Just a couple of pics of my 2011 winter setup.Sorry for the dirty car but it was freezing outside. I had not planned on changing tires but there was a surprise snowfall & I couldnt drive my car yesterday.And I'm kickin myself for it.I was stuck on the parkway with 2 STIs in front of me while I was in my wife's SUV.
The winter tires are General Altimax studless 215/55-16 mounted on Elbrus I03(Anthracite Mach w/Ice Coating) from Tirerack.I had it mounted & shipped to me without TPMS.Naturally the TPMS light came on after a couple of miles but it doesnt bother that much.The snow has melted so I havent done any snow driving on it but dry road running is LOUD.I havent had dedicated snow tires before so I'm guessing thats how they are.
Once it snows a bit more I will post an update about the performance of the tires
@xFalleNx
I like the OEM look.Thats why I got these wheels.They look alike but the new wheels have more spokes.The front of the wheels are essentially (almost)the same color whereas the sides of the spokes on the new wheels are black.
It's not noticeable immediately but the full shots of the car has the OEM wheel still on the front & the rear wheel is the new winter wheel.
Actually, I did notice you have the stock wheels on in the 1st two pics. What I didn't notice was the winter wheels on the back.
Are you only running winter wheels/tires on the back of the car? Or were you just doing that for comparison? If so, a good shot from the side would show the differences/similarities very well.
Those shots were taken when I was in the process of changing wheels just for comparison.Of course I changed all 4 wheels.Will try to take better pics tomorrow.
They are still loud as hell in the dry,but on the day of the biggest blizzard since 1896 in NY they cut through snow like a knife through butter.I was driving along the NY interstate that night with no problems at all while most cars were way laid on the road side.I was driving around as if it were a hot sunny day.The next day as people were clearing the snow I was still driving & got a lot of confused looks & people staring in disbelief & kids pointing fingers.
Of course they cannot compare to performance tires.In the dry there isnt as much grip.But if you are on a tight budget ,this is the best setup .
This is crazy.As stated earlier I have been experiencing excessive road noise.I didn't give it much thought,put it down to the tires.So today,as I was painting the calipers I noticed that the tires were unidirectional & on inspection realized that all 4 tires were mounted in the wrong direction.(I had them mounted & shipped from Tire Rack directly to me)You can actually see the arrow pointing in the wrong direction on the last photo above.My question is ,would this contribute to excessive road noise & what do I do now?
Flip em to the other side of the car. You said all 4 were pointing the wrong direction right. So flipping them to the other side should solve your issue.