Author Topic: Okay, I'm officially ready for the snow. (Read 1205 times)

Jaeger · « **on:** December 05, 2011, 11:51:29 am »

I only had to deal with one snowfall after I bought the car earlier this year in March. It was a pretty decent amount - 10cm or so - and I ended up squirming down my street and getting stuck at the bottom of my driveway. So I've known for a while that the OE rubber wasn't going to cut for winter driving, but I could never seem to get around to doing something about it because a) haven't had the time and b) buying snow tires isn't exactly a fun "mod".

I checked around quite a bit on-line, but never clicked the "checkout" box as I was a bit overwhelmed by choice. So I took the lazy route and swung by the dealer to see what they had in pre-fab packages. I left with a set of 215-55-17 Firestone Winterforce snows mounted on who-knows-what brand rims. Truth be told, I just liked the look of the dark grey rims with the dark blue paint (how's that for getting my priorities straight

) and also liked the fact that I could solve the snow tire problem in one visit without having to deal with shipping and having to mount them myself.

Now, buying any kind of tire for your car that you know next to nothing about is not something I recommend and might well be grounds for revocation of my "car guy" credentials - hey, I admit I took the lazy route. But I am somewhat comforted by the positive reviews / owner commentary on 1010Tires.com - which I find moe informative than pure numerical ratings as you can get more meaningful context about what the reviewer is driving and what other winter tires they have used in the past. While I'm sure there are better winter tires out there, these will be VASTLY superior to running all-seasons and bring the twin virtues of low cost and long life.

I haven’t driven them in snow yet (and I am happy to wait on that for a real long time) but so far things are better than I expected. They don’t offer dry handling on par with the “performance” winter rubber I had in my Altima (Pirelli winter 210 Snow Sports) but they aren’t very far behind and track nice and straight on the highway. They’re not real loud in highway cruising, but do emit a bit of a “yowl” at real slow speeds – like just before you come to a stop. The higher rolling resistance (combined with the crappy winter gas, no doubt) made an observable negative impression on mileage (maybe around .5 l / 100km difference from what I usually get)

But if they work as advertised in the white stuff and last for several seasons, I’ll be a happy camper.

Jaeger

Careener · « **Reply #1 on:** December 05, 2011, 12:03:28 pm »

Comgrats
They'll do fine
Rims look great.

airbalancer · « **Reply #2 on:** December 05, 2011, 12:08:29 pm »

Weexy · « **Reply #3 on:** December 05, 2011, 12:23:06 pm »

Nice - those rims do look good. Puts my steelies to shame....
I got my car around the same time as yours i think (end of March) - I got a good end of season price from dealer on a set of Gislaved's.

Now i'm just waiting for a decent dump of snow so I can see what the awd and these snows can do

5 Wheel Drive · « **Reply #4 on:** December 05, 2011, 12:27:25 pm »

Those are some pretty nice looking rims! They look good on the Sonata.

Jaeger · « **Reply #5 on:** December 05, 2011, 12:31:39 pm »

AWD plus snows should make you damned near unstoppable. All those SUV drivers in the ditch with their all-seasons will be jealous.

I probably would have gone with steelies if this set wasn't just sitting there, ready to mount. But I'l liking the change of pace look versus the bright silver OE rims.

Jaeger

allmango · « **Reply #6 on:** December 05, 2011, 12:32:21 pm »

Very nice!

CanuckG35 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 05, 2011, 12:42:08 pm »

Quote from: Jaeger on December 05, 2011, 12:31:39 pm

AWD plus snows should make you damned near unstoppable. All those SUV drivers in the ditch with their all-seasons will be jealous.

I probably would have gone with steelies if this set wasn't just sitting there, ready to mount. But I'l liking the change of pace look versus the bright silver OE rims.

Jaeger

Yep, it sure is common to see SUVs/4x4 trucks off the road in a snow storm. AWD with AS tires and thinking you are invincible is a bad combo.

Jaeger, that's a great looking winter setup you've got there. Great choice in wheels, they look fantastic on the Sonata. The winter setup on the G is Blizzaks mounted on 350z wheels. It wouldn't bother me to run steelies either, but I got a great deal on the 350z wheels back when I got the G.

Sir Osis of Liver · « **Reply #8 on:** December 05, 2011, 01:55:03 pm »

Yup, very nice colour combo.

Why is the ground green? It doesn't look like that here.

Snowman · « **Reply #9 on:** December 05, 2011, 04:23:09 pm »

Very nice Jaeger and I agree with Sir O on that is a great combo. Enjoy before all turns into NaCl white

Railton · « **Reply #10 on:** December 05, 2011, 05:03:41 pm »

Boss!

Railton

Jaeger · « **Reply #11 on:** December 05, 2011, 07:36:43 pm »

Thanks for the comments, gents. Sir O - we only get baby winter here compared to Regina. Snowman - that NaCl isn't going to look so good all over my midnight blue paint, but hey, whatchyagonnado...

Jaeger

dr_spock · « **Reply #12 on:** December 05, 2011, 08:00:06 pm »

Very nice.

aquadorhj · « **Reply #13 on:** December 05, 2011, 09:13:28 pm »

let us know how it handles the snow and ice when the time comes! the rims look good!

HeliDriver · « **Reply #14 on:** December 06, 2011, 01:41:35 am »

Another thumbs up for the dark rims on the dark car!

I do the same, but my dark rims are for summer, while I use the stock, shiny alloys in winter. It changes the whole look of the car, which is kind of a fun thing to do every six months or so.

1TSX · « **Reply #15 on:** December 06, 2011, 01:45:28 am »

Looks good! I wish I had a nice alloy winter setup...I got silver steel CR-V wheels instead.

Jaeger · « **Reply #16 on:** January 19, 2012, 03:54:46 pm »

Well, the snow was a loooong time coming, but as it happened, I finally got to test these tires in something resembling winter conditions today. Booked the day off work to take my Mom-in-law to some medical appointments, then ran a bunch of errands. All through some consistently heavy snowfall combined with very high winds. I was on the QEW, 403 and 407 highways, dealing with everything from hard-packed snow, slush, drifting snow - pretty much the full parade except for ice.

I am seriously impressed. These are not top-tier snow tires by most reckonings, but I can hardly imagine how they could have done better. In buffeting cross-winds on greasy highways, the Sonata felt utterly planted. I never had any complaints about the grip of my previous Pirelli Winter 210 Snowsports - they pulled me through some really hairy trips. But these are better. Pulling out of the center lane where the majority of cars were rolling slowly nose-to-tail on the most cleared pathway, the car traversed the snow-ruts without a squirm or wiggle, and pulled easily to pass in the not-nearly-as-barren left lane. I saw 4 vehicles in the ditch during the day - Infiniti FX, Toyota Highlander, Ford Edge, and another CUV / SUV that was too smashed up along the guard rail for me to tell. Safe bet that not one was riding on snows.

The one downside I noticed at the beginning has remained: these knobby treads bring increased rolling resistance that in turn exacts a noticeable penalty in fuel consumption. I'd now peg it at a full liter per hundred worse in highway consumption. I'm sure others - particularly the performance-oriented winter tires - can do better.

The only really scary moment of the day happened when I was in the school parking lot waiting to pick up my daughter. I was parked along the curb near the entrance to the lot, and observed this &^%#ing moron in a black F150 blasting down the road, fishtailing like a fool, going way too fast for what little grip he had. Sure enough, he turns into the school parking lot carrying too much speed and gets damn near completely sideways, missing my fender by what had to be less than a foot. Jackass.

Anyway - colour me happy with the purchase.

Jaeger

Weexy · « **Reply #17 on:** January 19, 2012, 07:31:13 pm »

Quote from: Jaeger on January 19, 2012, 03:54:46 pm

Well, the snow was a loooong time coming, but as it happened, I finally got to test these tires in something resembling winter conditions today. Booked the day off work to take my Mom-in-law to some medical appointments, then ran a bunch of errands. All through some consistently heavy snowfall combined with very high winds. I was on the QEW, 403 and 407 highways, dealing with everything from hard-packed snow, slush, drifting snow - pretty much the full parade except for ice.

I am seriously impressed. These are not top-tier snow tires by most reckonings, but I can hardly imagine how they could have done better. In buffeting cross-winds on greasy highways, the Sonata felt utterly planted. I never had any complaints about the grip of my previous Pirelli Winter 210 Snowsports - they pulled me through some really hairy trips. But these are better. Pulling out of the center lane where the majority of cars were rolling slowly nose-to-tail on the most cleared pathway, the car traversed the snow-ruts without a squirm or wiggle, and pulled easily to pass in the not-nearly-as-barren left lane. I saw 4 vehicles in the ditch during the day - Infiniti FX, Toyota Highlander, Ford Edge, and another CUV / SUV that was too smashed up along the guard rail for me to tell. Safe bet that not one was riding on snows.

The one downside I noticed at the beginning has remained: these knobby treads bring increased rolling resistance that in turn exacts a noticeable penalty in fuel consumption. I'd now peg it at a full liter per hundred worse in highway consumption. I'm sure others - particularly the performance-oriented winter tires - can do better.

The only really scary moment of the day happened when I was in the school parking lot waiting to pick up my daughter. I was parked along the curb near the entrance to the lot, and observed this &^%#ing moron in a black F150 blasting down the road, fishtailing like a fool, going way too fast for what little grip he had. Sure enough, he turns into the school parking lot carrying too much speed and gets damn near completely sideways, missing my fender by what had to be less than a foot. Jackass.

Anyway - colour me happy with the purchase.

Jaeger

Same here - my consumption is up at least 2L/100. City mileage is around 14 since snows were put on & temp's dropped.
Did do an easy run this past weekend on a quiet highway & get into the 8's doing that.

blur911 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 19, 2012, 11:21:26 pm »

Quote from: Jaeger on January 19, 2012, 03:54:46 pm

The one downside I noticed at the beginning has remained: these knobby treads bring increased rolling resistance that in turn exacts a noticeable penalty in fuel consumption. I'd now peg it at a full liter per hundred worse in highway consumption. I'm sure others - particularly the performance-oriented winter tires - can do better.

Jaeger

Are you sure that's not the effect of "winter gas"? My Audi loses about 10% mileage as soon as the switch is made.

Jaeger · « **Reply #19 on:** January 20, 2012, 06:37:50 am »

^^^ I suspect winter gas plays a role as well.

Jaeger