Yeah I'm worried about drops and PA winters here too, really horrible roads that my car barely has clearance for at stock height, that's why I was thinking about those KSport coilovers, recently posted in a thread in here as it says the height is fully adjustable. It snowed one night here and the next day I tried to go to ESU and the road I had to take was plowed, but poorly leaving about 3 inches of slush/ice right in the middle of the lane with the pavement on either side where numerous peoples tires had driven was only wet, I thought it was going to rip my exhaust off and I defintiely heard it scrape a couple times, my brothers Cougar, also sitting on stock suspension, probably wouldn't have made it a mile on that road without major damage to his front bumper and exhaust. Knowing this area and what you have to face, I'd say either don't drop it at all, or get a suspension with full ride height adjustment so you can lower it in summer and put it back up in winter. Your best bet for saving money is a cheap winter beater.