Winter Tire Rotation Question

[Jdmjunkie]

I have had Michelins Pilot Alpines on mine. Dry grip is phenomenal below ~45° and ice and snow grip is better than any all season I have driven. I may be a little biased as these are my first set of dedicated winter tires, but I drove my twin up to lake Tahoe and had no issues whatsoever on what was basically sheet ice.

[churchx]

I have for winter wheels very light forged SSR type-C 16" (of course used, for 1/4th the price). Weight plays almost no role in steering feel. Tires do. Winter tires on stock 17" during first season or tires on current 16" winter set (even if wheels weight just half the weight of OE) had same laggy dull steering. And if anything, higher sidewall of tires for 16" wheels will make steering even less sharp (but more comfortable, better wheel protection on bad roads, and very important - MUCH cheaper tires (same tires in R16 were 150eur less then in R17 for me). Tried also playing with extra air pressure, without much change to feel. I just give up "sporty sharp feel" in winter. It matters way less then proper/safe/reliable grip on snow/ice anyway. Proper winter tires are soft. Soft tires flex a lot. Take it as given unless willing to compromise main function - all available grip, when it's scarce. Apart from cheaper tires 16 may offer also better fit sizing for winter use though, as both wheels and tires of R16 size are more plentiful in narrower widths, so without extra stretch one can fit narrower winter tires of on wheels of fitting width.

[8inchAzN]

Originally Posted by wparsons

Which end were the more worn ones on? Put them on the opposite end to even out the wear.

More worn ones are on the back.

[RToyo86]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Opposite end of the spectrum: I'm on Pirelli Sottozero 3. They are practically indistinguishable from a *good* Max Perf Summer tire in 90th %ile street driving. Very responsive and amazing wet grip. Snow/ice grip is somewhat disappointing for a Winter tire though...

I had a good experience this winter with Pirelli Ice zero FR's. Very much the same performance on dry/wet. Snow/ice was good. I only had issues in really deep stuff where ground clearance became an issue. They're also very quiet on dry pavement.

They're around 50% tread now, I grabbed them used with 9.5/32". I never experienced them with 100% tread I imagine deep snow control would have been much better.

There was a noticeable drop in traction at 50% in snow.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by 8inchAzN

More worn ones are on the back.

Put the good ones on the rear then IMO.