The "Sonic in the snow" MASTER thread
- Thread starter dick
- Start date
CyberGreyTURBOZ
New member
I cannot wait to get my sonic in the snow! My old Supercharged Grand Prix with used Blizzaks was the most fun i have had in winter in a long time. I did not waste money on tpms and I never did in my GP. I'll live with the little light on and keep the cash in my pocket. Here is what I'm running this winter. Fresh rubber.
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mitdr774
also a dinner prick
Have not put my winters on yet, but I will be running 15" steel wheels, Firestone Winterforce tires in 195/65/15, and no TPMS sensors. I have been driving for a few weeks with out teh sensors in the LTZ wheels I picked up and other than an annoying light there have been no issues that I have noticed.
sx sonic
New member
The only thing TPMs is for is to notify you when tire pressure drops below a certain point (usually.24-28psi). On some vehicles the sensors will relay each tires pressure to the driver via the DIC. On others such as our Sonic the only notification we get is a Dummy light when a tire is low.
Onstar also monitors your TPMS readings, they also get the actual pressure relayed to them as well. As I'm sure anyone that has seen the onstar reports or looked at the app already knows this.
Removing the sensors will only illuminate the light on the dash. Not sure if there are any legal ramifications by running rims with the tpms removed. I doubt it but not sure.
As for putting a sensor in the spare, that will do nothing for most cars. If the car was not equiped with a sensor for the spare then it will not recognize one has been added. When I was working on cars I never came across a model that could have the computet enabled for this sort of add-on. Each sensor has its own sort of IP address that is transmitted to a reciever (along with psi), this allows the comp to determine where the wheel is at and also why the system must be "relearned" after a tire rotate, while all the psi will be accurate the computer will still thing the tires are in the same place (eg. If the RR is actually low it will report the LF is low as that was its last learned position). This is alos why adding a spare tire TPMS will not do anything, the comp does not acknoldge an additional transmitter. There may be a car that may be programmed to accept a 5th transmitter but I am unaware of any at this point.
Sorry for the wall post but there is some of what I know on the subject of TPMS and I hope it helps
-tyler
Onstar also monitors your TPMS readings, they also get the actual pressure relayed to them as well. As I'm sure anyone that has seen the onstar reports or looked at the app already knows this.
Removing the sensors will only illuminate the light on the dash. Not sure if there are any legal ramifications by running rims with the tpms removed. I doubt it but not sure.
As for putting a sensor in the spare, that will do nothing for most cars. If the car was not equiped with a sensor for the spare then it will not recognize one has been added. When I was working on cars I never came across a model that could have the computet enabled for this sort of add-on. Each sensor has its own sort of IP address that is transmitted to a reciever (along with psi), this allows the comp to determine where the wheel is at and also why the system must be "relearned" after a tire rotate, while all the psi will be accurate the computer will still thing the tires are in the same place (eg. If the RR is actually low it will report the LF is low as that was its last learned position). This is alos why adding a spare tire TPMS will not do anything, the comp does not acknoldge an additional transmitter. There may be a car that may be programmed to accept a 5th transmitter but I am unaware of any at this point.
Sorry for the wall post but there is some of what I know on the subject of TPMS and I hope it helps
-tyler
Driving my Sonic in snow
I live in Cleveland OH in the snow belt, and my Sonic is much worse than my Venture van or my Ford Ranger (2WD with snow tires). It has trouble stoping, accelerating and turning. I was told that the Hankook tires that came with the car are good for snow, so I wonder what it would be like with bad tires. It is espically bad in slushy snow, where there is a lot of partially salt melted snow. It performed decently on fresh snow.
I plan on looking for a new set of rims and snow tires. I know snow tires made a huge difference on my Ranger. Has anyone else tried snow tires on their Sonic? What sizes did you get and where did you get the rims from?
I live in Cleveland OH in the snow belt, and my Sonic is much worse than my Venture van or my Ford Ranger (2WD with snow tires). It has trouble stoping, accelerating and turning. I was told that the Hankook tires that came with the car are good for snow, so I wonder what it would be like with bad tires. It is espically bad in slushy snow, where there is a lot of partially salt melted snow. It performed decently on fresh snow.
I plan on looking for a new set of rims and snow tires. I know snow tires made a huge difference on my Ranger. Has anyone else tried snow tires on their Sonic? What sizes did you get and where did you get the rims from?
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$ub$onic
The Sticker Guy
I loved my ranger but it was 4x4. With LSD and off road tires. Freaking tank in the snow
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
As far as snow goes it can do it but I recommend turning of traction control and stabilitrack. Last year I hit a hundred foot section of foot high snow. The tcs kicked in and locked up the brakes and almost put me in the ditch. Other than that a great car for winter they are pretty hard to get stuck.
It's true. I've driven in some pretty rough weather in Wisco - especially this year. I'm not worried in the slightest with my Sonic. Even with those stock Hankook tires, it's still going to handle better than my dropped Jetta with bald tires, or my old Passat with bald tires...I'm so used to neglecting tires that driving with tires that have tread is awesome - even if they're sort of ****ty tires.
the day i picked my sonic up was in the middle of a snow storm, drove it around 100 miles that day in 3-4 inches of snow, handled decent. a few weeks later i drove home from albany around 60 miles in 6" + snow, the sonic handled it fairly well, and this was on stock dealer tires. however i have found the sonics traction control is dangerous in the snow in my opinion, i have almost had numerous accidents due to traction engaging and causing the car to limp and cut power. if you know how to drive in the snow the traction control is worthless, i run my sonic with out an abs fuse for this reason. this is not to say my traction issues weren't caused by the dealer tires, and pair of good snow tires may make a difference.
houser
New member
I have found that the traction control works
Best if you don't baby it. Drive the car
Like you stole it and the TC digs in and
Goes. Even @ icy stop lights. No joke.
Don't try to not spin the tires. Just stomp
On it and let the TC do it's thing. I tried this
Out of I can't get this thing moving without
Stalling frustration and it worked. The car is
Designed for kids who don't know how to
Get a car going on ice.
Mike
Palmer alaska
Best if you don't baby it. Drive the car
Like you stole it and the TC digs in and
Goes. Even @ icy stop lights. No joke.
Don't try to not spin the tires. Just stomp
On it and let the TC do it's thing. I tried this
Out of I can't get this thing moving without
Stalling frustration and it worked. The car is
Designed for kids who don't know how to
Get a car going on ice.
Mike
Palmer alaska
the issues i had happened at a left hand turn in an intersection, a tire slipped and traction decided that i should no longer be turning, i had to us my ebrake in order to regain control and get the car pointed in the desired direction of travel.
ecohauler
New member
Worth noting that the MyLink can also see exact pressures from TPMS, though our version doesn't do anything with it at this point. Once GM allows loading of additional apps, though, I will personally see to it that there is an app that shows your pressures. Someone might beat me to it, but there will be at least one from me.
CyberGreyTURBOZ
New member
Here is my sonic packed with snow from driving around.
The sonic handles just fine in the snow with proper tires to get the job done. I bought a set of cheap Falken tires and 16in. wheels. Tires you can get for about $400 and Steelie rims from a cruze or now 2013 base sonic for cheap if you have a hook up. I have less than $500 total in my winter wheels and had no problems in all snow falls we had last winter. I did drag my air dam all the time, but that's what you get when you lower your DD. The only down side to the sonic is it has a very narrow wheel base so you do bounce around in big ruts from all the suv's. I learned to deal with it. You can also get the back end to slide out with a little Scandinavian flick and just letting off the throttle. It rotates pretty good.
