I just bought an XA. It wont be in until June 14 but the fact is I still bought one. I've been looking at all the fancy stuff you people do to your cars and love it all. Of course I can't wait to trick mine out. My quiestion is how does lowering your car and adding body kits affect it's performance in the snow, for that matter have any of you driven your xa in the snow? How'd it handle? I live in Northern Ohio and the weather is harsh. Any insight would be great.

 

bodykit not recommended if XA will be daily driver in snow. reason being, to make a bodykit look nice, you'd have to drop the suspension at least 2" - so, you lose 2" on clearance from the under carriage by dropping the suspension and an additional 1.5" from the bodykit (kenstyle kit hangs down ~1.5" lower than stock bumpers and side-skirts). Unless you're gonna start a snow plow biz in Northern OH10, IMO, you should stick to just the 2" drop, wheels/tires and skip the bodykit.

My suspension is dropped 2" (springs only) and have 215/40/17 tires. The ride is fine on smooth roads but very harsh over train tracks and potholes. I'll be getting 225/40/17 next tire choice - this size will increase the width and the sidewall a little too. You can also go with 215/45/17 for taller sidewall only. I suspect you've got to deal with a greater share of potholes up there than we do in southern california because of more weather conditions.

 

I live in San Jose, but I visited my family in NE Wisconsin in Feb. Drove down through Missouri first to visit a friend. Put on roughly 6000 miles...but I digress. There wasn't too much snow in Wisconsin while I was there, but the little snow I did encounter was no problem whatsoever. However, while driving back through Flagstaff, we hit one HELL of a snow storm! Snow so thick and heavy, you could barely see the car in front of you! Lot of cars sliding off the road. Same story, though...no problem whatsoever! I was impressed with how the Xa handled the snow. Hope this helps!