Winter tires now available

scdaf · 08-06-2008, 01:45 PM

Just checked again with Tire Rack and they now have Pirelli 190 winter tires for our cars, only a little more expensive than the stock Contis. Now if somebody would make a cheap steel wheel, we could be good scouts and prepare.

Anybody have any experience w/ the 190s? Only ever had one set of Pirellis. They were good in dry weather, incredible in wet and crappy in ice and snow. (Were all-season tires, not winter)

SylenThunder · 08-06-2008, 02:11 PM

yeh... lack of access to inexpensive steel wheels for the smart will keep me from getting a set of snows. I just had the Conti's siped when I got the car and i'm not gonna worry about it. Siped tires are almost the same as snow tires, without the softer rubber.

**jwight** · 08-06-2008, 02:32 PM

Earlier this year there were some posts about people using Blizzaks and Nokian winter tire but I can't find either in stock sizes; don't know much about the P 190s. Still trying to find steel wheels which seems to be the stumbling block now.

PJJSR · 08-06-2008, 04:30 PM

hey guys i had no idea that there was such a thing as winter tires ?????

just kidding, living here in southern California we don't need them, however i remember them from growing up in Austria.

have fun in the snow

regards PJJ

PerryA · 08-06-2008, 05:32 PM

I priced out snow tires, wheels, and the automatic pressure sensors and I believe it was around $1 K.

If there are affordable tires that make this almost reasonable, I guess the question is whether to buy aftermarket wheels and move the regular tires to those wheels since they'll be on the car for more of the year than the snows (I hope). A little double work to have the already-mounted conventional tires moved to new rims and then mount the snows on the stock wheels. That also deals with the issue of mucking up your new, expensive aftermarket wheels driving in snow and salt.

msjohnson1974 · 08-06-2008, 05:56 PM

Winter tires, we don't need no stinking winter tires... seriously when it snows here it doesn't last long and we just all get a free day off.

Fowvay · 08-06-2008, 06:31 PM

I'm not a fan of the stock contis or the Pirelli 190's they are both priced like topshelf tires but with out any of the performance. I had a set of the 190s and honestly my Goodyear Eagle RSA's were better in the snow and the RSA was an awful tire.

I wish for Blizzaks, Graspics, Hakkas... ANYTHING other than Pirelli snow tires. PLEASE!

canon1753 · 08-08-2008, 01:31 PM

As of last snow year, Bridgestone mades Blizzak LM18s for smart sizes. I'll probably get those.

Nokian is not planning to make smart sized snowies. Continental does make snow tires in smart sizes as well. but we have to wait another month or so. If it were October.... I'd see what my local snow tire guy could get or order the 190s. Or order the tires from Fast Eddie.

I did bite the bullet with the stock steelies and TPMS when I got the car.

RVGRINGO · 08-08-2008, 04:18 PM

'WORK' and 'SNOW' are now both four-letter words buried in our pasts. Oh, how we love living in 'perpetual springtime'. You can check our current weather, anytime you wish at Lake Chapala Weather Net
Work hard; retire early!

scdaf · 08-08-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVGRINGO

'WORK' and 'SNOW' are now both four-letter words buried in our pasts. Oh, how we love living in 'perpetual springtime'. You can check our current weather, anytime you wish at Lake Chapala Weather Net
Work hard; retire early!

You're lucky you're too far away to slap