What winter tiers do you guys like?

[MrFancyPants]

Hi all,



I'm currently using my 86 as a DD. With winter coming I'm looking to pick up a set of winter tires to swap to. I was hoping some of you could offer me some suggestions. Non-studded and I'm not doing any winter racing so I don't need anything crazy high performance.



I haven't done any wheel mods so for fitment everything is stock.



Also, I'm hoping parking inside and rinsing off any road salt every couple days will be enough to stop corrosion. Have you guys had any good/bad experience doing this? Any other suggestions?

[HaXx]

dunlop wintermaxx is 90% as good as blizzaks, but much less money. i use 18x8 wheels in summer and 17x7 in winter.

[Impureclient]

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=24

[Vides990]

I love my nokians, way better then continentals or the blizzaks I've tried.

[soundman98]

After talking to a guy from norway about winter tires, the nokians are spectacular in very frigid, snow packed roads that may or may not get sand.

But for road conditions any less than that, bridgestone blizzak ws series are very popular with good reviews. Personally, i ran the general altimax for 2 years. Again, i have no major complaints. I ran them on a 16" wheel for extra sidwall.

Something to note about winter tires is that any tread under 50% makes them no better than a set of all seasons. Thats part of why i stopped running winter tires after 2 years.

The other reasons i don't use winter tires anymore is because i now run all seasons on the car(first 2 years were the oem summer tires), and my location near chicago, the roads are only ever bad enough to require winter tires for 1-2 days after snowfall. After that, they clear and salt the roads so heavily that the pavement is completely dry, and there is no grip benefit from them. I wore my winter tires out completely due to running them on dry pavement for way to long(nov-feb, averaged about 10 days of snowfall those years).

Everyone's situation is different of course, but my experience, i suggest getting a really awesome set of allseasons. And even if you only use them in the winter months, they'll still grip plenty, and you can use them any other time.

Again, in my neck of the woods, I don't need to be pushing my tires to 100% of their capabilities. And my experience is that a great set of all seasons will have 75% of the grip that a snow tire has. Meaning general snow, slush, hardpack. Ice, snow tires have better grip. But if the roads get icey around me, they shut things down and ticket anyone driving through.

There are areas that benefit, but personally, it was stupid of me to spend $1300 on a wheel/tire package that i actually only needed for 20 out of 730 days.

The limitation that no one talks about in cruddy conditions is the other drivers. It doesn't matter if you're on $10,000 snow tracks if the moron 3 ahead is on all seasons with 10% tread, and the guy ahead of him has a prius with the summer tires. Or the guy ahead going up the incline slept through physics class and firmly believes that stepping on the gas pedal through 4th gear will get him up the hill better.

I now run all seasons through the winter with at least 30% tread, and don't drive stupid, which makes me one of the safest drivers in those conditions.

[why?]

Nokians if you want to get the absolute best, General snow tires are a deal and they are awesome.

[PetrolioBenzina]

Top-tier tires.

[RToyo86]

Nokian hakkapeliitta r3 will be my next set.

Currently I am running a set of Pirelli ice zero FR which have handled the last winter quite nicely. They're a good balance of snow traction, ice and good dry road response. They're quiet on the highway which is a big pro over tires like the blizzak.

Last year I got a touchless wash pass at a gas station and washed the car every other day. Worked for the most part, all though I'll be undercoating the car this year. I saw some locals with MY13 cars with minor rust issues.

[korhun]

Do you think I should consider NOKIAN WR D4 instead of Continental WinterContact TS 860? (or something else?)

I've used Continental before, and very pleased with its performance. Never used a Nokian but read some complains on Turkish forums. Some say, it's great; some say, it was deformed very soon.

[venturaII]

Consider what sort of winter conditions you typically experience. Do you deal with ice, packed powder, or slush most of the time? Each one has a different tire characteristic that you want to look for.

Here in central New England, they salt the shit out of the roads which quickly turns them into a greasy, slushy mess. Tires that have a lot of void area do very well here, since you need to move all that slush out from under the tire quickly. If your driving conditions tended to be more packed powder, I'd worry less about void area, and get tires with the most aggressive siping you can find. Ice is another story yet, which (in studless) tends to be rubber compound and tricks like micro-bubbles and such. All tires are going to be a combination of the three to some degree...look for ones that meet your budget and are oriented for what you experience most often.

[RickyRacer]

like the guy above said.. winter can mean different things... icy roads, snowy packed roads, cold weather but otherwise dry roads..


I'm in Toronto which is probably similar to Chicago.. Never had a problem with Michelin Xi3



.. except once.. in London, ON... when my girlfriend lived in a house at the bottom of a hill.



I don't blame that on the FRS though. I was leaving her place at 6am, got stuck trying to go uphill, called a tow, tow truck came down half way and got stuck too. Had to winch himself to a light post to get back out. He said don't bother.


The only people who left to work that day were 4x4 SUVs lol. A woman in a camry loaded with 3 kids tried going after see me and the tow truck stuck... she made it a few feet... spun wheels. Parked the car. Walked home with the kids.

[humfrz]

I agree with @soundman98 in post #5.

Just get some good all-season tires.

If the snow is so deep, that you need snow tires, you shouldn't be driving an 86 on those roads, anyway.

If it's icy, you shouldn't be driving any vehicle, anyway.

If you have to go up or down steep snow/ice covered hills, it's best you just stay home, anyway.

And as soundman98 stated, and I have found out after driving in the winter in nine countries of Europe, Canada, the mid-west, New England and Washington, that the limitation to getting to where you want to go on ice/snow covered roads, are the ass holes in front of you that don't know how to drive in the snow!


humfrz

[qcbaker]

I bought my car in June of last year, with a set of Accelera Phi-R all-seasons on it. The first time it snowed, I got severely stuck. The following weekend, I had a set of Blizzak WS80s put on. I have nothing but good things to say about them. Night and day difference. There may be "better" snow tires, but the Blizzaks did everything I asked without issue. I never got stuck again all winter, even in way worse snow than when I got stuck before. There were a few times where I was driving to or from work and I saw big AWD SUVs having trouble, and I just drove around them. As long as I kept my inputs smooth, I felt solid. Had some trouble going up steep hills, but I'd wager you'd have that problem no matter what tires you put on.

I did wear out the rears by doing snownuts basically every time it snowed, but if I'd been less of a hooligan they almost certainly would have lasted another season at least.

Lastly, I think peoples' opinions on this are basically only dictated by how much snow they get wherever they live and how often they have to drive in it, but IMO, if you plan to DD your 86 in a place that gets snow, all-seasons are not enough. At the very least, they weren't enough for me. I'll be buying another set of Blizzaks come November for sure.

[extrashaky]

My winter tires are Pilot Super Sports. Because Florida.

But if I actually lived somewhere that had winter, in addition to the tire choice I would also get an extra set of TPMS modules and an ATEQ Quickset so I didn't have to look at the buttcheeks-with-anus warning light all winter.