Hi, my girlfriend just bought a type r yesterday. First off, it is such a fun car to drive. Anyways, I was wondering what tires you guys/girls use for cold weather/rain/snow driving? I know the stock tires are for summer. And I'm sure we don't want to get full on snow tires because there are only a few days a year, that one might have to drive in the snow that isn't plowed.
Thanks for your suggestions,
Scott K.

 

for close to high performance all season, I used dunlop sp9000. works great in rain, decent in snow, but dont expect to drive fast in snow anywyas. I just ordered bridgestone s-3 pole position. havent received it yet, but i heard its great for all season.

 

Hey Scott,

Being from Chicago, I have to tell you that it is a bad idea NOT to get some type of winter tire. While our roads are mainly dry and clean in the winter, they are cold and most all season tires wont work that great. I've been using Pirelli Winter Ice tires with good results, although a lot of people like the Bridgestone BLizzak or Michelin Arctic Alpin as well. Just get a set with steel wheels for like $450 from the Tire Rack. It will last a few winters at the minimum.

BTW, what town are you from? Im in Hoffman Estates.

 

Ha, Im in hoffman estates also. My girlfriend is from batavia(00blk). small world.
Do you have a PY jdm front end R? I have seen that car around my house. I live between algonquin road and palatine road, on sturbridge. So, what your saying is she can get winter tires and start driving on them now? I know its going to get cold quick and would like to save the summer tires for auto-x come spring.

Thanks for the help, scott k.

 

I recently picked up Yokohama Guardex snows from the Discount Tire for $70/each. I put them on Mazda Millenia wheels for now and plan on switching from the stock setup at the 1st snowfall.

 

hehe..small world. You are in North Hoffman, I am near the intersection of Golf/Higgins. Probably shouldn't say anymore for security reasons!

I dont have a JDM front end. My car is visually stock, except I have an Apexi RS exhaust. I used yokohama guardex on my mr2 turbo, and they worked good as well.

If you need to get all-seasons, I've had good luck with Dunlop D60A2's...decent performance and cheap. Please DO NOT try and drive the R around with the stock summer tires though! Trust me, I couldnt even get out of my driveway with those suckers on there!

 

The Dunlop SP9000 is not an all-season tire and I can assure you from experience that it will suck in the winter.

If you're using high-performance summer tires on your R, you should definitely switch to winter tires (not just all-season tires) for the Chicago winter. Remember, winter tires are not just for snow, but they're also much better in frigid temperatures when the roads are dry.

There are various winter tires on the market, and some do some things better than others. Some are better on ice, others better on snow, others handle better on the warmer days, etc.

Two excellent winter tires that come in the stock 195/55-15 size are the Michelin Arctic Alpin and the Nokian Hakkapolita. This was previously discussed here in several threads. Do a search and you'll find a lot of information, such as here.

 

You definitely do not want to be using the Dunlop SP9000's, the S-03's or any other summer performance tires in the winter, or even when it's below freezing.

I always hear people rag on all season tires for winter use. I've used the same set of Michelin All seasons (Pilot XGT V4's, not to be confused with the stock GSR tires) for 3 winters now on my Type R, and I've had no complaints. I used them for a winter and a half in Chicago, and a winter and a half in Boston.

About the only time that the all seasons really pose a problem is when there is fresh undriven, unplowed snow > 6". (which happened to me in the middle of Pennsylvania when a semi rolled over and blocked the highway for two hours during the middle of a snow storm)

And the best thing about all seasons are that they still perform pretty well when the road is dry.

Jim

 

yeah, sp9000 is NOT a winter tire. i know this personally because my friend has them on his civic and he almost squashed me when i tried to push him out of a snowbank last year

sp5000 might be a good a/s to think about. not great for auto-x because of the soft sidewalls... i know someone who autoxed on them and it didn't last 2 sessions... i've also heard good things about the pilot xgt-series too.

nokian nrw is supposed to be good, but i'm not sure if they are good for high-performance applications.

someone else had suggested bridgestone re730 to me, but i never tried them.


[Modified by Benjamin Tang, 2:00 PM 11/7/2001]


[Modified by Benjamin Tang, 2:01 PM 11/7/2001]

 

Get winter tires for your R, not all-season tires. Remember, an all-season tire is a compromise - in the winter, it's not as good as a winter tire, and the rest of the year, it's not as good as a high-performance ("summer") tire. It's fine for a family sedan or minivan, where you're likely to use the same tires all year round. But on a high-performance sports car like the R, you want to use a high-performance tire during nice weather to take advantage of its performance capabilities. And if you're going to change your tires for the winter anyway, you really ought to get a good winter tire, rather than an all-season tire.

Remember, winter tires are much better when the temperatures are frigid, even when the roads are dry. If you are concerned about dry handling, there are some winter tires (e.g. Michelin Pilot Alpin) that do better at that than others (e.g. Bridgestone Blizzak) that are designed for snow and ice traction.



[Modified by nsxtcjr, 4:26 PM 11/7/2001]

 

on this note... standard alpins are better in the snow than the pilot alpin, and vice versa. i went pilot because it dosen't snow every day here, and the alpins my friend once had wore too quickly on normal non-snow conditions

 

oh one other thing... try and find out how much the tire weighs if you're going with a snow tire... snow tire carcasses can weigh ALOT