[DML] DeLorean snow driving

["Fedeli, Joe" <paa5072@xxxx>]

Dear Kayo Ong,

Coming from New York, you should get LOTS of experience in regards
to the opportunity of driving in snow conditions! Each individual (driver)
has unique abilities in driving, and snow driving can be difficult depending
on an individual's personal driving ability and experience. I've driven
mine MANY times in various snow conditions and have found it very stable in
most snow conditions when comparing other rear drive vehicles with the same
'type' of non-snow tire being used for traction. Again, my 'performance' is
compare to other rear wheel drive cars I have driven and their individual
capabilities in the snow without specific snow dedicated tires on the car.
The DeLorean has a lot of rear weight and good 'traction' compare to many
other similarity comparable non-snow tired rear wheel drive autos. The
compression of snow allowing for rear wheel traction is good compared to
other cars. 
If your concerns are to improve the capabilities of traction of your
DeLorean in the snow, I would highly recommend purchasing four snow tires
and installing studs on all four wheels for increased traction. You might
want to also increase the tire surface area by going to a physically larger
tire size if you do not want to purchase snow tires from original installed
DeLorean equipment. I went to a different tire size and found the overall
performance increased dramatically! Again, remember, each car made and
axle drive layout has different handling characteristics. By installing
four snow tires with studs, this will increases traction performance in some
areas, especially icing conditions, but will dramatically decrease
performance in other areas. Some of that performance profile depends on
overall car weight, wheel base, width, and height along with wheel drive
configuration (independent vs. posi-traction vs. four wheel full time vs.
RWD/FWD, etc.). The point is usually finding the 'balance' for general
overall use or to dedicate your tire configuration to the unique application
you want performance in at that specific time (e.g. rain traction or street
performance). 
One disadvantage I personally noted and would forewarn other
potential DeLorean drivers about driving in the snow is the following: do
NOT try to do it! 
Point #1: Many states use rock salt and the 'spray' gets
all over the car into all sorts of areas and can rot out the various steel
un-coated metal surfaces. (My car needed 'repair' by sanding/pealing the
various coatings off of the undercarriage that the salt damage caused and
worked it's way under many small openings in the coated surfaces. It
started to cause a 'cancer like' metal deterioration.). If you do drive in
the snow, hose the entire car off especially the undercarriage VERY
WELL!!!!! This can NOT be emphasized enough!!!! 
Point #2: You could purchase those generic chains for the
tires, but they always seem to break and hit the wheel well and fender
areas. 
Point #3: The other guy driving in the snow will miss all
the other cars on the road and hit you in the DeLorean only! Do you really
need the repair/insurance hassles? 
Just my experience and not intended as a criticism. The best answer
is to drive the 'beater' car in the snow. Good luck on your snow driving
and let me know of your opinion!