I am seriously considering purchasing a 350z...my one sticking point however is the fact that I live in an northern New Jersey and the winters can be bad. I was curious to know if any of you out there have experience in driving there Z's in inclement weather. Also if you get the best snow tires out there..would it make a big difference???Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks for your thoughts.....

 

the car is fairly low, so in thick snow it would suck im sure

i drive in heavy rain sometimes and it does ok (need VDC!!!)

the rear end is squirrely sometimes but if VDC is on it stays put.

if people typically drive sports cars in your area i would say go for it....if you seem 90% trucks / suvs then dont get a z

 

It doesn't rain here much, but every time I wash my car it takes forever to get all the water out of the doors and trunk. It's just kind of a pain.

 

eachtau,

I live in Wisconsin where I'm sure the winters are as cruel as they are in northern New Jersey, so I think I can give you a pretty good idea what the car is like in the winter. IT SUCKS! Now, I must qualify my abrupt answer. I have not purchased snow tires, yet. I may get a beater car for the winter if I can afford one come November.

From posts I've read, snowtires are an absolute, ABSOLUTE, must. I was unable to drive the Z up a 3º incline with just an inch of snow on the ground using the stock Bridgestones (a warm climate tire)! The VDC, or whatever it's called, in my humble opinion, is worthless. Those people who have bought Michelin Blizzaks have reported excellent results. Another problem with the stock tires in the winter, putting aside snow, is their ride. The Z has a stiff ride to begin with, and the stock tires when cold compound the stiff ride even further. I noticed a significant improvement in the ride when the temperature rose above 50º. I have also read good things about the Michelin A/S Pilots. They are an all-season high performance tire with adequate traction in snow according to their owners, and excellent ride comfort in all temperatures.

So, figure on spending another $800.00 or more (depending if you get new wheels) on your Z to make it winter ready. To be honest, I'm probably going to sell my Z just before winter because it is, again, my humble opinion, an accident waiting to happen. Best of luck! I hope I didn't put too much of a damper on your buying plans.

 

Fron what I've gathered on this site, the Z is very bad in snow with the OEM tires.

However, with snow tires, the Z is actually pretty good. At least it is no worse than any other rear wheel drive vehicle, and probably better than many because of the VDC and TCS (which still require traction in order to function, hence their inability to compensate with the OEM tires). I'd say that if you've driven any other RWD vehicle in the snow, then you should be OK in the Z AS LONG AS YOU USE THE PROPER TIRES.

A bigger issue is if you'd trust your Z out there in the snow with all the other drivers just waiting to slide into it!

-D'oh!

 

yeah blizzaks are required, Z has 245s on the rear, thats laughable as a snow tire, I dont care if you drive a hummer, put the Z tires on ANY car and you wont get far. lot of surface contact to help with traction, but this all leads to nothing in snow.

with blizzaks the Z is a car with 3.7" of clearance, rwd, tcs or VDC, and as much traction as any other car with the tires. total traction is based SOLELY on tires, its the only thing on the road.

I dont care what you drive, if theres 3.7" of snow, meaning your draggin your diff through the snow probably, I dont think anythings gonna be getting around much. ussually your talking about driving through the layer that the snow plow cant get. in which case, common sense and a set of blizzaks will get you everywhere.

in the rain, Id rather be driving my car than my moms mercedes. maybe Im nuts. but I feel very safe in my car in heavy rain, wipers work good, and the car cuts through the water.

 

I live in NE PA and I work in Parsippany. (Northern, NJ) One other thing to think about in regards to winter driving is this... Up until this last winter, how many days did it REALLY snow? Excluding this past winter, I can think of maybe 3 snow storms in the past what 5 or 6 years? NJ is really good at cleaning off the roadways (at least I78, I80, and I287 that I commute on)

I haven't driven my Z in the snow yet, but by winter time and my 85 mile commute, I'll either be 1) spending $1000.00 on Blizzaks and a set of cheap winter wheels, or 2) getting a $2000.00 old 4X4 beater to use on snowy days.

I figure the 4X4 beater might be a better choice as I'll also save some miles on the Z, but I WON'T Park the Z for the entire winter. I'm certain you can remember a LOT of Beautiful (although cold) winter days when getting the Z out would have been fun!

 

The OE tires are utterly worthless in snow, and as others have stated, not great in cold weather period. Blizzaks transform the car however...it is very driveable in snow equipped with them.

I tried driving to work the morning of out first snowfall last winter and got about 200 feet after 30 minutes of revving and cursing...this was with about two inches on the ground. My last three cars have all been RWD sports cars (with Michelin or Dunlop high performance tires) and were never great, but the Bridgestones set a whole new standard for poor snow traction. I had never bought into the hype about snow tires, but I refused to park my car for the winter, so I threw caution to the wind and ordered a set of Blizzaks. The difference was amazing. I drove the rest of the winter with no problems, and you know we had a bad one (I live northwest of Philly). I would compare the Blizzak-equipped Z to your average FWD car with all seasons when it comes to winter driving. If it dumps 8 inches or more, you're not going anywhere...but in most conditions here, it's totally doable.

 

You guys are giving me some great pointers.....thanks alot. It seems that blizzaks will make a huge difference. Are they the best snow tire available? Also do you need to buy new wheels....or is it ok to just get the snow tires? All of your info about your experiences are very helpful....thanks.

 

Blizzaks are what you mostly hear about due to the fact that they were one of the first to address the high performance winter driving market. Maybe it was their marketing, or their price, I don't know...but the fact is that they are reasonably priced and excel at what they are advertised to do. The offerings from the other manufacturers may be just as good (particularly Michelin and Pirelli), but I have not heard much feedback about them. TireRack is a good place to research them...they run their own tests and post the results along with customer ratings for you to decide which to get.

As far as having extra wheels...it is very nice, but not absolutely necessary. If you can afford the cost, go for it. It's good peace of mind knowing your OE rims will not be damaged when swapping tires. But don't let it stop you from getting the tires if that's all you can afford. You can always get wheels down the road. There are owners who have upgraded their wheels looking to sell the OE rims...check the classifieds.