Any Colorado ZHP drivers? I have questions

[TitanZHP]

First off let me say I love my ZHP and I have lived in CA all my life. Well the fiancé and I just signed a lease on a place in Colorado, west minister to be exact, and I will be taking my ZHP with me. I move late October and I have no idea what daily driving my ZHP will be like during the winter. Can anyone who lives in CO let me know if there are things I should be doing like getting winter tires or changing my oil to something heavier. I came from a Subaru WRX so I'm not sure what winter driving will be like with red. Sadly the ZHP is my only car right now until I have space to buy another so I just have to make it through the winter. Any pro tips would be great. I already got a set of 17 regular e46 325i wheels to mount winter tires on. I just love my car too much to give it up. I'm sure you can relate. Also if anyone knows any good car clubs/ auto cross groups to join in CO that would be much appreciated.
Thanks guys,
TitanZHP

[cakM3]

You will be in the greater Denver area... if your ZHP has high performance summer tires then you want to get another set of wheels with either really good set of all season tires (Continental DWS) or winter tires (Blizzaks) so you can put them on during winter months. You won't use the winter tires nearly as much as I do on the East Coast but you will use them :) You will be around 5300 feet above sea level so there will be some adjustments you will have to make if you are coming in from a lower altitude area...

When it snows, it snows over there. If possible I wouldn't recommend driving while it's snowing out until you get a feel for how people drive. Don't make any assumptions that since everyone there live in an area where it snows every winter that they can drive in it....you will learn quickly how wrong you are! There will be days where you won't want to take your car out due to road conditions but the city tends to get the roads cleared out fairly quick over there.

Watch out for the LEOs over there.... They are really good at nailing speeding cars... especially around the airport. My brother warns me every time I go back to Colorado so be forewarned! Not sure about any car clubs in the Denver area but I'm sure some members from the Colorado area might be able to chime in here :thumbsup

Oh, and congrats on the move there.... one of my favorite places to visit/live :thumbsup And one more thing..... be prepared to become a Broncos fan....they are really crazy about their team over there!!

[ecrabb]

What he said. ;)

Seriously, though... My brother-in-law lives in Highlands Ranch, a little further south of Denver proper than Westminster is north. I've spent a fair bit of time out there. I also moved from Iowa to SLC, Utah, so I have lots of snow driving experience.

Denver is funny weather-wise. They'll have several weeks of sunny weather, with a lot of days you can even wear a long-sleeve tee-shirt during the warm part of the day. Then, a winter storm blows in and dumps 8 or 10 or 12 inches of snow. Everything is a mess for a day, the roads get cleared, the sun comes out, it's 35 degrees, and other than giant piles of snow everywhere, it's like it never happened. But, you're only talking about a handful of times each winter. Sometimes driveways and such can be a problem if it gets packed down in shady spots. Keep some sand handy at the house and throw a couple of bags in the trunk for a little more weight on wheels and that you can bust into if you get stuck in a slick parking spot or something.

So, like Charlie said, you'll want at least some good all-seasons if you only have the Pilots... Blizzaks for winter and Pilots for the rest of the year would be better. You should be able to find a cheap set of style 68's or 72's and just mount up a set of Blizzaks and run them November to March, then switch back to your summer set.

Or, if you have a couple grand laying around, you could leave the summer tires on the ZHP and get yourself a FWD winter beater and just leave the ZHP in the garage whenever it gets nasty, then sell the beater in the spring. Rinse. Repeat.

Cheers,
SC

[TitanZHP]

I bought a cheap set of 17 inch 325i e46 wheel to mount winter tires on thanks for the advice guys. I am definatly going to get some sand for the trunk that is genius and I would have never thought about it. I have Tahoe winter and snow driving experience but that was in suv's and my wrx. So I will take it super slow. I'm moving to an apartment complex so I don't know about an extra car yet. We shall see good thing the girl has a Q5 lol