All-Trac + Snow/Ice = Fun

[Ten_and_Two]

So have any of you guys with an All-Trac taken it out in the snow much? I have and this car is a blast. If you want it the traction is there, gets around really well and i'm falling in love with awd.

On the other hand if you want to do some sliding/drifting, this car also does really well. Like most other vehicles on pure ice the thing understeers like crazy, although if my ebrake worked that would solve that problem. But if you get it on the perfect mixture of ice and snow these cars are bad, real bad. Just keep it in second, throw the weight a little and it drifts so well. And the best part is you dont even have to run it hard at all, putting very little wear on the car.

Lately all i've been thinking about is when is it gonna snow next. Next time we get some good, or should I say bad, weather here in St. Louis i'll try to get some videos. Anyways I was just curious what you other All-Trac owners thought.

[JMSports]

DX + Snow/Ice is fun.

Burnouts on ice, like running on a treadmill,till the low end kicks in and the car goes.

And doing reverse donuts in the parking lots.

FWD FTW.

[white90dx]

I'll be taking my Alltrac to the snow for the first time this weekend, but I don't think there will be any fresh powder anywhere. If the weather is good/bad enough some evening, I might just head up the mountain just for a drive. Good times.

I added a rear limited slip differential from a GT4 celica (yes, it fits, even with the auto tranny) and Tein coilover suspension - we shall see how well it handles compared to my WRX. I hope the Michelin all-seasons are up to the task.

-Charlie

[Ten_and_Two]

As far as FWD camry's goes, trust me, it doesn't even compare to the all-trac. Not trying to dog on them, I have a celica and it's a blast, just not near as fun as the all-trac.

Sounds like your gonna have a really good time Charlie. I'm not sure how much experience you have in the snow coming from california, but just be careful. I've noticed that they slide alot wider than most RWD cars. And if you get too sideways with enough speed it won't want to straighten out a bit and then it's plowing time, especially when going down a hill. I came about 2 feet from slamming a tree with my drivers side door. If it wasn't for going onto the grass and having that slow me down I would have been one sick puppy.

Of course you already own a WRX so i'm sure you know how to handle an AWD.

[kesando]

Besides the FWD Camrys/Corollas being a little faster and having better gas mileage, All-trac > FWD by far . I think most of us would trade up if given the opportunity

[joeykrim]

Originally Posted by white90dx

I'll be taking my Alltrac to the snow for the first time this weekend, but I don't think there will be any fresh powder anywhere. If the weather is good/bad enough some evening, I might just head up the mountain just for a drive. Good times.

I added a rear limited slip differential from a GT4 celica (yes, it fits, even with the auto tranny) and Tein coilover suspension - we shall see how well it handles compared to my WRX. I hope the Michelin all-seasons are up to the task.

-Charlie

im wishing mine was alltrac, sounds fun and there is plenty of snow here in washington state right now.

tein coilovers fit on the gen2?!

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by joeykrim

im wishing mine was alltrac, sounds fun and there is plenty of snow here in washington state right now.

tein coilovers fit on the gen2?!

Celica Alltrac coilovers fit the Camry Alltrac with minor modifications... check out my thread on the subject.

Alltrac coilovers will not fit a FWD Celica/Camry though. It is up to somebody else to check if FWD Celica coilovers fit a FWD Camry...

-Charlie

[white90dx]

Wow... so I got a chance to do some driving on hard packed snow last night. It was about 1-2" deep, just a day or two old.

The Alltrac is AWESOME! I was not able to loose traction (yay no power!) while accellerating. And donuts rule. I found a nice wide section of the road (wide, non-travelled mountain road) and flipped it around a few times. The teenagers nearby had the oddest look on their face while I was spinning around. Heh. It was at least as fun as in my WRX - probably due to the better tires (I haven't had all-seasons on my WRX for years - crappy snow traction with high performance summer tires is what I'm used to).

Most of the trip up the mountain, there was a Sheriff in a Suburban right behind me. I let him pass me once (didn't want to get pulled over or something). Then he let me pass again (oh, crap, here it comes...) but I think he just wanted to be around when I got stuck. Ha! Not gonna happend. Steep, snowy hairpin turns and the car was just a champ. So, I got my second white Christmas ever. A little playing in the snow, and back down the mountain to relax.

Just had to share...

-Charlie

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Oh, Charlie....you make me impatient for my All-Trac Celica. We've had LOTS of snow so far this winter in Ontario, and even though my Camry and my Celica (both FWD with 5-speeds) are incredibly good in the snow, I miss my TSi Talon. The GT-Four will be a nice treat when I can finally afford it.

LONG LIVE ICE RACING!

[Ten_and_Two]

I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. Too bad it's so warm here and we haven't had anymore snow, freaking 70 degrees the day after Christmas!

Is yours still an auto or have you converted it yet, i'm guessing your waiting to do that when you do the swap? You say you couldn't lose traction while accelerating, I could get all four to spin fairly easily if I wanted, but that could just be because I have a 5-speed, or some all season tires.

It's weird, here in the city few people go out in the snow to play around, yet back home it was like a big party, every street had people sliding around. That could be due to the fact that we only had one cop...

People don't expect a camry to be awd, it's really funny. One guy at work kept saying I couldn't do donuts in a camry, I later proved him wrong...

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by Ten_and_Two

I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. Too bad it's so warm here and we haven't had anymore snow, freaking 70 degrees the day after Christmas!

Is yours still an auto or have you converted it yet, i'm guessing your waiting to do that when you do the swap? You say you couldn't lose traction while accelerating, I could get all four to spin fairly easily if I wanted, but that could just be because I have a 5-speed, or some all season tires.

It's weird, here in the city few people go out in the snow to play around, yet back home it was like a big party, every street had people sliding around. That could be due to the fact that we only had one cop...

People don't expect a camry to be awd, it's really funny. One guy at work kept saying I couldn't do donuts in a camry, I later proved him wrong...

Yeah, mine is still auto. It would be too much work to convert before doing the motor swap (you need to remove the motor to do the auto-manaul swap on a Alltrac). I still have some other stuff to do to the car before I do the motor swap (wheels, brakes, etc.). I'll hopefully have it done by summer.

A 5-speed would reall help getting the tires spinning. I have to turn and e-brake to get it sideways. That'll all change once I have 280hp and a manual transmission, of course.

I took another trip up the mountain this weekend (this time to the resort area, with tons of traffic...). I had fun convincing the Sheriff and Caltrans (California Transportation Authority) guys that the thing was all-wheel-drive and they should let me through without putting chains on. Once again though, the car was a total champ.

-Charlie