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Snow tires vs regular tires


Forrest Gump 9

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I recently drove a car with a virtually brand new set of snow tires. At highway speed the vehicle was a handful to drive. Any turn even slight ones would need steering corrections to keep the vehicle in lane. Just wondering if that's normal for snow tires or there are hidden suspension problem with the vehicle.

 

Stock the vehicle came with 265-45-20 all four corner (awd). The snow tires set up on it right now is 265-55-19. My thought is get proper tires on the vehicle and be done but I don't want to spend $1200+ on tires and find out that's not the problem. Thank you in advance

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There are so many factors to that it would be impossible to tell you for sure without actually inspecting the vehicle in person the cause.

 

The alignment could be off causing you to have to correct the steering while in turns , the tires could be causing a issue, there could be bent suspension components.

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Normally snow tires should drive as well as lower end all seasons on the highway. they are usually louder with road noise and do not handle like a performance tire would, but i would not expect them to be such a handful on the freeway, that sounds more like another problem.

Get a mechanic to take it up on a lift and check the front end components.

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I have Blizzak LM 32s on my S4. Handles amazing. You'd never know you're on snow tires. They still do great in snow, especially on AWD. Are there better performing ones in deep snow, yes. However, we don't get that around here thus I opted for more performance snows that do great in the curves. I had the older LM-25's on my MS3 and loved them too. You're welcome to drive it when we get together next week.

 

Call Derek. Once he sees the car/tires and drives it, he'll give you a solid answer as to what's going on.

Edited by TTQ B4U
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We have Blizzaks on our Impreza. There is more tire noise as the temps warm up above about 40, the car drops 2 MPG or so, and they are a little softer into the corners. Other than that the car handles perfectly.
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shitty snow tires have soft sidewalls and feel horrible. Dunlop wintersport are great, Pirelli, Michelin. I have Goodyear snows on my beater which are ok. Got the set for 160 on Clist. Probably don't need snows in Columbus.
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Stock the vehicle came with 265-45-20 all four corner (awd). The snow tires set up on it right now is 265-55-19.

 

the tire on it now is over an inch taller than stock and i'd look deeper into the speed rating of the tire. If stock was something v,w,y and it has "h" on it now, along with the height difference, it would account for everything you're explaining.

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Stock the vehicle came with 265-45-20 all four corner (awd). The snow tires set up on it right now is 265-55-19.

 

the tire on it now is over an inch taller than stock and i'd look deeper into the speed rating of the tire. If stock was something v,w,y and it has "h" on it now, along with the height difference, it would account for everything you're explaining.

 

 

and not saying its not ok to drop speed ratings for a set of winter tires but you just have to understand what that does to the vehicles handling and drive accordingly.

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I got some cheapo Nexen winguard winter tires to try out this year and they're excellent. Tons of grip in the snow, feel great at 90+mph, solid in corners and crazy traction in a straight line.

 

Was hoping for actual snow this year, but nope! Snow tires on a rwd are complete overkill for weather like we are having.

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I put on a new pair of Blizzaks this year on my Jeep and it does the exact thing that you're describing. Switching lanes is a handful and I about shit myself the first time I drove it. Old snows never handled like this and I can't wait for the weather to stay warm so I can remove them.
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My Impala with Michelin X-ice on them was only marginally different in ride and handling. You could tell they were softer but it wasn't drastic. The factory all seasons are 235-50-18, and I went with 225-60-16 on steelies.
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