S-FLY

So I live up north and we just got a some snow. I have a fully loaded G37S coupe with 4was, 6mt. I'm running 225/40/19 front, 245/40/19 rear lm-60 blizzaks. The alignment was pretty good and the car handles fantastic on dry pavement. But after this snow, the roads turned a little bit slippery. Driving straight down the road, the car feels like it's wandering all over the lane. Barely any input, and steady throttle just cruising, the car feels really unstable and the best way to decribe the sensation is that it's wandering.

Anyone ever experience this in the winter? Any ideas on how to fix it? Alignment issues (toed out)? Car feels so unstable that I don't even want to attempt driving it on the highway.

JSolo

iTrader: (14)

Assuming the car drives just fine with regular summer tires, the only variable here is the winter wheels/tires.


What pressure are you running the tires at? Are the tires brand new? If so, it may take some miles to wear away the manufacturing mold compound.

37hevn

iTrader: (1)

its called a rear wheel drive car with a front engine. buy sand bags or find tractor weights

movinon

I would think with blizzaks on the car would handle great on ice and snow. I used them on prior vehicles when I lived in Kansas and never had a problem with how the cars handled on slick or clear pavement. Good luck in finding the problem.

QueenCityG37

i agree with 37hevn. your trying to drive a rear wheel drive sports car in the snow.
yeah your snow tires probably enabled you to get out of the driveway..lol. but i wouldn't expect anything more than that.

i doubt there is any problem at all, just the joy of driving a sports car in the snow.

good luck!

JSolo

iTrader: (14)

The G37 can't be any worse than my camaro was with snow tires. The car was very drivable, you still can't do stupid things like go fast in corners. Stopping in the snow was a non issue. Sure abs might of kicked in, but it still stopped in a straight line in what I would consider a shorter distance than a car with all seasons. Earlier on, i did try about #300 of sand bags in the back. One season I got lazy and didn't notice much if any difference without them. I haven't used sand bags since.

Breaking the back end loose is still a possibility. Snow tires enable the car to be driven the winter time. Snow tires are not a ticket to stupidity however.

S-FLY

Maybe I'm not making myself clear. I'm driving at constant throttle, stright down the road. VDC is on, driving normally not spinning the rear tires whatsoever. The car wants to drive all over the lane. Anything I do to correct it, the rear end wants to do the complete opposite.

I've been driving in snow for 12 years. My last car was a Lexus IS300, also RWD, and I never had this issue.

I'm going to guess that it's excessive toe-in on the rear wheels that's causing this. Anyone experienced with this?

JSolo

iTrader: (14)

Sfly, stupid question... well, 2 of them.

1) are the lm60's directional?
2) if yes to #1, were they installed on the correct side of the vehicle, rotation marks pointing forward?

My bike tires are directional, and in the dry, no issues if they're installed backwards, but in the wet they're not able to properly evacuate the water.

SwissCheeseHead

iTrader: (6)

Not a stupid question. To answer for the OP about being directional yes they are as I have the same tires. For question 2....only the OP can answer that lol. I've accidently put my tires on backwards before.

The sand bag thing is a mistruth. Adding weight to the back of a rwd vehicle will not keep the back end from kicking out. It will make the car heavier giving you the impression of stability. The weight is supported by the springs...its actually the shocks and struts the push the wheels down towards the road.

SwissCheeseHead

iTrader: (6)

This could be stupid...but have you retightened the lug nuts??

G37S-OONER

G37 Coupe + Snow = fun for everyone watching.....

js3350z

if there was slush in the road the car could have been trying to follow groves, once I got surprised by the snow and had to drive home in about 4" of slush/snow on the highway, and it was not fun, couldn't keep it in a straight line no matter what I did..

S-FLY

Yes the lm-60's are directional and yes they're rotating the right way. Lug nuts are torqued. My coworker has the same problem with his brand new Cayenne S.

Do you guys who aren't experiencing any problems have 4WAS?

QueenCityG37

its possible the rear wheel G just isn't that good in the snow.

i had a 06 BMW 330i...with summer tires..and it actually did OK in the snow...car is just good at it..other rear wheel drive cars are horrible.

i doubt its anything with your alignment or wheel balance.

SwissCheeseHead

iTrader: (6)

Your rear tires are pretty wide for snow tires too. I read this somewhere but basically skinnier tires will track better in the snow than wider tires. I think it was on tirerack or something. I don't think it's anything wrong with the car or the tires. I think it's just the interaction between the tires and the road. Also, with any higher powered RWD cars, power is delivered to the wheels more quickly, so the extra spinning of the rear wheels will cause them to slip.