Footman

iTrader: (2)

as title says...

Also, some friendly tips for those planning to run their cars through the winter... I'll be seeing you on the road! braving the storms zoom zoom!

Exterior
1) Rinse your car (especially the underside) at least once or twice a week. Go to self-wash bays, they only cost $2-$3 each time.
2) Run your car through a full carwash at least every 2 weeks.
3) Caked on salt stains are OKAY as long as you have adequate wax protection on the paint (which you should have done sometime between now and mid-October)

Interior
1) Use rubber winter mats. Do take out the summer mats. Don't just put the winters on top because it'll get very thick which you don't need.
2) It's OKAY for salt stains to be left caked on completely on your rubber winter mats. It is NOT OKAY for the salt to be caked on your carpets underneath. Check once in awhile, if you see it, scrub it clean with a carpet cleaner (Oxy auto carpet cleaner from Canadian tire).
3) Do clean your interior windows especially your windshield often FROM THE INSIDE. During winter, you'll be using defrosters heavily. Your car interior windows will go through many cycles of condensation and thawing. Each time that happens, more and more sediments/dust film/particles will adhere to the windows insides leaving it hazy looking. You actually need to clean your windows from the inside more often than the outside. The outside gets taken care of by your wipers and washer fluid most of the time.

Engine
1) Allow engine to warm to 1500rpm to 1700 rpm before driving. Maintain below 4000 rpm for shifts until temp is warm.
2) Watchout for flooding if you need to move the car a bit in winter. If you absolutely need to do this under emergency situation for time reasons... gas up to 4000 rpm and hold for 3 - 5 seconds in neutral; while holding it at 4000rpm turn the ignition off and let go of the gas.

Driving
1) Shifts are notchier and stiffer in the beginning until the tranny oil is warmed up. There will be more "clunk clunk" when shifting. Also the 1st to 2nd engagement is hard when cold.
2) Normally drive with full TCS and DSC on. If you are beached in the snow, or having a hard time accelerating from a stoplight, press the DSC button once to disable it so you can freely spin the tires and get out of it. You will find this happening sometimes from a stoplight, when it turns green, you try to move, but the rear is sliding towards the right (because of road curvature). You then turn off DSC, and force your way through. You will end up accelerating with your car angled at 20-30 degrees going forward. Everyone behind/around you will start freaking out and back the **** away from you which is a good thing.
3) Keep a mini shovel in the trunk, a few pieces of corrugated cardboard wouldn't hurt either, and always have a pair of winter ski gloves/work gloves.
4) Keep a spare jug of windshield washer fluid in your trunk. You never know when you'll need it badly. The worst thing is to be stuck in a snowstorm and your washer tank is empty and you can't see ****.

Thumper3322

No tires...should be included '8 stored for the winter'

Footman

iTrader: (2)

I don't know how to edit poll once set.

rotarygreg

i can't vote as i dont know. See i put mine on depending on temp. i dont ever have a specific date in mind, but once temps fall bellow 7C and seem to be staying there, then i put my winter tires on.

I guess i have a luxury that alot of you dont though, being that i work in a garage. i can put mine on and take them off the next day if it suits me. in fact i did that at the end of last winter. haha. i jumped the gun putting my summers back on and we had a snow storm so i had to put the winter tires back on for a few more days. haha.

anyways, good stuff andrew. seems like there are alot of new rx8 owners all of a sudden, good they can get all this good, real world advice all in one spot.

im dreading putting my stock suspension and hideous winter steelies back on, but it must be done. my car was a champ last winter. never got stuck once and i only ever had one "holy ****!" moment. haha. pretty damn good for a GS (no DSC/TC).

I got stuck twice in my FWD lancer ralliart...although to be fair to the car, i was in a winter nav rally on some really nasty roads in some really nasty weather. My codriver thought she spotted a control car off to the side of the road so i started to slow down, it was ice and i slid right past, tried to turn around in what i thought was a parking lot but that was even more ice. got stuck. ran to the car we thought was a checkpoint car. turns out they were just someone who was lost. we gave them directions, they helped give us a push and we were all on our way. haha. the other time was at the parking area at the rally fo the tall pines. snow up to my axels and the car just barely needed a push to get out. i sort of miss that car. i wouldnt dare take the 8 the places that i took that car.

Rotary Mike

My tires turn square once the temp is below 10 degrees. They will be off in the next couple weeks.

Mazda_RX804

storing mine, only driving it on day with zero snow on the road, got a beater

Footman

iTrader: (2)

Crossing my fingers... this winter and all future winters, I'm rolling on Eibach lowered suspension

Thumper3322

Nice first post Footman...good details!!

What did you get as a beater? I'm still searching urg..it's a pain

Mazda_RX804

dads old car, runs like a champ! only 140,000kms

89 Pontiac Bonneville SSE

Rotary Mike

SAweet ride man

Neo

Taking a look at the forthcoming weather, it doesn't look good.

Looks like the temps are going to be below 10C by next week.

I'm looking at winterizing both the Miata and the 6 next weekend.

If anyone is looking for an extra set of stock RX-8 wheels with tires, let me know. I'm going to be selling them.

God, I hate winter!

REV-illusions

iTrader: (3)

I'm not gonna bother with the winters until snow is in the forecast.. think I'm gonna rust proof this year at the same time... sigh... drilling holes... but it's for a good cause I suppose.

why ya sellin' the rim's Neo?

tubingchamp

iTrader: (3)

I always tell myself I'm going to put em on, but I didn't last year and I got by.

My dads got a new audi A4, and I can get rides with him into work. I want to try that quattro AWD in the snow :D

I drove my 8 in the snow on the 275's once..

Let's just say 3% incline=back end goes pretty far sideways.

RXeckless

iTrader: (5)

ditto,
it was 7° C this morning, summer tire start losing their adhesion at 7° C
Good Day for the winters!

Maffu313

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the tips footman! I'll need to do that to my car as i plan on driving it during the winter x_X no beater for us (my brother and I) since we need all our cars.

We'll probably put on the winters after shanonville this weekend if we deccide to go...assuming the temperatures are low enough. if not, then we'll wait a few more weeks i guess. don't really have a set date to put on the winters

hackdss

looking for good winter tires last yr I bought used hankook icebear and they didnt grip very well going uphill found my self getting stuck alot.

Any suggestions looking for good 17 inch winter tires

Footman

iTrader: (2)

Here are some of the tires GTA people have been using:

Dunlop Graspics
Dunlop Wintersport M3 or Wintersport 3D
Bridgestone Blizzak LM22 or LM25
Bridgestone WS60/Michelin X-Ice2 if you're looking for a hardcore ice/snow tire
Michelin Alpin

I use the Wintersport M3 on 18 x 7.5 and they are great and still looking too! 225/45/18

nvx

17 inch Toyo Garit HTs is what i run... they work well enough i think...

RXeckless

iTrader: (5)

Drove mine first time last winter on Michelin X-Ice great except in really deep snow, don't believe a tire issue but clearance. Storing the car from now on. Beater=2004 Vibe wife's old car a little over a 100Km with snows.

rotarygreg

i use yokohama ice guards. amzing tire actually. well, the original ice guard i should say. see, the tread pattern made them great in snow and ice alike. the new ice guards use the same compound and great sipes however the new tread pattern makes them not work so well in deep snow. however they will rival blizzaks for their ice gripping ability.

Neo

REV-illusions,

I'm selling them because the wheel/tire combo weigh too much! I didn't think it would make such a big difference, but it does. The car sees alot of city driving, and the RX-8 wheels give the 6 horrendous mileage.

I should've known better, but since the stock wheel/tire combo on the 6 roughly weighs the same, I didn't think it would affect it so severely. I was completely wrong! Adding those 2-3lbs and that extra 10mm width on each corner, really takes a hit on the fuel economy. Not to mention the response of the car. It feels alot heavier. Harder to move. People might often mistake it for more "stability". But in truth it's just added weight.

As soon as I get rid of the wheels/tires, I'm ordering up some Kosei wheels from the Rack. Wheels weigh 13.7lbs in 17x7! Back to the stock wheel width for the 6!

Ka Kui

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the tips, Footman, he described exactly everything I experienced last winter!

longpath

iTrader: (1)

My snow tires are Pirelli 240 Snowsports. My regular tires are Pirelli PZERO NERO M&S runflats, so I'm waiting to see when we start seeing snow. In the past (with the OEM tires) I switched out in mid-October; but with my current tires, I want to avoid switching to the snow tires until I'm looking at an actual risk of snow, not just cold temps first thing in the morning as I'm driving to the train station. If it turns out to be a snow-less but cold Winter, I might not switch at all.

Footman

iTrader: (2)

Snowless but cold.... but what about those days when you are driving and it starts to snow/rain/sleet while you're driving? Then you're asking for trouble... wouldn't want to risk that.

prospectjtaz

iTrader: (1)

Just watch the weather report before you head out, everyone usually has a smartphone by now, get a widget/app for the Weather.

I got an appointment to see what beaters Mr. B has at the lot.