Which winter tires for the RS?

Thirdgen89GTA

Aka "That Focus RS Guy"
TCG Premium
Sep 19, 2010
19,295
15,653
Rockford
Real Name
Bill
So, two paths before me. And I've been going back and forth on them for a while.

The price difference is minimal between the two choices.

On one hand I have the Studless Ice/Snow tires like the Michelin X-Ice3 tires.

The other is a Performance Winter tire like the Michelin PA4.

The last time I got Studless Ice/Snow and it was great, especially in the snow. But we had so many cold days that just didn't have any snow on the roads, so they wore down fairly quickly, and ultimately provided a worse ride with worse handling characteristics.

Because we didn't have any snow on the roads, a Performance Winter like the PA4's would probably be better. It would provide better steering feedback without the marshmallo ride, and probably not give up much to the Studless Ice/Snow tires. But if we do get slammed, they would perform slightly worse than the Studless.

The difference is pretty much about $5 a tire. So ultimately $20 either way.

Ice acceleration/stopping distance.

Performance Winter:
Code:
Tire	60' Acceleration (seconds)	12 - 0 mph Stopping Distance (feet)
Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60	4.972	33.0
Dunlop SP Winter Sport 4D	5.243	35.6
Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4	4.940	32.3
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3	5.055	34.3

Studless Ice/Snow.
Code:
Tire	60' Acceleration (seconds)	12 - 0 mph Stopping Distance (feet)
Bridgestone Blizzak WS80	4.554	30.9
Dunlop Winter Maxx	4.682	35.4
Michelin X-Ice Xi3	4.644	30.3
Yokohama iceGUARD iG52c	4.727	33.6

So, on an ice rink, the studless is of course better. But the question is how often am I really going to be on an ice rink. Keep in mind that the stopping speed is from 12mph to zero, so its not exactly like they are going that fast. So the distance to stop from say 48mph would be much larger, more like 16ft.

However, on more normal pavement, in roughly 30°F weather. The differences favor the performance tires.

Almost 30ft in favor of the performance winter for stopping in conditions I will more likely see.

I'm not so much concerned with the accelleration figures, I have AWD, and even on the Performance Winters I'm going to be able to blast away from traffic way faster than RWD, or FWD cars on All seasons could ever hope.

I'm more heavily leaning towards the PA4's,

Performance Winter:
Code:
Tire	50-0 mph Stopping Distance (feet)	Cornering Traction
(Lateral g's)
Wet	Dry	Wet	Dry
Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60	136.3	94.2	0.58	0.84
Dunlop SP Winter Sport 4D	105.9	91.9	0.75	0.88
Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4	105.4	88.8	0.76	0.89
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3	106.9	85.6	0.78	0.90

Studless Ice/Snow:
Code:
Tire	50-0 mph Stopping Distance (feet)	Cornering Traction (Lateral g's)
Wet	Dry	Wet	Dry
Bridgestone Blizzak WS80	128.0	88.2	0.61	0.87
Dunlop Winter Maxx	159.4	97.6	0.54	0.81
Michelin X-Ice Xi3	131.4	93.2	0.63	0.84
Yokohama iceGuard iG52c	148.8	94.7	0.55	0.81
 

ragingclue

What's a "Super Bowl"?
TCG Premium
Dec 19, 2013
2,476
1,208
I've had only RWD cars in the winter here and although the studless category tires are way better if you've got to deal with ungroomed roads, especially with stop and go on sloped surfaces, they never really were worth it. They wore too fast, were too spongy on relatively warm days, and I didn't have to deal with much ungroomed stuff.

You've got the AWD, if I was in your situation, I wouldn't even look at the studless category tires. But that's just me. Basically, I just agree with everything you said. Even for RWD cars, studless is overkill for most people in this area.

The LM-60s do just fine for me. I've used the PA4 too. The others, I don't know so much about but I think I had the Dunlop WinterSport 3D or M3 or something like that (it was one of the Dunlop performance winter ones) and they weren't so good.
 

Thirdgen89GTA

Aka "That Focus RS Guy"
TCG Premium
Sep 19, 2010
19,295
15,653
Rockford
Real Name
Bill
I've thought about it some more. And I think I'm going with the Performance Winters, and the PA4s.

I looked into the Pirelli's sottozero's, and they don't have the 3's, only the 2's which aren't that good compared to this years crop. The 3 was good, but not available in my size. :(

So, considering that the PA4 is Ford's choice for OEM Winter tires on the RS, I guess i'll go with that. Total to my door is a painful $1,378. Ouch.

Buying the lightest 18" rim thats in my budget. Some of the others are cheaper, but the rims will last a long ass time, so spending a little more for a lighter rim will be good. I'm not going to get OZ Ultraleggerra's though, not at near $400 a rim.

These are 20lbs. Not the cheapest rock bottom, I prefer the look over the super cheapo rims. To go any lighter means heading into the $250+ rim category.

So it looks like it will be these P4 rims with 225/40/18 Michelin PA4 winter tires.

Before I actually submit the order I'm going to check Ebay to see if I can build this cheaper with the coupons, even though I'll end up paying for mounting/balancing. If I can beat the near $1400 then its all good.

se_p4_anth_pdpfull.jpg
 

nytebyte

Not Politically Correct
Mar 2, 2004
13,626
20,951
I have Blizzaks on the GT which are pure snow / ice tires and have Pirelli's on the Cobra.

The Blizzaks do noticeably better in the snow, but feel like jelly donuts on dry pavement. The Pirelli's are acceptable in the snow, but are much better on dry pavement and are more like a normal tire.

For a true performance car in a climate where there isn't constant snow, my opinion is to go with performance snow tires. If you want to outrun everyone else in bad snowy conditions, go with the pure snow / ice tires.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant. Consider starting a new thread to get fresh replies.

Thread Info