Thanks to the many posters who posted about the "summer" performance tires and their performance in the snow/rain. The general consensus is that the tires work well in the rain, but is not drivable in the snow. I am kinda surprised by this, as I am sure many of you live in the midwest or the east coast where it is snowing constantly. How has your car performed? I live in So.Cal but sometimes I have to drive in snowy mountains.

Original post:
https://g35driver.com/forums/g35-coupe-v35-2003-07/46321-performance-wheel-package.html


My additional questions are

1) Are the regular tires that come with the G35c "all weather" tires, or do they perform bad in the snow too?

2) The fact that the car performs badly in the snow is due to the tires, and not do to anything related to the car, right? If so how much would a set of all weather tires cost? Anyone have a reccomendation for all weather tires for 17 or 18 inch rims?

Thanks

The Michelin Pilot Sports are not only bad performers in the cold and snow, they are DANGEROUS. Don't even think of driving in the snow with them on.
So many have tried and wished they had not.

Conversely, my Coupe with 4 snows on is a treat to drive.

C.

The only other main disadvantage other than the tires is that the car is rear wheel drive. Any RWD is going to have a harder time on snow than FWD cars will.

gsedanman, sorry for my ignorance on tires but do you leave your snows on all year? How do they perform in the rain? Do you know how good the tires are in snow that come with the base package?

Thanks

I drove my car in the snow. I will never do it again. Make a long story short I got stuck at an intersection and had to leave the car at some random side street and picked it up the next day when the roads were plowed. The roads had maybe half an inch on the ground at best and I was drifting already.

How good are the tires that come with the base model in the snow? Are these considered all weather tires?

Yes, the tires that come on with the Sport Package on the '05's should never ever be used in even a dusting of snow. I live in Iowa where we have at least 3 months of snowy weather per year. I test drove an 05 AT on about 1/4" snow and the car was incappacitated. The models on the base AT are in fact all weather tires and they do just fine in the snow. I've personally driven an '05 AT with these all weather tires and had no problem with about an inch of residual snow on the ground from a storm two days earlier. Of course, I've lived in the midwest my whole life and have >10 years worth of winter driving experience.

Yeah, coupe and michigan snow = bad! Thankfully, my 2001 GM Garbage still runs, and runs well in the snow.

Yeah the Sports are bad bad bad in the snow. Even the Sport AS are not that great which is what I now have on the rear. They get you from point A to point B but it is very scary doing so.

Hi Imperial521, No, I can't leave the snows on all year......They would be too soft for warm weather driving and would yield poor traction, not to mention wear out in about 5k miles.
The snows come off in April when the weather turns better and warmer, and go back on in October/November ready for cold and snow again.
My snows (Yokohama AVS winters) perform well in the wet too.

When I bought my Coupe, the base model tires were 17" and were all season rubber, which give average performance in both summer and winter conditions. (both wet and dry).
Those A/S tires (tho not the best by far) IMHO are what you need for your area where mostly you have summer conditions and occasionally come across winter conditions in the mountains.

To answer your question about how good A/S tires are in the snow.......I've read that they are only about 40-50% as effective as snow tires.
Vastly better than summer tires, but chancy at best for extended winter conditions with the Coupe.
Colin

G35 coupe is in no way good in the snow, but it isnt horrible. My vette, now that thing is TERRIBLE in the snow.

The stock pilot sport tires that came on the 18-inch rims are horrible in the snow, nevermind when the roads have ice on them! The consitency of the rubber the tires are made from has a lot to do with them being summer or winter tires. The stock pilot sports do not operate very well below 40 degrees because the rubber gets too hard at those temps. A winter tire will remain softer and have a better tread pattern to grip. An all season tire will be made as a compromise.

I tried to drive my coupe in the winter when i first got it just to see what people were talking about...it wasn't good. I left it in the garage...this past winter I purchased a full set of 18-inch rims with stock pilots and kept those, replaced the original pilots sports with 18-inch blizzaks (my tires needed to be replaced) The blizzaks work GREAT in the snow and in the cold weather. Obviously when the roads get iced up caution still needs to be used, but on unplowed roads the blizzaks drove better them my other front wheel drive car. I live in New England (Rhode Island). I put the snow tire setup on my car right after thanksgiving and they come off the last week in march, first week in april.

when I purchased my blizzaks i bought all the same tire size for all four (235 all around instead of the 225/245 staggered setup) I have had zero issues with VDC and traction control. It's winter, the car doesnt see the road as much as it does in the summer and that time is certainly not as agressive. The same tire all around allows me to rotate them and get more season on them.

Driving with the winter tires on in the summer wouldn't be smart. The higher temps would wear out the soft winter rubber tire very quickly!

As other people have mentioned the 40 degree average temp is a nice gauge. Or go with an allseason. I have a friend that had the 17-inch tires that came on his auto-coupe...in the snow it wasnt the best, he got a 17-inch rim and blizzak setup and loved them too! The reliability and assurance is worth it - get the blizzaks. Sorry to write so much, just figured/wanted to share my experience and opinion. Hope it's been helpful!

Cheers!

I got stuck trying to go up a little hill the other day, there was about a half inch of slush and snow on the road, thank god the guy behind me offered to push me up the hill to my house. I will never take the car out in the snow again with these tires.

i've got pirelli 210 on my car... and have driven twice through some heavily snowed sideroads. i've had no serious problems with traction. straight line was fine... just have to take it easy on the turns and the car will go everywhere. i assume u live in california and travel all the way north. if this is true then i would say u have a unique situation where u go from warm/hot to very cold weather. i wouldn't recommend the winter tire set-up for u. go with some very good all-season tires. i would check-out some reviews and then go with the one's that claim to have better winter performance. hope it works out .