Driving in winter... (mild 56K warning)

didymus

I still don't understand why they went with summer tires

370Z Purist

Because even ultra high performance all season tires do not have enough of a contact patch and/or grip and/or speed rating to allow the Z to run at its intended performance level on dry road.

It is also generally understood that driving any sports car in snow is both dangerous and unnecessary. The idea is that if you want a performance car that you'd either have another car for winter (because even with snow tires you can't exactly drive the Z normally whereas most other cars will handle perfectly fine).

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JB1

Here I have to disagree, I'm in my second winter season with my Z and have had no problems driving normally. Yes, my wife's Forester handles better in the snow, but compared to the front wheel drive cars on all season tires I had in the past, the Z on Blizzaks handles the winter weather a lot better.

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spinhead

I guess it depends on what you mean by "normally". Obviously you can't Need for Speed on snowy roads in the winter like you can in the summer. Nor can winter tires even handle the power of the Z so you can't really push it without vdc kicking in. But slow and steady driving on snowed up roads has been just fine for me so far on michelin x-ices. In fact I seem to be doing better than most people on their all seasons with front wheel drive. So I definitely wouldn't call winter driving in snow tires unsafe, just boring.

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Jeffblue

VDC comes on when i drive with my snows, its doing its job. you have to drive cautiously, like you should be doing anyway in snow, unlike every SUV driving soccer mom who doesn't realize their braking and turning ability has greatly decreased.

The Z doesn't come with all season tires because all season tires are mediocre at everything. You get mediocre summer traction and terrible winter traction. i think you're better off with summer tires in winter, knowing that they suck in snow then with the false sense of security you have from 'all season' tires. all season tires work decently in snow on a underpowered FWD car with thin tires. on the Z the improved traction you get on snow is marginal at best when compared to a summer tire. Hence, let the car come with summer tires, and if you want to drive it in winter/on snow, you'll get a set of winters, instead of throwing some mediocre tires on it so that the overall driving experience is diminished.

m4a1mustang

+10000000

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SeattleLion

Like most generalizations, this one is deeply flawed. The optimum performance for any car is acheived when the tires exactly match the road conditions. That's why people who race seriously have a set of track tires that would perform horribly on standard roads in bad weather.

Theoretically, all season tires can perform as well as summer tires. In practice some all seasons (like Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus) do outperform many "summer" tires. The key is to consider what the car is intended to do. How many 370Z's actually need the level of performance the Bridgestone summer tires claim? If Nissan followed their own logic, only the NISMO would come with maximum performance summer tires. It's the Z Nissan says it intended for racing.

Most of the rest of us will find no performance issues with really good A/S tires. I swapped the Bridgestone Potenzas for the Michelins in October. Even on warm roads, the Pilot Sport A/S tires do better than the Potenzas on wet roads. I admit that I am not racing, but I do drive in a "sporty" manner much of the time. I live in an area that is frequently wet and has roads I can enjoy the speed and handling of my Z when I drive.

In my use, the Michelins stick better than the Potenzas. That's not to say on a track the Bridgestone's wont prove better. My point is that the Z has a special place in the sports car market. It is affordable by people who can't afford multiple sets of tires. Also, other sports cars come with A/S tires.

I wish Nissan would do the same for all but the Nismo.

toxik

Why would you want to force someone to get all season tires if they do not want them? If anything, let Nissan give everyone a choice of what tires they want on their car instead of force feeding all seasons. Most people here would go for the Summer tires, where as you would pick All Season tires....

Plenty of other manufacturers all put summer tires on their cars. BMW, Audi, all have car models that come with summer tires stock, and some of those cars are not considered traditional sports cars like the Z is.

I've had plenty of driving experience in all season tires, good brands too... and even if they are equal to summer tires, they are never better. And that's all that counts.

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Jeffblue

Listen, if i lived in seattle i'd probably have gone with all season tires too, and for your circumstances all seasons seem to be the way to go. However, someone living in the north east, if you plan to drive your RWD sports car in the winter, you need a set of winter tires. All seasons wont cut it. So there would be no point on having the Z come with All seasons. the only real advantage all season's have over summer tires is wet performance, and you can drive in colder weather, snow still is a no go.


and bottom line is, the Z is a sports car. Regardless of its price point, its still a sports car, and sports cars almost always come with high performance summer tires.