Peter Zimmermann

Hey Guys & Gals, we're considering pulling up our tent stakes and moving to Minnesota. Our current cars are two SCs and a Touareg. Are the roads around Minneapolis salted, or can we use our SCs in the winter (or is this an absolutely ridiculous question)? We are considering adding a Jetta/Passat to our little fleet... Advice please!
Pete

KC911

I can't answer the salty roads question, but are you nuts ?

Forecast for Minneapolis, MN


High /
Low (°F) Precip. %
Today
Dec 20 Wintry Mix 30°/16° 60 %
Tue
Dec 21 Mostly Cloudy 17°/-2° 20 %
Wed
Dec 22 Partly Cloudy 3°/-11° 0 %
Thu
Dec 23 Partly Cloudy 1°/-12° 0 %
Fri
Dec 24 Partly Cloudy 6°/3° 20 %
Sat
Dec 25 Mostly Cloudy 18°/10° 20 %
Sun
Dec 26 Partly Cloudy 29°/18° 0 %
Mon
Dec 27 Partly Cloudy 29°/13° 10 %
Tue
Dec 28 Snow Shower 30°/13° 30 %
Wed
Dec 29 Snow 24°/10° 60 %
Last Updated Dec 20 12:34 p.m. CT

I mean...Thurs, it's getting UP to a balmy 1° and it's not winter yet !!!

Keith

Peter Zimmermann

LOL! Yeah, I think that too, but we have a possible great job op...
Pete

emac

Pete
You answered your own question

Its an absolutely ridiculous question. Not bad in July about 50.
Just kidding but it can be brutal.

Peter Zimmermann

Keith: Where we're at now it's 100 + every day for at least 5 months straight. Even our German shephard hates it here! We have no spring or fall, just "misery" and winter.

Ernie: Thanks!
Pete

dkrotz

Hello,

I do live in the Twin cities and the roads get salted. I have an SC that I store for the winters (just can't imagine all that road grime on my car). For what it's worth though I have seen others out in the winter, usually newer ones.

I'll see you out there.... next spring.

Peter Zimmermann

Yeah, my '80 Targa is white. I'm afraid that if it's parked when the snowplow goes past I'll never see it again!
Pete

jet911

Minnesota, I thought that is where people moved from (he, he, just kidding). That's quite a move, Cal where it's warm (hot) and dry, to Minn where it's cold and damp.

Good luck with your decision - there's always Utah or Colorado where you get all four seasons and some great driving roads. Did I mention great driving roads?

Good Luck Peter!

Peter Zimmermann

Thanks Jim! This deal isn't written in stone yet, but I'd say it's got a better than 75% chance...
Pete

r911

Bakersfield is not the absolute worst place in Calif., but it's close.... Minn. is probably a step up.

Contact MN DOT for the real answer. Be sure to ask if counties or cites ever salt the roads that they maintain - and contact them too, to be sure.

BTW, when it is really cold, the effects of salt are very reduced (of course, it'll come back when it warms up).

I hope you are near a lake in winter (not quite as cold), but not in summer (black flies).

Peter Zimmermann

Yeah, Randy, Death Valley... Hey, thanks for the comments, I'll follow up with them. I'm not sure where we'll end up yet, we're going back for Christmas, between the 23rd and 30th, so I'm sure we'll be busy if we don't freeze to death!
Pete

Jay H

Peter:

As a former resident of Minneapolis (who still remembers the '91 Halloween blizzard) and a native of Southeast Wisconsin (been here 97% of my life), I would strongly suggest putting those SC's away for the winter like 99.999% of the rest of us do around here in the salt belt.

You can go for weeks without warm enough weather to wash a car and those fragile old cars will get eaten alive with all the stuff they dump around here. My previous 911 ('86) was a WI native car and was driven year round by the previous owner. That body was a mess after 10 years of salt (yes even with the much touted zinc coating)... I couldn't imagine subjecting a 911 to that... But, salt is necessary or the roads would be covered for months at a time if it wasn't melted off chemically...

Plus, when the weather gets poor, people tend to drive even more dumb and the risk for accidents goes way up (body shops salivate when the first snow hits). Sand is also used and that'll sand blast your paint quickly too as other cars and trucks kick it up. Run the Touareg and the Jetta/Passat combo for sure from October/November to March/April.

This year, I put my car away in October, but could have left it out until mid December. No snow and no salt until just this past Saturday. Other years, salt was being dumped in October already.

I've been in the snow belt my entire 36 years and I can't stand it anymore...

Good Luck!

Jay
90 964

911S3.6

Pete,
My brother moved up north to Minnesota from Missouri 25 years ago and still isn't use to the prolonged cold, yet his children raised there think nothing of it. I here Lamborghini makes a mean 4X4.
Nick

84_Carrera

You got that right. When I was growing up in MA, during the Blizzard of '78 we had a white Olds. The snowdrifts went from the breezeway roof out away from the house (the wind pushed all the snow into that trapped corner - house, breezeway on a 45°, garage 45° from that making an "L"), completely burying the olds under about 3 feet of snow over its roof. All the neighborhood kids got out to help us FIND the car. After hours of everyone digging away, our neighbor was literally standing on top of where the car's roof was, finally digging down enough to thump the roof - "I think I found your car Mary!" he yelled to my mother.

The other problem is white looks very dirty during the winter - a white supercharged '95 SHO I had always looked horrible during the winters (great during summer though).

Good luck with the move Peter.

Peter Zimmermann

Thank you to all who have offered comments - what a GREAT GROUP! If this move happens I'll be sure to have a garage waiting for our two toys. I guess I'll have to get busy checking out Jetta lease/purchase deals...
Best Regards,
Pete