themyst

iTrader: (1)

I recently bought my Performance Trim 350z 6spd 3 days ago... but because I thought the car was such an incredible machine, I didn't think about the upcoming winter at all in which I will be using the Z as a daily commuter to and from work. So, if I drive slowly and safely, will this car survive the harsh NYC winter? Thanks. (

Da Gimp

I'm sure the traction control will help, but generally rear wheel drive + lots of torque = bad snow car.

Boomer

Buy dedicated snow tires and wheels, our OE RE040s are summer tires. I read comments from an Audi S4/w Quattro say they are the worst tires in snow he's ever driven on. Your other alternative is high performance all season tires and you can e-mail www.tirerack.com. Its a very good site to get straight answers. Talk to them; with your 18" tires and wheels, your choices are very limited in all season tires, but they have a large selection of snow tires.

jonoz

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT go buy a nissan murano this z car will be DEATH in winter I live in the snow ie winnipeg canada ...forget about it you will either die or smash your car...DON'T DO IT

nlauri

iTrader: (1)

I have driven my 300zx in the winter snow for over 10 years with dedicated snow tires and wheels. I would recommend going with 17 inch wheels and mud/snow tires for winter and the problem with rear wheel drive is just to accelerate slowly in snow. biggest problem in the winter is all the other idiots in their 500 dollar junkers or the suvs and 4 wheelers who think that they can race in any kind of road conditions. good luck. I will wait a couple of years to drive mine in winter.

Zman

Since it's your daily driver...there is not much that you can do. However, DONT DRIVE IT IN THE SNOW WITHOUT WINTER TIRES and some added weight in the back. Traction control will help but it will still be extremely hazardous if you keep the current tires on. I will only drive mine from late spring to early fall and keep the stock tires on all year round. I may take it out in the winter if there is no snow at all on the ground. I have not read anything yet about the tire's handling in the rain.

rouxeny

It will handle POORLY.

ares

iTrader: (2)

yes its obvioulsy not a winter car, but in the end its a car like any other, sure it has power, but you dont have to use it all. get thinner tires, 8" is a bit wide for snow. and take it slow. all cars have 4 tires on the ground, lots of people use the taurus for snow, and its rwd, trucks are rwd and they get around(tho most use 4wd)

its not like the Z has something magicly wrong with it that causes it to suck worse than other rwd cars in the snow.

of course, if theres 4.7inches of snow.... well then your out of clearance, pack it up and sleep in. cant help ya there.

Phatmitzu

iTrader: (34)

Better take extra cautious when driving a rearwheel drive car with this much power, snow or no snow.

SunsetZ

From Zcar.com:

Crashed my Black Track 350Z. Need advice Bleh! Same day that I hit 10,000 miles on my Z, it gets into an accident. I was driving from Albany to Boston and it was raining. I was cruising at 60 mph on a 65 mph highway on the slow lane. It was supposed to just rain but after half an hour it started snowing.

As soon as I see snow, I slow down to 35-40 mph and look for the next gas station/exit so I can stop for the night and stop driving until it stops snowing and it is clear. I did not want to stop in the break down lane because road was bad and trucks/cars were passing very close by at high speeds. I was afraid of being hit by someone. So, I have about 5 more miles to next gas station...and then it happens... car starts sliding to the left lane and VDC tries to help to no avail..I hit the left railguard, bounce off it and hit the right one and then bounce off that one and come to a stop on fast lane facing the traffic... well good thing there was no traffic which gave me enough time to straighten the car out and pull into breakdown lane. I come out the car to see front left corner and rear left corner damaged. Man my heart sank, one of the worst feelings.

Anyways, I am sitting down in snow by my Z for next 10 miniutes or so and then I decide to continue on to the gas station while going at 10 mph on the breakdown lane with my emergency flashers on. Engine seemed to be running fine..but there was bad noise coming from back. I went out and noticed the back part of the car was scraping against the rear tire. I try to pry it off just enough to clear the tires but could not. I didnt want to be stranded there forever so i decided to go on anyways. 1 minute later i friggin slip again to the next lane and spin around at 10 mph!!! Straighten the car out and decide to wait for help this time.

Highway mainetence guy comes along and tells me to go up 1 mile and pull up in Blandford highway maintenece facility.. So here I am driving at 10 mph in breakdown lane with the guy driving behind me. I slip two more times and almost hit the guard on the other side again with him watching. Another time, Z gets stuck in snow since they hadnt cleaned the road or put any salt/mud and road was horrible. And he actually had the ***** to tell me "What are you waiting for? We are almost there!" I am like "Dude its a rear wheel drive car and its slipping, I cant go any faster than 10 ph. Go clean the friggin road!"

Left the Z at the maintence faiclity and it was towed next day to Autobody shop. Towing people were pretty busy. Accident was being reported on that highway every 15 minutes on radio. Crushed Lincoln navigator came in teh faciltiy next while we saw another car that had veered off road and into the woods.

So how unlucky was I? Snows unexpectedly on me...I had 5 miles to the next gas station where I would have stopped for night... 2 miles to the mainietence facility...and 10 more miles till the snow would turn into rain!! It was snowing only in that 20 mile stretch or so becuase that was the highest altitude area on tha Mass Pike. ARGHHH!!!!!! And here I was for last 2 months not taking my Z out when it rains!!!

DO NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THE Z IN SNOW EVEN AT 10 mph OR SLOWER EVEN IF YOU HAVE THE VDC/TCS with everything stock. Vdc/tcs can only help/aid you so much. I already knew this but I was caught off guard in the situation and after that there wasnt much I could do.

How much do you people think my insurance will go up by? Right now I am paying $1300 per year for the Z.

Also, any advice/help in dealing with the repair? I got it towed to the autobody shop right next to the dealership I bought the Z at. I know a repaired car is never exactly the same as a new one BUT...what can I do to make sure that it comes as close to it as possible? I dont want any repainting done because I know car loses value once its been painted over. How can I avoid this from happening? I would really appreciate any advice/help I can get from people on this forum. Thanks

rouxeny

The above is from Zboy. His track is at Middletown Nissan getting fixed.

Boomer

I don't see why not. I have always driven my cars in snow and sometimes ice. The biggest problem is the "summer" tires. Do not attempt to drive in snow with the stock tires. Get a good set of all season or dedicated snow tires and wheels. Whatever you get, keep them clean of all the salt by washing them often, you should have lots of shops that can clean them or see if the dealer can do it. www.tirerack.com is one place to start, although they say they don't have an application for the Z with snow tires and wheels, they may have another application that will work.

zcar70

It is a SPORTS CAR.......not a SUV

Park it!

JeepRage

ummm i dunno about that... they are FWD. Crown Vics on the other hand are 220HP rear wheel drives that have NO weight in the back, and they usually get around.

alex30327

I would not drive the Z in snow.

SunsetZ

I don't understand the need to park it all winter. I plan on taking her out all winter long as long as it is sunny and no sign of snow or rain.

zcar70

I park my Zs in the snow.....and don't drive them in the salt. That includes DRY salt on the roads which lives to coat every nook and cranny it can find its way into. Not as quickly as a salt bath, but it does nonetheless. A good spring rain usually washes down the roads well enough.

The last I heard, the 350Z has a mainly aluminum suspension. I hope to keep that shiny. Also, I would bet the exhaust system would need replacing in 2 years.

I guess they don't use road salt in Ohio! To each his own!

Intrepid

You can drive you Z all winter long. Just don't drive it in SNOW. It always gets cleared within 24 hours where I live anyway. The first thing I'm doing is replacing these stupid idiotic summer tires with All Season Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. What was Nissan thinking?

^Tyr

i am planning on putting winter tires on it as well as for at least this winter i cannot afford to buy a beater (maybe next year we'll see) reguardless i'm looking at the
blizzak LM-22
however was wondering how i should mix and match them?,, the wider rears help dial out oversteer which would be nice in the snow, however wouldnt it just cause more problems being too wide a tire it'd just sit ontop of the snow wouldnt it?,,, what should i do i've never had to chose winter tires before and not for this weight nor rwd platform,, someone help me out..\
2x 225/40VR18 197
2x 225/45VR18 211
2x 235/40VR18 209

and yes i'm going to be mounting onto the stock 18" performance model wheels

probably buying 19" te37's mid summer and those will be my summer wheels

glenng6

Driving in snow, is driving in snow. I don't care what your driving nobody should be driving if they can't handle it. I already drove 90 minutes from north of Watertown, NY to south of Syracuse in rain, snow and ice. I experienced one small fishtail, which was easily corrected. This was with the summer tires. I certainly don't advocate driving in these conditions with the original tires, but if you know what your doing it is not the nightmare many people lead you to believe. Find a big, empty parking lot and go practice driving in bad conditions. The more times you throw your car into a spin or slam on the brakes, the faster you will learn to control it. The time to learn is not on the road. That is the time to react to the situation and laugh at the guys who didn't take the time to learn how to do it.

Glenn