i purchased my z this year in may and i was wondering about winter driving? is it worth driving in the winter or should i just park it and purchase a winter vehicle?

 

davidv No new threads for 30 days rule in effect. Sorry.

 

It's about time somebody asks this question

 

the car in stock configuration will basically not go anywhere with even a light dusting of snow. The tires are just useless.

Several people have purchased a cheap set of 17" rims with Blizzak rubber.

The car does ok with that set up, low profiles tires perform poorly plus compounded with the summer compound you are asking for trouble.

Even with the Blizzaks and the 17" rims and traction not being a huge issue if you can handle a car, the low ground clearance still is.

With anymore than just a little bit of build up on the center of the lanes the Z is gonna drag against it and ruin ur front end and or undercarrage.

Park the Z but a 90 Honda civic. Wreck it, who cares just don't hurt anyone else.

 

Thanks for the info.. I was going to drive to Miami, FL to White Salmon, Wa until I read this.

 

for the price of new wheels and winter tires you can buy a beater for the winter. Park the Z, why even risk it in the snow?

 

i would have asked which winter tires are appropriate but i am not asking, since pretty sure it is somewhere in the forum..

hopefully the tradition will continues with Jersey getting snow.. haven't seen a good snow for the past 3 years, and hopefully we will be counting this year too..

 

Park it. No question.

 

I bought a set of used 350z 17's and new LM22's. Total cost was around $900 installed. They work but I only drive my car on the weekends (at school during the week). If I had to drive it everyday regardless of weather I would take the train/bus lol.

 

With a good set of 17" snow tires it is driveable (traction control helps too), but ground clearance is an issue if the road has not been cleared. I did 3 years of scraping the bottom of the Z across the snow and ice using snow tires and finally this year bought a second car.

I actually spent some real $$ and got a subaru wrx, instead of a 1990 honda civic, for these reasons:

1) Not only do I not want to drive the Z in the snow, but never again do I want to subject it to all of the cinders, salt, other crap that ends up on the road during the cold months.

2) Since I will basically be parking the Z for 4 months straight (see above) until the roads are clean, I want something reliable and safe (i.e. airbags and ABS) and not some deathbox that was manufactured in a time before these things were standard equipment.

3) It is AWD with all season tires, which should serve me better than RWD with dedicated winter tires.

4) It allows me to get a set of wheels/tires out of the house, which makes the girlfriend happy.


Really for me safety was paramount, with reliability a close second, when choosing a second car. But if you don't mind the abuse on the Z, and if you can avoid deep snow driving (in excess of 3 inches or so), then a set of winter wheels and tires may be your best bet. With careful driving it should get you from A to B reasonably well, plus you won't have to carry insurance on winter wheels/tires!

 

theres prolly like 20 other threads of this same topic if u search op...get another vehicle and put the z away for winter!!!

 

I drove to WA in the summer.. depending on what route you take, most of them will lead to some STEEP crazy roads, some you have to have chains in the winter or you will get ticketed and not be allowed to drive your car.
A 350z on chains... no way.

 

It was going to be in the beginning of March so I'm sure its going to be snowing in Grant's pass by the time I get there. Yea to agree on the 350z with chains... as a definite NO.. BBS LM's with chains.. is a HELL NO

 

A few years ago I bought a '94 RX7 in Missouri and drove it home. In late December.

It is possible, but you have to be flexible with your route and with your timing. I ended up going the southern route and come up the west coast via CA. I got nailed by a blizzard in New Mexico, but otherwise was lucky. The other spot I was worried about was the Siskiyous in Northern California, but they were clear when we went through.

OTOH, years ago I was snowed in at Cody, Wyoming when I was heading back to the west coast. I was stuck in Cody for a couple days and that was in the beginning of May.

If you are willing to hole up in a motel if the weather gets bad, and to take the southern route, you should be fine.

 

Welcome to the forum. The others beat me to responding. Definitely get some winter shoes on that baby. Stock summer tyres that come on our cars won't cut it, hence Summer tyre. Enjoy and be safe, and if you can get a 2nd car for motoring around in, would save your Z in the long run.