I just get rides from friends and co-workers if the weather is that bad. That's cheap. The only repayment they want is a joy ride in the Z come summertime. The Z though, is pretty crappy in the snow compared to other RWD sports cars. I had an MR2 that was decent, not great. Just gotta deal with it.

 

There's a difference between having the money for something and being able to afford it. Part of being able to afford a car is also being able to maintain and care for the car and pay for all those other fun expenses that come with owning and driving a car.

And how is it that as a "poor college student" you managed to have $30K lying around? Unless you paid in cash up front (in which case you're hardly poor), how does a dealer even approve such a thing?

 

I'm sure he can afford the tires, but who ever 'wants' to afford something that they aren't absoultely obligated to buy?....
I make over 80k a year and live in a nice house, and when i say i can't afford winter tires, it's because i not only like nice cars, but i like food, and clothes and that inground pool i'm saving up for and that 3 week vacation this summer, and my motorcycle, engagement ring, birthdays, computer, tv's entertainment.. etc...etc....At 19 years old, I could live for 3 months on 1500$, which would make it real hard to justify spending it on snow tires for those 20 or less days a year that they would be beneficial. You people that are judging this kid should get a clue. noone wants to dish out 1500$ if they don't have to, and if they do without questioning it like this kid is, then they are wasting their money and are foolish.

 

well god damn. i expected flaming but not this much lol. i guess i deserved it, but i wasnt "whining" or "complaining" i was just trying to see who else has this problem, and if i did have 1500 dollars id rather get a beat up civic. and i start my car in 2nd in snow, and i take it to a empty parking lot when it snows and i drift the hell out of it so i can get some fun in the snow. another reason for my "idiototic" post is cause this is my first RWD car, i bought it without thinking about anything else other then owning a beautiful PPW Z. and again im only 19, next time i get a car ill remember all these things.

im sorry for posting.

 

post all you want, just don't let these jerks turn you into a jerk.

 

Don't be sorry, but just consider what you are asking with more thought. The Z is treacherous on summer tires in the snow. Accept it and go on, park it, sell it, trade it, or whatever, just don't lament your choice. Snow or all season tires is the solution and you can go do donuts in a parking lot all day and night if you want to, its as simple as that. Discount Tire.com or Tire Rack.com have winter tires/wheels for a lot less than $1500. Check them out.

 

When I was 19, I was an idiot. The difference is that I didn't have a nice new sports car, just a very old '69 Olds Delmont, that lost its transmission as I tried to 'rock' my way out of a snow bank.

I had a friend at the time who had a new RWD Toyota Supra. I watched him do a 360 and ended up in a ditch while we were caravaning through a snow storm.

I'd give 350zWhite04 a little bit of a break. (If he decides to rejoin us in the forum.)

I don't think young people today have had the experience with RWD cars that we older more experienced folks have. But even in the 'bad old days' a lot of experienced drivers ended up in the ditch while driving in the snow.

I think the dealer also had a responsibility to let a new owner know the implications of purchasing a RWD car. My dealer very pointedly asked me when the last time I drove a RWD car was and whether I was planning to drive in the winter and we discussed the possibility of purchasing snow tires.

And yes my hard-earned wisdom allowed me to figure in the cost of maintaining two cars, a FWD Jeep and my roadster.

Besides, where else are we going to go to whine, except online. Who else is going to listen to you complain about your brand new sports car.

 

Unfortunately, youth is wasted on the young.

When I was 19 I was driving a ’74 Chevrolet Vega, LOL. It was RWD, but underpowered enough to keep me out of trouble. In all honestly, if I would have had a car like today’s Z when I was 19 I would have been dead by the time I was 20.

The problem is most people under the age of 30 have NEVER driven a RWD vehicle.

 

You're absolutely correct. I bought my first FWD car in 1984 after driving RWD for over 25 years. The Z is the most powerful car I've ever owned and I've owned a lot of sports(y) cars in 45 years of driving. RWD cars have a different weight bias with less of the weight over the driven wheels. FWD was/is great for traction and more room in the car for people in smaller cars, not so great for ultimate handling, although Saab rally cars could make you eat your words 20 years ago.

RWD cars are SLOWER than FWD or AWD in bad weather folks, live with it. The Z is 53/47% front to rear weighted, you can put more weight in the rear to try and equalize the weight, but keeping the gas tank full is a better way, I've found. 20 years ago, the summer tires on the Z WOULD HAVE BEEN ON FORMULA 1 racing cars. That is how far tire technology has come. They are not designed to handle bad weather, cold, ice, snow and the OE040s can't even handle temps below 50 degrees, they turn into rock hard slicks.

I am in a State where we have in-between weather, so I bought All Season tires. Cold, rain, 3-5"s of snow, they can handle it. Those of you who live in the Snow Belt need 2 sets of tires or all seasons to drive the Z year round. Its a fact and you will be slower than FWD and AWD cars even if you have snow tires. So, racing in the snow is useless, you'll lose. In warm weather, the summer tires rule, but not in cold weather. Park it or change tires, there's no other choice unless you like hitting other cars with your Z.

 

We just had an ice storm here in NC last week...my car has been a pain until i did this: I placed 200 poounds of free-weights in the back of the car to increase weight over the back wheels. Dropped the air pressure in the rear wheels to 20 psi. Traction is no longer an issue...drives like a different car. Just remember to put the air back in after the bad weather!!!

 

I've never tried that extreme a psi drop, afraid I would drive the rims right off the tires. You are keeping your gas tank full, right? Hey, if it works, go for it.

 

My dad taught me a trick: Clean out old bottles of laundry detergent. Fill them will different types of sand and gravel. Keep them in your trunk for weight. If you do get stuck you can easily pour the sand where you need it.

The tire pressure thing concerns me too. But hey, I have sand in my trunk, so what do I know.

I have driven my summer tires when the pavement is dry in the winter below 50 degrees and I don't feel I have had any problems.

 

Watch out for dust-covered roads, with your climate you may not need to, but the OE040s will slide on dust below 50 degrees like they are on ice, 33psi of course. Strange feeling, having never experienced it before, I don't want to experience it again.

 

yeah this even makes the snow doubly (is that a word?) dangerous. here in ohio where the road crews use salt like its going out of style, even on the good weather days there is a nice coat of salt dust over the road. if i take a turn, as in turning onto another road, and then wanting to GET ON IT, the original 040's will just spin. i also contribute some of this to having 16k on the rear originals and they are looking kind of worn. will definately replace them in the spring. my fronts were replaced by the dealer cause of the feathering, and we used a harder bridgestone tire, all weather. man those original bridgestones suck *ss.

 

Boomer- I thought the same thing...its a pretty big psi drop, but i mainly drive between here and work (3 miles away) so i can drive real slow. At 20 psi, i would be very careful about speed...and corners. For those driving a good distance i would do something else.

 

Rear wheel drive is not the evil handling monster you guys are saying it is. If cars with rear wheel drive handled so poorly, why are all the Indy cars, Formula 1 cars, racing sports cars and drag racing machines (real drag machines, not sports compact drag races)rear wheel drive? I don't drive my Z in the bad weather, I have a 2 wheel drive Dodge Dakota. It is rear wheel drive and I haven't had too many problems with it in the snow. I would think a pickup would have even worse weight distribution than a Z and therefore should be worse in the snow. It isn't bad at all.

Until the mid-80's, virtually all cars were rear wheel drive. We just learned to live with it and cruised along with our rear wheel drive monsters.

I do think everyone is being a little too hard on the young guy. Give him some experience and he'll be ok. Remember, he's only been driving for three years so is still "wet behind the ears".

Les

 

KC, its not rear drive, its the combination of rear drive and "summer" tires you and I never had in the 80s, 70s or 60s. The OE040s seem to be the worst of the breed and they are not cutting edge technology, they were developed originally in the 90s. I don't think they have been updated either. They rate the worst performance of all the other tires in their category in Tire Rack's Customer Surveys.

I would drive your truck any day before I would drive w/the 040s on my Z, they are junk in anything that resembles cold weather. I had a 91 MR2T w/RE71s on it, not recommended for cold weather driving, and I could drive it on ice w/rear drive. I wouldn't dream of doing that w/040s.

The kid will be fine, he'll learn and probably be a pretty good driver. At least he had the IQ to ask for help. He should not have been ragged on, and if he thought I was, I'm sorry.

 

i think it's fair to say that if you can't afford winter tires, theny you can't afford a z. but i don't know if the same applies to buying a beater, since there's also insurance to pay on that.

 

Come on guys lay off the kid.

I am 27 and my first car was a 84 300z turbo. What a car. Got it in 92 with 60,000 miles on it. Now I live in MD also PG county. and I never had a problem with it in the snow. You just have to take it easy.

I have the perfect beater now. A 92 Maxima SE, can't be stopped in the snow. You can get one for less than 2000.00.

So kid take it easy. Learn your lesson this year, get yourself an old Maxima for next year, and keep in mind spring will be here in about 4-6 weeks.

You are from Maryland, lets keep it cool, and keep in mind that we will rule these MD streets in a month or two.

 

MyZ4U2C

If you are running your RE040's with just 20 PSI you will find as I did the Inside full of rubber shavings, when you take them off the rim.

The side wall ( inboard ) will cut and start to separate from the tread. This is due to the negative camber and low tire pressure.

Now Spring comes and you set them back at 35 PSI.. Take it up to speed and pop !

I wish I had taken pictures of the tire Rear Right ( which had a slow leak to 20 Lb's ) The cross section was outside wall to tread o.k. tread to inside wall a V was 1/4" deep


Pleasant Dreams -


Scary isn't it?

NNA replaced the two front tires at about the same time.
The Left Front had a less severe V and debris of rubber in it.
I had found it at 25 psi on three tire pressure checks.

Blizzak's and some cheap rim's seem like the way to go.