Snow driving

Mouting/rebalancing is typically $20-25/wheel, so $200/year to switch back and forth. You could get a pretty nice set of 17" wheels for around $3-400. Heck, I bought a lightly used set of wheels w/ winter tires for $650. Used Civic wheels are everywhere. 17" winter tires would be cheaper than 18" ones too.

SDAlexander8 said:

FWD isn’t too bad in the snow. I think it’s better honestly. You can pull yourself back into a straight line if you start to slide. What you should be worried about is the Goodyear eagle sport tires on the Si. They are scary in the rain once you get some miles on them. I didn’t even want to try them in snow.

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I have the Goodyear eagle summer tires on my Si coupe and they perform great in Seattle's wet roads. Summer tires are known to perform better in wet conditions than all season tires.

Mounting, removing and remounting the same tire is extremely hard on the beads and the rim sealing surfaces. It is generally not recommended by most tire shops. Better to get a second set of rims and tires and just swap those.

fenix-silver said:

Mouting/rebalancing is typically $20-25/wheel, so $200/year to switch back and forth. You could get a pretty nice set of 17" wheels for around $3-400. Heck, I bought a lightly used set of wheels w/ winter tires for $650. Used Civic wheels are everywhere. 17" winter tires would be cheaper than 18" ones too.

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Oh dang so it totally makes sense to just have winter wheels. I didn't know it was that expensive. Gonna look more into a winter setup soon

MutatedMango said:

Do you have to get new wheels only if your winter tires are skinnier than your normal ones? Couldn't you just get 235 wide winter tires?

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You could buy winter tires for the stock wheels, but youd have to get them mounted and taken off 40-50$ each time at a tire shop.

it’s easier to buy smaller wheels and buy the right size for those, then you can take them off and put them on the car whenever.

if you’re saying you already have a winter set that would fit your existing wheels but aren't the same width, then you could run stretched. I think it looks stupid and exposes your rims to rocks and curbs more, but whatever.

MutatedMango said:

Approximately how much does remounting cost? Wouldn't it still be cheaper than buying new wheels too? (Asking bc I'm genuinely curious and looking into this)

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This depends on your tire shop. My local shop charges $25 to mount, so $50 a year. We do this on my wife's car, but I have two sets of wheels for my Civic. My winter tires are on the factory wheels, and my summer tires are on lightweight aftermarket wheels. We just got 5 inches of snow today. Fortunately I had my winter tires on early. The Civic does very well with a set of winter tires. It's very stable with excellent acceleration and braking. The initial hit of paying for winter tires can be a hard pill to swallow, but two sets of tires will last quite a bit longer than one set.

I have my Michelin Ice X lightly used off a dude who had them on his focus RS. Luckily for me he sold the car after less than 6k miles. He said that he drove less than 2k in the winter.

the tires look brand new and I paid for them mounted on wheels and balanced as for less than you can get the tires brand new.

For people on the fence about snow tires, if you live anywhere cold it’s not just about snow. Here in Michigan they plow the roads pretty good, other than side streets. However if you are trapped in snow or even blizzard conditions, snow tires allow you to drive virtually normal in horrible conditions. You just have to be careful to drive around all the slow moving drivers in all seasons and summers. (Side note it can be quite fun going 60-70 mph in snow in the fast lane while people are going 30-40 in the right two lanes.)

plus the added benefit of stickier rubber helps the tires maintain traction in dry cold conditions much better. That’s the real secret.

only thing is ice you can’t do shit about that unless you have studded tires.

peace

Firemikey92 said:

Just curious, how many people drive their Si in the snow and have you ever had any issues. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a 2 wheel drive in the snow and most of those were RWD. Thanks in advance.

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Just bought a set of Bridgestone blizzak ws90. I used blizzaks for the last 16 winter's on my front drove cars and I wouldn't go without. Huge difference compared to all seasons, they are much softer and wear down much faster so drive conservatively when on dry roads. Will mount in December on my stock wheels and save the Goodyear's to remount on spring.

Blizzak tires are good tires in snow and ice. Unfortunately, they wear
very quickly on asphalt, especially if you drive fast.
That's why I switched to Toyo Observe Garit KX that allow you
to drive very fast on dry highways. They stay on course almost
like all-season tires.
They are also efficient in snow and ice.

Our 19 civic sport hatchback ,bought set at tire rack down to 16 inches/rim around over $800 shipped with lug nuts.One big reason of having them is the feeling of traction,stopping,confident of I have some advantage of,Well since 1995 winter tires on our car's started with Blizzak,lately Michelin x3 of less tire noise.To me it's worth it since they last 10 winters,like a dollar a day from Dec to March about 3,000 miles.

Bought a set of winter tires/rim from tire rack size 205-60-16 fits good on our 19 civic sport with 18". Comfident driving,traction,braking.

SDAlexander8 said:

A brand new set of snow tires is expensive

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Remember that part of cost is offset by spreading your miles over two sets of tires. It’s not double because winter tires wear faster but it does lesson the impact.

mzubb said:

Remember that part of cost is offset by spreading your miles over two sets of tires. It’s not double because winter tires wear faster but it does lesson the impact.

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Need and safety - YES; trying to justify for extra miles between sets and inconvenience - NO.
In almost all cases winter tires also lower gas mileage (mpg) beyond temperature and snow/ice conditions.

tacthecat said:

Need and safety - YES; trying to justify for extra miles between sets and inconvenience - NO.
In almost all cases winter tires also lower gas mileage (mpg) beyond temperature and snow/ice conditions.

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I have a new set of winter tires on a set of 17” rims that id love to be using right now, but it would be a waste of tread when it hasn't even stayed below freezing for more than like 2 days so far in Indiana. Waiting for a weekly forecast of consistent below freezing temps.

tacthecat said:

Need and safety - YES; trying to justify for extra miles between sets and inconvenience - NO.
In almost all cases winter tires also lower gas mileage (mpg) beyond temperature and snow/ice conditions.

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I've been driving on winter tires for about a month and the MPG difference is slim if any, for me. Granted I have been a bit gentler on the tires so maybe that has something to do with it. Also, I've yet to see real snow.