All Season and Winter Setup for Tires

[japan101]

All right, for those Ralliart owners that have some severe or decent winter on the way I wanted to discuss All season tires and winter tires for those that would be interested in talking about it.

I am currently looking at getting All Season tires for the stock rims this friday seeing that the ADVAN's are almost gone.

This is what I am looking at. Goodyear Eagle GT



Size: 215/45ZR18
Load Range: XL
Blackwall
Serv. Desc: 93W
UTQG: Treadwear: 400
Traction: AA
Temperature: A400 AA A

[secondchace]

thats not an all season that can be driven in winter with any positive results.

But that could be based on location too. In canadia you would hit the ditch inside a week.

[buchnerj]

Not sure about that for severe winter use. I went to college up near Erie and we had some terrible winters, all my friends who had front wheel drive cars either had an all season or a specific winter tire (like me). There is a noticeable difference between the two, with my evo I put some Blizzaks on her and she would go in snow that made it look like the body kit was plowing the road. Just depends on your budget and really how bad the snow will be....

[laksman91]

I'm prepared for winter. Got a new set of Hankook W409s mounted and balanced on some 17 alloys. All-Seasons are really 3-seasons. Wouldn't call it suitable for winter

[japan101]

I know they are not suitable for heavy winter weather however I am by the water in CT and compared to going north of where I am it is pretty mild to what I am used to seeing as far as winter goes. I might choose something other than these but I was looking at them as one of my main choices.

[suprPHREAK]

Up here in Canada the RA comes equipped with Dunlop SP5000 all-season tires. After the ABS kicked in, and rolling for 300m (1000ft) into an intersection where I had to e-brake to bring the car sideways to avoid hitting a jeep....these are not for winter. On, that was maybe 2cm of snowfall. I installed true snow tires on 16" steelies as soon as I could get them, but due to Quebec passing a mandatory snow-tire law, most of canada's supply was gone at the start of the season.

As far as dry performance goes, the SP5000 isnt bad, but it (and any all season) will not compare to the Advan summer tires you have. Keep that in mind should you engage in spirited cornering where you want GRIP. If you corner at moderate pace, and dont mind a bit of push, then all-season can be just fine.

Bearing that in mind, the Goodyear Eagle GT does get a good rating on Tire Rack, as does the Kumho ASX (which cost less). I dont see why you would find any problems for those, especially if you find yourself contending with lots of wet days.

[robertg]

Pirelli PZero Nero M&S looked to be among the best reviewed for AWD cars at tirerack. They seem to last longer, get better traction overall.
I'm looking to get these in 225/45/18 to fit over the stock rims.

[03chi-town0Z]

Originally Posted by suprPHREAK

...a mandatory snow-tire law...

man, wish we could get one of those here in chicago. people cant drive worth a **** as soon as the white stuff starts to fall

[suprPHREAK]

Originally Posted by 03chi-town0Z

man, wish we could get one of those here in chicago. people cant drive worth a **** as soon as the white stuff starts to fall

I would prefer to just get them off the road completely!

[DetroitRA]

Originally Posted by 03chi-town0Z

man, wish we could get one of those here in chicago. people cant drive worth a **** as soon as the white stuff starts to fall

Lol +1 for Michigan too.

One thing I've noticed around here, is that all the SUVs+Trucks drive like d-bags just because they think they're the only ones with 4WD/AWD. Like they're the king/queen of the roads, cuttin' off smaller cars, taking turns at stupid speeds & sliding all over the roads. They're all when they see me bringin' up the rear and not losing traction and just pacing http://forums.evolutionm.net/editpos...=7502162myself down road.

As far as all-seasons go...if you've got some "severe" winter weather ever - don't bother. Go straight to some dedicated winter tires, the difference is incredible. I wouldn't try to get some winter tires for the stock rims though, 18" winter tires are stupid expensive.

Looking at my favorite tire size calculator, you can run 205/60R16 size tires with only a 0.3% too slow (hardly a noticeable difference) reading on your speedo. Buy a cheap set of steelies/alloys for those and it'll still probably cost less than getting four 18" winter tires.

I'm planning on buying either some Continental ExtremeWinterContact or a set of Michelin X-Ice Xi2 for the coming winter depending on what's available around when I get the $$$ for them. If you've got a discount tire shop around, I know for sure they have some dirt cheap 16" alloy rims $60-80/ea.

[japan101]

I just couldn't imagine the Ralliart rolling on some steelies for the winter. I still want to look civilized driving down the road. Steelies are just plain degrading for a beautiful car.

[DetroitRA]

Don't know what color you have, but I've seen some shots of TB RAs with steelies in the winter, and it doesn't look that bad...

Originally Posted by laksman91

Winter mode Makes me sad. I gotta go for 17" Rims next winter.

This is like the 4th time I've quoted laksman's RA...if you're still around man -

Cheaps alloys are the way to go anyway

OR!!!

Rock some steelies with plastic spinner hub caps!

[majinfajita]

Personally, if you're looking for all weather tires it means that you (like me) are willing to sacrifice some performance (whether it be in the winter or summer) for convenience and cost savings (over having the stealership charge you 90 bucks each time to re-mate your tpms sensors in your rims).

What I used to run on my Audi were the Nokian WR's. They are an all-weather tire (they have the snowflake symbol that no other non-winter tire has) but there are trade offs. While they perform awesome in the snow and even on ice (in my fwd A4, it trudged through sixteen inches of snow in my alley and my house is was in the middle of my street....I never got stuck, never slid through any intersection, even driving like an idiot in my youth), the trade off is diminished dry performance and floaty feeling at high (140kph+) speed....and less hydroplaning resistance than the Continental 4000H's they replaced.

What I'm likely getting are Nokian WR G2's, the 2nd gen replacement, that have greatly improved dry traction, hydroplaning resistance and comparable snow and ice performance to the original WR's.

Oh, ya, a couple more things to note -- the WR's (and WR G2's) have pretty soft sidewalls (compared to normal all-seasons) in any of the sizes smaller than 17" so aggressive handling is definitely compromised (I'm talking like autox style driving, on the street you won't notice it, especially on 17's or 18's), they are a pain to balance and they don't hold air for crap so check them every time you fill up (which you should do anyways).

The pluses are a ridiculous 100000km warranty and seemingly infinite treadwear (on a slammed A4 they lasted 60000km before I sold the car to my groomsman and he got another 30000 or so before he wrote the car off).

[03chi-town0Z]

i just snagged a fairly decent set of 16's off of an old junk diamante and am working on getting them ready for the winter. blizzaks are like 96 bucks a piece for 16's, versus the 140 they want for 18's. much better deal if you consider junkyard rims are 20 bucks a piece and some time and paint work will do wonders. i forgot to take any pics to report my progress until i had washed them all free of the junkyard dirt/dust and had already refinished two of them, but you can see how well they came out after some tlc.

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SNC00201.jpg

recently, i just finished taping off the areas i wanted to leave unpainted (inside the bead), and priming the wheels so im getting ready for paint soon. will keep up to date, should turn out pretty nice once theyre done considering total cost for these wheels will be like 100 bucks. only tough decision now is color. i found a paint that looks identical to the phantom black on the evos, metal fleck and all, but i havent decided if i want to do the entire rim that color, or just the back-spacing and leave the face and lip a bright silver oem color. either should look pretty good on ww. hmm...choices choices...

[velocityhead]

Originally Posted by 03chi-town0Z

i just snagged a fairly decent set of 16's off of an old junk diamante and am working on getting them ready for the winter. blizzaks are like 96 bucks a piece for 16's, versus the 140 they want for 18's.

Where did you find Blizzaks for $140?