Can I put 4 bridgstone blizzak LM25 225/45 R17 on my Z for the winter without messing anything up. I rarely drive the Z in the winter but I need a set of tires for the limited driving I do. Please let me know if those tires would work.

 

Do you have VDC?

 

Those tires will be a little bit shorter than stock but they will probably work. I'm running 225/55/17 Blizzaks all the way around. Occasionally my TCS will kick on in the middle of a sweeping corner when I get on the gas but it's rare and you can always turn it off if it bugs you. It does this because the tire sizes aren't staggered front/rear like they should be. The car does well in the snow with these tires, BTW.

 

Yes you can use those. I have a 04 Base model so I'm running 225/55/17 all around. You should try and keep everything the same size if your keeping the tires for a while, that way you can rotate them front to back next season.

Otherwise as stated before, you might have to turn your VDC off if you get slipping from the non staggered tire sizes.

 

How much do these run? I'd prolly consider a winter set of **** rims and snow babies for next winter.

 

I got my 225/55/17 Bridgestone Blizzaks WS70 for about 500 bucks. That was for all four tires and shipping. Pretty good deal. You can call Tru Motorsports in Indy, Jorge will get you the hook-up. Otherwise TireRack.com they got some good deals.

 

You can also watch Craigslist. I picked mine up mounted on a set of decent looking Enkeis for $450. The whole set only had 1200 miles on them and looked new.

 

Forget the 225/45-17” tires; this size is too short for your Z. This setup will look awful, and you risk problems with ABS. If you have VDC or TCS, those may not work properly either.

Go with 225/55-17” all around if you want an all-square setup for your winter tires.

--Spike

 

When you turn off the VDC, make sure to put on a blindfold and try to steer with your nose... If you're in any kind of actual snow, turning off the VDC is a terrible idea.
We had very heavy snow here today and my Blizzak WS-70's did quite well. Let's face it, these vehicles drive exactly like **** in the snow, but these tires at least made the car semi-drivable. I went with 225/45/18 all the way around on mine and they are light years ahead of the Pirelli SnoSports that I took off. Don't get me wrong, it still drives awful compared to our Mazda 6, but it's not like it was meant to drive in snow deep enough to scrape the lip...

 

…Just got about 20 inches of snow in our area.

I’m driving my Z with Dunlop Graspic DS-2 studless tires( 225/55-17” all-square) and not having any problems. VDC is ON.

--Spike