How does the brz perform in the winter/snowy conditions

[GreenMonster]

Originally Posted by jawn

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.

[S84kam]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

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

MASSIVE SNOW STORM!!!

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!

Early on in the storm:





Parked at a friends house waiting for "the gang." Notice I'm already plowing snow here.



Out having fun!



Later that night, a shopping/gas run, because why not?





Later that week (mmm... salty...)

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!

----------

awesome videos, i feel more comfortable watching this

[S84kam]

Originally Posted by BRZnut

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.

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

[BRZnut]

Originally Posted by S84kam

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!

[Poodles]

Originally Posted by yelsew

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

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

Originally Posted by BRZnut

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!

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.

[jawn]

Originally Posted by BRZnut

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!

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?

[himbo]

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.

[Alltezza]

Originally Posted by Thor123

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?

Buy some blizzaks and youll be good lol

[Snazzums]

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.

[bigred18]

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.

[noodleface]

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.

[kuczynskika]

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?

[why?]

Originally Posted by kuczynskika

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?

just go see what tire rack and the like is selling cheap, they always seem to have sets of wheels dirt cheap.