Winter tires and wheels
09-30-2004, 04:22 PM
#16
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My $.02....The Porsche seal of approval means that Porsche has, for various reasons (testing, marketing and business reasons) endorsed a tire for use. It does not mean that other tires are not up to the same standards....merely that Porsche has, for reasons mentioned, blessed a particular brand.
09-30-2004, 08:46 PM
#17
Originally Posted by k2kv
Tim,
I live in NY (on Long Island) and believe that all-season tires are generally fine for getting around in plowed snow and slush. However, when it comes to stopping on ice, dedicated snow & ice tires will stop you faster. In addition, they will get you through heavier snow than all-season tires. You know, in this part of the country, you never know what kind of weather you might run into while you're out.
I own a wonderful set of Pirelli Scorpion Zero all-season tires on 18" rims which are off the car right now and which I have confidence in, but am seriously considering replacing them with Pirelli Ice & snow, or the Dunlop Grandtrek M2 for the winter this year. After all, there is little doubt the dedicated winter tires will perform better in the winter and, even though I hate to just keep spending more and more money, I do love my CT, and will feel more confident wearing true winter rubber.
From experience, I had Blizzaks LM-22s on my Lexus, and I felt more secure in that rear-wheel drive car in the snow than I did in my wife's 4-wheeler with all-season tires. Never felt I gave up much on dry pavement, either.
It's a tough choice, and some folks can be a little extreme when offering opinions, so just wanted to give you a sense of what I'm doing, as my situation is similar.
Best of luck,
Jeff
I live in NY (on Long Island) and believe that all-season tires are generally fine for getting around in plowed snow and slush. However, when it comes to stopping on ice, dedicated snow & ice tires will stop you faster. In addition, they will get you through heavier snow than all-season tires. You know, in this part of the country, you never know what kind of weather you might run into while you're out.
I own a wonderful set of Pirelli Scorpion Zero all-season tires on 18" rims which are off the car right now and which I have confidence in, but am seriously considering replacing them with Pirelli Ice & snow, or the Dunlop Grandtrek M2 for the winter this year. After all, there is little doubt the dedicated winter tires will perform better in the winter and, even though I hate to just keep spending more and more money, I do love my CT, and will feel more confident wearing true winter rubber.
From experience, I had Blizzaks LM-22s on my Lexus, and I felt more secure in that rear-wheel drive car in the snow than I did in my wife's 4-wheeler with all-season tires. Never felt I gave up much on dry pavement, either.
It's a tough choice, and some folks can be a little extreme when offering opinions, so just wanted to give you a sense of what I'm doing, as my situation is similar.
Best of luck,
Jeff
Thanks,
-Tim
10-06-2004, 10:19 PM
#19
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Originally Posted by TimC.
I grew up in Long Island near Port Jeff (live in NJ now) and used to drive to Saint Anthony's in Huntington everyday for H.S. so I know how those roads can get when not plowed!!
You are so right about the roads. A few years ago I had to get to an appointment in Huntington, and it had just snowed, was really cold and icy. I headed west on 25A and was doing fine for awhile. As I came to the steepest incline of the trip, cars were all over the place, but I just kept moving pretty well with my Blizzaks, passing nearly everyone, and actually thought I would make it without sweat.
Well, at this point, the hill became very slippery, and I had gotten pretty far up, and it was really just me heading up the hill. Suddenly, I found myself directly behind this huge Hummer that was going nowhere fast. His tires were just spinning, and he was moving sideways, and then started to fall back down the hill, the only thing in his way was me!
Luckily, I got out of there safely, but not without difficulty. The ice was completely slick. I couldn't turn around, just had to kind of nudge my way back down the hill again.
Scared the living daylights out of me!
Jeff
10-08-2004, 09:43 AM
#20
Burning Brakes
k2kv I am in CT pretty close to the NY border, so we get about the same weather.
I went with 235/60/18 Dunlop Grandtrek WT M2 on 18" AT SP5 rims.
I've used the car version of this tire(wintersport M2 and M3) for several years on an Audi TT and Audi A6. The tread on the Grandtreks looks to be identical. My guess is that it is just set up to handle the load and tire sizes of SUVs and trucks vs cars, so they gave it a different name.
If they perform anything like the Wintersports, I'll be driving the speedlimit in a snow storm while everyone else is in the slow lane driving 25mph.
The performance on cold dry roads(which is most of the time around here) was excellent. I had zero complaints and I know other audi owners that for varions reasons left them on over the summer and while it was not a performance tire, it served them well for normal daily driving.
I always ran 225 or 235 wide summer street tires and kicked it down to 205 or 215 for the winter tires. I think this makes a big difference and you won't notice a huge difference between 235 and 255(I'm going from 275/40/20 to 235/60/18 and not worried about it). The 235 WILL work better in the white stuff.
I went with 235/60/18 Dunlop Grandtrek WT M2 on 18" AT SP5 rims.
I've used the car version of this tire(wintersport M2 and M3) for several years on an Audi TT and Audi A6. The tread on the Grandtreks looks to be identical. My guess is that it is just set up to handle the load and tire sizes of SUVs and trucks vs cars, so they gave it a different name.
If they perform anything like the Wintersports, I'll be driving the speedlimit in a snow storm while everyone else is in the slow lane driving 25mph.
The performance on cold dry roads(which is most of the time around here) was excellent. I had zero complaints and I know other audi owners that for varions reasons left them on over the summer and while it was not a performance tire, it served them well for normal daily driving.
I always ran 225 or 235 wide summer street tires and kicked it down to 205 or 215 for the winter tires. I think this makes a big difference and you won't notice a huge difference between 235 and 255(I'm going from 275/40/20 to 235/60/18 and not worried about it). The 235 WILL work better in the white stuff.
