ericM

I'm dreaming of buying a Z but I intent to use it as an all year
around car. The problem is i live in the upper midwest with
a lot of snow and ice. Although my wife has a jeep for the
worst days, if I buy a Z, it has to endure most winter driving
which is about 4-5 months in a year. I hate to keep my other
car(expenses) and I only have 2 car garage. My daily drive is only about 10 min, mainly city streets, no hills! But it can be terribly icy,
and snowy. I was wondering, if I go for the Z and buy those
snow tires like "blizzaks", can I handle the winter drive!
Has anybody from the wintery plains every drive their Z's
as daily vehicle. come snow or ice!!!! Thanks...
I'm looking into the Auto with traction control Z!

pooch15

I drive my Z daily in Quebec. On Tuesday we got 10" of snow and I had absolutely no problem going to and from work all day. (I even went home for lunch) The Z is the best rear wheel drive car in the snow I’ve ever driven. Note that I have a Canadian performance model which is the equivalent of the US 6 speed touring model with 18" Bridgestone Blizzaks all around.

The Blizzaks are the best winter tires I’ve ever owned and are essential for winter driving.

Finally, I would recommend you order model with TCS because it makes a huge difference and the manual transmission and you’ll have no problems year round.

Good Luck.

justwant1

pooch15 is absolutly right, the blizzaks are great tires. I live in Chicago, and no, we haven't had much snow, but what we have had, is cold and ice, and the blizzaks have been great. Yes, you can drive your car all year long if you put the right tires on for the right season.

eric_c

Just curious, why didn't you get the Pirelli's. I'm in Ottawa and hopefully I'm picking my Performance up tonight. I got the Pirelli 240's to go on the stock rims because I was told by the dealer that that's the only tire that fits the rims.

tbcz

You can definately drive the car all year, but winter tires are absolutely mandatory. After my first futile attempt at driving in snow with the RE040s, I mounted the Blizzaks and the difference was unbelievable. No problem driving around in the snow. It ain't no Humvee, but it is definately manageable.

pooch15

I had previously owned Blizzaks and I knew how great they were plus I have a very good contact in the tire business who was able to get me the very rare 245/45-18 Blizzak rears.

Also, the Pirellis don’t come in the correct front size of 225/45-18 and I wanted to keep the proper ratio.

BTW I tried a G35 coupe with Pirellis (I think it had 235/40-18 F and 245/45-18 R) and they were okay but not as good as my Blizzaks.

eric_c

Is that going to have any impact on the car? The whole point of doing this was to retain the functionality of the TCS/VDC/ABS.

pooch15

My understanding is yes. Now is it worse when it’s the front wheels rather than the back, and is the impact larger on a rear or front wheel drive car I don’t know. Someone more competent on the subject than myself would have to answer you.

EnthuZ

iTrader: (2)

What he said! I've driven my Z every day since I put the Blizzaks on.

From tbcz:
You can definately drive the car all year, but winter tires are absolutely mandatory. After my first futile attempt at driving in snow with the RE040s, I mounted the Blizzaks and the difference was unbelievable. No problem driving around in the snow. It ain't no Humvee, but it is definately manageable.

Another dittto.

bfleming

Which Blizzaks - WS-50 or LM-22? My dealer told me the Blizzaks would not run any better than the new stock protenzas that are on it.

pooch15

LM-22s, your dealer is a moron.

tbcz

My commute Friday morning to work was 20 miles in heavy snow with 4-5 inches already on the ground...I took a few pictures on the way in to show how well the Blizzak LM-22s can do. I did not get stuck once...but had to turn around twice on hills where other cars were stuck!

bfleming

Thanks Tim and Pooch15. Had the same conditions on friday as Tim and decided to drive my fwd and leave the z at home until I get snow tires on it. Snow again yesterday. Will watch for a Blizzak sale.