Topic: Winter tires

[KD]

Honestly, that doesn't bug me.  If the rims are horrifically rusted out and in need of painting, why not make 'em to the liking of the teenager driving the used Corolla?  At least the used car purchase was one that this forum would support

Curiosity, actually - would it be smart to plasti-dip or paint new steelies in an effort to curb future rust?  Not saying vibrator pink, but even just flat black to protect?

My coworker said he plasti-dipped a set of steelies last fall and they held up well over the winter.  It helped that he only paid $5 US a can across the border.  My last steelies looked awful by the time i sold them a couple of months ago after going through 5 winters.

5 Winters is a lot for steelies.  My last set had started to get rust specks on them by the end of year two.  I got rid of them halfway through year 3 when we bought the van.

After the first year of use I'd spray them with rust check every fall before mounting and that helped keep the rust from getting too bad. 

[Noto]

Or go the nuclear option and treat them with POR-15 or similar.

At $70/bottle, if I have to apply annually or the bottle only covers one wheel (i.e. 4 bottles necessary), it'd be cheaper just to get new steelies 

[2JDM]

Just buy some wheel covers to hide the rust?

[EV-Light]

Honestly, that doesn't bug me.  If the rims are horrifically rusted out and in need of painting, why not make 'em to the liking of the teenager driving the used Corolla?  At least the used car purchase was one that this forum would support

Curiosity, actually - would it be smart to plasti-dip or paint new steelies in an effort to curb future rust?  Not saying vibrator pink, but even just flat black to protect?

Just paint them black every season and apply some antirust...works wonders for me and it takes 30min - I do have to be careful though because my winter set are usually mounted already when I’m doing this.


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[rrocket]

^^Yea, you could just hit them with a coat of Tremclad every year.

[ktm525]

A little over spray adds to the steelie aura

[rrocket]

A little over spray adds to the steelie aura

Just get index cards...no over spray on the tires.

I posted about it on here before...somewhere.

[Noto]

Just buy some wheel covers to hide the rust?

1) I have hubcaps.  I took them off cuz I hates them
2) While the steelies are technically 7 years old and have been mounted since the car was manufactured, the car barely saw any winter driving and was a garage queen.  The rims are pristine for now.  There's no rust as of yet.  I'm just wondering how to avoid them getting all icky.

The wife's rims, on the other hand, have seen 6 winters truly.  Haven't looked at them (the Fozzie's parked out back today - wife's in Niagara with her mom and I work close to Costco - cheap gas!)...but I'm sure they could use some treatment.

Who knows.  Probably won't bother doing anything, as per usual   Maybe in the spring when it's warm out.

[G.Bombay]

I had my WS-80's mounted last Thursday.

Compared to the OEM 15" tires there is a negligible tradeoff in handling/ride comfort and virtually no difference in noise.  The handling difference seems to be a bit more lateral motion in quick transitions but once it takes a set it's confidence inspiring.  Impact harshness seems to have increased over rough pavement, not surprising given that the sidewalls seem to be a bit stiffer than the stock tires.

We had a few inches of snow fall this Sunday. It was a cool day so the snow stuck around.  The salt trucks weren't out yet so where the road was packed down ice had formed.  On untracked snow it was still pretty slick.  These tires are incredible.  It was as though there was no snow on the ground.  There was virtually no slippage taking off as you normally would and it took a heavy prod of the brake pedal to get any sort of ABS intervention.

The Golf also seems like it will be a good winter car.  When accelerating hard the traction control was able to put the power down, it felt like the brake vectoring system was helping the car take corners at speed and the steering wasn't upset by slush piles at highway speed.  I am not sure how much of this is due to the TDI engine being over the drive wheels but first impressions indicate it's a way better winter car than the Mazda5.

I also find our Jetta TDI with WS80's to be ridiculously confident in winter conditions too. I swear if you stay off the turbo when taking off it will plow through anything with no slip.

[KD]

Just came back from my first real test drive on the winters and finding a big difference going from 18 to 17s.  The ride is much more supple over bumps and ruts, and especially noticeable on things like expansion joints.  It's like it has changed it into more of a luxury car than sports sedan, which should work better on our pocked up winter roads. 

Not enough snow yet to test traction but seemed to work well on the icy parking lot where we took the dog for a walk earlier. 

[2JDM]

My Continental Si types have a bit of a whine on wet roads at 80km/h. No snow yet to test them.

Tomorrow will be a good testing day!

[Noto]

Have Xi3s on the Forester (previous were WS70s) and WS80s on the Mazds3.

Completely unfair to test since the Forester is far better in inclimate weather than the Mazda, but the Xi3s are not disappointing on the Forester at all compared to the WS70s they replaced.

The Mazda without traction control is pretty meh on get up and go, but feels stable for lane changes and braking.

All is to say you can't go wrong with either. As for claims that the Bridgestones wear faster, that's not what we experienced with the WS70s on the Forester, which lasted 6 winters and about 35,000km when they were replaced with more than 9/32" left all around. They were also mounted early (October most years) and came off late (May).

Recommendation is to go for whichever is cheaper, honestly, since you can't go wrong with either choice IMO

[Gurgie]

^I've got the Toyo GSi5's on the JGC and they worked great this morning on the way to work here in Ottawa, great grip all around and predictable at the limits, no surprises!!

I think with any of the top 10 winter tires you can't go wrong at all!!

[mlin32]

I didn't really care for the DSC calibration on the Mazda3 (BM-series from 2014). It allowed a tiny bit of slip, and then came down like an anvil and drowned all forward progress out- even with the winter tires. That made pulling out from my uphill intersection more frustrating than needed and I usually just shut it off.

Was surprised at how much grip my 3 season old Pirelli Sottozero 3 tires are, even though the front ones are a bit more worn than the rears (they used to be in the rear last year).

[Jaeger]

X-Ice Xi3s just shrugged off the first snowfall of winter like they didn't even notice.

[KD]

X-Ice Xi3s just shrugged off the first snowfall of winter like they didn't even notice.

  Nice to hear/see!

[carcrazed]

Even used Xi2s on my Civic did pretty well today.  I didn't notice any slippage at all.

[Slow_lane]

Just got our first major snowfall and was able to test our the Pirelli Winter Ice Zero FR's I have on my Forte. Very please with performance in deep snow and packed snow. Dragged me out of some pretty deep stuff with no problems. Braking seems very good. Dry road performance is very nice as well. Very quiet and smooth. Tracks nicely. I think they are living up to reviews.

I like them much better than the Blizzak WS70's I have on my BMW. They are noisy when cold. Sound like truck tires for 1st couple kms till they warm up. I also have also found them squishy. When new they really felt bad.

I had Pirelli Cinturato P7 all season plus on my Mazda 3 (now sold) and loved them. I am considering buying a set for my BMW next summer.

I think I am a Pirelli fan.
 

[tortoise]

Thanks for the review.

For me it came down to the Pirelli's or the WS-80s.  In the end my previous experience with the Blizzaks had me go with the devil I knew.

[Weels]

Reading these reviews of the various tires people have, i'm amazed at how much tire technology has come, even in the last 5 years.
The Pirelli's, Blizzaks, X-ice.. they are all great. 
The last 2 morning's drive to work have been on a bit of everything.. hard packed/ice, greasy slush, etc..  the grip from the Blizzaks is nothing short of amazing.
The AWD system of the CX-5 works well.  You know it's working, but very much unobtrusive and in the background.
Impressed I am.