Winter Driving? [Merged 12-6]

[TalonRacer024]

Ok after reading tons of posts about winter beaters and the such i am have come to a question. Is it bad to run your car in the winter? And if so why?

 

[ISUJakey]

My own expierence driving skill and common scense actions work the best.

it doesnt matter if you have v-bar chains on all 4 tires if you cant drive for shit and handle the weather responsibly your screwed.

That sums it up quite nicely. You can go spend 5K on rims and tires for winter but that doesn't mean shit if you can't drive. I always get a kick out of people buying snow tires for an AWD vehicle. The damn thing is AWD, learn how to use it and save your cash!

 

[staticbrainwash]

like i said, i need new tires anyway. and im from michigan. i know how to drive winters.

i just wanted to know if it'd be an ok idea to get snow tires or just get decent all seasons.

ill just go with the all seasons.###### the kumho's. unless anyone has better ideas about all season tires

 

[MIdsm]

Being from Michigan and driving the gsx both with Kumho 712s (235/45/17) and with Bridgestone Blizzaks (205/55/16) I can tell you that snow tires make a great difference. When my GSX was on Kumhos my CRX with snow tires would accelerate, turn and stop much better than Eclipse. I got stuck in my own driveway a few times on Kumhos. All four tires were spinning and the car wasn't going anywhere. It was terrible. Blizzaks actually made the car enjoyable in winter. The stopping distance probably halved in snow. All I can say is that anything that helps me stop faster is worth it. The problem in winter isn't acceleration (up to a point) but stopping. Tires are cheaper than bodywork.

Steel rims are cheap at U-Wrench-It and similar junk yards. Blizzaks are pricey but Kumho makes a snow tire too.

Good luck.

 

[steve]

I have the kumho ecsta asx on the FWD Stealth and they are Ok on anything but ice. Considering how cheap they are they are not a bad choice.
The Diamante has extremecontacts and they grip better than the kumhos but they have really soft sidewalls which makes them unresponsive in the summer time. They cost almost half again as much as the kumhos so I wouldn't buy them for the DSM. It's sporting well worn Goodyear GS-Ds summer tires and I don't go out in bad weather on them unless it's to do doughnuts. I never had a good set of winter tires so it's hard to compare against the all season ones.

Steve

 

[jp171]

Even a store-brand dedicated snow tire would be fine. If I drove my TSi AWD in the snow, I'd get whatever dedicated snow tire is on sale and have them mounted on junkyard 1GNT steelies.

 

[DubV]

I'm running on the Avon Tech M550 A/S and they seem to take the snow, ice and slush very well. They are classified as ultra high performance all season. They have soft sidewalls and aren't as responsive as summer tires but they are about the best you can get when trying to get somethin performance and all season. If you want a straight winter tire, I heard the blizzaks are vicious in the snow and ice.

 

[VegasTSI]

wow, Im just glad I live in las vegas and have never even heard of snow tires

 

[punishercb]

from working with tires everyday, i think the bridgestone blizzaks are one of the best to go with, if you want a name brand tire

I second that. I have blizzaks and it makes a HUGE difference. Honestly, I didn't think snow tires made that big of a difference until I got my blizzaks. I can accelerate, brake and turn much much much better than with all seasons. It's definately worth spending the extra money and buying dedicated winter tires.

 

[Zenja]

I have Kumho ASX 225/50/16 too and I haven't got to test them out much but so far they seem to work pretty good. If buying winter tires, don't buy Blizzaks, I would suggest Nokian tires instead. I researched winter tires a while ago and found out that the Blizzaks only have the special winter compound for the first half of the tread. I heard that the Nokian ones are just as good for grip but last for the whole tread depth.

 

[1LE]

You definitely want snow tires. You might be able to get going pretty well since you're AWD, but it doesn't help you stop. It actually makes it worse since the vehicle weighs so much more. Blizzaks are real popular for "normal people" snow use. Nokian's are preferred by ice racers and rallyists (classes that aren't permitted true rally tires). For more icy areas, the Michelin Arctic-Alpin's may be a better choice. They are definitely the best I've ever used on ice, but you lose some snow capability with them.

 

[MyBeatGSX]

Being from Michigan and driving the gsx both with Kumho 712s (235/45/17) and with Bridgestone Blizzaks (205/55/16) I can tell you that snow tires make a great difference. When my GSX was on Kumhos my CRX with snow tires would accelerate, turn and stop much better than Eclipse. I got stuck in my own driveway a few times on Kumhos. All four tires were spinning and the car wasn't going anywhere. It was terrible. Blizzaks actually made the car enjoyable in winter. The stopping distance probably halved in snow. All I can say is that anything that helps me stop faster is worth it. The problem in winter isn't acceleration (up to a point) but stopping. Tires are cheaper than bodywork.

Steel rims are cheap at U-Wrench-It and similar junk yards. Blizzaks are pricey but Kumho makes a snow tire too.

Good luck.

That's a bad comparison though. 712's are possibly the worst snow tires this side of a DOT slick. We had them on a Protege at the dealership and the thing wouldn't move on flat ground, it just sat and spun.

I think you need to keep in mind that 99.9% of your winter driving will be dry/wet road. Around here the snow stays on the road for 12 hours max, the plow coverage is excellent. I don't feel the need to compromise dry road performance to gain a small bit of snow performance that I'll only use for 2-3 short trips a month.

That sums it up quite nicely. You can go spend 5K on rims and tires for winter but that doesn't mean shit if you can't drive. I always get a kick out of people buying snow tires for an AWD vehicle. The damn thing is AWD, learn how to use it and save your cash!

That said it perfectly.


FYI, in my first post I meant snap oversteer (back coming around).

 

[staticbrainwash]

so i ended up going with a perelli ultra performance all season. tread looks awesome and it's a 85000 mile warrantly tire.

i had to order them from my tire shop but all together it was about 440 bucks with full road hazard warranty, mounting, rotating, and balancing. i told them i found a better deal at sears and they hooked me up.

thats for all the responses guys, and as soon as i get em on, ill let you all know how they work for me.

 

[pawz1200]

Get a good set of all season and you should be fine. I am running my stock tires in winter.
Spend the big money on a nice set of summer rims and tires then you can just swap with the weather change. You do not want to get nice wheels and tires to ruin in the snow and ice, salt and all the other crap. Save the nice wheels for summer cruisin.

 

[Wing0tj]

I have some Bridgestone Blizzaks on my AWD and I LOVE them driving normally I have yet to have any traction issues unless I really get on it. They are extremely soft so you would need a seperate set of tires for summer.

 

[Morphius]

Even a store-brand dedicated snow tire would be fine. If I drove my TSi AWD in the snow, I'd get whatever dedicated snow tire is on sale and have them mounted on junkyard 1GNT steelies.

I agree. For under $150, you can get a new set of tires and used steel rims. Yea, they don't look cool, but who cares. Everyone is in the same boat.

Personally, I run the 14 inch rims with 175/85/R14. Which results in a smaller contact area and better traction. Night and day differece between a 205 vs a 175 width tire on snow.

 

[pawz1200]

So what did you go with? Opinions on your setup

 

[staticbrainwash]

my tire place called me on monday and told me the perelli's were a no go. nationwide back order. LAME

so they cut me a deal on some Yokohama AVID v4s or vs4 whatever it is.

same price, with a 20 buck shipping fee for some reason. so i got them for 450ish bucks. they look awesome, and the ratings they got on tire rack are awesome.

ill let you all know how they perform when i get them on in a couple days.

 

[gthompson97]

any directional, low-profile performance tire isn't going to be worth a shit in the snow/ice. being a good driver will help, but if you don't have good tires you'll still be sliding all over and getting stuck. i had to drive for a day with my kumho ecsta's (215-40-zr17) and i thought i was running drag slicks. as soon as i put the stocks back on it was like a night & day difference.

 

[staticbrainwash]

even an all season? i know width of the tire makes a difference, but i still have the stock 205 55 r16's. i just have konig rims.

seriously, if you guys saw what i was running right now youd understand why ANYTHING new would make a world of difference.

and honestly, even for a snow/ice rating on the yokohama's on tirerack they got above an 8.0 which is A LOT higher than others.

 

[gthompson97]

an all-season probably wouldn't be too bad but then again, your not running a very low-profile tire on that rim...where they start to suck is when the profiles get anything less than 45, right now you're running a 55. that's basically a stock size tire.

 

[Drift_SM]

This applies to all dsm'er who deal with below freezing weather and snow during winter.

I want to know if you drive your car or store it. Explain?

I don't know what i should do. I'm still debating wether i should only drive it when its nice. Then when theres salt/sand drive my sisters car. (i love driving my car in the snow, goofing around in parking lots.... its awesome) - but is all this winter weather really that bad for my car?

what do you guys do?

 

[Flash]

I park mine in my garage.

 

[Synapses]

I only have a N/T but I park it because the chances of having an accident are allot higher. Plus you have to add in the salt because salt equals corrosion. Finally there is the fact that driving your car in cold conditions is just hard for it in general. Thats why I park mine in a shop for winter.

 

[Bino]

One of the ways I justified purchasing my car was because I could drive it in the winter (and because of all the other obvious reasons). I'll be driving the 'X all winter long. If I go snowboarding with friends I'll take the pickup, but even if I go snowboarding alone I'll drive the car. AWD and much better gas mileage than the truck... plus my car has an LSD (ironic that the Z71 does not).

I believe in owning things to use them, I take my pickup offroading, I don't take my shoes off when I go in the house and I don't park a vehicle because it snows.

 

[sherloc123]

i park mine so the wonderful roads made of salt in ny dont tear it apart