Winter wheels and tires on my 2011
12-17-2010, 05:14 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Virginia
Posts: 5
Winter wheels and tires on my 2011
Earlier this week I ordered some 18x9 gloss black GT500 replicas from American Muscle and 245/45/18 Dunlop Wintersport M3 tires. I had the tires mounted and balanced today and swapped the wheels out.
They look pretty good, but more importantly the tires perform extremely well. We had some snow yesterday so I was able to get out on some roads that still had either hard packed snow, snow/slush, or 2-3" or so of unplowed and lightly traveled snow. The Dunlops perform flawlessly in these conditions. Forward traction is excellent. Even from a stop on a steep hill, you just let the traction control work a bit and the tires easily gain traction and bring you on up the hill.
Braking control is excellent. It takes a lot more effort to lock these tires up than it would a good all season tire. Cornering control is excellent as well. Turn in is sharp and predictable on snow. These tires really make light snow an absolute non-issue.
I haven't tested the tires much on dry pavement yet, but they do ride smoother than the 19" Pirellis, obviously, and also have a good bit more squirm due to the softer, larger sidewall and the softer tread. These are V-rated performance winter tires, though, so you can still have fun with these when you hit up the back roads. They just won't feel as good as a good summer tire on a warm day.
All in all I am VERY pleased with my purchase. Here are some pics:
They look pretty good, but more importantly the tires perform extremely well. We had some snow yesterday so I was able to get out on some roads that still had either hard packed snow, snow/slush, or 2-3" or so of unplowed and lightly traveled snow. The Dunlops perform flawlessly in these conditions. Forward traction is excellent. Even from a stop on a steep hill, you just let the traction control work a bit and the tires easily gain traction and bring you on up the hill.
Braking control is excellent. It takes a lot more effort to lock these tires up than it would a good all season tire. Cornering control is excellent as well. Turn in is sharp and predictable on snow. These tires really make light snow an absolute non-issue.
I haven't tested the tires much on dry pavement yet, but they do ride smoother than the 19" Pirellis, obviously, and also have a good bit more squirm due to the softer, larger sidewall and the softer tread. These are V-rated performance winter tires, though, so you can still have fun with these when you hit up the back roads. They just won't feel as good as a good summer tire on a warm day.
All in all I am VERY pleased with my purchase. Here are some pics:
12-17-2010, 05:57 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Virginia
Posts: 5
Well, there are two ways to go with winter tires for our cars. You can go with "performance winter" tires which compromise snow and ice capability for more performance on dry winter roads or you can go with a "studless ice & snow" tire which emphasizes snow and ice performance over dry road performance.
I decided to go with a performance winter tire because I knew that 80-90% of the time in winter I would be driving on dry roads. If the snow was too deep then chances are I'd just be staying home anyway as my office would likely close, so no need to venture out. Not to mention we're kind of limited by the height of our vehicles. Above 4-5" or so of snow we run the risk of getting stuck because it's simply too deep for our clearance levels.
I just went out for another drive in the snow and am more than pleased with the performance of these Wintersport M3s. They do a great job!
I decided to go with a performance winter tire because I knew that 80-90% of the time in winter I would be driving on dry roads. If the snow was too deep then chances are I'd just be staying home anyway as my office would likely close, so no need to venture out. Not to mention we're kind of limited by the height of our vehicles. Above 4-5" or so of snow we run the risk of getting stuck because it's simply too deep for our clearance levels.
I just went out for another drive in the snow and am more than pleased with the performance of these Wintersport M3s. They do a great job!
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