Winter travel in a Mustang.. advice welcome!

[kurek]

My wife and I are on the move, from Phoenix to Spokane... right at Christmas.

My Ram has 4x4 and LSD and modern ABS/traction/etc.. and fresh Continentals (rated M+S) and the 3500lb trailer I'm towing has brakes and new tires. Overall I think that's about as good as it's going to get, but I'll need to keep my speed well in check for a considerable portion of the journey I think.

The other side of this is my wife's driving a 2002 Mustang. It has ABS and "traction control" but it's really primitive stuff by today's standards and really all the traction control can do is limit engine power if one or both rear wheels are going faster than the front ones. She's got all season M+S rated Kumho tires in the stock size, with ~90% of their tread depth.

We're still planning our route - the AZ stretch is a no brainer but after Las Vegas we can either head straight North 93 to Twin Falls, 84/82 to Kennewick and 395/90 to the finish line... or alternately 95 North through Winnemucca to Boise and then 84/82/395/90..

Or we could even do 15 all the way through SLC to 90 and approach Spokane from the East..

The advice I'm after:

1. If you have first hand experience with those routes, which do you think offers the best chance at avoiding troublesome winter conditions?

2. We're sticking to major highways that will surely be plowed, you think M+S rated all seasons on my wife's Mustang have a chance at getting us there safely or is that just the dumbest idea possible?

Thanks for anything constructive you can offer.

 

[OC455]

On #2: A dedicated snow tire will do better in the winter. Winter driving is pretty basic, don't go as fast, slow down earlier, brake in a straight line, and leave yourself room even with all seasons tires you can get by. What model Kuhmo's are they?

 

[kurek]

Thanks for your assistance

Getting a dedicated winter tire would be enough of a challenge I would like to avoid it if they're not absolutely necessary. I'd buy chains, those take up a whole lot less precious space. Both of us have snow experience; in my case always with mean all-terrains and 4wd and in her case urban (Omaha) and front wheel drive so the new parts that we both want to approach informed are the low-tech RWD coupe and the geography.

Her Mustang has the uncommon combination for that generation of V6 and ABS. The ABS is primitive, the traction control it includes is primitive. The axle does not have any kind of mechanical LSD and the traction control does not have a simulated LSD function.

The Kumhos on her car are Ecsta PA31 in the stock size 225/55R16 . A comparative test including that tire here

 

[Tim Garceau]

It’s good to be proactive, but I think you take the best GPS route and roll with what the weather gives you. The efficient way to educate winter condition driving is to get out there and understand both vehicle and driver limits.

Winter driving is the best time of year IMO, you just need to be cautious in heavy traffic because other drivers are a toss-up

 

[OC455]

I think you will be ok with those Kuhmos. That's a decent looking tread for an all season. Just take it easy and you guys should be good to go.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[pacofortacos]

I have done the Vegas RT 93 to Boise trip in the winter with a Chysler Town and Country.
While it is a 2 lane road, it is flat and it is desert so that helps. We did hit some snow but nothing heavy.
I have also done the interstate up near Salt lake - much more elevation and IMO much greater chance of big snows - but still a decent drive. I haven't gone much south of Salt Lake on I 15.

Personally, I would go 93 or 95 out of Vegas, the only real drawback to those are the remoteness and needing to keep an eye on fuel stops. And of course speed. But I actually like driving remote back roads.

 

[WY-Dave]

Find some tv/radio stations on the routes and check out what happened just past Thanksgiving. We had a helluva storm that locked us out for 3 days so they could plow.

https://kingfm.com/video-colorado-wind-blows-over-semi-truck-on-i-25-during-fridays-storm/

 

[PolarisCobra]

The V6 works in your favot. Less torque, less wheelspin.

I had a '69 Mach 1 with the 351. Way too much weight up front. Even with snow tires, that thing could get stuck in level ground. Drove to NH to go skiing a few times in storms. Sideways up most of Rt 93. No traction control in those days.

Good news is I'm not afraid of driving in the snow now, if I lived through driving that thing, I can do it with today's modern stuff no problem.

It's all about momentum. Your friend or enemy, depending on if you are going up hill, or down...

Looked just like this, even the color.

 

[aces-n-eights]

I grew up near Spokane and and know a lot of the roads around there pretty well. I would NOT recommend taking I-15 all the way north into Montana and then I-90 west to Spokane. There are a couple of mountain passes on that route that can be dicey if snowy. Looks to me the best route is from Boise take I-84 to Kennewick and then 395 to 90 and on into Spokane. An alternative is to take 95 north from Boise thru Lewiston ID, then 195 into Spokane. This is a less travelled road and i recall a big hill out of Lewiston...

As with all winter travel watch the weather reports and be ready to hunker down for a few hours or overnight to let the storms pass and the plows do their thing.

I hope you enjoy Spokane! It was a great place to grow up.

 

[kurek]

I have done the Vegas RT 93 to Boise trip in the winter with a Chysler Town and Country.
While it is a 2 lane road, it is flat and it is desert so that helps. We did hit some snow but nothing heavy.
I have also done the interstate up near Salt lake - much more elevation and IMO much greater chance of big snows - but still a decent drive. I haven't gone much south of Salt Lake on I 15.

Personally, I would go 93 or 95 out of Vegas, the only real drawback to those are the remoteness and needing to keep an eye on fuel stops. And of course speed. But I actually like driving remote back roads.

I love the back roads too - well, this time towing a trailer & separate vehicles will cut down on the pleasure. My wife and I are both HAMs so we'll have radio contact but just little handheld Baofengs... you know, those back roads are a lot nicer in just the Ram with the center console flipped up & my wife in the middle seat

If the weather gives me a choice I believe we're going to aim for 95 through Winnemucca - I've got 50 states under my belt but for some reason none of my travels have ever put me right there. I don't expect it to be enlightening but I think of every square inch on Earth something like a bucket list line item, you know?

 

[kurek]

I grew up near Spokane and and know a lot of the roads around there pretty well. I would NOT recommend taking I-15 all the way north into Montana and then I-90 west to Spokane. There are a couple of mountain passes on that route that can be dicey if snowy. Looks to me the best route is from Boise take I-84 to Kennewick and then 395 to 90 and on into Spokane. An alternative is to take 95 north from Boise thru Lewiston ID, then 195 into Spokane. This is a less travelled road and i recall a big hill out of Lewiston...

As with all winter travel watch the weather reports and be ready to hunker down for a few hours or overnight to let the storms pass and the plows do their thing.

I hope you enjoy Spokane! It was a great place to grow up.

Thanks for the intel! We were worried about coming in from the East for that reason, I came in that way in July (through Glacier) on our combination summer road trip & shoes-on-the-ground relocation reality check and was already storing away some advance thoughts about winter travel.. you've pretty much confirmed it.

The summer return trip from Spokane straight to Phoenix was quick, two full drive days spread across three lazy calendar days. We've allocated lots of extra time for this trip and we're responsible to nobody on arrival time so I aim to get there at whatever pace safety dictates and not any sooner.

 

[chri5k]

Trade it in on a 4WD RAM. Sorry couldn't resist as this is a RAM forum.

 

[sandawilliams]

I got my Mustang stuck in 3" of snow in the driveway. Granted it had factory tires on it at the time but I leave it parked when the roads are bad.

 

[kurek]

The Mustang's a fun little car in good weather, sluggish V6 and all. We would have loved to get this move over with earlier in the year but this has been tough to orchestrate and the only time we could get all the stars to line up is.. two weeks from now. Time to execute.

The good thing is once we're up there the apartment we rented to facilitate house shopping? Walking distance to my wife's work and I'm going to be working from the kitchen countertop (it's a small apartment) - so she can walk or take the Ram a half mile to work if the weather's real ugly and her Mustang can sit in the carport 'till springtime.. I might even bring the battery indoors to keep on a storage charger.

 

[Quyonmob]

M+S means absolutely nothing to a tires capability. It’s a sidewall stamp that has no pre-requisites or testing to be met to be applied. Same goes for the old snowflake alone icon.
Three peak mountain snowflake is all I trust for winter. The Rubber compounds in these are completely different from any all season tire (especially an all season with a long mileage warranty).

That said, we survived for decades before actual snow tires were worth the money.

 

[kurek]

we couldn't even find winter formula windshield bug wash anywhere here in Phoenix so we're planning to just wash our windshields a lot in the first few hundred miles and hope travel stops start carrying it as we make our way North.

 

[crash68]

we couldn't even find winter formula windshield bug wash anywhere here in Phoenix

Order the -25°F windshield wiper fluid and some winter wiper blades from Amazon before you go. If you already have single beam type wipers, most of those work good for not freezing up.

 

[grizzstang]

Mustangs suck in the winter. Weight in the trunk to help plant the rear end will help.

Honestly if the weather forecast is ****** when you are about to leave I would abandon the Mustang with a buddy and pick it up in the spring/summer. If it were me I would probably just sell it where you are now. It's an older V6 Mustang and they are a dime a dozen where ever you go.

 

[kurek]

selling the wife's horse is one thing that definitely won't be happening, its the first substantial thing she's ever bought for herself and while v6 new edges in general are close to free none of those have enjoyed the level of maintenance this one has, even 6 years ago when she bought this one most of them looked like they lost a fight.

 

[OC455]

those back roads are a lot nicer in just the Ram with the center console flipped up & my wife in the middle seat

Nice