What tires are you running now?

Alright guys (and girls), I'm curious as to what you all think. In a nut shell, I think my '02 ES completely sucks in the snow. I'm not sure if it's the weight distribution or just the tire/wheel combo, but after trying out three sets of tires, and talking to another owner of an LX (w/stock 15's), I'm convinced that the car itself is just not that good in snow.

That said, the point to this is to find out what tires you're running on your 15's or 16's, and what your reviews are of them.

Here's mine:
Stock 16's on OEM tires (forgot brand/model): Tires sucked when I replaced them at 30K. Terrible sidewall rigidity, rain traction was also poor. Dry was adequate at best.

Stock 16's on General Exclaim UHP: Tires were great at first, but quickly became noisy after just over 5K on them. I'm at about 18-20K on them now, and they're litterally falling apart. I just noticed that the sidewall actually ripped in multiple places, which was caused by nothing more then tire failure, not road hazard.

Now I'm in the market for a new set of tires, and am looking at the Fuzion ZRi or the Yokohama S-Drive. Kumho Ecsta is also an option, but I'm leaning toward the other two.

Any comments, suggestions, reviews, etc.?

for snow driving, you need snow tires - period. this winter i switched to dunlop graspic snow's in the stock 195/50-16, and they are worlds better than any all season i had on the car previously.

i ran kuhmo ecsta asx the past two summers, and they were a good tire. excellent balance between handling, comfort, noise, and weight. this summer, i'm looking at something a little wilder.

Despite the General Exclaim's M+S rating, they really aren't meant to be used as a winter tire or even in cold temps (click HERE for what I mean). I have a set of those on my 17" wheels, but they haven't seen the light of day since October. So far, I've been very happy with those tires.

My factory 16" wheels still have the factory 16" tires on them. They haven't been bolted to my car though since about November 2006.

Currently, I have a set of 15x6 Konig Theory wheels with 195/55-15 Hankook iPike winter tires. I get around just fine in the snow.

Bridgestone Blizzaks are supposedly the best snows on the road

I don't know a thing about snow tires, but I use Kumho Ecsta's

sorry guys, I kind of misled the direction of the thread by complaining about the snow traction right off the bat. I know the Exclaim's are not at all rated for snow, nor should they be used for it. In general though, the Pro seems terrible in snow.

I'm really torn about the General's. They're dirt cheap, and worked great until they started falling apart.

For those that really push their cars, especially if you use it at Auto-X on street tires, I'm really curious to see what you're running. The stock dunlops (i think that's what it came with) were way too soft in the sidewall. Even with the reccomended psi, I was either breaking them free in hard turning (not always fun) or rolling onto the sidewall (evident by the rashing on the sidewalls). The general is stifff as hell, but again, instead of rolling onto a soft sidewall, the stiff sidewall of the General's just gave up on me all together.

markmdz89hatch said:

sorry guys, I kind of misled the direction of the thread by complaining about the snow traction right off the bat. I know the Exclaim's are not at all rated for snow, nor should they be used for it. In general though, the Pro seems terrible in snow.

Click to expand...

i just want to say that i totally disagree with this statement. of all the cars i've owned, the protege is the best i've driven in the snow, for a front wheel drive car. and again, with a good set of snow tires, i've never gotten into something in the winter that i couldn't get the car out of - never been stuck.

(werd)

Nik, do you have experience with the dunlops vs other snow tires? The review I read said they were a bit loud and response gave up a bit compared to blizzaks. Would you agree with this, or is it sort of inherent to snow tires in general?

i dont have any experience with blizzaks. i have run hankooks previously. the hankooks were MUCH better than the dunlops in the snow, but the response wasnt as good. the dunlops have a better handling feel than the hankook did, give up a little bit in the snow traction department, and arent as noisey as the set of kuhmo 711 summer tires i used to have. i think these dunlops are a decent snow tire, but i dont think i would buy another set because of the snow traction. (they are good in the snow, just not GREAT!)

Sounds like the ticket for me, down here we get just a couple of snow storms, and they are quite a bit cheaper than other options. Thanks for your help.