Random Thoughts on Winter Tires and Suspension

[scottiemac]

When I got my ST in mid January I drove it straight home (16km) and immediately put on the winter tire set up I'd bought from Tire Rack.
The wheels are Sport Edition SE-16's (17 X 7.5 with a 42mm offset) and the tires are Blizzak WS-60's (205/40-17). I know - I know, but I like the look of the 17's over 16's or smaller.
The first thing I noticed was how harsh the suspension seemed with lots of banging and crashing over bumps and expansion joints in the pavement.
As I drove the car it seemed to loosen up a bit but still pretty harsh. I even lowered the pressure in the Blizzaks by 5 psi all around from the factory recommendations
as I wasn't planning on any really spirited driving on the snow tires. At one point I was contemplating changing the springs for a progressive setup to to ease the ride a bit.
Last weekend was a 4 day weekend and I got ambitious and I took the snow tires off the ST (plus the cars my kids use) and put on the stock summer set up on.
Since I'd only driven such a short distance on the summer tires when I got the car I really had nothing to judge the ride by. I was pleasantly surprised.
Despite the XL load rating on the summer Bridgestones (same as the snows) the ride is significantly less harsh and the whole driving experience has changed. I love my car again.
On the Blizzak's - they are sensational in the snow and ice. By far the best snow tire I've ever used, if you can discount the harsh ride. In the recent past I've had Conti Extreme Winter Contacts on a 5 series BMW.
They are very good tires and I have since got another set for my son's Toyota. My wife's Benz has a set of Pilot Alpin PA2's and they suck - very disappointing and the only winter tire in recent memory that I've gotten stuck in the snow with.

On the ST - what a great little car. By the way, I'm 63 and it's now my daily driver - I have a blast with it. It's fast, has great brakes and the handling is terrific. It's easy to drive (the torque out of that little engine is sensational) and a huge amount of fun to throw around. I'd highly recommend it to anybody of any age. A very involving car to drive.

Just my $.02.

Cheers, Scott

 

[ukilledkenny]

Good info, I am planning on running snow tires for next winter and was planning on blizzaks. I have never had any big trouble in my area running all seasons before so now I am wondering if I should look to compromise a bit on the snow performance since I probably won't need to push the blizzaks close to their limit. anyone got a suggestion for a capable snow tire with a less harsh ride?

I'm not the most knowledgeable about wheels and tires but would I be likely to improve my ride on smaller tires? my plan was 15's or 16's.

 

[MKVIIST]

Good bit of information Scott and thanks for sharing. I wonder if its the difference in rubber compound, I noticed the harshness difference between the Yokohamas I'm running on my ESM wheels and the stock Bridgestones, the Bridgestones ride much better.

 

[rweidman]

My 185/60/15 tires were much less abrupt on bumps than the 205/40. Without much sidewall to absorb jolts, 40's will always ride rougher, especially in winter. If I was to do it over, I would get the 16" rims for winter with a 50 or 55 series. I did get much better gas mileage with the 15's and what seemed like a lot quicker acceleration than the 17's. Those 15's are pretty easy to spin.

 

[scottiemac]

Hi guys. Thanks for the thoughts and comments. One of the reasons I went with the same size winters is that I wanted to use the Sport Edition wheels as my summer wheels and use the stock wheels as my winter wheels. Less spokes to clean and all that. Since I put the stock wheels on I'm a bit torn. Will have to give it some more thought. One of the key determining factors will likely be that the stock Rado Grey wheels will be easier to keep clean in the winter, as this will remain my DD.
Cheers