Hi Alt G

Point well taken. No blood no foul!

Alex57r

The original Xs dunlop tires are apparently pretty good in the snow. To my surprise, my car had no issues getting around this past weekend I was pleasantly surprised. What a difference from my RWD G35 with summer tires and my GS430 with all season tires.





The infiniti AWD system is not bad at all. I could not tell the difference with snow mode on and off ( I eventually left it on just in case) if accelerated well even uphil in a good 4-5 inches of snow. The Xs bumper is pretty low so that does a little plowing, but aside from that truly no issues. Of course with vdc off mashing the pedal translates into immedeate spins, but if under normal driving I was very impressed.

allagaroo

Happy to hear about how good the Dunlops are in the snow on the Xs. I currently have an 07 A6 and which has been terrific in the snow and just ordered the 2010 37Xs because of the poor reviews of the RSA's on the 37x.. One concern with the Dunlops is that they felt somewhat skittish and rough. the test car was a new 2009 on its initial ride so maybe that caused the skittishness. I checked the tire pressure on 2 tires and it was 30 and 32. How do you finf the ride quality on the Dunlops???
THX

Alex57r

Ride quality is good (i have to admit that the X suspension is a little soft for my taste). The car is set up to understeer a little and like any all season tire, the dunlops are not as good as summer tires in the rain/wet. Ride quality wise, the Xs with Dunlops is just fine even here on beat up NYC streets.

allagaroo

I'm on L.I. and drive into the city frequently. Thanks for the response. I was surprised with how nervous a ride they gave after all the raves from this site and Tirerack. Obviously, I feel that it was based on this being the cars initial ride and probably inconsistent tire pressure or I wouldn't have ordered the XS. I'll get the car in Feb. if the lease #'s are what I expect. I have a quote on cost but MF's and residuals aren't out yet.

blitzebill

hi again.

well if you look through the posts/topics/threads on this blog, i wrote one awhile back specifically concerned about the RSAs, and finding an interesting mix of people at tire rack and here and other Infiniti owner blogs who hated the RSAs and made specific warnings to stay away from the tire. Others thought the tire was fine.

I talked to my dealer, to the Infiniti Chicago customer service office and to Goodyear. They all stood by their selection of that tire of course for the G, and said if I ever have specific issues with the tire to contact them. None of these sources had ever heard of any problems with the RSA.

I have no issues at this point, so I'll keep my $800+ in my bank account instead of going to buy a new set of something else. My G37x is only a couple months old.

But my snow "test drive" as submitted above is factual. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the car and tire handled the snowy conditions.

No I didn't turn off the "snow" mode and try any of those maneuvers, cause that's what I wanted to experience, how this car would function in that mode.

No complaints here!

blitzebill

someone on another blog posted this youtube link showing a Nissan company video of how the ATTESA E-TS system works on the x models.

keep the sound off...cheesy music and it's in Japanese, but the visuals are easy enough to follow.

YouTube - Nissan Skyline 4WD System

KLB

I just did the same thing, after having my rear end slip out on me a few times, sliding through a light, and many other incidents in the few snows we've had in NW IN so far. The funny thing is, my wife was complaining when I first mentioned getting snow tires. Then last week we went shopping. On the way out the rear end slid out to the left again as I was going a steady 35 down the road. She immediately said "you need to get new tires right away."

I ended up getting Yokohama W*Drives. So far I like them. I have to wait for the next snow to really test them though.

ILLI_G37

Got about 5 inches of snow yesterday in Portland area. It came as a shock for everyone. Was my first chance to try AWD and it was nice not to be stranded on the roadside with lots of other cars. Only problem I had, was getting into my garage since there is a considerable slope and I was not proactive enough to start opening my garage earlier. Had to stop right before the door, and then could not move since car did not have any more momentum. Backed off a little bit and got in on the second attempt.
Also back wheels did slip a couple of times, so I guess the RSA tires are not so good as most people here say... or it is just my lack of experiance in snow driving (lived in AZ untill last year). Hopefully will get more chances this winter to practice.

SkyMG37x

I guess you mean all 4 tires slipped a bit since the AWD system will transfer torque to the front as soon as it starts to detect rear wheel spin.

I've been in Montreal all week that went from freezing rain to frigid cold (8F) with a snow slop covering the roads and haven't had any issues. The parking lot where I'm staying has a solid ice and snow covered slope and if I blip the throttle to try to spin the wheels I get the brief SLIP indicator but no problems at all. So far the RSA's have been fine although I know there are better tires. I'll just keep these for a few seasons and see.

ILLI_G37

I felt back wheels sliding a bit and Slip sign coming on for a moment and car would get stable after that. So ,again, could be that I just don't know yet how the car suppose to drive, since I've never driven in snow before.

KLB

Same here. It is by no means instantaneous. Rear end slips, AWD kicks in and front wheels straightened out the car.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

doesn't the SNOW mode just keep AWD locked 50/50 (front/rear) power until 25 mph or so .. vs. 12mph (or something like that) in normal driving mode...

i wish we could launch in 2nd gear with SNOW mode... or does SNOW mode also modulate the throttle?

Chapinb

Iv got a 09' g37xs 7at with a set of blizzak lm-25 on 17" winter rims. Live in upstate vermont, with about 2k miles on snowy/icy roads this year.
Forward acceleration and on-power turning the car handles very well. It can slip or faulter a bit under acceration, but thats expected with this much hp. Traction control quickly gains control without killing power. I have yet to find a hill that I have had trouble getting up. The traction control/snow mode works fairly well.
Stopping seems shaky, but I chock that up to the tires, nothing to do with the car itself (shoulda gotten the lm-50's... sigh)

Off-power turning or braking does pose some issues at times, but a little gas helps in turns. Again, probably due to the tires as much as the car.
The car does feel slightly more squirrely than my old winter rat, a 98 bonneville front wheel drive. But the bonneville has better tires and more drive time.

4-wheel burnouts with traction control off is awesome!

Overall, not the BEST car iv had in the snow, but very capable with good snow tires.

Brian

SkyMG37x

No - SNOW mode basically allows the ECU to manage engine power vs. throttle input to reduce torque to the wheels. AWD is always on and works the same regardless - starts at 0/100 F/R to 50/50 F/R as needed.