Story and Photos By Carl Heideman
Late summer and early fall may be beautiful, but for sports car enthusiasts it’s a sad time, too. The shortening days remind us that it will soon be time to put away our fair-weather roadsters and take out our winter appliances. What if we told you that you don’t have to give up your …
Did this to my 99 over the same period you guys did. Fortunately this winter has been a lot less of the deep stuff than usual, so I drove the 02 on a set of slightly taller-than-stock studded snows.
Never would have thought of dropping the subframe like you guys did, that's pretty clever. I had a rather difficult time installing mine, on both ends, if I'm honest. What really should have been a two hour job turned into about 12 hours or so. When you have to grab the BFH and your long pry bar, something clearly wasn't tested on stock suspended cars. So, if you're gonna go play in the deep stuff or off road in your Miata, just be prepared for a rough day installing this if you don't have a coilover setup to begin with.
Now... that said, this kit does make a Miata rather capable. Not only was dealing with foot deep snow relatively easy, it was borderline fun, being able to drive in stuff that was giving trucks a bit of a hard time haha. Even on stock tires, I had about as much clearance as a 90's era Jeep Wrangler, so that's kinda a baseline for capability and limitations, if one were to leave the Jeep in 2wd.
Best part was climbing the face of the closest mountain, up a fairly steep trail that switchbacks about 2000 (maybe 3000?) feet in elevation over the course of a couple miles. Should have saw the look on the face of the guy coming down in the Polaris!
While my Miata isn't lifted, nor has the limited slip dif, in the many years of driving it in all conditions including 5"-6" of snow and plowed roads and up into the mountains for a day of skiing. It has never had an issue with slick surfaces. Even drove it nearly 200 miles in a blizzard from Ballard/Seattle to Portland at freeway speeds passing many 4-wd's off in the ditch. In the NW winter I run performance AW tires to good effect.
Everyone thinks that MX-5's must be dangerous in the winter conditions when actually they are quite capable and a lot of fun.
Do not read... Do not read... Do not read...
Up here in Canada on the east coast we rally cross our NB with BAC. We didn't lift our but wish we would have at this event
Jethro66 said:Up here in Canada on the east coast we rally cross our NB with BAC. We didn't lift our but wish we would have at this event
I'm pretty sure the cone does, too.
TreDeuce said:Everyone thinks that MX-5's must be dangerous in the winter conditions when actually they are quite capable and a lot of fun.
Have daily driven rwd cars for more than 10 years in winter conditions in Wyoming. Tires make all the difference. Supras do great, the LS400's are like tanks if you have snow tires, and the Miatas are a LOT of fun. Everything that makes them good on road makes them good on the snow too. Clearance is the only thing that's ever given me an issue, when the snow starts getting deep enough to start coming up the hood when you're driving in it...
noddaz said:Do not read... Do not read... Do not read...
If it makes you feel any better, the handling is a bit odd. I'd say if it's your only car, and you need the clearance, go for it, especially if you have coilovers and it's an easy swap. If you can swing a second, taller car? Just get good snow tires and call it a day.
I installed the 3" lift one of my previous miatas for a little while. Installation wasn't too hard, but with the changes the alignment wasn't able to be great, and that cause the handling to be quite squirly. I didn't keep it on for long.
That said, I believe with the extended lower ball joints, and the adjustable upper control arms in the back, it would probably be much better. In fact I would like to try it again actually.
So, anyone building an off-road Miata for this winter?
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Hopefully next winter... It's just not in the cards for this year.
They do quite well in ice racing too.
Not exactly a miata
I have a co-worker at the ski resort that dailies an NA on studs with the top down in the winter on days that it's not actively snowing. Otherwise he's in a lifted Astro. Seems to do well for him but he's 1000' lower elevation than I am. We have to ford 12"-20" of snow sometimes where I don't think a stock ride height miata would do too well.
In reply to buzzboy :
I agree about the deep snow concern. In most vehicles, unless it's very light, powdery snow that moves out of the way easily, once you're plowing with the bumper, you're close to the upper limit of snow depth. Especially in anything 2wd. Light powdery snow on the other hand can sometimes be pushed up to hood height...
I will submit that while snow tires help, the miata has been mildly terrifying to drive in moderate snow in the mountains. Light snow is ok, heavy is limited to clearance. The problem is medium snow downhill. The miata seems balanced 'too well' and likes to 4 wheel drift when I take downhill corners where even my fwd scion sticks with the exact same tires. Maybe it is a weight thing, but my crx is lighter and also not as bad (but worse than scion). All cars are shod in Blizzak ws80's for reference.
For hooning, or flat roads? Its bonkers good and more fun than it ought to be.
Random winter hooning tip: a few weird local guys have been painting their driveshafts, wheelwells, and wheel barrels with hydroscopic coatings with good effect. A couple did their whole undercarriage. Apparently the trick is to let it cure a few weeks while its still warmish and it will last a winter or 2.
Nugi said:Random winter hooning tip: a few weird local guys have been painting their driveshafts, wheelwells, and wheel barrels with hydroscopic coatings with good effect. A couple did their whole undercarriage. Apparently the trick is to let it cure a few weeks while its still warmish and it will last a winter or 2.
Hydrophobic?
Interested if you have more details on what it is and what the benefits are.
You'll need to log in to post.
