Hi,I just took delivery of a 2017 wrx this past friday (M6) and I can't quit finding excuses to get in and drive it somewhere on my local country roads! i've put up with front wheel drive commuter cars for the past recent years and wanted something fun and safe to drive to work in Detroit. wow, i can't believe the handling capability on dry roads with the stock summer performance tires! i live on the ne edge of irish hills area Michigan which is known for a network of miles of hilly/curvy roads both gravel and paved and this car shines in these conditions! The thrill won't be the highway miles I drive but the local weekends at home! I really adore the older hatchback models but I can overlook this recent body style with the great drive experience I'm getting. since i drive ~70 miles 1 way to work i'll be getting a set of all season tires for the winter, looks like continentals are the thing for this vehicle. considering getting a spare set of rims for the change outs because i have the tools and the storage for both - let me know what you think and best rim recommendations (assuming stock?). We rely on our 4wd pickup for the really deep snow here but I noticed the used 2004 impreza wagon i bought for my teenage son literally plows snow deeper than it and i anticipate this Wrx will as well. I've enjoyed lurking on this forum for a couple of years and hope i'll have something to add. thanks for listening folks!
As you mentioned winter tires, I just put my winter tires/wheels on mine yesterday. I did a lot of research on TireRack.com, including looking at their drive test videos, and choose the Michelin X-Ice i3's. You might want to give them a look over. I have 18" factory wheels, and thus went here. Nice thing is that you can put Conti, Michelins and other top brands you select in a comparison matrix, with test results for each one, in every separate test category, right there for you to look at;
Good luck on your tire selection, for the factory Dunlops, which are summer high-perf tires as you know, have downright poor traction/get very slippery below 35 degrees.
Way up north I would definitely plan on a second set of WINTER tires. No real benefit to AWT's if you are running performance tires in the summer. As anyone will tell you, AWT's are a compromise in both winter and summer.
Nice color! I was looking for blue, but had to "settle" for ISM...LOL.
All-Season tires are ok in plenty of conditions, but shine in none. Even without "driving on roads that aren't cleared well", you'll notice the benefits of dedicated winter tires.
If you are running two sets of tires, there is no reason not to use a dedicated winter tire.
Even if deep snow is uncommon, winter performance tires (like Blizzacks or Wintersports) will offer superior dry grip and some snow capability far exceeding all season rubber.
Winter tires stay malleable even when it's frigid tundra temperatures. Far beyond the point even all seasons harden up. Even at around 30-40 deg temps I'm seeing now my braking is way better than my summers provided.
Going through this exact delimma on my BMW once upon a time I came to the conclusion I blew it when I didn't get winter tires. Year one with them was manageable, winter 2 was straight dangerous.
I had a set of winter tires for my 2003 Honda Accord V6 EX. Maybe it was the car, AWTs seemed pretty much the same to me as the winters, maybe I'm just not the best driver. The edge was in un-plowed or poorly plowed roads.. but really...Why on earth would I drive in those conditions? Even the WRX should not be driven in un-plowed roads in high snow in my opinion. The Honda was FWD...even worse. Put the best winter tires you can afford on it and your still taking life in hands.
Since then I have used AWT on all my cars. I have also tried to keep to one set of tires/wheels. Saves money.
I'm not street racing or off-roading, and I tend to work from home in really bad weather.
For about 1500 bucks you can get cheap wheels and some winter tires. You will have an edge in poorly or un-plowed.
That said the poor ground clearance of the WRX really makes it a bad choice for that sort of terrain I would think.
I have a question: In the Zombie Apocalypse if you have a WRX and two sets of Wheels: Performance and Snow what do you do? Which will you put on in December or January? Your objective is to get to the City with food and jobs, its 800 miles away. You can't fit both in your car sinc eyou need to haul your wife, kids, and supplies. Now if you had some AWTs...
If you pick the Winter.. which I would... in that event... you might make it.. but if it took months and it got to warmer weather your winter tires would fall apart.
Probably not going to use a WRX at all. How do you plan to fuel this vehicle over 800 miles or carry enough fuel to make that trip? Realistically fuel pumps are not going to be working.
In below freezing weather AWT's remain pretty stiff, while winter rubber is still pliable. That's the big difference.
The cost for dedicated winters doesn't have to be huge. I got lightly used Blizzaks on STI rims for $450--which means zero wear for my summers which are napping in the garage til April or so.
Not to beat a dead horse, but knowing what I know now, anyplace above I-80 I'd get winter tires as a second tire.
I appreciate this discussion folks; I was convinced that all seasons would be the best choice just because that's what i've put on my past 3 awd Toyotas. This has me thinking to get the snow tires - while southern michigan doesn't always get a fantastic deep snow, we frequently get that nasty little 1-3 inches overnite that turns the hwy into ice! Not to mention, we intentionally take 'snow' drives for fun when we do get a good snowstorm - no matter what the capability of our vehicle, FUN! thanks again!
Let us know how the snow tires work out. I already drove my 2016 WRX in snow with AWTs and it was fine.. no issues getting up a steep driveway to go to work. I am thinking of just one set all the time.. LOL.. yeah I know.. lots of people will think I'm insane.
Well if it was a RWD car snow tires or leave it in the garage and drive something else. I remember back in the 70s and 80s my dad had a set of snow and a set of summer for his RWD american sports car.. was a cougar and then I think a camaro.. those cars seemed so fast back then.
It doesn't matter how many tires you have pushing or where they are located when you are trying to stop before sliding off a bridge or into oncoming traffic.
I've already had two days where my snows saved my life and got me where I needed to be, no joke. This happens on the regular, dont **** with your life. You own an at least 24k car, pay 500 for snows.
oops, correction, front wd toyotas, not awd. And yes flg2010, I'd probably do fine w/ all season tires, I'm confident with Michelin all seasons on those front wheel drives. I'm usually the first to get in the unplowed fast lane in my front wd's on the hwy and pass up 100's of trucks and suv's. But, since I do plan to change back and forth from 2 sets of tires, snow tires sounds like an interesting way to go. This wrx is the first car ever that I've had high performance tires on and I DO notice this difference - didn't think I would. thanks again, appreciate the feedback!
Interesting discussion on all seasons. It is a fact that winter performance tires will do better in snow and ice and even in the dry in cold weather than all seasons (if you get snow tires cancel the last - they are no fun in the dry at all). And summers will do everything in the summer better, and especially MUCH better and more fun in the dry.
But having driven all kinds of sleds around with all seasons (worst was the rwd buick estate wagon my parents had) I really don't see it as unsafe to drive on them in the winter at all. You just have to stay within the limits of the vehicle, tires, and conditions. With better tires, I just go faster. So stopping isn't really necessarily easier. Now it is a fact you can get stuck with all seasons in places you can drive out of with winter performance, and especially with real snow tires.
There was a time in my life when all I had was an old volvo 240 sedan with half bald mismatched tires I had bought used. I will never forget driving up over Donner Pass one half-bad day. It was actually a very stable car as far as it would go without getting stuck (FWD has much much less stability it just gets stuck less). I was in a plowed lane that had an inch or two on a snowy base and going along pretty good when an Audi passed me in the fluffy outer lane, didn't make it back across the pile between lanes, spun, flipped, and ended up on his side with the trunk wrapped around a big sign post (they used logs up there way back then). His tires looked fantastic when I pulled in to help him, and they were really easy to see too
Hi folks, I ended up getting winter performance tires instead of snow tires: the Michelin pilot alpin for 18" rims.
I'm typically an all season tire purchaser so i appreciate the folks that pointed out the difference between winter performance vs. snow tires vs. all season for this vehicle!
we bought them in our first weekend of michigan snow, the summer tires were scary in that; these winter tires are tracking great!
I got them at Belle tire because of immediate availability but when we went to pick car up after hours on a saturday we found that they hadn't placed my new summer dunlops in my trunk!! after a couple snafu's on their part I learned that I shouldn't take for granted that they give us back the correct tires after seasonal tire changes. i'm still considering another set of rims due to this.
here's a link to the tire and thanks again for everyone's feedback:
I, also, was not aware of the difference until recently. I got snow tires and am still glad I did. They work Great and I do not drive aggressively enough in the winter to notice any performance downgrade when the roads are dry.
Looks like a good price, thanks for link. I would get those second set of rims.. I am doing that if I ever decide to use the summer tires the car came with.
I run the DWS 06 and love them but I'm in New Jersey where I doubt we get anything close to Michigan. I'd recommend snow/winter tires and a better set of UHP summers over the Dunlops. I had General Arctics and they were good trekking through a few feet of snow in my LGT
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