Blk_A4

Im looking to swap my audi a4 for a 350z. I was wondering if anyone could give some advice on how a rwd does around northern va. I don't expect to drive it on crazy amounts of snow. Maybe like if the roads are slightly covered in snow. For those who have experience with snow tires do they help? Thank you for any feedback.

JROW

RWD sucks in the snow. In NOVA w/ a 350z w/ all season tires may not be too bad though.

marlinspike

If you aren't an idiot and know how to drive it's no problem, assuming you aren't running summer tires. You can run all-seasons in that area. A set of Bridgestone Blizzaks and you'll have 0 trouble, all season and you'll have 0 trouble if you know what you're doing. I even remember my dad driving through the Blizzard of 1996 in the DC Metro area on all seasons.

bumada

just drive slow. i can tackle light snow with azenis

240trainee

Don't drive like a jackass, snow tires if you can swing for em, carry some sand in the rear. Done and done.

Fabrik8

RWD works fine in the snow. If you live in NoVa, don't worry about the snow. You don't get enough of it to factor into a car buying decision.

terrible advice

+1. There really are not a whole lot of places anywhere in this lovely state where there is actually a significant amount of snow.

Priestiality

Good points but not all all-seasons are created the same. Shoot, even in the rain my Goodyear RS-As were almost undrivable.

Best case scenario, for any performance rwd car you probably should get a set of good summer tires and a set of winters (and they don't even have to be true winter tires. I've been looking to source narrower 17s to replace my summer 18x8s( 245/45 series) for the winter months).

Driving on all-seasons year-around would suck though so get proper tires for the warm months. That said, i ran my RE01Rs through the blizzards last year but that was super sketchy around here as they don't clear the streets.

Fabrik8

Continental Extreme Contact DWS are badass all seasons if you're looking for something like that. They're not as grippy as a lot of all seasons out there, but they're FAR superior in rain and light snow than most all seasons I've driven on any car. Some all seasons are geared toward performance at the expense of rain and snow traction, the Contis are kind of a blend. They're amazing for the price, and you'd have to get up into the much higher priced Pirelli and Michelin stuff to get the same performance (as an all-season tire, not a dry weather performance tire). I have those on the Impreza wagon year round (the GF's daily, and our traveling car) and love them. That's the fourth different model of tires on that car (Colorado roads like to randomly damage tires) and the only ones I've actually thought were decent.

If you're looking for actual winter tires with decent dry weather performance, Dunlop SP WinterSport 3Ds are really good. They give up a little bit of snow traction compared to Blizzaks, but the Dunlops are a LOT better in dry weather than the Blizzaks are. I've used both on my WRX (here in Colorado) and I like the Dunlops a lot more because of the snow conditions here. They're on the car right now, as my daily. It snows a lot more frequently here than it does in VA, but we don't get anywhere near the amount of snow that falls in the mountains, so the dry weather performance is more important day-to-day. Again, you can get better Michelin and Pirelli winter tires, but at a lot higher price than the Dunlops.

Honestly, most of the all seasons on the market really aren't worthy of driving in the snow at all, and don't even work well in the rain. If they suck in the rain, forget about using them in the snow with the slightest bit of confidence. All season is just the catch-all term for anything that isn't a summer tire and isn't a winter tire, which is a really big slice of tire pie. That big slice has a lot of really horrible all season tires in it. If it snows rarely that probably doesn't matter, but if you're going to get something that isn't a summer tire you might as well get something that isn't horrible for non-summer driving.

TransAmWS6

ive driven the trans am in light snow/slush before, and it had riken raptors at the time, with no problem. the only issue i really had was the icey stuff, and a lot of it one time. its all about your right foot.