:icon17: my Z and G are both hibernating now... it's snow season here.

I second this... should have went with the g35x. Would be a much better choice for the shitty weather and roads in Illinois since you have a Z.

All the while costing significantly more lol.

When you all get stuck, give me a yell - I'm the guy with the truck and tow straps driving by you. Keep those tow hooks handy! :) Thats for the people who dare use the Potenza's in the winter, and not Blizzak's btw...

TRMotorsport C2 + Blizzak LM-25 + 25mm rear spacers
 

After some serious snow here in Chicago, I decided to spend my Xmas bonus wisely and order some winter tires and wheels. I got the same TireRack wheel/tire combo as AK. For looks I also added spacers (rear only), Ichiba V2 25mm. As I first received the wheels, I added the spacers a few days later, see the difference in the pics below:


Without spacers:

http://www.the370z.com/members/jb1-a...ntertires1.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/jb1-a...ntertires3.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/jb1-a...ntertires2.jpg

With spacers:

http://www.the370z.com/members/jb1-a...1-spacers3.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/jb1-a...2-spacers4.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/jb1-a...8-spacers2.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/jb1-a...7-spacers1.jpg

I think it looks pretty good :tup:

That looks awesome JB1! Love these rims. :tup: Did you notice how light they are too?

Also, please use the link below to buy your next winter rims and tires setup from TireRack. This way you can HELP keep The370Z.com stay online! THanks :tup:

http://www.awltovhc.com/image-3768162-10402888

OK. I was a good boy and read every single post in this thread, but didn't find the answer.

AK, did you just swap the TPMS from your stock rims over to the winter rims or did you get them from Tirerack. I thought about getting a set with the TPMS from TR, but I'm not sure if they work properly or not. They come with some kind of "resetting" tool, but I'm clueless how well it works with our cars.


I wonder if your VDC is going off more often partially because you don't have a staggered setup like the originals. Dunno.

Thanks AK! Yep, they sure are lighter then the 19'' sport wheels. Did notice it when I put them on, not so much during driving. I did notice the car is more comfortable though, higher sidewalls do make a difference.

Hey AK,

As you know, I have the exact same winter tire setup as you. Personally, I find the amount of tuck with the rear wheels to be ugly as hell. Did you buy wheel spacers yet or are you going to wait to buy them until you put your Rays wheels back on? I just lowered my Z, and with the winter wheels it looks like crap. I don't want to buy wheel spacers until I've got the Rays back on to ensure a good flush look, but I wanted to know if you've tried to improve the cosmetics of your winter setup. :rolleyes:

Anyone else, please feel free to chime in. What I really want to know is what you think is the BEST, MOST FLUSH look on a lowered Z with Rays wheels. I know there is a thread talking about wheel spacers, but it doesn't directly address my question.

Much obliged,

Eric :tiphat:

I did not swap TPMS from 19" rims. I bought my winter rims WITH TPMS from Tirerack. You do have to take the car to the dealer after each swap to reset the TPMS. It takes less than 2 minutes to do it but they charge you half hour labor because that's the lowest they can charge. Some dealers will do it for you FREE of charge but my dealers around here are not too friendly.




No spacers ERIC. These rims more like a purpose rims than "looker". I never put spacers before so I don't know what's involved. I am gonna swap it end of March so it's only 3 months to go. Since I put on only from November to end March, i just live with the gap. :tup:

Lol.. I agree. Right after I put the winter rims on I felt

a. My car turned into a G37 (more comfort, less noise).

b. Felt a tad faster or easy to drive due to lighter weight.

c. My handling was same as a Honda Civic :icon14:

But I love these rims/tires. When you'll drive in snow, you'll say "thank you Blizzaks". I know I did. :tup:

Idk about u guys but I love my potenza's
I did get very scared last sunday; I was making a right going down a hill so I downshifted from 3rd to 2nd and I went in, my car got some side action and I almost crashed into someone lmao! Let me tell you it was the scariest moment of my life but it felt so amazing.

Eric,

I can't answer your question about how to improve looks with the Rays wheels, but if you are interested in improving the look of your winter rims, take a look at the previous page of this thread. I posted some pictures of the my car with the C2 rims (same as AK's) and 25mm spacers on the rear wheels. Wheels are still tucked in a little, but now it's even with the front wheels. I used Ichiban V2 spacers. They just bolt on to the existing studs, took me 15 minutes in total to install them.

Point a. and c.: I agree, :)
Point b., I didn't really feel it, but I have only don short trips ans slow driving with these wheels so far.

I did get to test them out this morning though, had to go through 8 to 10" of snow to get out of my neighborhood, and yes: "thank you Blizzaks" :tup:

With the stock wheels and tires, I would not have been able to get our of my drive way, let alone get to work safely.

Awesome. Good to hear. Trust me, I have driven on 2-3 inches of snow (or even less) last year with 19" rays and I was able to successfully do a 180 degrees facing the traffic! :eek: I didn't drive the z for a while because I was that scared. These Blizzaks are simply awesome and well worth the money.



Members should use this link to buy new sets of rims and tires

http://www.awltovhc.com/image-3768162-10402888

Wait wait...you were driving on the stock Potenza's in the snow...got sideways and almost hit someone...and you left that situation with nothing more than an adrenaline rush and a mysterious love for the Potenza's in the snow? And this is an "amazing" feeling?

You're crazy.

:iagree:

Thanks AK, I wasn't sure. I was in the midst of pondering. My pondering ended yesterday when we had our first snow. I made it about 1/2 mile before I parked it. Rented a car and got online as soon as I got to work and bought the Blizzaks with wheels (clicking your banner ad :) ). I decided to be a tightwad and go without TPMS.

I was driving late night the other day and a weird question popped into my mind.

Now, we all know that ONLY 370Z with Sport Package get the Enkei donut spare tire. The base 370Z gets the regular donut (steel spare).

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...m/DSC01985.jpg

This spare rim is designed to use the STOCK OEM rays lugnuts with the washer. Take a look
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...m/DSC01630.jpg

Now, those of us with aftermarket winter rims/tires, we are using regular lug nuts on our wheels currently. Now, lets say we get a flat, I don't think we can use the regular bolt on the ENKEI spare, can we?(I'm just curious). I won't get the answer to this until the end of March when I'll swap RAYS. So, in the meantime, I am carrying 5 OEM Rays bolts in my glove box Just to be safe.

Am I over thinking this situation? I would love to hear your (370Z owners with aftermarket winter rims/tires) opinion? :)


AK

I don't have the sport package but I recently purchased the Sport package brakes from Motoextreme. When I get the brakes on the car my base/steel spare will no longer fit (too small to clear the bigger brakes) so Adam was kind enough to include his Sport pacakge spare in the deal (he's got a subwoofer where his spare used to be).

So, I just went out to the garage and compared the fit of a conical (regular/aftermarket) lug nut with a Nissan washer style lugnut on the Enkei spare. It looks like you could get by with using the conical lugs in a pinch, like a short drive to the nearest tire shop (all the spare should be used for anyway), but I wouldn't recommend it. The washer style lugs definitely provide a far more secure fit for the rim design.

Good thinking AK to carry 5 of the washer style lugs in the Z for the spare if you're running aftermarket rims.

My first post to the370z.com! Within a week or so I'm going to start negotiating my deal for a spring delivery of my very own 370Z and I can't tell you how informative this thread has been! This would be my only car, so I've been trying to figure out if I can live with it through the winter. The big question that I couldn't get my local dealer to figure out for me was if I can get skinnier 18" rims over the sport package brakes. And now I know!

Like some others here I'm not a fan of having the rear tires inset when going with 225s all around. Though I'm not relishing the idea of putting spacers on in the fall and taking them off in the summer. Whereas there isn't a huge selection compatible of wheels at TireRack just yet (though bigger than just a few months ago I think), has anyone tried to find wheels that come with different offsets? Say, get the fronts with a 35mm offset and the rears with a 0mm - 5mm offset?

PR

Cool Thanks Scrute. If I remember correctly, most incorrect wheel locks ended up exploding when put on sports pack rims. That shows the amount of pressure it receives. I'm going to keep these RAYS bolts in my car. :tup:

Welcome to The370Z.com. Yes, I have been VERY happy with my winter setup. I have driven in snow, sleet, ice - everything you can imagine. Though I have years of RWD driving experience but these tires make my life very easy. Also, you're totally on a different confident level with any snow tires.

I'll let some other member chime in with your 2nd question as i haven't tried anything other than what I have

Great, just what I need after dropping $3,500 on new wheels with new TPMS sensors installed. Is there a cheaper way to get this done? Will local tire shops like Discount Tire or Les Schwab be able to reset the TPMS or will I have to take it into the stealership? :mad:

I am keeping my Sport wheels with sensors for the winter set.

If you do want to run spacers for a winter tire set, you can leave them on and use them with the 19" Sport package Rays. 15mm or 20mm is perfect for the Rays... Keep in mind you will have to get the kind of spacer that requires longer studs for the FRONT. Rears can use any kind.

I never bothered with swapping wheel sensors. It depends if you can live with the warning light on the dash.

To the people who didn't swap pressure sensors, is there a constant audible warning with the warning light? or just a warning light?

The low tire warning just flashes for the first 30 seconds or so, then turns to a solid light. No audible warning. I don't even notice it any more.

I could live with that. To hell with giving the dealership more of my money to program the TPMS.

Any shop can reset the tpms. Many dealers even do it for FREE. I'm telling you, it takes literally 3 minutes! So, call your dealer up and ask them if they will do it for FREE as a courtesy. Some will do it while others don't. The most they will charge is $50. Unfortunately, it's something you have to do every time you switch rims. ;(

AK, can we get those Blizzaks for our 19" Rays?? The reason I ask is because I may go the same route you did by getting another set of wheels/tires for next winter BUT I would get the other set for the summer and use the stock 19" w/Blizzaks for the winter.

thats awesome! and u have an iphone +1 lol

Thanks tjlazer. I've been digging into TireRack and 1010Tires to see what options there might be without needing spacers. The best I've come up with is either the Enkei Racing GTC01 18x9 and the Enkei Racing RP03. Both of those come with both a +40mm offset and a +18mm offset. Without spacers, that theoretically puts the outside face of the front tires 3mm in from the stock Rays, and the rears 12mm in from the stock Rays. Not perfect, but not bad. A tad pricey for a winter set up though. Only 1010Tires seems to offer the two different offsets, though. TireRack only seems to have the +40mm offset variety.

PR

Has anyone bought and or used the 'ATEQ TPM Quickset Reset Tool' from TireRack? They sell it for $135 and it's purpose is to reset your sensors yourself. When I look at the manual online, though, it doesn't mention that it's compatible with the 370Z.

PR

They don't have the LM25s for this size. All they have is LM60s and they're a whole lot more expensive. They also wouldn't work as well in the snow as the narrower tires with higher sidewalls. Here's the link to info for the Rays' size.

Winter / Snow Tires

Hey man, thanks. :tiphat: For some reason, I was not able to find that on TireRack, but then again I didn't look that hard cause I was at work.

But I agree that narrower and bigger sidewalls work better but I don't want to spend the money on a set of wheels just for the winter. I'd rather buy nicer ones for the summer and use the current 19" Rays for the winter and rap them with Blizzaks. That would certainly be much better than what I have on now, the stock rubbers.

Plus, I'm not really looking to be driving in the snow anyways. I avoid it at all costs with the Z. And since I have the luxury to work from home on such occasions, driving on the snow is not much of a concern. But there may come a time that I have no choice so adding Blizzaks to the Rays would be an improvement, I think.

I'm basically looking for a tire with better grip in cold temps for regular day driving, when it's not snowing.

As long as you're doing no snow driving, you could get away some all seasons. I see at TireRack there's some Michelin Sport Plus all seasons that'll fit the Rays.

As TreeSemdyZee said, it's preferable to have narrower tires for snow. So, it's up to you if you want to put Blizzaks on 19"

How do you know? :hello:

Haha....yeah for "show". I know what you meant...just messin.

lol :icon17: :ninja3:

Is wrong to tell you bunch of manly men that I love you? :icon17:

We are in the midst of getting our first decent snow this year and the Blizzaks are freaking incredible! The road crews must be on vacation because our roads suck. They ought to be embarrassed. I buzzed right past people in front-wheel and rear-wheel drive cars like they were parked.

I was honestly depressed after the last snowfall that we had when I didn't have snow tires, but now I'm totally comfortable. I wish I had a place to store another set of these tires since the price is so good. AMAZING.

And AK, I got behind someone right before I got to work that had a suffix of "AKZ" on their license plate! Divine Providence! :tup:

AKZ? dam he stole my license plate :shakes head: .. haha :icon17:

I agree with you 100%. I'll share a story.

After the 2nd snowfall, for some weird reason, City ONLY plowed main roads (popular roads). Which means, all the other roads had thick unplowed slushy snow. Now during night time, the temp dropped to 17 degrees F (yes that's 15 degrees below freezing! :eek:). What happens to the wonderful 2" thick slush? They become hard solid ice. I kid you not, if any Z owner here were to look at those streets, they would simply turn around and go back with a :ugh: face. Thanks to the blizzaks, I was able to drive without any issue. Sometimes I couldn't even believe what I was really driving on. I wasn't even sure how I was getting traction. Money well spent. :tup:

Isn't winter just fun.....lol

Winter tires are always a good investment.