[carlover]

Would really like to get a 124 spider classic or any trim except an Abarth. But I live in Colorado where it snows. If I put winter tires and maybe some weight in the rear and drive slow on plowed roads and have a shovel and such, will it be ok? I'm not worried about road salt or anything. Does anyone else drive theirs in winter? Obviously not through deep snow or anything. I don't have to go to work until noon so the snow ought to be a little melted or plowed by the time I'd need to drive and it doesn't seen to get too snowy here in recent years. Thoughts?

 

[Oldbear]

If I had to do it, I’d run Blizzak’s. With that said, it wouldn’t be an ideal choice as far as I’m concerned. RWD, lightweight vehicle, minimal ground clearance....
You may want to consider some other vehicle (maybe an old beater 4x4 truck or a Jeep for winter weather and keep the Spider in the garage when roads are terrible.

 

[laurencedorneles]

I ran snow tires on the original rims on my lowered abarth all last winter here in NY/CT. never had an issue. Have to remember to turn off Traction control though.

 

[HaZ]

Remove the little air dams in front of the rear tires. They are not very strongly attached and snow can cause them to fall off.

 

[beransom]

I would suggest the Altimax Artic from General. I found them to perform better than the Blizzaks in my experience. Remember all cars used to be RWD way back when. A decent set of snow tires and reasonable driving yielded very few issues. Do a few google searches on the 124 and winter driving. You will find some pretty fun videos and a very capable winter car.

 

[68wooley]

Drove mine on Blizzaks in the Frontrange last winter. If you put the right tires on, your only issue is clearance in deeper snow. Traction is fine.

The OEM tires really don't like temps much below 40F.

Of course, last winter wasn't a true test because it only snowed a handful of times.

 

[Oldbear]

You’re correct that pretty much everything in the US used to be rear wheel drive and we “got by”, my point was simply that the Spider’s not ideal because of so many limiting factors. You can do it, but there are a bunch of better vehicles out there for real winter conditions. I get nightmares thinking how much fun the Spider would be in the 12+ inches of snow I used to deal with in Michigan��

 

[Snowbarth]

I'm in Alberta Canada with my Abarth, I run mine through the winter, mountain highway and city, using Nokian Studded Hakka 8's, which is almost overkill and kind of a pain in the shoulder seasons - road noise mostly-I have never been stuck or had issues beyond riding the deep spring ice ruts in my alley... but thats a clearance issue. In the freeze/thaw/freeze cycles, the Hakka's are amazing. In heavy snow, or iced hills I usually turn off the traction control and let the tires do the work, in the 2 winters I've had it I've never been stuck or challenged by the vagrancies of Canuck winters...

 

[socal1200r]

Park the Spider for the winter...that's what AWD and trucks are for...

 

[TeddyK]

What Snowbarth said.

Name checks out.

I intend to run Bridgestone WS80s and also to improve my snownut abilities this winter.

 

[Snowbarth]

Can't begin to tell you how many trucks I see in the ditch up here in winter, most every rollover on the news is a lifted F150 or Dodge thinking they can corner like a car, stop like a car... I was waiting on the 500X abarth, which is probably never coming here.. for vehicle balance, but will change to the mighty Audi Q3 or the Volvo XC40 next winter....My Volvo C30 (just added the Polestar tune,) it only has 40K on it, so its definitely still a pup and Volvo is moose collision tested.

 

[Snowbarth]

And this was this week... up hills and down...

 

[linefeed]

And this was this week... up hills and down...

Yup. She handles surprisingly well (even on the stock tires) in the snow. Not that I do a LOT of driving her in the snow, but I have.

 

[fiatmidway124]

Reviving this post.

I just watched an episode of Daily Driver on Amazon where they test an average awd suv with all season tires and a Miata with snow tires. It was a good watch.

In a nutshell, the Miata turned and stopped much better than the Nissan. They didn't say it directly, but I'm thinking the Nissan did a better job getting going. The Miata had a LSD, but in both vehicles the traction control needed to be turned off.

Alas, I have a Classica, so no LSD on mine.

 

[Chipshot]

You’re correct that pretty much everything in the US used to be rear wheel drive and we “got by”, my point was simply that the Spider’s not ideal because of so many limiting factors. You can do it, but there are a bunch of better vehicles out there for real winter conditions. I get nightmares thinking how much fun the Spider would be in the 12+ inches of snow I used to deal with in Michigan��

12” snows are a rarity in SE Michigan these days. My Spider sits to avoid rock salt.