I’ve been taking a ride in the evening when the temperature has been 32 degrees and colder. Straight line acceleration is terrible. I’m spinning tires like crazy in second gear. When shifting to third I’m also getting tire spin.

Unlike straight line acceleration, cornering has been fine. The rubber grips well and I feel confident in the corners.

What have your experiences been concerning traction and cold pavement?

 

Exactly dead on... I had a scare a few weeks ago in the Z and 25 degree weather.

Merging onto I-83 in PA from a stop sign I spun completely through 1st, shift to 2nd, go sideways spinning, shift to 3rd, a little spin before gripping and pulling me straight. By this time the cars coming were on my *** quickly, but the Z's 3rd gear pull got me out ahead luckily...

Anyway, later on some empty streets I tried to see if it was really that was all the time in the Z and cold and it definitely is. At least on the stock Potenzas. I have BRAND NEW potenzas on new touring wheels and still no cold traction.

In the corners, I don't feel as confident as in the warm weather, but they still grip pretty well... About 2 weeks ago, 32 degrees roughly, I took some 45mph turns at 85, while toying around with some Mustang and I didn't worry too much. A little, but not too much. The Mustang was nowhere to be seen after the twisties.

The Z sucks in cold though. Period... I'm on Week 1 of Toyota Celica driving. Gonna be a long 3 months, but at least I'm not risking my life and/or Z.

 

On cold pavement, I have wait until the needle drops to the matching RPM, like rev-matching backwards, then let go of the clutch to keep traction. If I let go before the needle drops (like shift lightning quick-style), it's very easy to lose traction in straight line.
In the corner, I can't tell if my tires are warmed up already or not. All I know is that if you have warm tires + cold pavement = best grip + least tire wear

 

the problem you are having is with the tires. the stock Z tires are rated as ultra
high performance summer tires. this means the tire compounds are optimized for
warmer conditions. when the temperature drops the compounds will harden and
you will lose traction. as the tires warm up the condition will improve some but
not much at those low temps.

depending on your winter conditions you can go high performance winter tires
which are designed to handle low temps better and yield decent performance
on dry road and snow/ice.

 

Rogue hit it on the head...

I believe davidv is rolling Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, which are just as high performance (if not better) than stock Potenzas REO40s.

 

Ya my stock tires aren't getting too much traction in weather around 32 degrees and below, of course with VDC off. Straight line is okay but around a turn lastnight I almost lost control because I was going slow and hit it in 2nd.

 

In winter I liken the Z's High-Performance Summer tires to a hockey puck. VERY VERY hard rubber... Go's where it wants, when it wants, and doesn't warm up very easily.

 

That's why you don't "hit it" in 2nd in the cold.

 

I have the same problem when it's below 35 or so. I notice that it basically goes away after the tires have warmed up a good bit. I remember spinning all the way through 3rd when my tires were still cold.

 

I spun reverse one day

 

Haha ... nice.

 

low traction sucks... but hey, it's an excuse not to go to
work on those snowy days!

 

+1 The stock potenzas are fine once warmed up. (But in the weather I've have been seeing lately it takes 20 minutes of freeway driving to warm them up.) It's just a matter of getting it to that temp. I haven't been flooring the car since it got icy here. More than tire wear, I don't want drivetrain damage from intermittant ice causing pockets of off/on traction creating undue stress on the drivetrain. (Spinning out and traction catching rapidly..)

 

Try turning off the TCS usually in cold weather or rain!

 

Baltimore weather is crazy cold. I wonder what traction is like in North Dakota?

 

i agree with everything everyone had said! No one has mentioned braking!!! i was on cold tires and someone pulled out in front of me.....abs locked up the tires right away and i almost slid into her! I was goin maybe 25 at the time...scared the sh*t out of me

 

Just do some burn outs a couple of times like your at the track. That'll warm them up. j/k
I go really easy on cold road and usually keep the VDC on. Right now theres also alot of sand on the roads here in NY from snow last week and that combined with the cold and my Sh&t potenzas= bad.

 

yeah sand is the worst. double whammy. once the ice is gone you gotta get
paranoid about sand on the road when you launch. had to get my Z washed
today from all the sand and salt from the last snow.

 

Anyone ever hear the term black ice?

 

Thanks for mentioning the brakes. I didn't even give it a thought. Next time that I’m out, I’ll find a safe place and give ABS a try.