I recently did a search on some winter tires to purchase for my car. The question is when I look them up it says these are Performance winter tires. Is this the type of winter tires everyone is running? Are they worth it? Or is there regular winter tires. They run about 200 a piece.

 

Is what the type of tire everyone is running?

I don't see any mention of any particular brand/type in your post?

Anyways, I'm running pirelli 210 snowsports.. very happy. Dunlop M2/M3's are good, as are the bridgestone LM-50's (it's LM-50 right? or LM-20? Sorry too lazy to check).

The bridgestone WS-50 or whatevers are good for pure snow traction, but not at all performance (well, as much as a snow tire can be performance I guess). And they melt if it gets too hot.

 

With the pirelli's how deep of snow can you go on? I mean the car is pretty low anyhow.

 

mbq. I see you're in Fairfax. Exaclty how much snow do you really drive in? I live pretty close to you and have all-season's on mine. Granted I have the 17's but still find that it is pretty manageable to get around. Even through this past weekend it wasn't so bad. When I upgrade to the stock 18's sometime I'll be going with the all-season's.

 

I have stock 18's and I have michilen pilot sports in the front and pilot sports all season in the rear. Driving anywhere is pretty treacherous. Making a turn in slush and I can lose control pretty easily. They dont make Pilot all season for the front OEM 18's. But even the rear all seasons seems to not be all that great in snow. I got stuck in 1.5 inches of snow.

 

I have the sedan with 17's. I installed Hankook Icebears that I purchased from Discount Tire. These are V rated tires so the performance dropoff is not bad in dry conditions.

Having just been dumped with over a foot of snow this weekend, I can tell you that the snow performance with these is night & day.

I am very pleased with these and they are reasonable as well.

 

So you were able to drive well in 1 ft of snow? Unplowed?

 

DO NOT drive on the Pilots in any hint of snow!!

I have the Blizzaks LM-22's on 17" as my winter setup. It gets me around fine on groomed roads. Anything over 2-3", even the LM22's won't prevent your car from fishtailing.

I just experienced it this weekend with the Blizzard in the Northeast. The roads were salted and all, but I was still having trouble with traction. They are a step up from the Pilots from a traction standpoint, but don't endanger yourself or others thinking these tires are a miracle fix. Our cars are RWD, and will exhibit behaviors of a RWD car regardless of tires.

If you drive on main road where it's plowed and cleared, then snows tires will get you around fine. If you're expecting to go snowboarding/skiing in the storm, expect a lot of fishtailing.

The LM22's are performance snow tires which compromise traction for some performance. If you're driving in un-groomed areas, rural areas where there's lots of snow, there are purely "snow" tires...

 

My goodness, then what's the point? If you are still gonna fishtail all over the place. I've gotten pretty good at driving with the pilots on with some snow and ice.

 

Point is, it'll give you waaaaaaay more traction than the Pilots!!

Next time, try going uphill on your Pilots... the Blizzaks will get you some much needed traction that the Pilots just don't have!

It's good for a couple of inches, but if you're planning on snowdriving, then you need another car.

 

I have...hahaha...just a few days ago. I need a "rolling start". But to stop on a hill or on an incline. Nope, I won't make it. So how many inches are the blizzaks good for?

 

Certainly not an unplowed 1ft of snow. Very few vehicles will perform in that. What you do get is drivability and a good sense of your traction and what you can and cannot due.

The tires due to their compund just plain stick.

 

I've got Pirelli 240 SnowSports 225 & 245/45/18's

 

I have the Pilot Alpin's (225X50X17) on Enkie RPM2's. I have used the PA's for several years and the new upgraded PA2"s are quieter and seem to hold just as well.

 

hello, i just got my g35 coupe over the last weekend. besides learning about the VLSD issue on this forum i just realized that my 18" summer tires won't even get me out of my garage. so my question is where should i look for the snow tires and how should they be shipped to me. i took a look at the space i have in this car i think i'll have to span the 4 tires in both front and rear seats and the trunk. do i need to do any alignment after the new tires are installed? what if i change from 18" to 17" rim do I need to do alignment? Thanks.