17" tires that come with the 17" wheel option -- Snow worthy?

[E-Man]

I believe that the 17" tires are Dunlop's -- anyone have any experience with these in the snow? Give me your thoughts.Ed

[NSimkins]

If you browse the Wheels and Tires forum and check out the Search feature, you should find this info. Here is a thread in particular that will help you:http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=197

[m4VibeGT]

I just switched my OEM 17" with winter tires from tirerack.com. I've read in the manuals that the driving performance of the Dunlop Z rated tires on snow and ice is "unpredictable."Don't want to take a chance, so I put on Dunlop Winter Sport M2 225/45HR17 tires with 17" Miglia Spider rims for winter driving. Total cost is $1,200 delivered.

[ChipsAbyss]

I got the 17's, I was driving in the snow and I live on a hill, the vibe had a hard time going up

[BlockDaddy21]

No! We recently had a decent amount of snow, and there is on thing I can tell you for sure: taking those tires out on it was nothing short of scary. "Unpredictable," as someone else put it, is an incredible understatement. I felt like I couldn't do anything to keep these tires stuck to the ground. I guess in short, I'm going to break down and buy snow tires.

[TGebiV]

yeah they suck in snow my camaro had about the same traction

[NovaResource]

quote:I have the 17" Dunlops on my Vibe GT, ..... Those are strictly a High speed Z rated SUMMER TIRE. These tires are completely useless, even on very cold pavement with NO SNOW or ICE the rubber compond freezes basically driving on a skating ring! You can kill yourself..and someone else for that matter!THE SKY IS FALLING!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!My goodness to think of all those Vibes driving around with useless tires! How negligent Pontiac is to sell Vibes with those tires in cold weather cities!While I agree the 17" Dunlops aren't quality snow tires, they are fine in the winter when no snow or ice is on the ground. To say they are "completely useless, even on very cold pavement" is crazy. Do you actually think Pontiac would sell the Vibe with tires that are dangerous in just cold weather? Do you have ant documented proof to back your claim? Page 6-51 of the owners manual it says the 17" tires are:quote:High Performance Tire (Option)If this vehicle has the optional 17-inch P215/50ZR17 size tires, they are high performance tires. High performance tires are designed for very responsive driving on wet or dry pavement, but they may not offer the traction you would like on snow or ice covered roads. You may also notice more road noise with high performance tires and that they tend to wear faster. Also, see Tire Inspection and Rotation later in this section or in the Index.For cold weather driving conditions, you may prefer to get tires designed for snow or ice.They aren't good for snow or ice but just cold is not a problem.Even the Dunlop webpage says nothing about this problem:http://www.dunloptire.com/ourtires/perf ... /index.htm

[mu_ohio]

Actually, I find that the colder it gets, the worse the traction is with the Dunlops. The rubber/compound gets hard and doesn't stick to the road. Compared to the Michelin 17" Pilots on my Mazda6, there is a world of difference. I do know that the Vibe is lighter, but trying to take off at anything less than slow will spin the tires. Don't even try to take it into lift in 1st or 2nd or the tires will loose grip. I will say though that they aren't terrible in the snow and I can climb my driveway when it had loose snow. My advice, it's winter and you can't race on the tires. Take your time and you won't have any problems.

[VibeSalsa]

quote:Actually, I find that the colder it gets, the worse the traction is with the Dunlops. The rubber/compound gets hard and doesn't stick to the road.I found an article about that. It says: "There’s no beating winter tires. Generally speaking, all-weather tires lose their elasticity at –15°C, whereas the limit for snow tires is -40°C. Winter tires have a more aggressive tread design to provide better grip and evacuate slush and snow. They also provide more stable braking and tracking.”And there's the link: http://www.caaquebec.ca/en/popup/index. ... rTires.pdf

[NovaResource]

OK, -15 C is about 5 F so I'm good to there. If you get temps below that then switching to a snow tire is a good idea.Here in Philly, we don't usually get that cold. This past week or so we're suffering through one of the worst cold temps in a long time. How bad? Last night it got as low as 7 F (afternoon high of 19 F). Sure, that normal (or warm) for some places but for here that's way cold. For me, I haven't driven in lower than 12 F (the lowest I've seen in the Vibe).

[Cubanpete]

***I found an article about that. It says: "There’s no beating winter tires. Generally speaking, all-weather tires lose their elasticity at –15°C, whereas the limit for snow tires is -40°C. Winter tires have a more aggressive tread design to provide better grip and evacuate slush and snow. They also provide more stable braking and tracking. ***”

[NovaResource]

First, the article said "Generally speaking" as in least common denominator. Second, it was talking about snow driving, not driving in dry conditions. Like I said before, the summer tires and not meant for snow driving, however, they are good enough to get by on when there is little or no snow.Nobody else is having problems with their 17" tires on dry pavement: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=2397