3dog

iTrader: (1)

up in seattle wa, i put my blizzack ws-50's on just before our snow and ice storms and they were incredible. i live on a very steep hill which people use to slide down on these plastic things and i drove right past them and on up the hill. this was with no pavement showing and an ice base with 2 or 3 inches of snow on top of that. probably 100 yards and 100 feet elevation gain. now how can i do this if the gs sucks in snow.

i went out looking for places that were ice covered just to practice spinning doughnuts. massive amounts of fun.

in a week of ice then snow and then freezing rain i never had a single problem. my commute involves several hills that are 500 feet up and down them

come on people put some top of the line snow and ice tires on your cars. the gs400 that i have does incredible in the snow. all you need is some really good snow and ice tires.

oh and not flooring it in the snow is a good idea unless you like the rear end to swing around in front of you. which you learn how to control if you go out in a parking lot and practice flooring it and making doughnuts. practice is fun and leads to confidence in the snow.

the problem with the gs400 in the snow appears to me to be the owners who are to cheap to buy a set of snow and ice tires. there is also the problem of not knowing how to drive in those conditions.


my blizzack ws-50 225/55/16 were $111 at tire rack. takes about an hour to switch all four wheels.


IT IS NOT THE CAR THAT IS THE PROBLEM

airahcaz

ok, ok, lol
and am I hearing Blizzacks are the best? so seems to be the consensus

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

Not just any Bridgestone Blizzak, you need the WS-50's. They have a better, tackier compound for snow and ice than the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22's (which I currently have, I'm using the stock 235/45/17, and they ran $168 a piece from Tirerack).

The LM-22's are a compromise snow tire (aka it's a "performance snow tire"), in that while giving better snow handling than an all-season tire, it is not as good in the snow/ice as the WS-50s (designated as a "snow and ice tire"), but does have a higher H-speed rating (129 mph).

doug_999

SeattleGS400 is correct. There are TWO Blizzaks - the WS-50 and the LM-22. The LM-22 is known as a European style snow tire. It trades snow/ice traction for better dry handling.

I have the LM-22s and was impressed with them for the first year. This year they are TERRIBLE. If you are interested in a good dry handling tire with decent snow/ice traction, go with the Dunlop Winter Sport M2 or M3. If you are only interested in the best possible snow/ice traction, NOTHING beats the WS-50*.

*Important to remember that the WS-50 achieves its incredible snow/ice traction with microscopic suction cups. These wear out after 2-3 seasons and you are left with an all season tire.

camtrek

The stock 16 inch wheels with the Goodyear Gt4+ combination is not for winter. The Goodyears are summber tires and as someone early mentioned he tried to dirve with them, you can't lol. My dad had his Bimmer out in the snow for the first week it snowed here. The dealer didn't have his winter car ready in time, he was driving 20mph max everywhere cuz traction blew.

I am using the Nokian Hakkapilltas right now on the GS, and they aren't the best but it also depends on how you drive. I let my mom drive the GS and when she went to go stop you could here the tgires sliding when she came to stop, turning corners traction control would go on, etc. etc. When I drive she is like "it's seems that your the better driver", You just need to know how to control the braking etc. to make everything work together.

btw.
I remember washing my car in my garage the other day and I beleive that I froze the TRAC sensors because when I backed it out got on the road, went to go take a corner, laid into the throttle hard, drifted right into the corner swinging the *** end out, VCS didn't. Fun none-the-less.

3dog

iTrader: (1)

doug those tires are supposed to be mounted directionally (not sure if i spelled that right) could it be that maybe a couple of them are not on the right side.

when i put mine back on i noticed some arrows on the sides indicating the direction they are suppossed to roll. of course i spotted this after i had just put the third tire on and noticed that the arrow was going the wrong way. so that meant that one of the others was wrong to, made the whole changeover take a little longer.

i noticed on one of the user surveys on the tire rack that someone else had done this and did not notice for a long time and he was quite upset that the tire rack had not warned him about it.

your tires may be mounted right but on the outside chance they aren't it might explain why they seem different this year.


good luck ivan

doug_999

Thanks Ivan
Actually I rotated them front to back - no criss crossing. I put them on myself and I'm always really careful to make sure they (the arrows) point the correct way. I could easily see this being the issue for some people.