SNOW/WINTER MODE
 

So the stock summer tires suck........
all seasons r ok....
are there any tires that r for straight up snow or dirt/mud?
whats your setup?
whos got the most grip in the snow?

Blizzak LM60's in stock size on stock rims here. It does alright, the car is still pretty damned light so going up hill without momentum can be tricky. So long as you don't believe in snow tires making you invincible, I think the FRS/BRZ with snows makes for an acceptable winter DD.

I have the Michelin X-Ice3 on 16" steelies. They're great, but I still spun them a bit starting up a few times, yesterday on my way home at around noon. One because the idiot in front of me was spinning his tires going up a small incline in a white work van. I had to stop bc he stopped moving, then I spun & had my rear start going right, went about a foot, but corrected. (road was uphill & sloped to the right)

You still have to drive safe & maintain control. & avoid hills unless necessary. The anxiety kills you, though I'm probably still a bit worked up after sliding into the curb a month ago; that instance was the first snow for the BRZ, bought snow tires a few days later. & got them put on when I got the car realigned. still need to get the scratches fixed :(

On tire track you have 3 choices, the Blizzak LM-32 and X-Ice Xi3 for stock 215/45/17. One is performance winters.

Do not buy performance winter tires, you're going to want full bang on winter tires if you wanna get somewhere. Though if you had to choose performance winter tires, it's better then all seasons or summers.


Do not think your invincible, you'll still get stuck, you'll still fish tail. You have to be careful, slow and smooth or this will happen.

http://i.imgur.com/3OmpMly.jpg

wow no love for the burz

im selling my set of winter wheels and tires for 600 they are awesome in the snow lmk if ur interested

Blizzaks on Konig Illusions

Been taking this car out sparingly during the snow here in PA.


I have a bit of experience with actual 4x4 driving and knowing not to pound the throttle, so I've already had a few situations where I've watched trucks slide to the side of the road, and i've just sort of creeped past them and kept going. Little RWD that could.



But yeah. Don't take any chances. This car will get out from underneath you pretty quick.

Even with winter tires, if you've got another more capable vehicle to drive, drive that instead. Been driving only my wife's Juke for 2 1/2 months, and only taking my car out on the unusual warm days we've had. I run it twice a week to normal temps. This explains why at almost 17 months of ownership, I've only got 16k miles on my car.

Specs? Pics? PM me.

yea not looking to buy tires. i got a tire sponsor so i get em free.. i just need to know whats the best straight up snow tire for a 17x7 rim. i wouldnt mind having a large profile side wall

actually selling a set of stockers at the moment with the primacy rubber

anyone know where to get an aftermarket tow hook that isnt $100 or some crazy price like that?

you have a tire sponsor and you complain about spending 100 on a tow hook? :bonk:

I have stock wheels and tires with 100lbs of sand in the trunk, haven't gotten stuck yet but use commonsense

When I had the FRS i ran 16 x 6 with General Altimax Artics. Car felt like crap on the highway, but was very confident in snow up to 4inches.

Absolutely beastly tires. Now they are on my WRX and I can drive through anything that wont make the car float.

yes. cause it shouldnt be 100 bucks..... new car tax

i can have one custom made for less

speaking of custom made..... those diagonal braces for the engine bay r pretty steep in price.... should i just copy the factory braces using aluminium? i figure it will be better than the stock hollow ones

Blizzak WS70, Nokian Hakka R2, Michelin Xi3...

(Couldn't you have googled this?)

i have 215/45/17 WS 70's on a 17x7 wheel.

in snow it has decent grip and is very predictable. i have only gotten stuck once and its because i tried to drive through literally 4 ft unplowed snow :lol:

in dry climate, these tires are extremely soft, and when the temps fluctuate like they have been, its kind of sketchy as the car will under and over steer at the same time on exit ramps if you're going slightly too fast. this tire does not inspire confidence, but is very predictable and has really good grip in wet/snow/etc. in the dry as long as the temps are cold its great, when its close to 50' they are too soft.

next season i'm going with 235/45/17 nokian WR-g2.

here is what my winter setup look like.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7386/1...f4532b3b_h.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3813/1...d6491964_h.jpg

I've got LM60s on stock rims. It doesn't always snow heavily here, but when it does, they do the job. They are good in light snow, wet conditions, and dry conditions. Being a performance tire I personally feel like they outdo the primacy hps in wet conditions.

Just get a daily people. I could never drive the BRZ in the snow :( WOuld hate my self. Lucky me a week before the first snow of this winter I picked up this car, a 2006 BMW 330xi (xi is AWD)

https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/...34761529_o.jpg

There is nothing wrong with driving this car in the snow. I use Dunlop 3D and have no problem second winter now. They are also stable on dry road too. Before BRZ I went through 7 winters in RX-8 with Dunlop M3.

The BRZ is definitely manageable in light snow. Just don't be a hero and you're good.

That's what I'm sayin.. I have driven this thing in every snow storm so far in all road conditions and not had a single close call even. I know some won't want to hear it - but I think it's operator error in many cases.

I went sideways on ice into a parked car in my parking lot. 75 miles of clear roads left me to believe the clear parking lot was not iced over. It was. BOOM 4k damage from going 8-10 mph. Oops.

Given snow tires this car is perfectly fine in snow if you have clearance.

I'm still driving with my stock tires. Only time I really had a problem was the New Year's Day snowstorm where I got stuck going up Crescent Street in Astoria.

Since after getting Blizzak WS70s I'm now a firm believer that if anyone were to buy a set of tires, it should be "snow tires," not some "performance snow tires."

Remember folks.. performance and snow don't go together. You're getting a set of snow tires for you and others' safety.

Buying a performance snow tires "may" make sense because we all know it doesn't snow everyday during the winter.

However, you will have one or maybe few times when you need the grip the most on ice/snow and if you have performance snow tires you're not protecting your investment very well.

Of course they are better than regular summer tires in snow/ice but they can only be so good as they're more oriented towards dry roads.

On TireRack you'll see reviews of each snow tires from different tire manufacturers but note that Blizzak WS70s got phenomenal score on breaking distance and a grip on ice/snow.

One "downside" of Blizzak WS70s is the dry road traction and driving feel which I don't care because I'm all for safety with this tire.

I can always have much better summer tires when time comes :)

And sorry OP.. I hope you're okay.

But I gotta say this, when the snow hit pretty hard last week and when I was going barely above 30 mph which was still plenty faster than most majority of other cars on route 46, there was this black A7 that was going like 60 mph lol

Even if he had a set of Blizzak WS70s.. damn that was scary

The new years snow storm, I had a lady in a pickup truck pass me on ice/snow. I was doing about 30-35, she flew by me doing 50+. I laughed and sure as shit, about 3 miles down the road she was in the ditch. I thought for a second about stopping, but it was cold outside so I continued on. Not gonna waste my time on idiots.

I love the people that think they they have superior braking/turning due to there vehicles having AWD/4WD.

If they know what they're doing (a bold assumption, I admit), they do have superior turning at the limit due to AWD/4WD. There is no advantage in braking though.

Quattro is pretty great on the snow, though i'd only do it with proper snow tires.

Oooo, can't wait to try that.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avSxOvJnE68"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avSxOvJnE68[/ame]

I don't know how close GT6 is to real life but I drove some STIs on loose tracks and was very surprised the things you could do with the throttle and steering and not crash. Never driven 4wd in snow or dirt in real life though so don't know if its true.

I've driven my Outback (as well as S4s, a Panamera 4, a Q5, and a Cayenne S) on various tires on ice tracks/ice autocrosses (and in fact, I'm going up to an ice driving event tomorrow, and I've also been on a frozen lake for the past couple weekends), and I can say that you can do a surprising amount with the steering and throttle. All wheel drive does indeed help on slick surfaces, so long as you understand how to control and take advantage of oversteer.

That having been said, tires are definitely still the dominant factor. For example, my Outback on pure snow tires did much better than the S4 on "performance" snows.

I don't think I'd have stopped for either.. I would have been too busy being focused on what's in front of me lol :bonk:

Dayum. S4 is a machine.

I debated getting perf snow tires and settled for real snow tires. Figured the few times you really need the grip is when I'll thank myself for not getting the perf ones. though I was very worried about dry/wet handling of snows for the 90% time we don't have snow on the road here in central nj. Worried that at highway speeds will they feel soft and squirmy like some have reported. So I got the general altimax Arctics and I couldn't be happier. Snow performance is superb. Can't recommend snow tires highly enough. Makes the car feel much much safer than the all season stock bridgestones I had before. (Still easy to get the car out from under you as someone said, coz it is still rwd but as long as you are careful it's totally fine) And don't think the ride and handling has gone to the dogs, handles fine on the highways at speed in dry. So if I had to do it again I'd love to try performance snows just to compare, but no regrets so far going with the snows.

I have the generals on another car and agree I like them but i definitely disagree about the handling characteristics. In a straight line they are fine though they do increase stopping distance.

Had similar thing happen to me. Going to work a few Fridays ago in an ice storm and this huge pick up is on my tail. I say to myself..."the road is a sheet of ice..what is he doing?"


As I watch in my rear view mirror, the pick up goes into a spin off the road. Kinda like an old James Bond Movie!


I switched this year to All Seasons. Much better than stock and fine for everyday driving in good weather. But with this winter I now remember why I hated driving rear wheel cars in the snow!

What wheels do you have? That looks so nice lol might as well use as my summer wheels with my stock tires

I've posted this elsewhere but it seems appropriate here.

http://i.imgur.com/316vtYt.jpg

Every Snow storm, every day, in the worst of what even gotten so far at the worst times and never a single problem. The BRZ on proper snows (General Altimax Arctics 215/45R17) combined with a little skill and common sense is incredibly capable in the snow, it's actually the one weather condition that gets me near the speed limit.

As long as you under stand what counter sterring is and how to do it the BRZ is fan-freaking-tastic in the snow. And this is coming from someone who has driven/owned multiple AWD's, FWD's and a few 4WD's SUV's. The light weight/balance and CG make for a very controllable car off throttle, provided you are aware that any throttle inputs will probably have to be matched with some steering input you can really drive the piss out the car, even in the slick stuff.