Here in Maryland the temp hasn't gone much over freezing for more than a week, and today it was around 25 all day. I got in the car and started rolling, and it felt like the tires were square! Flat spotted from the cold! I'd never experienced that before.

A few minutes later they were more or less round, but I took a corner at what seemed like a moderate speed and went into an interesting 4-wheel drift! Dry pavement, no gravel or salt to break the traction, they just weren't warm enough to provide any grip.

Watch out for these crappy RE040s in the cold!

 

yeah I took a turn behind a riced out accord(massive dual exhaust, altezzas) I tried to follow him at his speed... ended up having the rear step out, but VDC jumped into action and it stopped the problem and it came back under control. but still the ricer had no trouble, but the Z was slippin around

Im talking like 25mph on a wide left turn on the outside lane of a 2 turn lane area. easy as pie for a 350Z in the past. but not in 18degree weather.

7degrees in the morning should be lots of fun. whats traction?

 

I cause the the TCS to kick in rather abruptly in the cold when simply pulling away from a parking space (parrallel job on small street). They really cuk in cold.

Once one of my freinds along side me in his shitty older camry (which we joke about all the time) while it was raining. Im playing with him for a little and its all funny, but when I decide to just pull away, the TCS kicks in, i easy back on the throttle, then slowly accelerate again and the car bogs down again, and I see the camry pull away...it whent from funny to sad in a few seconds.

Cant wait to put on the SO3s!

 

This should not be acceptable from Nissan. A LOT of people live in areas where the temperature is going to dip into the single digit region. I can understand not driving the car in snow, but not being able to drive the car, without hazard, in the cold weather all together is absolutely ridiculous. This car needs better tires. If Nissan isn't aware of the quality of these tires, then it's high time they are made aware of the danger that lies within. There's absolutely no reason why they couldn't have gone with a better tire and not affected cost.

Let's raise the flag!

 

These tires SUCK in the cold. It has been below 20 for two days here and I have been extra careful. It takes forever for these things to heat up.

 

I really did'nt want to drop a grand on tires Until these wore out but after this morning I think I might have to. I know as soon as I buy new tires it will be unseasonably warm the rest of the winter.

 

cmon guys...have you ever ridden a motorcycle? You HAVE to heat up those tires to get some good lean.

Here in NJ, its beeen really cold. yes, you HAVE to heat up the tires (common sense for a FR car), part of the problem is the heat, the other is low tire pressure when cold. I watch my tire pressure monitors - they start off at 33-34 in the rear, once I'm up to 38, (ten-15 minutes) i'm ready to go.

Either way, its prolly not a good idea to go hard driving in the cold like this anyhow. Youdont know whats out there, you ccould hit a patch of ice from where someone dropped their bottle water, or from a hose, hydrant etc.

Be careful and use a *tiny* bit of comon sense.
S03s wont help....

 

I'm ditching the REO40's on delivery and either getting Michelin Pilot A/S tires or some Blizzaks for the winter. If I go with the Blizzaks, I'll buy some nice rims and S-03s after the thaw. I've heard so many complaints about the RE040s from not only Z drivers up north but drivers of many other makes, especially S4 drivers.

 

People, come on now....don't blame Nissan or the tires. The RE040's were made for three seasons, and one if them isn't the winter. I live in the Chicago area, and we always dip down below 20 degrees in the winter and you know what, there are plenty of people driving BMW M3's, Vette's and other cars that all have summer tires on them. Does this stop people from buying the cars, no! Do all of these people complain that BMW and Chevy have put crappy tires on the cars, no, well possibly. The point is, just about every one of these cars I've seen, and I saw an M3 and a Vette this morning, and it's currently 7 degrees outside, and they both had winter tires.

I'm just kind of tires of the Nissan and Bridgestone bashing. The car has summer tires, deal with it. If you live somewhere that gets cold, get winter tires, otherwise stop complaining.

Just my .02.

 

I am going to blame Nissan.....*they* were the ones that chose to put these tires on the car. They could have easliy gone the route of the G-35 Coupe.

I agree to a certain extent. If you live somewhere that snows an awful lot, then yes, you should get some winter/snow tires. *But*, just because it gets cold out, should not warrant having to replace the frickin' tires. Nissan made a very poor choice in tire selection for the Z.

 

As stated by someone else, the S4 has the RE 040's the A6 has them and the TT. I know people that have the A6 and another with the TT, and they have never complained about the tires. Maybe there is something wrong with these tires on the Z?

 

The IS300 has them too, and never heard any complaints on is300.net, other than just a lot of crashes, but they were mostly kids in florida racing in the rain with vdc/traction control off.

That being said, I was driving my wifes automatic Gcoupe, which has my Rays and Bridgestones on it, and took off from a light with vdc off in manual mode 1st gear, and the tires spun to redline. It was 25 out, and I had been driving 20 minutes, so they should have been plenty warm. Thats definitely not normal.

 

you guys should hear the *whining* going on at the freshalloy g35 boards re: the lack of winter tires...

summer tires = summer driving. Drive carefully during the winter with summer tires.

I'm moving to cali in the summer...

 

I do believe that some of the other cars mentioned, like M3s and Vettes, have Michelin Pilots on them. The Michelins are WAY better summer tires than the RE040s. They are the top-of-the-line for Michelin, I think. The RE040 is nowhere near the best that Bridgestone has to offer. I'd bet money that the Michelins perform a lot better in colder temps than the RE040s.

I don't blame Nissan for spec'ing tires that are no good in winter climates, since they aren't focing any of the owners to drive the cars in those climates, especially with the summer tires on. I DO think the RE040s are useless in cold temps, however. This may be a characteristic of the tire or it may be a bad production run. Perhaps many of the tires are defective. Who knows? This IS Bridgestone/Firestone, a company without the most stellar record regarding defective products.

All that being said, that's why I'm swapping out the OEM tires on delivery and probably going to some Michelin Pilot A/S tires...

 

My temp gauge read 0 degF when I pulled into work this morning. I didn't have any problems at all along the way. Man, you guys must be trying to drive 5 times more agressively than is required for normal driving. I've read posts that said, "Don't ever drive in the rain or you will be killed" (or something to that effect), or "I was only going 25-30 and all of a sudden I lost it." I really haven't seen that yet. You just really can't be that agressive in degraded weather.

WayneTN

 

I totally agree with that. Drive according to conditions.

I HAVE seen many other people complain about these tires, though. Even guys with other cars. I just don't want anything to do with them. They suck for so many reasons beyond cold weather performance...

 

Are you kidding? Audi AND Lexus BOTH recalled these pieces of **** because of so many complaints.

 

I dont get it. Rear wheel drive sports cars with summer compound tires and cold or wet roads do not mix. You just don't do it. You can ***** at Nissan all you want but it was true of my old Twin Turbo shod with SO3s and my old 944 with Michelins and Dunlops as well. The SO3s were better - but you cannot expect a powerful rear wheel drive sports car to match the traction of less powerful front wheel drive cars with all season tires under adverse weather conditions. If you do your expectations are unrealistic.

Im struck time and time again here by folks who expect their Z to perform like a front wheel drive car - probably because thats all they have ever driven until now...

joe

 

This morning, while driving to WI, I got to see "-4" on the temp display. I thought it doesnt go below 0.

Car ran great!

 

We did'nt do it, Nissan did?



"I dont get it. Rear wheel drive sports cars with summer compound tires and cold or wet roads do not mix. You just don't do it."