91 GM with snow tires or find a 4WD vehicle?

[Stealthlead]

Good news, I found a local junkyard!! It was outside of town, and was on no search engine online which is why I was having such a hard time finding it. I heard rumors about it from co-workers, but I finally went and found it! I went and checked every door of every box/aero/whale/mustang. This is what they have- http://s306.photobucket.com/user/Ste...sort=3&page=1#
-99 Crown Vic
-86 Grand Marquis LS
-99 Crown vic
-93 Crown Vic
-81 Wagon LTD (351w?)
-85 Town Car
-94 Mustang GT
-00 Grand Marquis (most of front end gone)
-95 Lincoln TC
-93 Crown Vic
-87 Mustang GT
-95 Continental

Anything there worth anything special? That 5.0 Mustang intake looked really nice. That 86 grand marquis was really nice on the outside, paint was great but when I opened the door to be greeted by the gas tank, I knew something had to be wrong there lol...

I'm pretty sure I'm going to pull the rear end from that 95 Continental as well as the disc setup, e-brake cable etc. That poor thing is in such good shape, the leather seats are pristine! I wish I could use them but tan would not go with anything in my car. I'm not sure why its junked, it looks just fine but I know it isn't even inventoried yet (got there the day before). I find that to be a good indication for the rear end prospect. They want $225 for it. I'll pull the big brake conversion stuff from various other whales and they want $50 a side. Now that I can get a rear end easily I might try and rebuild it and worst case scenario I can't and take it to the shop.

"k code" means posi 3:55 so the carrier can be refreshed and reused. You may be happy with 3.55 gears anyway.

Just to be clear the carrier is what houses the trak lok/differential components?

[pantera77]

That Continental is FWD, so good luck with that.....

The "k" code only applies to boxes, they changed the axle codes in 92 I believe, sometime during the aero years. Mustangs ect are all different.

This yard sounds pretty expensive, $50 a pop for a whole axle around here.

[Stealthlead]

Lol I didn't realize they had fwd's but there are a few other aero's that are good in that yard.

[jaywish]

My marauder is a "K" code

[Stealthlead]

I'm going to go back tomorrow and see if any of the diff's are easily accessible and if they already have any pulled, I saw a ton of diff's lying around. I think $225 is a lot for a rear but he said its for the time it takes to pull it off in they're shop. I'll see if I can do it but a lot of them are stuck in the mud or barely accessible ie. tight space between vehicles.

[Stealthlead]

I'm working on getting the rear end, but for now I'm prioritizing the snow tires, I'm going with Firestone Winterforce's. I'm going back to the junkyard this weekend and pulling the steely rims from the 1999 Crown vic so I can mount them with snow tires, and they'll be 16" which is big enough for the big brake and aero rear end. I just have a quick question... when I buy the snow tires, do I buy them for the 99' CV? On tire rack it shows them as being 225/60R16 - http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....a&autoModClar=
I just wanted to make sure I buy them for 99 CV wheels vs 91.

[jaywish]

Are you going with 4 snows or two? I ask because if you are going with 4 then you could use 215/65 r16. That is beneficial as thin is better for snow.

If you are using two snows then 225/60 -16 is good as you can put them behind a front set of 225 regular tires.

[Stealthlead]

Well, I'm thinking four snow tires is best, and I was planning on studding them. I'm sure I'll run into plenty of ice here and the roads have a lot of incline/declines so won't studs be ideal? It doesn't look like they make the Winterforce in 215/65 r16, or maybe they're out of stock on Tirerack.

edit: They have them as a UV tire, not sure if that would work -http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Firestone&tireModel=Winterforce +UV&partnum=165SR6FWFUV

[jaywish]

I think you can use the uv tires, might even be a good thing. Call tirerack and ask what the up & down sides are. They are made in Canada & Indonesia. (not sure I would want the Oriental ones).

Also look at the test results on the General Altimax, pretty good. They are made in Germany.

The Goodyear's are pretty cheap after the rebates and are made in USA.

The Firestone has the highest speed rating, followed by the goodyear though each brand has the same load rating.

Studding a tire is great for ice but be aware it may make them more slippery in other conditions.

Get a set of chains, especially if you do not get some sort of posi conversion done before winter.

[Stealthlead]

The reason I said the Firestone Winterforce is because they were highly recommended on Crownvic.net, but I'm open to opinions. The goodyears are not bad at all price wise, and I love buying USA made products as often as possible. Which specific Goodyear are you referring to, The Ultra Grip winter?

[jaywish]

If you search tirerack by size and select only studable snows only a few tires pop up.

[pantera77]

Winter Forces are great. Fairly cheap, last a while, and work good.

[Stealthlead]

Out of curiosity, would 205/60R16's fit? There is a set of four local Hankook's for $175 that are studded.

Winter Forces are great. Fairly cheap, last a while, and work good.

Exactly, they got awesome reviews pretty much everywhere I looked. I am open to whatever, it seems like I would be hard pressed to find a bad set of snow tires to be honest.

Also, when you say studs are bad for some conditions, where would they fall short? I figured studs are a great idea because of the possibility of ice, but then again this is my first Colorado winter and I'm not sure what to expect. My roommate says there is ice from time to time, but more powder/snow than anything.

[jaywish]

205 would be very skinny and with a 60 ratio very low, speedo would be off. That would not be my choice for these cars.

studs decrease the contact patch so cut back on wet or dry performance.

You need to decide if you want studs or not, with tires it is almost always a trade off, optimization of one or more features to the detriment of others. If ice is your main concern, go with studs.

Chains are your friend for the worst conditions.

[sly]

also, check local laws. I know some areas ban the use of chains/studs to keep the roads in decent shape. I doubt that's an issue in deep snow areas though.