OK so in the northeast we got anywhere from 18-24 inches yesterday. Of course my job is opening Monday morning as scheduled. My Z is a week old, tire grip barely in, have to be extremely mindful of the rpm situation etc...

I did about 4 hours of shoveling last night... tried to get the car out but very little luck. It took me about another hour this morning to get it out. The ol' back and forth, rocking technique did the trick ultimately. The biggest problem is the ground clearance... very difficult. And u have to break the ice up with the pick then broom out the snow to shovel it or u're paint will hate u forever.

I got it out and I realized I had almost no prayer of getting it out again so i just said f the shower and the change i'm just gonna go to work.

I realized almost instantly that it would be a long commute as the Z was, as expected, not handling well at all. The downhill on-ramp onto a very busy road (central ave.) had barely been plowed, and my Z got stock. I had to shovel out for about 25 minutes and eventually managed to get down the hill.

5 minutes later, doing 15-20 mph tops on a 40 mph road... BUSY mind you.. I spun out, did a good 720 plus. Miraculously I avoided all vehicles and walls/dividers and I ended up FACING the oncoming traffic (three lanes worth). I managed to reverse and get myself facing the correct direction and kept going...

I did about 35 on the highway w/ hazards on... unfortunately the next highway I had to get to was a left exit and I accelerated successfully and got off...but this ramp had also not been plowed. I took it slow and got tailgated like crazy.. there was some minor fishtailing but I made it and across the bridge into rockland county (aka the country, LOL). I got stuck on one road which had barely been plowed, but managed to reverse and find ease my way through the light and eventually to the office.

I pray this is the one and only major snowfall of this winter and that I can pick up a nice beater SUV over the summer. Don’t let this happen to you LOL

 

Do you know 'Lee Hotti' from Yonkers?

 

lol

 

I can't believe you drove your z to work. just call in sick or say you can't make it to work because of the weather. since it looks like the z is your daily driver a set of snow tires will cost less than your first accident.

 

Snow tires are in your future....

 

Work from home.

 

I Love California!!!!!!!!

 

RE040 was never designed to run in snow... or ice...

IMHO you were playing with your life and your car....

If you had totalled your car would it be worth the money you saved? Call a cab or get a ride from a friend...

If you had snow tires you would be ok... All weather might have done not too shabby.... stock tires.... I just hope we don't share the road together so you don't spin out and hit me.... seriously you could've killed somebody else including yourself...

Lesson learned I hope... this forum is full of sad stories like yours...

 

Yea the stock tires are seriously a deathtrap in snow/ice. A dedicated winter tire does make all the difference in winter driveability.

 

Happy to hear that you made it home safe instead of wrapping the car around a pole.

 

took mine out today with mu Dunlop Wintersport M3's. Handled like a champ on the poorly plowed PenDot roads just north of Philly. Next up for me is an LSD though since I have a base. Get some snow tires!!!

 

I drove the Denali in today...we got about 20" here in MD.

 

I've driven an '89 240sx and a '91 318i as daily drivers.. and both are notoriously horrible in the snow and I always managed just fine, as I am an extremely cautious and I feel experienced driver, especially in poor conditions.

I figured if I survived in the 240, how can a nissan rwd made 17 years later handle worse in the snow? I guess between the vast upgrade in hp and those stock potenza's the answer is a lot worse.

Learned my lesson. I'm gonna figure out a bus route for when it snows until i get some a) snow tires and b) back up 2nd 4wd/awd ride.

I should get home OK I leave in an hour and the roads are pretty good by now the sun was out in force today. Wish me luck.

 

36 days till Spring!!

 

counting down till spring. Hibernating as much as possible now.

 

Kabeetz, OK, here is your assignment. Save up some $ this spring, summer, fall and get yourself a beater. You don't need AWD or 4WD, a decent front wheel drive with some good snow tires will do just fine. (I use Blizzaks on my wife's Jetta.) I'm sure you'd rather not subject that fine 350Z to all that nasty snow, salt, and grime. Plus even though you are a good driver some other schmuk who isn't is more likely to nail your Z in the snow/ice. Then you also have a second car while you do some mods to the Z! Good luck with the rest of the winter and hopefully the nasty days are behind us all.

 

I tell everyone that asks, not to drive the z in the snow, most laugh but i had a similiar scare trying to get from phillly to south jersey. I hear snow tires are good but u know what, i just bought a beater. Saves the car from rock chips/salt.

 

You were lucky. You need a b/up veh. for bad weather.

 

ya i bought a 92 civic hatch for a beater but didnt have a chance to register it yet, so i was forced to drive the Z. I really have no idea how snow tires will make the car drive THAT much better. i had such a hard time, and all of these streets were already plowed.

 

People really aren't kidding when they say the stock tires are a deathtrap.

I didn't drive my Z in the winter last year, except for one trip to the mall where I came out and discovered a snowstorm had happened (it was clear when I went in!). I nearly died about 5 times on the 20 mile trip home. Normally would take 30 mins... took me about 4 hours.

Z went into the garage for rest of winter and I drove the beater.

Beater died this fall, so rather than put more money into it I got some winter tires for the Z.

Blizzak WS-50's. They make a HUGE difference. More or less, it feels about like the old Honda Accord did in the snow, which was fine.

Think shoes with grease on the bottoms vs. boots... maybe not boots with metal spikes, but definitely boots.