Guidelines for your MSP in the Winter

R

Rush

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91 MX-5, 13 ILX
Seeing as every fall/winter, threads always pop up about how the MSP deals with wintry conditions, I figured we could all use a Sticky -- for reference, and as a place where us 'northerners' could help each other out with stuff. :)

So, if you have any recommendations for a winter setup to use on your MSP, or any experiences that you think would be helpful to share .. Post away!

And I guess I'll get things started ..

First off, for anyone that still has the stock Bridgestone Potenza tires -- DO NOT RUN THEM IN THE SNOW. This is one of the most foolish things you could EVER do with your MSP. The stock tires are NOT meant to be used in winter weather, and are essentially useless. Go out and buy yourself a good set of winter tires! I've personally run Pirelli SnowSports for five winters, which worked fantastically -- but I finally had to buy some new tires this fall. I went with Hankook iPikes this time around, and will post some feedback as soon as I have it to give.

It's also very common for people to run different wheels in the winter, to spare their nice wheels from being damaged by salts and other road sprays. It's recommended that you get 'thinner' ones -- as the 'thinner' the wheel, the better the traction you'll get in the snow. I believe 6" wide is relatively common. Also, wheels with a diameter down to 15" will fit over the MSP calipers. Steel wheels are rather popular, since they're cheap and you don't have to worry about keeping them pretty through all the salt and gravel.
 
i run the same tires year round. i just figure if you take it eazy on it and dont stomp on it you will do just fine in the winter, oh and i know my MSP and my buddys MP3 have a hard time starting in the winter so dont freak out if it takes a min to start, oh and make sure you spray the salt off your car, utah is notrious for using a hell of a lot of salt for the roads
 
This is gonna be my first boosted winter (P5 w/ MSP T25 @6 psi) but the last two winters I've used 195/50 Hankook IceBears (W300) on OEM 16" P5 wheels with fantastic results. We don't get a TON of snow in Iowa, but the tires do pretty damn good and are relatively cheap. I picked mine up for about $70 a tire at tires-easy.com

I've also heard amazing things about the Bridgestone Blizzaks, and Tire Rack seems to be having a clearance on them. $75 a tire in 215/55 R17

You can do without snow tires, you just gotta take it easy. The biggest difference is in starting up, they definitely help you get going a lot easier.
 
I had Ipikes last year and they worked very well for me and relatively cheap as well. But it took awhile to get used to snow tires vs the summer tires i had on, it feels like your riding on a cloud and kinda rolly.
 
yokohama's with 15" steelies, are amazing, even though i only used them for one winter and have been storing the car for the rest of the winters. Best investment you can do for your car and for yourself.
 
run some good winters...nokians are a little overkill unless you live in alaska but are still never a bad Idea, I run 195/15/65 perelli Sottozero's and they are kick ass

you need to remember to rotate them in the winter though as the fronts will get chewed up pretty quick if your not careful

Another good thing to get done is rust proofing, not expensive and really works well

This year I'm going to also be hitting up a car bra for the front to protect it from all the crap on the roads
 
If you have upgraded to a 626 IM then expect wierd cold starts, it'll idle high and then want to die when you give it the gas. You can warm the car up and it'll run fine, which is recommended to warm any car anyways before setting on your way and especially turbo cars. Or if you throttle past the "want" to stall portion for a second you'll be fine.

Any IC upgrade with stock ECU and even with the stock IC to some degree, you'll see in increase in fuel cut. Throttle conservativiely.

Increase in clunking. Live with it or get under there and grease. Or clunk fix
 
SleepyMSP said:
don't forget to convert that CAI to SRI...unless you like paying out your ass in gas
Click to expand...

i have to run with sri cuz all my plastic coverings are gone haha, i have not ever experienced fuel cut sense i have owned the car kinda weird, and yes with the 626 mani let it warm up a lil bit to get rid of the high idel and almost stalling haha
 
Velocifero said:
If you have upgraded to a 626 IM then expect wierd cold starts, it'll idle high and then want to die when you give it the gas.
Click to expand...
That drove me nuts, the first winter I drove the car after the IM was installed. Now I know better and I HAVE to warm the car up, or it's the biggest b**** on the face of the earth to get moving.
 
Outlawstar98 said:
My Plans


Park it

Drive a 4 Wheel Drive Vehicle :) (if i can find one by the time it snows)
Click to expand...

probably the eazyst way to keep the msp good for the winter haha that was my original plan i was also going to forge the motor but gettin layed off messed that one up haha
 
RUST RUST RUST prof your car... More then once!! i got my car Rust prof'd then baught 3 cans of some Canadian made rust prof crap and sprayed everything (except the exaust, and other Obvious thing) but... i tried to get all of the screws and bolts under the hood. as well as soaking the fenders and rockers.

P.S
what do you guys mean by spray it off? are you talking about spraying down the turbo with water? or just cleaning the car in general?
 
Last edited:
special--k said:
=P.S
what do you guys mean by spray it off? are you talking about spraying down the turbo with water? or just cleaning the car in general?
Click to expand...

i was talking about spraying the whole car off, that salt s*** likes to eat paint
 
A side note, if people are looking for winter wheels, check out your local junkyard. I had picked up a set of stock mid 90's Dodge Caravan steelies for $30. They weren't impressive, but they would have made perfect winter wheels (if I lived somewhere that saw snow that is).
 
Ricktalife said:
come again?
Click to expand...

if you leave your CAI on in the winter, you end up using more gas because colder air = denser air = increased reading from the MAF = mo go juice in the cylinder. depending on where you live you can also experience fuel cut from this.

last year I left my CAI as is for a month in the cold and I was at the gas station every other day...once I changed it to an SRI it was much better
 
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