G35 Coupe - The "for sunny days only" sports car

[Superdane73]

It is insane to take this vehicle out in the snow! This is my baby, and I won't risk it getting banged up! Wether I do it, or some idiot slips into my rear end, I won't put it at risk in snow. Besides, it only snows a few weeks out of the whole winter, and during those weeks of snow I use my other car, a Toyota Highlander, FWD with all seasons.

I wonder if it is truly worth buying new rims and expensive winter tires just for a few weeks out of the year?? I would think that dedicated winter tires such as the Blizzaks are not great performance tires anyways on those dry winter days anyways...

But let's say some DO deside to get some snow shoes put on, what are the options for rim and tire sizes? My G comes with 19s!! Not easy to find 19 inch winters... at least not for a sane price. Coudl we go with a smaller diameter tire? I know the brakes are huge and need some room, but 19s?? I would guess I could go down as far as 17s.

What do ya think? 17s? Even 16s? For winter?

[msb3079]

the G has too "big of a look" for 16's. i would go with 17's for winter.. is the most common...

(i should take my own advice, before it's too late)

[Ru_G36c]

not many 17" will fit over the brembos ... I doubt you'll find any 16" that will clear the calipers

[Superdane73]

On the 2005 they got rid of the Brembos. But from what I can tell on the new ones, they have a larger surface area than the Brembos. I heard from a dealer that the reason they dumped the Brembos is that they were too slow in cranking out the brakes for the G35.

So the question still stands... can I put 17's on the G35? The Tire Rack has that as an option, so they seem to think so.

[acepero]

I'm getting some all season Toyo Tires that'll fit over my stock 18"s, the only problem is they're gonna run me $1200... The Bridgestone Potenza's are $1300...I'm not gonna get winter tires because I want to use the all-season ones the rest of the time as well.

[boczek17]

holy crap!! $300-325 per all-season tire?? ...does this include mounting?

Which tire by the way...Proxes 4 ?

[BlueStreak]

I've had my '03 6m/t here in NY for 2 years now, over 40" of snow each year, and I have had not one problem in getting around. Here's what you need to know:
- summer tires not only stink in snow, the composite compounds they are made from stink in cold (<45 degrees). That would also affect driving in rain when it's cold. They are called summer for a reason, and it's not just snow traction.
- I got a set of 17" Sport Edition Fox 5 rims with Pirelli Snowsports from tire rack for under $1400, I change them myself, and they fit over my brembos just fine. The Pirellis are the best rated snowtires for dry cornering, so those winter days where there is no snow I can still have some fun.
- Why spend the $ someone asked- why not get all seasons? That's the worst of both worlds. There isn't an all season tire alive that can grip like the pilots in warm weather (optimizing fun), nor is there one that can grip as good in the snow as my Pirellis (optimizing practicality). And as far as the $ goes, think of it this way- after 2 years, I only have 15K miles on my pilots, because my pirellis have the other 8K miles I've driven. I'll get another year out of my pilots as a result of sharing duty with my snows- so in 4 more years the pirellis will have paid for themselves, because I'll have needed one less set of pilots. And I have a car I can drive safely and confidently all year round.

Sure there are some things to complain about with this car (though I haven't actually found any in my 2 years with it), but traction is not the car's fault. It's the driver's if he ignores the facts.

[scottkusf57]

Get blizzaks. I had the same problem as you. I was going about 15 mph in a snowstorm on a 2 lane highway doing fine. People passing me, whatever. Then I come to a slight uphill......no momentum. Speed starts to go so I gas it a bit, slip, slide, ack!!! I ended up stuck in the right lane with cars speeding past me. My car was 2 weeks old, i was crapping my pants. I backed it down and was able to get enough traction and speed to get home. 1 week later I got Blizzaks. Now I pass people in heavy duty 4wd's. Everyone looks at me like "how is he going faster than us in that thing." Plus Ive practiced a lot with the VDC now. I know how it slips and how the car reacts a lot better. I also have 2 60lb sand bags that i put in the trunk when it gets really bad. With that combo im unstoppable on the road.

[Randy]

Originally Posted by acepero

I've had it with my G. It slips in rain, it slips in slush, it slips all over, I can't wait til it slips into a truck!

I got stuck tonight in less than 1/2 an inch of snow (10th time this winter) and I had to leave my car at the "foot" of a bunny hill and trek 3/4 of a .

I live in Rochester NY. A million degrees below zero on the warm days and 17" of snow in a f%@ day is normal.

I put Continental ContiExtremeContact ultra high performance All Season tires on the car (18" wheels). I've driven the car on top of an inch of ice while it was raining (tracked true with no slipping) - over snow covered roads, and through storms (had the tires since August).

I've taken the car off the road two weeks this year, just because I didn't want it to get hit, and I bought an Acura as a beater and figured I should use it a little ....

Get good tires - the car handles great in the snow (I don't know what the hell is wrong with the Pilots. The car not only slipped badly with them, the backend would swing out with the Pilots - I've never had the backend swing out with the Continentals).

Randy

[sandking]

Sounds to me like its time to move to Cali.