Mustangarrett

Prior to this summer, I have been driving a 99 f150 4x4. Snow was never an issue. I live in Northern IL so we get a decent amount. I hear I am in for a world of hurt with the Mustang come snow time, torque+ rear wheel drive= spin spin spin. Will new tires help me? I realize there are winter specific tires available (the blizzacs look to be good?), but would rather buy realy good all seasons if the gains in snow traction (if any?) will be worth it. I dont want to have to buy new rims and deal with changing them out durring winter/summer. Maybe down the road once I can afford some nice aftermarket rims, then I could use the stockers for the winter only tires. So maybe a better question is, what is the best all seasons? the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's have caught my eye. Should I be looking elsewhere? Ha, this car world sure is different... wow are there a lot more choices. Thanks in advance for any insight.

kcmarti

The stock (18" upgrade) BF Goodrich KDWS's worked well for me through three winters. My car is a DD that is fix'n ready to hit 80K in the next week. The KDWSs are now bald, so it is time for replacement. I am either going to replace the 4 KDWSs and get a set of drag radials for track use, or I am going to upgrade to the BF Goodrich gForce Super Sport A/S tires (255/45/18). These tires have gotten great reviews for all-around/all season use - i.e., dry, wet , snow, sleet, etc...

grampa_stang

I currently have KDW-2's - Ultra high performance summer only - I'm in Utah and do have to drive occasionally
in the snow. The above tires are what I'm getting next.

Philostang

Hey there.

I'm running Yokohama ADVAN S.4, which is a great all-season performance tire...in the summer. My car is a year-round DD, and I wanted a tire that was about as maxed out in the handling department as I could find in an all-season tire (I track my car in the summers on these same tires). This fits the bill very, very well.

I'm in Chicago, and our winters are hit and miss with the amount of snow we get, but when it does snow hard I'm not a relaxed driver. I do NOT recommend these for areas that have a long and heavy snow season. Chicago weather is probably borderline for these tires, but if you are only dealing with cold and/or very light snow, then they'll get you through until the warm weather hits.

Best,
-j

Vapour Trails

I would highly suggest a snow tire for winter driving. The best all season tire in the world is bad when anymore than a 1/4 inch of snow falls. I have blizzaks on my winter car and they are amazing. They grip on ice and cut through deep snow with ease.

I know in my climate, admittly more severe than yours, driving on all seasons in the winter is living on borrowed time.

Mustangarrett

Thanks you all for your replys, I really appricaite it. Does anyone have any experience with Michelen Pilot Sports A/S? They seem to be the best rated A/S on tire rack.

Intresting, I dont doubt your inputs validity, but its certainly not what I want to hear... ha. I really dont want to have to spend the money on a new set of rims. I suppose I could buy a set of cheapo rims for the winter tires and keep my 18" fans for summer spring and fall. But it would be nice to upgrade the performance of the cars tire for non winter use by buying a high quality A/S tire(hopefully winter performance as well). Am I kidding myself? Is the only way to get real good performance two sets of wheels and rims? If so, I think I will just have to find a way to make new primary rims my next mod before winter comes so I can retire my current 18" fans to blizzak use. Do they even come in 18"? I remember haveing a hard time finding any. Thanks again!

SlideWRX

The F1 GS-D3s are as far as one can get from an all-season. They are a summer tire, and will be a hockey puck in the cold. Were you looking at the tripletred, or F1 all season? The F1 all season won't be worth much in actual snow.

I have the bridgestone blizzacks here in Detroit, and they are more than enough to get me around in heavy snow.

If you are looking for an all-season that has the best winter performance, I'd go with Nokian WR's. They are the only all-season I know of with the Severeservice emblem. They aren't a performance summer tire, obviously.
http://www.nokiantires.com/en/tire_w...?season=winter

If you are looking for an all-season that has great summer performance, there are a lot to choose from. They won't perform worth much in snow over 1-2 inches. How much you intend to drive during the winter may be a big factor; if you can wait out the bad days a regular all-season could be ok.

Sam Strano

It might not be what you want to hear, but it's the only correct advice especially in a place that you know you'll get snow. Yes, it'd be nice to have one tire that was perfect of all needs. It's not possible.

And FWIW, until you've driven on snows you can't imagine the difference. We also have a set of Blizzaks for my girlfriend's Mustang (mine gets parked). It's a V-6 but with all GT suspension under it. Being a V-6 it's also got an open differential. We put a set of Blizzaks on, a waterbag for about 100 pounds of help in the trunk and never got stuck. In fact I passed an S10 and a Ranger (both 4WD) one night there was about 7 inches on the roads.

And the other side of the coin holds true too. If you get an all season tire, it doesn't work as well in the dry for handling either.

And yes, an F1D3 is about as far from useable in the winder as Pluto is from the Sun. In fact, any summer tire will have a disclaimer telling you they aren't meant to be used in near freezing conditions, and some get really hard in temps as low as the 50's. Never mind they don't have the sipes, grooves and channels you need to bite into snow and slush let alone ice.

SlideWRX

Replied at the same time, hehe. I think two sets it the way to go. You could look at the chicago craigslist (or other illinois lists) and look for someone's used 17" mustang snow tire sets. keep looking for a while and you may come across a great deal.

Mustangarrett

Yeah, I was confused... was infact looking at the F1 A/S tires. All your guys input has really helped give me a better idea of what Im looking at here. Im still not exactly sure what I am going to do. Paying for new aftermarket rims, new high performance summer tires, new snow performance tires, and the associated balancing/ mounting costs would put me well into the $2500.00 plus range. Dont know if I can swing that atm. School is closed if the typical sedan on stock half bald tires cant make it to school safetly... so, what kind of advantange (if any at all) is to be had with more expensive/high end all season tires? Perticularly in snow less than 5 inches... might have to fight six from time to time. Are those Michelen tires not worth the cost? Thank you.