The "Sonic in the snow" MASTER thread

[m2043]

This thing sucks in the snow!!!

Bought mine new in July, first two snowstorms of the season within 2 days of eachother in upstate NY. These tires from the factory are trash! I love this car, so I'm investing in decent studded snow for the winter. Plus this Super sensitive abs ****ed me tonight. Had a car stop suddenly in front of me tonight, snow covered road, ABS kicked in, wouldn't stop. Had to choose between the back of his car or the snowbank with a lovely curb underneath. Scrapped my steel wheel up a bit, destroyed the hubcap. Took all 4 off tonight.

 

[JTee2017]

Bought mine new in July, first two snowstorms of the season within 2 days of eachother in upstate NY. These tires from the factory are trash! I love this car, so I'm investing in decent studded snow for the winter. Plus this Super sensitive abs ****ed me tonight. Had a car stop suddenly in front of me tonight, snow covered road, ABS kicked in, wouldn't stop. Had to choose between the back of his car or the snowbank with a lovely curb underneath. Scrapped my steel wheel up a bit, destroyed the hubcap. Took all 4 off tonight.

My daughter got a brand new 2014 Sonic HB in July 2014. She lives in s. Wisconsin. The first light snow fall of about 2 " and she could barely go around street corners at more than 8 MPH. Braking when coming up to traffic lights was horrifying.
She was so frightened her voice was wavering when she called to ask about getting different and better tires. We got a great deal on new Triple Treds for her Sonic.

All due to the Hankook Optimo H428 tires. . . . Good down south or for Summer driving .. . . Unsafe in ANY amount of snow.

When I bought out 2017 Sonic HB I bought new tires immediately. Bought some Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus. Great tires.

Surprisingly, some people actually *Like* the Hankooks. . . .

Sold them on CL for $150 got $200 rebates off the Turanzas - - -- -

Hankooks went on CL - - - - -

 

[dannyg]

Bought mine new in July, first two snowstorms of the season within 2 days of eachother in upstate NY. These tires from the factory are trash! I love this car, so I'm investing in decent studded snow for the winter. Plus this Super sensitive abs ****ed me tonight. Had a car stop suddenly in front of me tonight, snow covered road, ABS kicked in, wouldn't stop. Had to choose between the back of his car or the snowbank with a lovely curb underneath. Scrapped my steel wheel up a bit, destroyed the hubcap. Took all 4 off tonight.

Yup. When I lived in Maine I used Goodyear Ultragrip snows in the winter. Seemed pretty good, even without the studs—but studs are better of course. I use the Hancooks the other nine months.

 

[r4tb3lly01]

Here in South Texas we just got the first snow in 14 years.
My stock hanooks handles those 4-5 inches beautifully, I took the freeway about 10 miles one way and about 15 miles back plus down a 5 mike road where there wasn’t a real path set yet.

My car handled that **** like a Subaru

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[JTee2017]

Hmmm . . puzzling, since so many owners curse the Hankooks in snow. Maybe some batches had "bad rubber"?

And, go to Tirerack and some others and the Hankook Optimo H428 has many bad reviews regarding snow performance.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Optimo+H428#RatingsReviews


Would You Recommend? 1.8 - Unacceptable
+ Wet Performance 4.6 - Fair
+ Dry Performance 6.0 - Fair
+ Winter/Snow Performance 1.5 - Unacceptable
+ Comfort Performance 5.9 - Fair
Treadwear Performance 5.8 - Fair

 

[Blue Moon Sonic]

The stock Hancooks are garbage. The first set only lasted 15k and were absolute garbage in the snow. Though, Once you get a proper tire on these cars for winter driving, They're a blast to drive.

This year is going to be interesting with the encore brake setup. The slightest tap is enough to make the ABS kick on when there is fresh snow on the ground. Probably exaggerating a little, but it definitely doesn't take much to lock em up.

 

[dannyg]

The "Sonic in the snow" MASTER thread

Put my snows on yesterday...just in time!


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[KnucklestheRS]

Had some fun today!

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[5.0]

Anybody know if 15 inch steelies will fit in place of stock ltz 17s? I want snow tires but it's cheaper to get 15s with michelin x-ice i3s than just getting 17s. Then I could just swap before and after winter. On a side note. My stock Hancooks have been attempting to kill me lately in this Michigan weather.

Yes they will. I run 15's in place of 17's in the winter.

 

[MaD]

I have less than 5k on my Hankook tires... the first heavy rain we had in 14 when I got my car and first road trip with SOF down to the ocean, I was hydroplaning at 30 mph on the freeway! So just after that run I got 18's and got some Nittos, and at 40k I replaced them with continentals DWS extreme and love them, the recent snow here we got about 6 to 8 inches (seattle area) and the performed great!

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[sw2low]

On 205/50/17 general artimax artics.
When the road conditions are questionable, first thing i do is turn off TC and SC.
My rear axle has 0.5 deg of tow out on the pass side, loves to slide toward the ditch! Shims on the way. Otherwise it does rather well in the snow, so far this year we've had plenty, in addition to two bouts of freezing rain.

-RuD

 

[Josh89]

Running Pirelli Ice Zero.. incredible handling in any condition. Especially the slush

 

[shorebreeze]

I'm up to 32,000 miles on the Nokian WR G3, one of the very few winter-rated all-seasons and one of only two on the US market that I know of with a tread warranty, and so far no more than 1/32nd variation among the tires and very good wear (I have rotated them every 5 to 7.5K though). They'll easily make the 55,000 mile warranty if I don't decide to switch them early (4/32nds seems to me to be a little short for winter use no matter how good the tire). They're better in almost every respect than the stock tire except perhaps for dry grip in hot weather. Performance on ice, ice/snow mix and packed snow is particularly good compared to regular all-seasons.

They make a lot of sense as year-round tires in a very variable climate, like much of the Midwest, also if you are short of storage space. One caveat as to summer use is that I've never had them in really extreme heat--I think 100 is my record on them--so I can't speak for how they'd hold up in that situation although they've seen plenty of 90-degree plus. I think in the western mountain regions I might still go with separate sets of summer and then specialty snow tires for that reason, while in the freezing rain and slush-prone parts of the Mid-South I could see using the Nokians for winter and a separate summer tire for summer.

 

[tobypine2]

I see a good deal of talk on the stock Hankooks. They may be billed as all-season but I got a good education a few years ago. I had a Kia at the time (shudder) and had same tires and it was awful in most cases that weren’t dry. Now mind you I live in Tennessee now, but grew up driving in Michigan, so I understand inclement weather quite well. Never had issues til that Optima. Went for some replacement tires looking for high tread wear and the guy told me No. I’m like, what do you mean No??
He informed me the higher the treadwear warranty, the harder the compound of the tire. Great for long average life, but A. Won’t soak up those little pebbles, detritus and divots on the road as well. Great for the highway which stays fairly clean. Crappy for dirt or gravel roads (which I confirmed numerous times). B. Also sucks with inclement weather. Water sluicing through the sipes in the tire have a harder time making room, which can aid hydroplaning, which I did enough. Also the harder compound will go over little packed mounds of snow instead of molding around them a bit like a softer tire does. Less grip and traction as a result. As well as less actual traction on dry road in the heat of summer.
Less “sticky” if you will. But the harder tire will last longer.
I got a set of Firestones then, maybe Firehawks? With a 55,000 mile warranty and have never looked for more.
My ‘13 LT I bought last year had 3 different brands of rubber on it. 1 Douglas, 1 Goodride(?) and 2 Linglong Crosswinds (???) on the back. Taking a curve at 40 mph the back end slid. Twice. Shortly after got a set of Arizonians from Discount with a. 55k warranty and we’ve had a few snow days down here and some black ice and the Sonic handles like a champ

Not quite like my Silverado on Terra Grapplers, but I don’t answer fire calls in my Sonic either. Lol
I’ve since heard the exact same from a few unrelated tire guys that just confirms what I first heard. Long mile warranties like the Hankooks are fine in always warm climes on highways. Not for everywhere under all weathers. Silly Chevy should slap on the right rubber for where they sell the cars.

 

[MontanaRS]

I live in Montana with my 2017 RS HB Premier and we are getting hammered by know and freezing temps 0 degrees. I personally have had zero problems with stock tires and can still do highway speeds, stop, turn and drive aggressively. Been living here since 2008 and I believe a lot of it has to do with driver skills as I have never needed studded or aggressive tires on any of my vehicles but yet there are lifetime residents with trucks or cars that still end up in the ditch.

 

[JTee2017]

I live in Montana with my 2017 RS HB Premier and we are getting hammered by know and freezing temps 0 degrees. I personally have had zero problems with stock tires and can still do highway speeds, stop, turn and drive aggressively. Been living here since 2008 and I believe a lot of it has to do with driver skills as I have never needed studded or aggressive tires on any of my vehicles but yet there are lifetime residents with trucks or cars that still end up in the ditch.

Do you have OEM Hankook Optimo H428 tires? Some Sonics come with other tires.

Also, if it is "dry" snow as it would be in zero temps, the Hankooks may grip ok.

When the snow starts to melt or you get a light wet snow. . . my guess is the grip will not be as good with the Hankooks. Unless they finally changed the rubber formulation from a year or two ago.

 

[MontanaRS]

Do you have OEM Hankook Optimo H428 tires? Some Sonics come with other tires.

Also, if it is "dry" snow as it would be in zero temps, the Hankooks may grip ok.

When the snow starts to melt or you get a light wet snow. . . my guess is the grip will not be as good with the Hankooks. Unless they finally changed the rubber formulation from a year or two ago.

They are the OEM Hankook Optimo H428 tires. But in order to get to zero degrees I had to go through the 30 - 36 degree area which produces the nasty sticky deep crappy slush snow and it performed perfect. It's like the Postal Saying Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night this car will stay on the road and perform every time. I guess everyone is different, just saying I've done fine with OEM tires.

 

[jonny_b]

Mine likes to slide out like its rwd pretty often. Even with decent snow tires on all 4. I think the rr drum sticks a little which could cause it, but there have been a few completely sideways stops while going reasonable snow speeds.

 

[ChicksHateMe]

I live in Montana. I personally have had zero problems with stock tires....

I have the OEM Hankook Optimo H428 tires and they are horrendous in the slushy snow. The treads get packed in with the snow and don't release it, so it's basically like driving on bald tires. Oh, I can do it, but they're still horrible.

ONLY reason I don't get snow tires is I hardly drive the car. I'll have owned the car 4 years on 2/27 and it has 16,930 miles on it.

 

[r4tb3lly01]

Hmmm . . puzzling, since so many owners curse the Hankooks in snow. Maybe some batches had "bad rubber"?

And, go to Tirerack and some others and the Hankook Optimo H428 has many bad reviews regarding snow performance.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Optimo+H428#RatingsReviews


Would You Recommend? 1.8 - Unacceptable
+ Wet Performance 4.6 - Fair
+ Dry Performance 6.0 - Fair
+ Winter/Snow Performance 1.5 - Unacceptable
+ Comfort Performance 5.9 - Fair
Treadwear Performance 5.8 - Fair

Honestly I live in a seasonally wet area too! And now in some wet hills in central Texas! The Hankooks did just fine!!
Loud, yea, only lasted 40,000 miles yea. But they didn’t perform terribly like the exaggerating ones make it seem.
I almost went with the cooper cs5’s but they’re done anyways. Went with the falken g4 pro a/s. Much quieter, smooth, braking distance went way lower!
And I went with 205/60/15 I think.

Feels much better


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