urbancamoM7

iTrader: (1)

oops. i didn't mean to quote you in that. that was directed towards the op. sorry.

kleefton

pffft...I used to have a set of all season Continental ContiExtreme Contact on my stock 18" wheels and never had a problem in as much as 6" of snow on the ground:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....xtremeContactp


Those tires were cheap, and amazing in the snow, though in dry weather they didn't grip like a summer tire, of course. Unfortunately they got stolen.

Spike100

All-season tires on rear-wheel drive vehicles are OK in climates where you don’t have extremely cold temperatures.

Winter-performance tires (slightly better than all-season tires in climates where you drive on ice and in snow where temperatures drop to zero F or lower) are a good choice here as well (and, better than all-season rated tires at this temperature).

If you have a rear-wheel drive vehicle that you operate in a climate where ambient temperatures are routinely below freezing, you should mount four studless snow tires.

It isn’t the snow-level you need to be concerned about, but the ambient temperature.

--Spike

glacier

I really like my Blizzak LM25 so far (studless winter performance). Vancouver rarely snows, and usually temperature stays aronud 2-3 degrees.

I think I'll be just fine =) thanks for all the input, guys!

350ZgirlTK

iTrader: (1)

Would this setup be fine for the stock wheels?

225/45/17
235/45/17

Car has VDC

I'm a newb with the 350z so thanks in advance.

Chebosto

iTrader: (43)

https://my350z.com/forum/wheels-and-...read-here.html

Alain2

I live in New Brunswick Canada and winters are very bad here. I decided to use my 18" OEM wheels with stock sized Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3 (225/45-18” front and 245/45-18” rear).

Because they are high performance and studless they are awesome on dry pavement and I can have fun on nice days. They are not the best on ice.

I had studded tires before, good on ice but slippery on dry pavement...what is better?

The 350Z is a very bad winter car. The windows freeze up and the icy trunk hatch gets too heavy for the dampers....on my head ! ouch

Next car will be either a coupe G35awd, STi or a BMW 335xi.

Spike100

^^ Your Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3’s are Performance Winter Tires and work best in a climate that hovers around freezing during winter months. The advantage is you mount these on 18” wheels using the stock tire sizes (225/45-18” front and 245/45-18” rear), and your car looks and handles great at the optimum temperature (zero to 32 degrees Fahrenheit).

But, this setup doesn’t work well in my area/climate where temperatures dropped to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit last week, and it snowed on top of the ice. Then the DOT plowed the snow off the roadway, and black ice formed on the very cold surface. In this environment I use 225’s on 17” wheels (Dunlop Graspic DS-2 studless tires, 225/55-17”). These tires grip well on any road-surface (dry, clear-frozen, ice, and snow). The best thing about 17” wheels is hitting a pothole (something that happens during winter driving) doesn’t result in a blow-out or bent wheel.

--Spike

o2sys

iTrader: (27)

Planning to mount Blizzak LM-25

225/45/17 Front and 225/45/17 Rear (square setup) on the stock 17" wheels.

I checked with tirerack and the overall circ is 25" while the RE040 225/50 is 25.9"

This is on a enthusiast model so no vdc to worry about...is this ok to run?

Spike100

^^ 225/45-17” is too short (by an overall diameter difference of nearly 4% on the fronts and over 6% on the rears).

As you say your Enthusiast model does not have VDC, but it does have TCS and ABS, and the wrong tire size (overall diameter) can mess with these. The main problem you have with undersized (short) tires on your TCS-equipped car on frozen roadways is an overly active and unwanted activation of TCS (you will see the SLIP light frequently). Of course you can turn TCS off every time you start the car (if you even remember to do this), but then you are faced with the rear of your car wildly and unexpectedly kicking left or right. And, turning TCS off won’t cure the ABS “faulty-calibration.”

If you go all square with winter tires on 17” wheels, your best choice is 225/55-17”. Your Enthusiast’s TCS and ABS work fine with this setup.

--Spike

350ZgirlTK

iTrader: (1)

Does the 3% rule apply to TCS?

Spike100

^^ TCS is operated by your car’s computer, and the system’s function depends upon accurate speed data going to the computer. Obviously an undersized tire will send faulty data to the computer. Nissan calibrates the system at a specific tire size, and advises remaining at the stock tire diameter.

Using a tire size that has an overall diameter outside the “3% rule” can result in unwanted TCS activation. My experience is that a slightly larger size (overall diameter) is better than a smaller size. With this said, I would remain within the “rule.” There are reasons people use smaller diameter wheels (better initial acceleration, less cost, etc.), but there’s no justification for this when mounting winter tires and conditions where keeping TCS operational is desirable.

--Spike

Ytterbium

Spike100, have you ever ran a performance winter tyre?

Spike100

No, I have not run a performance winter tire, so I cannot provide any first-hand experience. But when my snows do wear out, I’m going to try a set. I’m curious on how these would handle. I would go with an 18” wheel and probably 245’s, so it would be imperative to watch tire pressures very close in the winter months.

My unsubstantiated opinion is that this type tire will work much better in snow and on ice than an A/S tire, but won't work as well as a studless snow tire in extreme conditions.

A rep from Tirerack reads here; hopefully he can provide some advice.

--Spike

POS VETT

Those are correct assumptions. I have gone through a few types of winter tires and, IMO, performance winter tires are best for high-speed dry and wet cold weather runs. They still work better than all-suck in light to medium snow. Driving in heavy snow or ice is better with the low-speed-rated winter tires which are rather low in dry and wet surface performance.

After saying all those, nowadays I buy the cheapest, single-compound winter tires for the specific weather conditions within the area I live.

Ytterbium

I just bought some Pirelli Winter Sottozero Serie II to fit on the 18" OEM track wheels I bought, I think for me these should be a good package for the winter. In Philly it might snow 5-6" but it will be cleared quickly so just a little snow driving.

radiocrash

iTrader: (3)

I've been doing some shopping for winter tires on OEM 18's. I was originally just going to buy blizzaks, but last night I was exploring some different options. I'm not one to cheap out, especially with winter tires, but these tires have a lot of great reviews even from RWD car drivers. So my question is has anyone run these during winter? I appreciate any feedback...thanks!

http://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/nitto.../p/style/36261

VQdriver

iTrader: (1)

I run Federal Himalaya WS2's on 17" wheels and did fine last winter in NJ. Those are cheaper tires too. The western Canadians (B.C) seemed to like it despite having no rep here in the states so I thought it was legit. Nitto is def more popular than Federal. I would do a lot of forum and search engine reviews before committing.

shyun1250

iTrader: (4)

LM-60 are a good snow tire.
But if you can find sizes I would go with the WS-70.
Cant go as fast, but I heard it fairs better in snow.

Best thing to do though, in my opinion, is to pick up a winter beater and let the Z take a break through the winter.

Hope this helps.

POS VETT

My choice of snow tires is based on the average snow fall and temperature in the area. In my area, I got away with the cheapest snow tires available. I avoid dual-compound tires like Bridgestone and Dunlop have because they use up the first layer very quickly in dry and wet.

So, what are snow fall and winter temperature like in your area ?