I've had my 2017 for about 6 weeks. Live on Long Island. Snow's starting. How do you guys/gals drive this beast in the snow? Manual? Sport? Just slowly? She's all over the place.

 

How do I drive it in snow? I don't and I won't unless I get dedicated snow tires. It makes all the difference in the world. There are those that say snow tires aren't necessary...that all season tires are adequate. Well, I disagree. You might not need snow tires until your life depends on it, and then, if you don't have them, it's too late! So go online to tire rack or something similar, and order dedicated snow tires right away.

 

I have snow tyres and this is my first winter driving my Maxima.

 

I'd have to agree with this post. Last year I went thru 4 to 5 inches of snow on a trip to Wisconsin on the standard Continental tires and the car was very squirrely with lots of front end plow due to poor traction.

 

Snow? Snow? What is this snow you speak about?

 

I have all season tires. Yesterday it was snowing in Brooklyn. Being a front wheel drive it handles pretty ok. Skips on green light. Had ABS engaged a few times when made turns because I was going a bit fast and wanted to brake it’s started to oversteer. Other than that it’s not that bad. I’ve had E500 with the rear wheel drive and it was awful in the snow.

 

Ha! You wanna talk bad in the snow? Try a supercharged Grand Sport Corvette in the snow. Talk about no traction what so ever.

 

Maximas have a low ground clearance, so I would not try to take them through more than a few inches of snow or slush. Unless I am driving a four wheel or all wheel drive vehicle, I stay away from hills when the roads have snow or ice/slush.

 

I don't live on Long Island anymore but it's horrible. You feel like you're driving around a FWD boat around. Car has no grip when you turn, and takes several additional feet to stop, if you stop. All seasons just don't cut it on non plowed / salted roads. I'm guessing snow tires will be a lot better, then you just have to worry about the folks whizzing by with 4wd on ice or RWD.

Like lightonthehill said, clearance will still be an issue. Anything over 6" of snow I think you're better off waiting until roads are cleared or not driving at all. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.

 

The compound of a good aggressive treat winter tire is much softer than an all-season tire. All-seasons really lose there grip as the temperatures fall below 45 degrees. But be sure to get your winters off with the first hint of spring, as when temperatures rise the soft compounds will be eaten quickly.

 

 

If I lived in the snowbelt portion of the country, or even high in the southern Appalachian or Blue Ridge Mountains, I would own an AWD vehicle and keep a separate set of wheels with winter tires on hand.

Here in middle Georgia, I just keep all-season tires on my Maxima, and either take my wife's truck or stay home when the roads are really bad. Those southerners living in a fairly level area will find that, if carefully driven, FWD vehicles such as the Maxima can negotiate lesser amounts of snow, slush and ice fairly well, because the heaviest part of the car (engine) is directly over the drive wheels.

 

We had a few inches of snow on the ground this morning and my Max + winters managed the crawl to work. It was a bit squirrelly when driving through "deep" snow but there were no issues. So with the right winter tyres and patience it should be fine.

 

Ah I don't miss the days of driving in he snow. 2 cars back, I had a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix and i think it was even lower to the ground than the Max. One winter I "beached" it on a median strip and cringed as the tow truck dragged it off. Amazingly the bottom didn't suffer any major damage somehow.

These days the only thing I have to worry about is the few local stores that have steep entrances to their parking lots. It's a bear trying to slow down enough to get into those spaces when there's lots of traffic around. Sometimes I can plan it just right and enter at a bit of an angle.

 

Just to add one more comment for the OP, when I used to drive in snow I'd found the manual mode (with a standard automatic at the time) to be very helpful. I'd force it to stay down in 2nd gear. Not sure if it's any different with the CVT simulation of manual mode.

 

Winter:

Snow>All Season>Summer (Fail and extra wear)


Summer:

Summer>All Season> Snow (Fail and extra wear)


No doubt All Seasons are not the best in any circumstance. But they don't fail. If the video above had included summer tired, it would have show that. It's a reasonable compromise but certainly not the best.

 

Have only had my Max for less than 2 weeks but we've gotten two pretty big snow falls already.

Had the dealer throw in winter tires, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by how well she handles in the snow. My last 2 vehicles have been Grand Cherokee's. The 08 was an absolute beast, felt like a tank in the snow. The 11 was never great, despite being 4WD. I honestly feel safer in my Max with the snow tires.

 

Almost seventy degrees again today here in middle Georgia. A wimp like me would never survive a real 'up north' winter. I grew up on Grandfather Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and have driven many years in the snow. But I don't trust any of the other drivers I see on the road here in middle Georgia, so if there is over one inch of snow, I lock my Maxima in the garage and head for the easy chair in front of the fireplace.

 

Can't believe I'm actually going do disagree with lightonthehill. I live in a snow belt in Canada and have owned a couple of 4x4 vehicles and two all wheel drive vehicles. With the electronic traction control and superior winter tires (oem size), along with years of winter driving experience, there is no need to have an all wheel drive vehicle for winter driving. That is unless you are driving on un-plowed roads with over 6-7 inches of snow. People continually find themselves in ditches in my area driving 4x4 and all wheel drive vehicles when they think four wheels driving will do a better job of keeping you on the road.....which they don't.

 

I'm waiting for my tires to wear out, then I'll get the Continental DWS-06; best ever (snow, rain, whatever)!. BTW, you must drive in normal mode. And, of course, nothing will help if you plan on driving like a schmuck.

 

They might be great high performance all season tires, but there is no comparison to dedicated snow tires. If you want the best performance and the safest emergency maneuvering capability in snowy conditions, then you need dedicated snow tires, not all season tires. As I have said many times before, you might not need snow tires until your life depends on them, but if you don't have them at that time, it will be too late!

 

Buy a set of chains from Amazon if you have to go out in the snow. Practice putting them on and taking them off and make sure they don't damage your wheels. Most chains your top speed is 30-40mph so it's an emergency solution but one that works very well.

 

Having driven in a snow belt in the mountains in Canada for years I would not recommend chains. Good snow tires will almost always get you to where you want to go. Chains have to be installed and uninstalled and if done incorrectly, or if there is an issue with the chains, can lead to vehicle damage, like brake lines (which obviously causes a serious safety risk). As well, I would not want to be pulling over on a street, road, or highway to install / uninstall chains as this in itself is dangerous, as you would only be doing this when driving conditions a very poor with heavy snow.

 

Chains? Only if you live in the mountains in the rural backend of nowhere. Otherwise get a good set of winter tyres.

My Continental Winter Contact Sis on my Maxima don’t like diving in slush. The struggle for traction when pulling away from a stop.

 

Amen brother. Have been driving fwd for the past 5 years in Nyc and never had an issue and constantly see these bozos in their xdrive and 4matics stuck or just all over the place, smh technology will never take over brains and skill.

 

Reminds me of a grizzled old salesman I knew. When a perky young couple would come in insisting on all wheel drive, he would assess their motives and grumble "All them wheels ain't going to do you no good if they're pointed at the sky."

 

.... Like a plow.

drove down my very partially plowed street tonight, and some jerkoff left a ~6" pile of snow in the middle of the street. But it's not as soft as it was earlier... So the bottom of my max scraping across it as I crept at around 1.5 mph over this snow made an infuriating noise.

 

I put a new set of Michelin X-Ice 3s on my 2016 SL and can't complain. Had these on my 2013 Civic Si and always got me to work and home.

With the SL being a much heavier car and an CVT, I had to learn how to drive it in snow.

I live in NH and we had a very icy snow storm in early December that caused a 50 minute commute home to take 2 hours, but at no point did I feel unsafe. I'm 58 and learned to drive New England winters in a 1972 Comet RWD, so patience, extra car lengths of space, and being easy on the gas will get you anywhere. I worry more about other people than this car in snow tires.

 

....72 Comet....UGH.

 

Was planning on getting those same tires, but was able to get the dealer to throw in a set of winters (BF Goodrich). Based on my research, the tires you got are probably the best.

 

Agree with winter.
I do not agree with summer. Especially with Bridgestone Blizzak and current-gen Pirelli, Yokohama, and Michelin winter tires.

You’re totally misusing the Transitive Property of Equality.

Driver skill also makes a difference. Far less margin of error, but I got through frozen/ice/snow conditions with my BMW 535i and Nissan GT-R on summer tires. Frozen tires...

 

Tell me about it, I drove to school with bag over my head!!

 

It was the Michy's or Nokian Hakkapellitta R2s, but they rate the same, plus or minus on different specs and cost about $50 a tire.
Plus I got the $70 rebate form Michelin.

My Snows are on the factory rims and my Goodrich Comp 2s are on a set of Enkei's I got on closeout for Tirerack @ $110/pc.