Well, for those of you who are using their Z as their only car, let me tell you, it sucks in the snow. I woke up this morning (in Jersey) to find about 4 inches of snow on the ground (and more to come). I had to get to work, and only had one way to get there (my Z).

What normally would have been a 10 minute easy drive to work on a quick stretch of highway, turned into a 30 minute struggle to keep my car on the road.

Keep in mind that for the entire drive, I only had the car in either 1st or 2nd gear, and never went over 25 MPH. Thank god I didn't. My *** end must have slid out at least 10 times. 3 of those times where on the highway! The others were on back roads. Luckily there happened to be no cars next to me at the time. Coming off the highway ramp was another adventure, as I skidded from side to side all the way down.

Well, I think pretty much made up my mind. I'm going to have to make the investment in snow tires. Either that or start calling out of work every time it snows.

To all of the people that have to drive in it today, GOOD LUCK!

 

As noted elsewhere on this thread, the tires that come with the Z are summer tires, meaning you unlucky people up north have to buy winter tires or a beater.

So what's that "snow" stuff look like, anyway? I hear it's white and cold...

 

Relatively light rear wheel drive car with lots of torque down low. Nothing unusual about sliping and sliding. get to 3rd a.s.a.p. and hold on. Fortunatly, my Z is safely tuck away in the garage and the Explorer has 4 x 4. Be careful out there among the English.

 

I woke up to about 4" of snow this morning, and decided to take the Z out to see if it really sucks in the snow. I have a base model with the stock tires and didn't have too much of a problem, I honestly like this thing better than my 96 Prelude (in both the snow and rain). The only problem I have now is the snow is up to my bumper, unfortunately the Z wasn't made to be a plow truck... where are those plow trucks anyway? To those driving today, be careful she will slide a little. I have my dealer searching for a beater car for me, hopefully they'll find one soon.

Eddie

 

Well, since I knew the snow was comming and it is my daily driver, I covered it up and rented a car. Now I have a brand spankin' new Mitsubishi Gallant to drive. It's embarrasing and I feel like I'm riding in the Pope Mobile.



VG

Oh, Old Skooler, here's a refresher on the identification of snow..

(hint...it's the white stuff)

 

Damn. Be careful, guys. Buy snow tires if you're going to drive in the winter...

 

Hate to tell you guys, but if you were to put the stock summer tires on an Infiniti QX4, you would be all over the road in the snow. They are SUMMER tires. The car is great with LM22 WINTER tires in the snow.

 

I have owned a 2000 BMW 328i, 1994 RX-7 Twin Turbo, a 1990 300Z, a 1988 Fiero GT and a 1983 DeLorean... ALL were better in the snow then my 350Z.

I got stuck a block away from my house. Luckily a sand truck came by and showered me and the road with traction. I turned the VCD off, started in 2nd and drove 2 miles and hour back to my house. I had to shovel the driveway just to get the car in the garage.

Time for snow tires, anyone find a good solution?

Thanks,
Ant.

 

evicid, do you have VDC / TCS?

 

touring means he has VDC.

now I dont want to start an arguement about driving abilities, cause I dont know you. but there seems to be a few people who have come on here with snow tires, and said the Z handles quite good.

now you come on and say it sucks, with summer tires, and you drove in 1st and 2nd. now I live in GA, but I am more than aware that if I lived up north, Id have snow tires on it, and 1st is totally out of the question on the slippery stuff, hell Id use 4th at 25 just to keep things lethargic.

anyway no offense, but Im not so sure its the car(with exeption of the tires, but come on, no car comes with winter tires) as your driving skill. No one said you should be able to get somewhere in 4" of snow as fast as you could on a clear day...

 

Good thing I bought a KIA Sportage 4WD yesterday for my wife. It is now snowing out and I took it out for a drive and had no problems with it. I know its not a a great quality car but for $13,000 and the warranty it comes with it for us it is worth it. Now I don't have to worry about my Z seeing snow (better sleep nights for me).

I hope that all of you that do use the car as a daily driver in potential snow areas invest in snow tires. I know that this is not a cost you envisioned when purchasing the car but this investment may save you from damage to your or worst an injury to yourself. Let's try to stay safe this winter and enjoy a fun spring and summer 2003.
Victor

 

I used to have the same problems with my 240/260Z's.. I added about 200 lbs in the form of sand bags to the rear over the axle and it made a very big difference.. If you can't or don't want to spring for expensive snow tires, give it a try..

Steve (k2we) Dobbs Ferry, NY

Touring/6MT/Chrome Silver/mats & side air bags Sitting snuggly under a car cover in my driveway under 7" of snow... Ugh...

 

Don't drive your Z w/the stock tires, they are worthless in snow, ice or sleet. Buy a good set of snow tires for the northern states and/or all season tires for marginal areas. I live in Central Oklahoma and we get sporadic snow, mostly ice storms the last few yrs. I will be buying all season tires soon. Check with online dealers like Tire Rack.com or Discount Tires.com for your needs. Tire Rack has a methodology for what tires they recommend under certain situations. Even all season tires will net you a 100% better performance than the stock tires, they will not work.

 

Trust me, and him, i used all the gears, THIS CAR SUCKS, AND IS MAJORLY DANGEROUS IN THE SNOW WITH THE STOCK TIRES. enough said, dont even try going out, its crazzzzzzzzy!!!!!!!

 

I have to agree this is the worst car I've had in the snow...or more accurately, these are the worst tires for snow I've ever experienced. I've been driving rear wheel drive cars for 12 years now (91 Z32, 95 240SX, 00 Z3, 03 Z33) and have never used snow tires or a back-up vehicle, so I'm fairly used to dealing with this. But the OE tires on our car are terrible on the white stuff. I made it about 200 yards this morning in 30 minutes (I live in a hilly area)...the car would get rolling a little and then immediately break traction and start sliding in the direction of the slightest hill, which was dead sideways going out of my parking lot. Even sitting in neutral the car would just be in full four wheel drift to my right...the one time it didn't stop until I was about six inches from T-boning myself onto a parked car. That was enough for me.

Unfortunately, my LM-22s were not delivered until late yesterday, too late to get mounted up. It will be the first thing I do when I dig the old girl out.

 

We may have 110F summers, but thank goodness we can drive every day of the year. =)

good luck, get some winter tires and drive in a higher gear.

 

The TIRES suck, not the car. You are also using the wrong gears. Is this your first MT? I'm not picking on you if it is, I just know the Z is the first MT for a lot of owners. In snow, sleet or ice, you should start out in 3rd, not 1st or 2nd. You should NEVER use 1st gear in snowy travel. The summer tires ie. the RE040s, are the worst in inclement weather that some people have ever driven. Get them off and put winter or all season tires on the car immediately.

Also, for you 5AT owners like me, put your AT in manual mode and use 3rd to start driving and continue in 3rd most if not all your journey. It won't harm the car and you won't spin the tires like 1st or 2nd. I didn't always live in Oklahoma(Colorado, N. Mex. Ariz) and we get lots of snow here sometimes, too.

Boomer--Public Service Announcement for the day. Snow isn't hell for sports cars, if you know what you are doing. Donuts don't eat tires in the snow and are great fun. Driving in snow is easy to learn w/either transmission, you just can't drive too fast. Its easy because even dumb people like me can learn how to drive in it, eventually.

 

With TCS, Anti Lock Brakes, and Blizzak Tires the car is great in the snow. In order for TCS to work you have to have some traction and the stock tires are absolutely terrible. In fact, my LM-22s are nicer tires than my stock one in all conditions. I have no wheel hop with the LM-22s on and they offer a smoother ride without giving up performance.

Here is the PIC to prove it.

 

Today was 70' here in Los Angeles. We might get a couple days of rain this year. Any takers?