Pushing the low temp limits

[NSX2398]

As many of you know from my previous posts, I've spent the last year testing the NSX limits as a daily driver in winter in Canada.

For those who are interested, this past week it may have been cold in Florida but on Wed it was -33C (the high for the day) here and -40F with the wind chill when I left on a 350 mile drive to a neighbouring province. The only prep I had done was blocking off the central air intake so the rad wouldn't freeze up (at 60 MPH, -35 would feel like -57) which is standard up here for anyone doing highway driving in the winter.

I run the standard 50/50 antifreeze/water mix in the rad which is good for about -45 and I use a Canadian fuel vendor who puts gasline antifreeze in their gas as standard.

I can report that the car functioned normally; the interior heater was up to the task (I didn't even have my coat on for most of the trip); and the windows didn't fog up at all although the front window was so cold that it does produce a slight draft. Gas mileage was normal. Factory CD changer worked normally.

Unlike a previous car I owned with a hydraulic clutch, the NSX doesn't seem to be affected (slow release) although the transmission gets so stiff overnight that you can stall the engine if you let the clutch out too quickly even though the tranny is in neutral. Once up to operating temp, shifting is normal, as is the engine oil pressure.

I only post my observations to assist others who may be thinking of driving their NSX in the winter and also so the NSX community can better appreciate what an amazing car this is. When I bought mine 15 months ago, there was very little good info available and a lot of conjecture, much of which turned out to be false. In retrospect, with the right prep, the NSX has been the best winter car I've ever owned in 35 years.

------------------
- Ian
91 Blk/Blk daily driver; 100K+ miles & still going strong

 

[NSXaholic]

Actually Ian this is very helpful. There is a lot of rumor about driving in cold weather conditions, but very little of it is unsubstantiated. For this reason it's good to get the perspective who has not only driven in winter conditions, but harsh ones at that too. Although I highly doubt Chicago winters are as cold as those in Saskatchewan, it does get quite frigid here. I don't take my X out much (more because of traction concerns -- note what happened to elixer here), but I was still very curious to know how driveable the NSX was under general Winter conditions. You've given me strong piece of mind. I guess that other concern I had was what the limit points were for the aluminum frame. Ie, would the frame have a tendancy to warp (or become more sensitive to damage) below a certain temperature?? Any thoughts on this.

Thanks again for the post. Good to know.

Regards.

 

[nsxtasy]

Ian, I assume you have winter tires on your NSX, right?

Originally posted by NSXaholic:
Although I highly doubt Chicago winters are as cold as those in Saskatchewan, it does get quite frigid here.

Chicago climate statistics:

- Average high in January: 29 F

- Average low in January: 16 F

- All time record low: -27 F (that's temp; wind chill can reach -80 F)

- Half the winters here, the temperature at some point reaches -10 F or colder.

 

[Ag NSX]

I took the NSX out this weekend here in Chicago and all went well. I had to avoid alot of mounds of salt though. Don't worry I took it out before the snow and after the snow.

I believe the high was 16F this weekend?

 

[Aiken Drum]

In January, Saskatchewan can easily go down to -45F in the daytime with wind chills in the -60F range. (Note that, at latitudes over 50, the midwinter sun only gets about 15-20 degrees off the horizon as it circles around to the south, so "daytime" is a somewhat misleading term.)

Winter in Saskatchewan sucks. That's why I live in Seattle now.

Edit: Interesting trivia: Usually the radio reports midwinter wind chill factors not in the usual "effective temperature" way, but instead in the much more useful "seconds until exposed flesh freezes" manner (usually with numbers like 20 or 30). You may think I'm kidding, but I'm not.

[This message has been edited by Aiken Drum (edited 27 January 2003).]

 

[NSX2398]

Sorry, I've been travelling and haven't been able to check Prime for a few days.

Yes, I have winter tires (Michelin Arctic Alpins) on all four corners on spare 'track rims' that I only use in winter months. I would strongly recommend you do the same if you're planning to drive in the winter on an ongoing basis.

If you're interested, in the spring of 2002 I wrote about my thought processes and experimentation (on tires and other things) and you can read the article here: http://www.nsxsc.com/html/body_article27.html

Since then, I have another 10 months of operation under my belt and when I changed tires last fall, I specifically looked for signs of rusting/corrosion in the wheel opening area and found none. When I go in for my next oil change, I'm going to ask to have a close look under the rest of the car and will let you know.

The cold does affect the shocks and ride but not as much as I was expecting. My previous car had nitrogen charged shocks and I was expecting them to deteriorate like the trunk and engine cover struts do, but they did not seem to noticably be affected even after 10 years so I'm hoping the NSX is the same although I'm not sure it uses gas-charged shocks.

I was also expecting more interior creaks and rattles but it doesn't seem that much worse than in the summer. As an engineer, I would not expect that the cold would affect the structural rigidity of the aluminum chassis in any way.

------------------
- Ian
91 Blk/Blk daily driver; 100K+ miles & still going strong

 

[NSX2398]

Originally posted by NSXaholic:
note what happened to elixer here),

Make no mistake about my comments .. you cannot drive with the same enthusiasm in winter than you can in the summer .. especially on anything that resembles a corner. However, on straight sections, I routinely accelerate at about 2/3s what I would in the summer and let TCS do the rest. As others have noted in this forum, if you want to have some fun and practice your responses to an oversteer, you can head to an unused parking lot; disable TCS; and let 'er rip. But keep an eye out for the light standards!!


------------------
- Ian
91 Blk/Blk daily driver; 100K+ miles & still going strong