Snow driving review
- Thread starter $ub$onic
- Start date
KGB Pilot125
New member
Yeah one of the perks of the job!
I am not high on these particular tires but it might be from misinformation.
The motive behind this is if we are comfortable with the product we can sell more of them and they are really pushing these tires for 2013.
Gmax AS-03 is the tire.
I am not high on these particular tires but it might be from misinformation.
The motive behind this is if we are comfortable with the product we can sell more of them and they are really pushing these tires for 2013.
Gmax AS-03 is the tire.
Swordsmith
242hp/252 ft-lbs BNR EFI
The stock tires suck when it's dry, when it's wet, when it's snowy, and when it's icy. I guess I will wait until I try them driving on lava, but thus far, my opinion is that they simply suck.
I'm enjoying my Sumitomos a good deal more, and have had no trouble driving in slippery conditions while watching everyone sliding around all around me. There have been a lot of slippery days this January, fun to test the car in, when I'm not quaking in fear of the other cars.
I have my stock rims and might try swapping in snow tires on there just to see what that's like, but I'm not convinced it's really necessary.
V Sin 16 wheels
Sumitomo touring plus LST tires
I'm enjoying my Sumitomos a good deal more, and have had no trouble driving in slippery conditions while watching everyone sliding around all around me. There have been a lot of slippery days this January, fun to test the car in, when I'm not quaking in fear of the other cars.
I have my stock rims and might try swapping in snow tires on there just to see what that's like, but I'm not convinced it's really necessary.
V Sin 16 wheels
Sumitomo touring plus LST tires
CyberGreyTURBOZ
New member
I agree 100%. For stock tires these are pretty darn good. The green low rolling resistance once like the cruze has are very poor for anything other than mpg's from my experience and calling them "All Season tires" is a joke. With my springs I can push my car on the clover leaf until the steering gets light and just play with it right there. No obnoxious squealing like the "Eco" tires i used in the past. Tires don't last doing this regularly though. I can never get tires to last for some reason...
If you want to drive comfortably in the snow you need snow/ice tires depending on the performance you want and longevity of the tire. I will, and have taken my lowered sonic out in every snow fall so far this winter. No problems ever except getting pushed around in ruts. I'm running steelies with Falken snow tires. First time with them and for what I paid I'm very happy. I think I'm just over $400 for wheels and tires.
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lambertsonic
New member
I agree 100%. For stock tires these are pretty darn good. The green low rolling resistance once like the cruze has are very poor for anything other than mpg's from my experience and calling them "All Season tires" is a joke. With my springs I can push my car on the clover leaf until the steering gets light and just play with it right there. No obnoxious squealing like the "Eco" tires i used in the past. Tires don't last doing this regularly though. I can never get tires to last for some reason...
The tires in that picture look exactly like Yokohama ice guard.
CyberGreyTURBOZ
New member
They are a very similar looking tire. My mom has them on her 95 V6 Mustang 5spd and they worked pretty good when I went for a spin the other day. The falkens have a lot more sipes in them which is the reason why i choose them. They have sipes then shallower sipes in between them. Its like double siped till i wear them down a bit.
stoopid
New member
This was Feb'10.
28"
Not sure a Sonic would have faired well.
Just get a running start.
gillamonstar
Member
Just get a running start.
I wonder if I can rig up a hide-a-hitch to the front and hook up a plow?
Dragcamaro
New member
Gonna add some gripes.
These tires are terrible, I wouldn't put them on a shopping cart. Gm should be ashamed.
Hill hold sometimes likes to hold the back wheels on a slick hill making a smooth clutch application into a stationary burn out.
Sometimes you need to spin to get through something. That's not Allowed. Tried to and it held my rpm at like 2 k which just defeated the purpose. That was with tc off, still had stabilitrac on.
These tires are terrible, I wouldn't put them on a shopping cart. Gm should be ashamed.
Hill hold sometimes likes to hold the back wheels on a slick hill making a smooth clutch application into a stationary burn out.
Sometimes you need to spin to get through something. That's not Allowed. Tried to and it held my rpm at like 2 k which just defeated the purpose. That was with tc off, still had stabilitrac on.
Swordsmith
242hp/252 ft-lbs BNR EFI
I'd try SC off too if that happened to me, if that didn't work, it's the work of about 60 seconds to pop the hood and pull the ABS fuse which completely totally and with no if ands or buts kills TC SC and ABS altogether.
rhearhea12!
New member
traction control problem
I just had winter tires put on for New York weather. Coming home on icy roads I turned on the traction control. It did not flash or make any difference in the handling. Now I have a service engine soon light on with a code. How is it supposed to work? Do you leave it on so its lit up or not? Anyone had problems with it before? Love the car but before the winter tires the rear tires just went sideways backing up in the driveway.
I just had winter tires put on for New York weather. Coming home on icy roads I turned on the traction control. It did not flash or make any difference in the handling. Now I have a service engine soon light on with a code. How is it supposed to work? Do you leave it on so its lit up or not? Anyone had problems with it before? Love the car but before the winter tires the rear tires just went sideways backing up in the driveway.
Insanika
Super Moderator
If you pushed the button and the light or lights came on and stayed lit, you shut it/them off.
I'm not sure about the CEL.
Swordsmith
242hp/252 ft-lbs BNR EFI
Traction control is on by default. If you hit the button for it, you turn it off (and a warning light comes on your dash showing TC off). If you hold down the button for a few seconds, you turn Stability Control off as well, and get a second light on.
Under normal conditions neither of these, nor the ABS, does anything at all. What they are doing is looking for your tires to spin, skid, or slip, and when they do, they activate an emergency response.
TC is looking for spin, when you try to accelerate and your tires lose grip with the road. When it detects spin, your ECU chokes the life out of your car, reducing you to about 20 horsepower for a few seconds, and providing a flashing warning light on your dash telling you this is happening. For many of us, this is worse than unnecessary, as we know how to respond to spin by throttling back just far enough to get traction, and for only as long as needed... which is probably a fraction of a second, not several seconds. YMMV, and if you disable TC you're assuming the risk, of course.
Stability Control is similar, it looks for you to lose traction in a turn, which is to say skidding. It is supposed to fix that by using your brakes in a differential fashion, braking some wheels while letting others turn normally... but there's no evidence the car is at all capable of doing that. What it seems to do, instead, is the same thing it does when TC goes off. Throttle you back and hope that helps. Again, this stays on for several seconds while the condition probably lasted a split second, at least if you're any good at driving. YMMV and so forth.
ABS, finally, is also similar, it looks for your tires to skid while you are braking. If this happens, it figures you are panic braking, and so it removes the brakes from your control and pumps them up and down rapidly. This is, in point of fact, the correct response to a skid... but as rendered in the Sonic, it is overly sensitive, the least tiny bit of skid will activate it, and it is astonishingly harsh, pounding the brakes on and off like someone took a jackhammer and mounted it to your shocks. Unlike the other two though, ABS can actually save your life by taking over braking in an emergency, where your reflexes might not do anything but stomp harder on the brake (which doesn't help at all). Of the three, I'd think hardest about killing this one... but many have, it's up to you.
These conditions can all happen in dry weather, but are more frequent in the wet, or mud, or snow or ice... anything that makes it harder for the tires to keep firm contact with the ground. Playing with the button (or even pulling the fuse) might make the car handle a little more the way you want it to under extreme conditions, but nothing you do there is going to matter in normal handling circumstances.
Under normal conditions neither of these, nor the ABS, does anything at all. What they are doing is looking for your tires to spin, skid, or slip, and when they do, they activate an emergency response.
TC is looking for spin, when you try to accelerate and your tires lose grip with the road. When it detects spin, your ECU chokes the life out of your car, reducing you to about 20 horsepower for a few seconds, and providing a flashing warning light on your dash telling you this is happening. For many of us, this is worse than unnecessary, as we know how to respond to spin by throttling back just far enough to get traction, and for only as long as needed... which is probably a fraction of a second, not several seconds. YMMV, and if you disable TC you're assuming the risk, of course.
Stability Control is similar, it looks for you to lose traction in a turn, which is to say skidding. It is supposed to fix that by using your brakes in a differential fashion, braking some wheels while letting others turn normally... but there's no evidence the car is at all capable of doing that. What it seems to do, instead, is the same thing it does when TC goes off. Throttle you back and hope that helps. Again, this stays on for several seconds while the condition probably lasted a split second, at least if you're any good at driving. YMMV and so forth.
ABS, finally, is also similar, it looks for your tires to skid while you are braking. If this happens, it figures you are panic braking, and so it removes the brakes from your control and pumps them up and down rapidly. This is, in point of fact, the correct response to a skid... but as rendered in the Sonic, it is overly sensitive, the least tiny bit of skid will activate it, and it is astonishingly harsh, pounding the brakes on and off like someone took a jackhammer and mounted it to your shocks. Unlike the other two though, ABS can actually save your life by taking over braking in an emergency, where your reflexes might not do anything but stomp harder on the brake (which doesn't help at all). Of the three, I'd think hardest about killing this one... but many have, it's up to you.
These conditions can all happen in dry weather, but are more frequent in the wet, or mud, or snow or ice... anything that makes it harder for the tires to keep firm contact with the ground. Playing with the button (or even pulling the fuse) might make the car handle a little more the way you want it to under extreme conditions, but nothing you do there is going to matter in normal handling circumstances.
houser
New member
Drive hard
I run winter tires and have found that in most
Cases the best way to get the car going
At an icy/ snowy intersection is the leave
The tc on and drive it like I stole it. The traction
Control digs in and the car goes. If i try
To get going old style, by trying not to
Spin the tires to het better traction, the damn
Thing stalls. If I stomp on it the TC does its
Thing and the car goes.
Gerrr Woof
I run winter tires and have found that in most
Cases the best way to get the car going
At an icy/ snowy intersection is the leave
The tc on and drive it like I stole it. The traction
Control digs in and the car goes. If i try
To get going old style, by trying not to
Spin the tires to het better traction, the damn
Thing stalls. If I stomp on it the TC does its
Thing and the car goes.
Gerrr Woof
resurrecting an old thread. running the stock tires. which.....suck balls in the snow. there's a hill I come down and twice now i've slid down the hill in second gear, stability control on. luckily I have some handling skills that I managed to keep the car straight.
need to get some new tires for this thing soon.
need to get some new tires for this thing soon.
busterbrown
New member
The Continental ControlContact Sport's I purchased from Discount Tire are wonderful so far. Traction has improved remarkable in the snow and the car handles great at highway speed. Tread warranty ain't bad either.
