The Xi2 and Xi3 are actually very good when it comes to noise and their performance on dry and wet pavement. They also offer good traction on ice and good traction on snow. Very often, a snow tire will be excellent on snow and not so good on ice, or vice versa. I find the Michelin's work very well (but are not excellent) on ice and snow, and they are definitely a quiet tire for a snow tire.

 

Found the Michelin X-Ice Xi2 Ice & Snow tire to be extremely quiet compared to regular plain snow tires. In fact it is one of the quietest snow tires I have ever experenced!!! Check out these reviews:
http://http://tires.about.com/od/Tire_Reviews/fr/Review-Michelin-X-Ice-Xi2.htm

Michelin X-Ice Xi2 Review

X-ice Xi2 vs. Blizzak WS-60: Someone help me decide - TDIClub Forums

2009 Winter Tire Test Comparison Tests - Page 5 - Car and Driver

 

I really appreciate you guys' input and i would have switched to the xi 3 but my hakkas did some how show up.
I will still try to redeem some compensation for not initially having the tires in when installation came around. I drove 40 minutes one way just to find out i couldn't have them installed.

thanks,

 

I'd thought I'd post a few pics for the people of the "I don't need winter tires, I just use my driving skill" persuasion. Here's a picture of the latest snow storm in Quebec. Montreal authorities say it will take about 5 days of overtime to clear all the snow. I have some music gigs until the 1st so the "just stay home when it snows" solution is not an option. My Fit has been holding up rather nicely in my first winter driving it my only problem is with the cabin fog which I will post in a separate thread.

This is my fit before I dug it out to drive away. I had to get in through the passenger door! You can see the bumper of a blue pearl LX fit (base with cruise) right behind me.



This is a "plowed" street. Unplowed streets are basically inaccessible because there are snow banks of over a yard high blocking the passage:



Here is a pic of my car after I redug a hole in the snowbank in from of my place to allow me to park without having the fear of a snow removal truck totally scraping the side of my ride. Sorry for the blurriness:

 

Nice. Glad you have it. Only a few inches here. I was barely plowing on the side streets. My cousin lives in Pierrrefonds and was telling me the fun you are having.

 

actually, I love winter driving! It's a challenge and I love using my handbreak to help with turning in tight spots or doing a U turn if you realise you wanna change directions

However, having to stop your car in the middle of the street blocking all traffic to try and dig a hole to park in is a major bitch...

Hey Blackstar: you know about winter. How do you prevent the cabin from fogging up? My Fit fogs up INSTANTLY unless I blast the defogger on max and after I park, a thin layer of ice collects on all the windows so I have to scrape for 10 minutes before I get going.

 

BTW, it is snowing HEAVILY right now! The city snow clearing crew must be having a heart attack!

 

You have a lot of moisture buildup inside the car. Once it is really warm inside and somewhat dried up open the windows and recirculate the air.

A lot of water sitting on floor mats doesn't help either.

I have not had a problem with the Fit but have had similar problems with other cars.

Oh and a Steaming hot Timmys won't help either.

bill

 

I took it one step farther...this is exactly why I didn't trade in my CR-V when I bought my Fit

 

I have a blast driving in the snow. I like the challenege of it. That said, I have my Altimax Arctics on and the fit is very capable with those, though I turn the traction and stability control off (we have differeing oppions of what an acceptable amount of slip is).

 

Fit handled fine yesterday in the snow. We got about 16" total(Including last night) and the roads were never really scary. That said, I only had the fit out in the snow for about 15 miles worth of driving. The rest of the time we took the ridgeline. Had to check on a Friend's Cat and nothing had been done to their driveway so, I parked the ridgeline in the street (private road) and shoveled out the front of their driveway where the plow trucks had pushed the snow up about 2'. I turned off the VSA and turned on the VTM-4 Lock and the Ridgeline just plowed through about 12"-14" of snow to get up their driveway. It was a beautiful thing.

Also took the opportunity to do a little redneck sledding... My son and I on a saucer heading down the back side of the septic mound... whoooooo Weeeeee.

~SB

 

beware of brown snow.

 

Nice looking CRV! I don't expect the Fit traction to be nearly as good as my previous CRV. Ground clearance, 4WD and road-hugging weight are, you know, important.

 

Its not brown snow I woory abioiut, its yellow snow. Brown more often indicates mud; there's no alternate for yellow snow.

 

Ground clearance, 4WD (most of the time) but weight is not one. And you forgot tires design, the most critical.
Weight is an enemy as the WRC competitors will agree.
Last year I entered my tiny Honda hybrid Im in a hill climbing snow event and was the only vehicle to top the hill - and twice. POed the 4WD club sponsors no end. Good tires and less weight are the tickets. Its the pressure the tires put on the snow that counts; its the tread design with less weight that matters.

 

I don't have a Fit (yet). Taffetta White in manual is hard to find around here and by the time I get one it will be on the edge of Spring. It's also been kinda dry around Denver this year. Has anyone running winter tires also tried chains with the stock tires? I wouldn't feel comfortable putting a new set of winter tires on just for a couple of months but would feel comfortable investing in a set of chains since I expect to have the car for at least five years. Proper winter tires can come next year.

 

beware of low-offset wheels.

My X-ice2 in 195/55/15 are mounted on MB Racing Seven wheels. The offset is 35, and on huge drops, or extremely aggressive cornering, the tires rub my fender liners.

EDIT - I should have mentioned my car is a 2007 GD3. Sorry about that.

Lower offset wheels always have a chance of rubbing anyway on a Honda.

 

I can understand why the rub, and don't think it is just the wheel. What was wrong with the proper size tire - 175/65R15 84S? My Michelin X-ice2 175/65R15 are just fine on the OEM wheel.

 

Oops, my car is a GD3 and not a GE8. Sorry. The original tire on the GD3 Sport was 195/55/15.

I made the mistake of thinking the same tire size would be OK on the winter wheels I purchased. (So did Tire Rack apparently, as they recommended the MB Sevens as OK with that size Xi2 on that year Fit Sport.)

It's just a touch too large. I would have gone with 50-series, or a 14-inch setup, or tried to find higher offset wheels.

As is, I'll take a look at the damage to the fender liner when it comes time to put in the summer set. If the damage is major, I'll try and swap the wheels out for OEM Hondas.

FYI, only the wheel well liner is affected. The sheet metal is untouched.

 

I ran a set of 185/70/14 Goodyear Ultragrip Ice on the red one this winter. Mounted on mid-90s Saturn steel wheels. Caliper was super close to the wheel but didn't have any problems with fitment and the tires performed pretty well in the snow.