. You can walk accross the lawn, that again appears as if it is covered with snow, and not even leave a track, it is pure ice you are walking on. Now apply that same thought to driving on it....pure nasty.
So all of those midwest drivers thinking that southern drivers just don't know how to drive in wintry conditions need to reconsider their remarks. Take your Vette (or your winter beater if the Vette is stored for the winter), and find a local ice rink. Not a rink with snow covering it or a frozen lake, but a legitimate ice rink (no cheating with that little bit of snow or dry pavement to aid in traction). Go take a couple laps, and then report back how your winter driving skills suffice......watch out for the boards!
My 'Vette is also stored away....until next week when we'll be back to 60
If I was to rewind the clock 12 months and see the news coverage of this TX ice storm from a sofa in MN I would be laughing and calling all of the TX drivers pansies......and I would be WRONG!!
In North Dallas we received nearly 4 inches of sleet/freezing rain, to the point that it looks like snow is covering lawns/roofs/cars, etc. However, it isn't, it is pure ice. You can walk accross the lawn, that again appears as if it is covered with snow, and not even leave a track, it is pure ice you are walking on. Now apply that same thought to driving on it....pure nasty.
So all of those midwest drivers thinking that southern drivers just don't know how to drive in wintry conditions need to reconsider their remarks. Take your Vette (or your winter beater if the Vette is stored for the winter), and find a local ice rink. Not a rink with snow covering it or a frozen lake, but a legitimate ice rink (no cheating with that little bit of snow or dry pavement to aid in traction). Go take a couple laps, and then report back how your winter driving skills suffice......watch out for the boards!
My 'Vette is also stored away....until next week when we'll be back to 60
12-10-2013, 06:12 PM
#37
Le Mans Master
The part of your post that I made bold is accurate, while your entire statement that I've underlined is correct.
Texans, Oklahomans, and others get ice storms once in a while. I agree the storms are nasty, and the sane thing is not venture out in it. But the locals venture forth, and wreck their cars or slide off the road etc. They can't handle it, their highway crews are not equipped to handle it, even their five layer cloverleafs aren't designed for it. It's sad watching some driver hit a down ramp and .... GONE!
12-10-2013, 06:14 PM
#38
Le Mans Master
Why would anyone put thick sheets of ice on a roof anyway?
Doesn't exist where I live.
Why would you want to live where roads get full of ice and snow?
I wonder if those damaged cars will be covered by Obamacare?
Seems to me, if you like your dents,...you can keep your dents.
Doesn't exist where I live.
Why would you want to live where roads get full of ice and snow?
I wonder if those damaged cars will be covered by Obamacare?
Seems to me, if you like your dents,...you can keep your dents.
12-10-2013, 06:56 PM
#39
Safety Car
Why would anyone put thick sheets of ice on a roof anyway?
Doesn't exist where I live.
Why would you want to live where roads get full of ice and snow?
I wonder if those damaged cars will be covered by Obamacare?
Seems to me, if you like your dents,...you can keep your dents.
Doesn't exist where I live.
Why would you want to live where roads get full of ice and snow?
I wonder if those damaged cars will be covered by Obamacare?
Seems to me, if you like your dents,...you can keep your dents.
The climate here in N. Texas is great. We get a few inches of snow a year on average... this "ice storm" is as bad as I've seen it in a lifetime of living here. There are honestly maybe a total of 30 days out of the year where I wouldn't drive my car (rain, snow, ice all included).
It's not Florida or So Cal, but it is a great place to live and drive your car year round.
Just need to make sure to have a garage, unlike the guy in the OP.
