Alaskan BRZ

[Noli]

Met a Mugen yesterday, it was clean!

[chanomatik]

Blue zip ties!

[chanomatik]

[chanomatik]

[bestwheelbase]

@OrbitalEllipses sent me here, said I would like the 86 touches on your BRZ. Love it, and love all the driving through various types of weather. Miles are memories, looks like you're racking them up! :happy0180:

[bluehi]

About to get some tires for the first winter with the BRZ. Any recommendations? Studded vs. not? I haven't driven a RWD car in the snow before, so I'm a bit nervous about it, but it's coming...

[chanomatik]

Originally Posted by bestwheelbase

@OrbitalEllipses sent me here, said I would like the 86 touches on your BRZ. Love it, and love all the driving through various types of weather. Miles are memories, looks like you're racking them up! :happy0180:

Word! Thanks! I do what I can to keep it cleanish! I've decided on an even more OEM-looking path, so stay tuned!

Originally Posted by bluehi

About to get some tires for the first winter with the BRZ. Any recommendations? Studded vs. not? I haven't driven a RWD car in the snow before, so I'm a bit nervous about it, but it's coming...

It's fun! I used standard General Altimax studded snow tires and got around great. Alaska gets a lot of ice and deep snow. Just today I picked up a set of used Hankook iPikes because I seem to have misplaced my General Altimax... I was originally planned on getting Blizzaks for my STI wheels, but $300 for 17" vs. $700+ for Blizzaks seemed like a no-brainer for me since I don't plan on sticking around here one more winter after this. Original plan was Nokians, but that's about $1200 new and the used set I found online I haven't been able to grab because the owner stopped communicating. For shame.

Anyways, to get down to it: Studded is a nice peace of mind when you're not familiar with the car's driving dynamics. They're heavier and much louder. Studless requires a bit more confidence in the car, your skills, your weather patterns, but they much, much quieter and lighter. In my experience, having had Blizzak, Hankook and Nokian tires on my WRX, STI and FSXT, studless tires felt just as confidence-inspiring as studded, but only when you were driving like a sane person. Stopping distance and grip felt about the same on sheer ice as studded.

That's my input for whatever it's worth. I REALLY wanted to try studless this winter, but I've had to shift my priorities. If I do find a good deal on a set for my STI wheels and mount them I'll let you know!

[bluehi]

Thanks, Chanomatik. I decided to go with studded, just for the added peace of mind. Got some Nokians put on on Saturday - obviously we don't need them just yet, but I guess it could snow at any time.

Anyhow, I didn't drive it much this weekend, but initial impressions on wet / dry, non-snow, non-ice roads are that they feel very floaty, have removed any sense of direct connection to the road. They're quieter than I expected. You hear the signature sound of studded tires at low speeds, but that goes away above 30mph or so. At about 40-45mph they start singing/whining a bit. Not bad, but noticeable. Above 65 (not that I would know... ha) they don't make a lot of noise. But the floaty feeling is pretty distinct - feels like an older car where you would have constant steering corrections, but without great effect.

I'm really looking forward to see how they do on snow/ice. I hope they're awesome enough to justify the expense.

[chanomatik]

Nice! I'm glad you found a good set. I was looking at Nokians all year long, but have debated some long-term life goals and didn't feel like investing in a brand new set of winter tires. So I settled on used Hankook iPikes 245/45R18 for my STI wheels. Very good condition, they were on a Suzuki Kazashi driven by an older woman that traded it in for an Outback. I haven't put them on yet because someone needed to borrow my STI wheels, so for now I'm borrowing these wheels:



Recent cruise to Eklutna with STI wheels.


Yeah, snow tires on the dry/wet road are no bueno. They truly come to life on ice and in the snow. Night and day difference. I've never been bothered much by road noise.

[Touge_ninja]

Yo chano when you coming down again.

[chanomatik]

Originally Posted by Touge_ninja

Yo chano when you coming down again.

You be hiding! Good to see you're alive, Dion! I was thinking about you recently, wondering what you've been up to. I'm seriously contemplating moving to Sacramento, most likely, in a year, but I'm somewhat open to other places. Just gotta save some money, clean up my resume, and be confident that I can find a job quickly that can pay for the car and rent, plus food, although I've changed my eating habits and don't need tons of money for food (Paleo diet). I have friends in Sacramento and family in northern California and San Diego, so I have options.

Anyways, I will probably drive through there late next summer. I plan on visiting friends in New York late May. We will see what happens! Maybe I'll be down sooner just for fun. I had a blast last time and have pretty much hated being back in Alaska since then. You spoiled me! hahaha

[bluehi]

Looks sweet w/ STi wheels!

Looks like a great cruise to Eklutna, too! I wanna go on these cruises. Where do I sign up?!

Also, how'd they take that picture? That's a sweet point of view/perspective.

[chanomatik]

Thanks! You can either possibly join Alaska Tuner Catalog group on Facebook or the AKIC Chapter on NASIOC. Are you on NASIOC? They've been putting together a bunch of cruises the last few months. There's almost always a meet at Tikahtnu Commons near Lowe's on Friday and Saturday nights. I don't always go, but since it's so close to my house I do make occasional appearances. I don't break a schedule to attend.

I friend took the pic from his car. Example:




More pics:

[chanomatik]

And a 10 Series FR-S.