You will die if you take the above advice.

Remember , its snow tires or death/damage to your Z or you.

 

Living with snow 5 months of the year, I may be able to provide some input.

It's repeating a couple of others, but I'll try and summarize my experience.

-You need winter tires. The stock Potenza's are summer tires and have absolutely no traction. I've heard Blizzak LM-22s are pretty good in the snow and you don't lose much dry performance. I went with the WS50s cuz you get better grip in the snow, but sacrifice performance on dry roads.

-I found TCS and VDC quite helpful in the snow, although sometimes the VDC couldn't compensate enough and it will get a little squirrelly.

-Watch out for ruts. As it IS a sports car, there isn't much clearance. If there are ruts, drive on the ridges.

With a 53/47 weight distribution, the Z is a pretty good vehicle in the snow, for a rear-wheel drive. Just remember you've got 300hp and drive accordingly You should be fine.

 

+1 on the death thing. I didnt change to my winter tires before the first snow last winter and to sum it up, I was about 5 hours late to work. I got about a block away from my appartment and the driving was so bad I turned right around and put the blizzaks on. After puttingthem on it was bearable, but if you try to apply throttle too fast expect fishtailing.

 

Do places like national tire and battery install winter tires for you if u buy them there? Also When I wanna put the summer tires back on how hard is it? Im a noob when it comes to this stuff.

I think I will be fine with Snow tires and traction control since I am getting enthusiast.

 

I would buy a second set of rims for winter. Everytime you break the bead, I'm told you damage the tire. I bought ASAs and Blizzaks from Tirerack. Doing a quick search, it'd be around $1100USD. That way you can swap the wheels yourself...

I'm an advocate for VDC as it's saved my butt a couple of times in nasty weather. Either way, drive carefully in the nasty stuff and keep an eye out for those other yahoos who might lose it and take you out too...

 

when you buy snow tires do they come with any sort of rims or hubcaps? Ill leave my stock rims and stock tires stored away if thats the case.

 

They're just the tires... you need to buy the rims too. I think hubcaps on a 350z are illegal... or they should be!!! www.discounttiredirect.com has lots of nice looking rims for around $100 each... or find some on ebay.

 

Ok so the key is to get winter tires and not use the stock rims right.

How about if I already had replaced the stock rims with chrome ones, should I still get different rims for the winter tires?

 

Really bad car have in Chicago

Go buy a beat up 4X4 to get you around in the winter

 

Like I said I dont want to buy a beater car and have to pay extra insurance.

I could either get a 350z then later get snow tires, or just get a Lancer EVO.

What u think I should do

 

I was assuming you were going to run the stock rims/tires for the summer.

I'd keep the stock rims for winter and slap some Blizzaks on there. You'll be paying a mounting fee of about $50 (a guess) if you buy online or from a local retailer (cost may be hidden) For summer I'd get some nice 18" or 19" rims. And hopefully you can find a buyer for the stock Potenzas.

As for the Evo... great car but much different. You'll have to figure that one out on your own. Figure out what you want/need in a car and then look at what the two have to offer.

 

i was thoroughly surprised at how well my Z did in one of the snowiest winters in new england i can remember. i have an enthusiest model and allways turned TC off! (i hate TC). i did use a set of 225/50/17 toyo snow tires (H rated) and i never got stuck anywhere. keep in mind i'm saying this with owning an awd wrx w/snows the winter before. i thought the Z was going to be terrible even with the snows, but i was dead wrong!

 

ok so
stock rims for my winter tires, and my chrome rims I buy later on for my summer tires that works good right?

So its 50 bucks everytime I want to switch tires out? thats not that bad.

 

No one mentioned this but I thought you might benifit.

Definetely get rust proofing done. I kept my Jetta for the winter so my Z will never see snow so it won't ever need rust proofing.

What causes rust is salt, and if your city uses salt instead of sand to put on the road then you definetely need to rust proof your car every year.

I would never want to see a rusted Z on the road. Please rust proof your car for all of us

 

i've had the Z for two winters before it was fullymodded...

had a nice set of TOYO SnowTires... car was solid ... no fishtails and excellent traction

 

true about the virginia thing. we get a lot less snow. we do get a lot of ice though. if it's so impossible to drive in the snow, how come people do it? veilsideZ33's doin it in canada! he must be a wizard or something!...or he know's how to drive in the snow....

i'll admit the z is the worst car i have driven in snow though. even the corvette did better. just go slow and be careful. e-brake's your friend on the down hill

if you don't buy a z because all these people tell you it can't be driven in the snow....i'll be at a loss for words...

i take mine skiing for christ's sake! i have a ski rack on it!

 

My mom and dad have rust proofing on our maxima and altima, sad thing is the maxima just started a little rust spot on the roof. But I will rust proof mine

 

I drive my car year round in MI and Ontario. My setup is Pirelli 240 Wintersports on stock 18s. It works great.

BTW...Yes the TSC and VDC have certainly helped, but it doesn't replace common sense.

 

would it be bad if I left winter tires in summer?

 

It wouldn't be bad, but not good either.