"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
01/24/2016 at 21:55 • Filed to: winter tires
2
5|
"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
01/24/2016 at 21:55 • Filed to: winter tires | 2
| 5 |
Disclaimer: this is my first time on winter tires for any vehicle, and only the second tire I’ve run on my S2000. I don’t really feel experienced enough to call this a “review” of the tire; it’s probably better characterized as a comparison of A/S to snow tires generally. In any case, here are my thoughts so far.
The first 2,000 miles since I bought my AP1 Honda S2000 were on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! l all-season tires. I haven’t done any autocross or track events yet, but I’ve generally been pleased with these as my first set of tires, being that they came new with the car. They are good enough that I would not just toss them in favor of summer performance tires. I’ll probably do one or two seasons of street and occasional-autocross duty on them, unless I get to the point where my driving is pushing far past their limits.
I chose the Generals for winter because of several positive reports on the S2KI forum as an adequate lower-priced winter tire. I followed the advice of several folks there to run a square 205/55-16 setup (OEM 16" wheels) rather than the usual staggered 225/50 in the rear, because of tire availability, as well as narrower tires generally performing better in the snow.
Dry/wet performance
Before the snow hit, I put 100 or so miles on the winter tires over the course of several days. Compared to the all-seasons, performance was predictably and noticeably degraded. Throttle steering, steering responsiveness, and steering accuracy all suffer. The car has a tendency to wander under hard braking. I didn’t approach the limits of grip in any corners, because I’m trying not to abuse them and rather use these tires for what they’re made for (i.e. snow), but I did smell the rubber after some medium-hard cornering. Path through the corners is not quite as predictable as the Firehawks either.
One detectable advantage of the snows is ride quality: the softer sidewalls and more supple tread (I’m guessing) absorb a lot more of the road imperfections than the Firehawks.
Snow performance
I felt confident driving sensibly in the snow on the Generals. In one inch of snow, they cut right through at normal side-street speeds. To handle 2+ inches, slower speeds or steering corrections (and more latitude) are required.
In low-speed parking and turning maneuvers, the Generals are able to handle several inches of slop without spinning the wheels, and with minimal lateral sliding.
In summary: consider me a satisfied customer.
MrFurzzy
> yitznewton
01/24/2016 at 22:30 |
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I just got a set of them for my Mazda 6. My biggest complaint is that the back end no longer like to slide around in the snow, even when I use the hand brake. They are nice tires, especially when I got them for $106 per tire!
sellphones2493
> yitznewton
01/25/2016 at 00:41 |
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Had these on my old R. These things were sticky...I actually was able to perform my best launches with them, and that was compared to the summer set (Michelin Pilot Super Sports). On top of that, they wore really well. I did maybe 24k on them, and they have well over half tread left. Just recommended these to a coworker too.
Takuro Spirit
> yitznewton
01/25/2016 at 10:33 |
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I have had Arctics on three of my last four cars. When I put them on my Subaru the grip was almost TOO good. Hoonery was not to be had, but off the line acceleration was met with near 0 wheelspin even with judicious amounts of throttle.
On my Camry and 3 the grip is good, but having them on an open diff FWD car is quite disappointing vs. AWD.
Stapleface
> Takuro Spirit
01/27/2016 at 13:38 |
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I can concur that the Altimaxes almost take the fun out of winter driving. I had a set of these for the two years I had my Crosstrek. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t get the car to slide.
I have to say switching to the Blizzaks I have on my Civic currently is rather disappointing. I know I’m going FWD-AWD, but it’s still a huge difference in grip. The Bridgestones aren’t half the tire the Generals are. Only reason I'm using the Bridgestones is I had them left over from when I had a Mazda 3, and they're just at the end of their DOT date. So I'm using this season to kill them before I can get a better (read, no Bridgestone) set.
Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> yitznewton
01/28/2016 at 15:03 |
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I love the general altimax arctics on my Miata! They are great on dry pavement and amazing on anything wet, especially snow. Sure, hard cornering is not so wonderful but I tend to avoid that in the winter anyways. I feel confident on any sort of snowy/icy hill and braking/turning does not feel scary like it does with all seasons. Makes getting to the ski slope a lot less sketchy!