[ggregg]

Tom,
Don't do the lake ice thing (even though it is pretty fun). I remember doing 60 mph donuts on a lake when we were kids. We hit an ice ridge in the middle of the lake and broke the beads on three of the four tires. It was a long walk back to shore. And then we still had to drive back to the car and take three tires off and bring them back to the service station to air them back up. Ending ruining 2 of the tires, one of the rims, and screwing up the alignment big time.

Not me BTW, I was just along for the ride.

The parking lot thing is a great idea, no matter what some think. It will not hurt anything and gives you a feel for how your car skids, which will keep you out of trouble some day. ABS on the rear wheels is a good idea on RWD cars and the goal was to prevent a skid not necessarily decrease stopping ability. Since most people tend to slam on their brakes when they skid, which usually only makes matters worse, it makes sense. I'm not fond of a lot of the doo dads on newer cars but I do like ABS. Your lucky you don't have the optional air ride. It's quite expensive to rebuild, which it would need by now, and parts are not easy to find. Many were converted back to standard when the cars were only a few years old. Today's air ride systems are much more durable but a metal spring is still a lot longer lasting than a rubber bag.

And for those of you that think that driving on a lake is not a good idea, up here we have plowed roads on some lakes. The University in town uses it as a parking lot. The ice gets many feet thick and as long as you stay away from the river inlet and outlet (the Mississippi, which is really just a wide creek up here), you are fine.