I wanted to slap in some Snow/Winter Tires and my Tech guy said don't bother because it is loud when there is no snow. I live in NYC and we don't really get that much snow like up north.

 

yes it does create more noise.

 

Yes, there is a trade off with greater noise and weaker handling with snow tires. The noise difference will vary depending on tread design with some being fairly benign.

 

Yup, there is lots more noise with a softer ride. I would rather put up with that instead of smashing up the G or Worse for a few months.

 

I didn't have snow tires last year and I was petrified to drive. I couldn't make it up my pretty normal driveway with 3 inches of snow. I had major slipping problems on 1/2 inch of snow. The summer tires ARE NOT MADE FOR COLD OR SNOW. No offense, but don't be an idiot. My summer tires are loud now anyway, so I can't imagine snows being any louder. Go to Tirerack.com and research quiet snow tires. I get my Dunlop M3's this week and I will feel much better even though we don't get that much snow either. My 2 cents.

 

The G is pretty noisy to begin with, so I didn't notice much of a difference with the snow tires on. What I did notice was that I was able to drive the damn car with snow flakes on the ground, unlike before. Don't worry too much about the noise, since in NYC, you won't get it up to any sort of speed that you'd notice anything but cabs and pedestrians anyway!

 

Your tech guy is worried about how loud the snow tires would be?? I don't know what tires you have on currently, but if they're the pilots or any summer tire, noise will be the least of your problems if it starts snowing. You must get snow tires if you intend to drive your coupe in even a snow shower. I live about 10 miles north of Manhattan, and I'm running Pirelli snowsports the last 2 winters. No trouble at all getting around with them. The summer tires are useless and dangerous in even a little snow. Consider yourself warned...

 

I had have a setup with Dunlop M3's that I used last winter (Chicago) and it wasn't any louder. (G's kind of noisy anyway) Also, keep in mind that it is just not when there is snow on the ground...those performance tires start to get hard once the temperature gets below 50-55 degrees out. Get a little water on the road at that temperature and that backend starts to slide out on turns. (only driving a bit aggressively)

Get the snowtire setup. Believe me, they are well worth it.

 

Get the snowtire setup. It couldnt possibly be louder than my 05 6mt with the 19s. Minus-sizing to 17" winters tires = slightly softer ride and only slightly more road-contact noise. The noise is mostly from the high number of narrow rivulets in the tread that grab at the snow and ice.