So I live in Tennessee and my 03 350z is my daily and winter is approaching slowly and I cannot find a 4wd truck in my budget so my only other option is snow tires because I can afford that

I was thinking about going back to stock wheels and sticking Bridgestone blizzard DM-V2’s on them and also sticking sandbags in my trunk and I’m not a stupid driver

Last year I drove through the first day of snow and ice on all seasons and made it fine but then couldn’t leave the house after that day but I was wondering if I do the wheels and sand bags do you think I should be able to make it through winter easily

 

Also what do you think about the tires I’ve heard good reviews but are there better tires or should I just go with them if I do the wheels and tires

and my car also came with a factory lsd if that helps at all in the decision

 

Stock or cheep 17’s will work. Many have do on it over the years

 

what do you think about the tires are they good enough or is there a better choice and what size do people normally run on stock wheels

 

Any decent winter tire will do just fine. I used to daily my Z up here in the PA winters using Pirelli Sottozero's on track V1 wheels (18x8.0"/8.5") and never had issues until the snow piled up above the lip and the car became a snow plow. I dailyed a 91 miata afterwards with a winter tire setup (I think they were whatever General Tire's winter tire is), never had issues unless the car became a snow plow. Never bothered with sandbags in either car. Narrower wheel/tire combos are better off for snow grip.
I've never heard anything but praise for Blizzaks aside from maybe their cost compared to alternatives.

 

I’m the last person to take advice on winter setups from since my “winter setup” is the same year ‘round but after hanging out in the Volvo, BMW, Mercedes groups over the years, the tire name that always pops up are the Nokia Hakkapeliitta.

A caution: if your car has VDC (and to some degree, TCS), be careful to maintain the proper tire diameter delta (3% +/- 0.25%) front to rear else road traction will be of no worry if yer in limp mode. Haha.

 

I'm not familiar with TN winter but here in Chicago I loved running stock sized Michelin Alpin tires. My car was VDC and it had ZERO issues, I like going at speeds that "regular" snow tires shouldn't be driven at, I had Blizzacks and they can't hang. Should I need to run winter tires again I would go Alpin without hesitation, unless I had a slow car or loads of snow.

 

I ran a couple of different Dunlop studless snow tires. My 350z Performance model had VDC, and the 225/55-17” all-square size worked fine. I am in Minnesota where there is lots of ice and snow during the winter months.


Not very attractive, but I drove all winter without any problem.