How does the brz perform in the winter/snowy conditions
 

I live in Canada, Saskatchewan and we can get some harsh winters. Really wanting to buy a subaru brz but rwd is the only concern for me and excites me at the same time for drifting lol. I currently drive a fwd car and with good tires it handles our winter very well. So i guess my question is, is how do these cars handle harsh winters with a good set of winter tires?

They rock! Put good snows on, drive responsibly and you will have zero issues. I drive mine 5,000 kilometers a month through every conceivable snow/ice/rain combo possible and never had a single issue. Oh and it is lowered almost 2 inches.
There are probably 100 threads on here on the subject but here is a starter pack for you.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82998
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82962
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80961
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79146

Oh and here is some specific Sask info.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12537

What's snow? Jon Snow?

I'm from LA.

Thanx for the quick responses and links!

For LA it's:


http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/imag...04/Cocaine.jpg

This is a great thread so far.

In my experience (Minnesota) I drove all through last winter with the stock all-seasons (Bridgestone Turanzas?) and the car did amazingly well. She's super balanced so taking a corner at sensible speeds doesn't shift weight back or forth so no surprises mid-corner unless you decide you want some of that with some throttle input. The only particular issues I had driving in the winter were starting and stopping on inclines. It being RWD and having all-seasons on there really doesn't do this car any favors going uphill. The car just wants to go sideways and into a ditch. Just like what tcoat said, get yourself some good winter tires and you'll do fine. I also don't recommend driving in more than 5" of snow. I did this once going to work and I basically plowed the way for everyone else behind me with my front bumper. (And I'm at stock height.) Good luck!

Copied this from my Adventure Journal thread. I live in Chicago, and spent the entirety of the "5th largest snow storm in Chicago history" out driving around.

February 2nd, 2015

Well, ladies and gents. It happened! This ended up being a MASSIVE snow storm, and the BRZ handled it like a champ! I won't bother you guys with ten paragraphs. Suffice it to say, as you can see in the photos and videos below, that I had an absolute blast! I didn't get stuck once, even when driving through 6+ inches of unplowed snow, and several of my Toyobaru friends even came out to play! Long live RWD and winter tires!


And here are three videos showing some fun. The first is a video I caught of an accident, which also shows the kind of road conditions we were out having fun in. The second video is of me following my friend in her FR-S. This girl's car is lowered 2" and other than a quick instance of getting stuck towards the end of the video, she did fine as well, and this was 6+" of snow here. The third video... I can't remember if it was this same storm, but nonetheless, it's a video I threw together when a bunch of us went out in the snow to have some fun!

I guess I'm the exception. Have Michelin all seasons on my BRZ and it is the worst car I have ever driven in the snow. It would slide sideways off the road when stopped because of the crown of the road, never make it up our driveway, and have to be pushed to get it moving. That was in 4 inches of snow! This winter, it stays in the garage when the first flake falls. Not worth the aggravation.

That's because you were using all-seasons. This car, when stopped, is NO DIFFERENT than any other car when stopped. If you're sliding off the road like that, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the car, and literally EVERYTHING to do with what are apparently REALLY terrible tires.

This car is every bit as capable as any other vehicle in the snow when it comes to cruising down the road, with the exception of the ride height meaning it can't tackle snow quite as deep. The only "disadvantage" to this car is the RWD which makes accelerating a bit more... fun.

Personally, I would never drive a RWD coupe like this in the snow without dedicated winter tires. They are LEAPS AND BOUNDS above even a good set of all-seasons in the winter. Watch this video below:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s[/ame]

Just like most cars, it's almost all about tires and your driving ability. The small part of the equation that is the car (independent of tires) is horrible. The 86 flat out sucks in snow if you ignore tires and driver. But honestly, unless you're driving on packed snow and/or ice most of the time, and you have good snow tires, it's easy to compensate for it.
Oh, and don't go for performance snow tires. Sacrifice some dry performance and get studdless snow and ice tires.

Yea, you didn't put on snow tires. Why on earth not? Has no one ever told you the only thing that actually touches the road is the tires?

well there's your problem

edit: even i know that and it never snows here

This is the first car I've ever owned that can not get out of it's own parking space in winter on stock tires.
Not complaining...just saying.

How does the brz perform in the winter/snowy conditions
 

Well i wouldnt be super suprised, with the stock tires being summer tires. These things are only decent in the dry and warm, even in cold weather and no snow they just arent resigned to perform well like that

Don't tell me this thing can't move in the snow.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjAsQyhiZTg"]New Years Snow Fun - YouTube[/ame]

I drove my FRS all last winter. Ground clearance was an issue, even with my coils at the highest setting. A good set of tires, maybe some mudflaps, and paint treatment and you're set!

http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...pswpfgzwva.jpg

http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...psllzw6klu.jpg

I would be willing to bet, that from the looks of the pic, ground clearance is a year round problem for you.
I thought I was pushing it with my almost 2 inch drop but daaaaamn.

Lol, you might be right! Its definitely something I have to be aware of. :D

I'm in Michigan and have just recently bought a BRZ. Trying to decide what to do about the winter coming up. What tires did you use for your winter adventures?

I was on Continental ExtremeWinterContacts. These were new for 2014. Performed very well. This was only my second winter and first with dedicated winter tires.

http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...ps225c715a.jpg

I'm trying to stay as low cost as possible without being too cheap to the point that I waste money buying a winter setup that doesn't work.

Would it be better/more cost effective to buy a separate change of rims for winter with winter tires on them, or to buy winter tires for the stock rims?

From my understanding, it would cost money twice a year to have to rebalance the tires before and after winter when exchanging the winters for year-round tires.

Also, is it a bad idea to put snow tires on the stock rims because the rims are relatively skinny? Would snow tires be very effective if they are on skinny rims like we get stock?

Drove all last winter in Ontario, Canada. No problems, handled surprisingly well with full snow tires on.

I put the snows on separate rims. so quick changeover each season.

Go to TireRack, and order a winter tire package. Mine cost about $650 delivered. Get four winter tires, mounted and balanced on a set of steelies. A lot of what you said is correct. By getting them on a separate set of wheels, you can swap them at whim, which means you save the cost (and potential damage) of having them remounted twice a year. Also means if there is a late freak storm and you really need to get somewhere (or an early summer day and you wanna have fun) you can swap them in 30 minutes.

Winter tires should be gotten on smaller, skinnier wheels. This affords you extra cushion and protection from winter hazards that you might not see in the snow, and thinner tires cut through the snow better than wider tires, which ride up onto the snow. The ones I ran were 205/55R16. If you Google photos of rally cars doing snow/ice stages, they look like they are running on apace savers... super skinny!

As far as brand, I had Blizzaks on my old Outback and my car was essentially an unstoppable tank (18" of snow? No problem!) I did an experiment this year and bought General Altimax Arctic winter tires because a.) I wanted to see if they were "half the price, 90% the performance" like people said, and b.) This being my first RWD car, and having just gotten it, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist some hooning, and didn't want to tear up the pricier Blizzaks.

Having been through a winter with the Generals, they aren't bad (any winter tire will be way better than an all-season) but my friend had Blizzaks on his FR-S and he had noticeably more grip, so when it comes time to get new tires in another year or so I'll probably go back to Blizzaks unless there is something better by then.

Everything he said, +2 :respekt:

Pancake, any good quality snow tire should get the job done. I use Dunlop Winter Maxx, but Conti Winter Contact, Blizzak WS80, Michelin X-Ice 3, etc. will all get the job done well.

And there's a thread on various winter tire setups!

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24037

yep, and the 2014-2015 thread is here:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...ghlight=winter

lots of other good winter tire threads in the tire forum.

awesome videos, i feel more comfortable watching this

you are a nut, driving in all seasons...

Every other car I have had did fine with all seasons, but those cars were front wheel drive , heavier, and not running on low profile tires. So the nature of the BRZ/FRS makes it harder to drive in the snow unless you step up to snow tires. So to the op, unless you have dedicated snow tires, keep it in the garage!

Partially true. Summer tires are generally designed for high amounts of water and will deal with that water better than even a snow tire. R compound tires don't really count as summer tires though so they don't count :bellyroll:



Only because FWD saved you and if you were ever in a situation that you had to do any emergency steering/braking, you would have been screwed. I see this crap every year with people with FWD cars and even worse, 4x4 trucks.

My old MK6 GTI on Michelin Pilot A/S3s was pretty hairy in the snow on any inclined surfaces, and the Pirelli P-Zero Nero All-Seasons I had before those were even worse, bordering on undriveable. Tread width and type of all-season factors into this. A lot of the "performance" all-seasons behave like summers in the snow, but aren't as hateful below 50F.

Run-of-the-mill touring all-seasons on skinnier tires, like I had on my cars without sporting pretension were way easier to control in the snow, but if you have the budget for snow tires, why risk it?

Get snows for this car. I picked up my used Dunlop Winter 3D's for $170 and used them for two winters. They were absolutely brilliant.

Buy some blizzaks and youll be good lol

So last year i got through the winter with General Altimax Arctics. Best bang for your buck. I paid 115 per tire. Some caveats though. There is a little break in period of a few miles where they are squirrly on dry asphalt. Temperatures higher than 40f make the tires squishy, to the point where it felt like i was driving on pillows, but these are true snow tires, not performance winter tires.

Fyi i live in NJ and survived that barrage of blizzards.

http://i.imgur.com/wuK7b5t.jpg

I posted this somewhere, but I suppose I'll post it here for knowledge. NC rarely gets snow, like a day or two maybe. Last winter we got a stupid ton of freezing ice (see attached). Summer tires do not work at all, no matter how much snow/ice is on the ground. I was sliding going less than 30mph while easing into the brakes.

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...6DC9E5F12D.jpg

Drove it through the last Boston winter on General Altimax Arctics with no issues getting stuck. I did replace my front bumper since I cracked it on a piece of ice that was in the middle of the street.

FWIW, if you live in a snowy climate, skip the winter performance tires and get winter tires. It makes a big difference. The same WinterSport 3Ds off my WRX were not nearly as good on the BRZ.

I don't suppose they make crappy steel wheels that clear Brembos do they lol? I'm in need of some disposable wheels for winter. I certainly don't wanna screw up my precious 18" STis.

Anyone have suggestions on cheap winter wheels that will also clear Brembos?