do you think those new heated side mirrors in the 2005s can be retrofitted for the 2004.5 Zs. i live in cleveland and heated mirrors would be lifesaving.

also while on the subject. i live in a very snowy area (sucks). i'm planning on putting on blizzaks for winter. i commute 60 miles a day. will these tires do the job. i need to know soon because i might have to sell the Z and get a better winter/summer car. i know thse cars suck with the factory potenza tires, so save your comments about them. i am just interested in the blizzaks. i don't want to buy a beeter. i live in an apartment and it would be a pain in the as#. plus i bought a car to drive everyday, not to put in storage.

 

what Z trim do you have ? heated mirrors were stock on all touring models...
60 miles a day with the Z in snow = hell... I commute 15 miles to work ( round trip ) there were times that I had to take off from work because there was little snow on the ground..
not trying to flame , but didnt you think about all this before buying your car ?

 

LBSOHK. i have a base Z. also are you telling me you have blizzaks on your Z and can't drive it in the winter? or are you running the stock tires?

before i bought the Z i did some research and found alot of people using blizzaks. there seemed to be mixed comments about how well they worked but most said they worked good. but now with winter approaching i am getting worried. i drove the car in a very heavy rain the other day and was hydopaning all the way home. that got me thinking. i can take a very, very minimal loss on a trade in right now before winter. i LOVE is car. but if it is not driable at all inthe winter i'm afraid it has to go.

 

anyone?????? especially the winter question???


i guess thats why i can go two weeks without seeing one single other Z in cleveland. people see my car and say wow. "what is that. i have never seen that before." and i don't live in some remote area in cleveland either. i live right downtown.

 

with winter tires you'll be fine.

 

i live in chicago so we see a good amount of snow, and i had the same worries that you did last year. after i got the Blizzaks you won't see many problems at all. as for the stock tires if the ground gets cold you can kick out the back end very easy they are extreamly crapy tires. i didn't keep the stock tires on for more then 5 months before i took them off and replaced them with something else. i put winter tires on the stock rims, and just got new tires and rims for the summer months. tire, or tires with rims are going to run you about 1000 bucks mounted so be ready for that. don't put weight in the back of your car the Z isn't a mustang we don't have that light rear problem and you will end up hurting your braking distance by doing that. i used to drive 60 or so miles to work and back and all over the place so it should be a big deal. besides living close to the city its not an hour after snow drops that they have plows out there doing there thing.

Good luck don't worry and be careful.

 

really? are you sure about that? weight in the back won't be that bad, would it?

 

Only other solution is, when you know it is going to snow, rent a an SUV for a day or two. I think If I was living an apartment that is what I would do. I had an S2000 and I was grounded twice because of a little snow, and I always drive and never had been stranded in snow (w/ previous rides being sports cars) So I went an purchsed a QX4 ---it is hard right now because it has been twelve years and I have had all sports cars. But I know in 3 years I will ordering a Z and not have to worry about it getting wrecked--especially if I had some mods (listed) . I do have the urge to trade in now, but I know I should wait. Since you have yours, find a P.O.S. to drive in the snow and rain and keep your baby safe!

 

i don't think it would be REALLY bad, but i would seggest against it. i mean we have nearly 50/50 weight right now, the point of putting the weight in the back of older sports cars was cause most of the weight was in the front. pushing the back down on our car won't help.

 

the friction equation doesnt ask if your car is an SUV or a sports car. its all about how much contact your tires make with the pavement. 245's not gonna cut through the snow. put the Z tires onto a pickup, and itll be the same problems.

put snow tires onto a Z or a civic, or a excursion or whatever, same amount of traction.

of course rwd might not be so great, and the additional hp will make it easier to spin the tires. but its not cause you have less traction.

either way, ANYTHING is possible. question is if its financially worthwhile. I bet those mirrors are 3-400 each. but the wiring is probably all there somewhere. wire it the same way as the stock tourings have it wired, and eventually itll link up to something thats already hooked up, even if its an empty fuse box. pop in a fuse, connect the fuse to the switch that you add, to the mirrors, and ground it. viola.

 

I have an extra driver's side mirror that is wired for heat. It is the glass only. I replaced it with an Austrailian WIDE-VIEW mirror.

Winters are mild here.

You may have to pop-off your current mirror to see if there is a wire to connect to it. I can provide instructions.

PM me if you are interested.

 

Woah, I'm interested in the Wide-view mirrors! I know my frined has the euro mirrors on his GTI - they're blueish, and normal aspect for the inner 85%, with a wide-angle 15% or so on the ends. Pretty sweet... What're the australian ones like???

On the subject of snow tires, I had a 240SX I never had trouble driving in the snow in cleveland or columbus as long as I had snow tires (I think I had Yokohama snow tires), but if I had trouble driving in hillier places when there ws any snow.

But, snow tires are a must IMO if you live in colder climates.