Hi folks,

I hope to have my 2008 Fit Sport 5-speed in about 3 weeks (I ordered it in early September!).

What's the latest thinking about snow tires? I have to drive through bad weather frequently, lots of snow, and also icy conditions.

I've been driving all wheel drive for the last 8 years, so I'm spoiled on good snow driving.

Any advice about the best tires available (both snow and also all-season) and sizes.

Thanks,
Paul from Albany, NY

 

Snows all around is the way to go. Definitely don't just use 2 up front; dangerous with ABS.

Blizzaks (Bridgestone) have always been my favorites but there are lots of good choices.

You will face the same dillemma that I am, which is whether to install snows on existing wheels and have to have them remounted all the time or whether to get a second set of wheels to mount the snows. That would usually be my advice since then you can just replace them yourself in the driveway. The problem with the 08's is the TPMS. They're expensive (around $80 apiece). You could probably find some cheaper steel rims without the sensors but then your idiot light will be on all winter. If you have the dough, I'd get a set of 08 base model 14-inch, TPMS wheels for your winter use. Narrower tires are recommended in the winter.

 

Well said. I also tend to drop the tire pressure to about 30 PSI...I find you get better traction with a slightly lower pressure rating. Also, the tires wear perfectly. Im on the 6th and final winter for my tires.

I have a question about using the Sport wheels during the winter....do they get all pitted/marked after a winter? Do they stay in good shape after being in snow and road salt?

 

I have my winters on the stock mags, Threw out the bridgestone Turanza's tha came with the car. ahve some 16" for summer.

 

I'm dreading that. I think soon as the first salt/grit goes down on the road, I'll start taking the bus to work for a while.

 

My advise is the cheap and effective Winterforce M+S that tirerack sells.

Winterforce M+S

Have a set (studded of course) on my wifes Civic Hyrid, and that car was unstoppable in Denver's insane blizzards last winter. The only time the car finally got stuck was when the snow was so deep it was coming up over the hood. Don't spend a lot of money for fancy studless tires like the Blizzacks and X-ice stuff, just go with a tough as nails studded snow tire.

EDIT: Also, the skinnier the tire the better, you want to concentrate the weight, Tirerack recommends a 175/65 in the 14 inch size (if you go with steel rims, might as well drop down to 14s, again cheaper, and the skinnier tire fits). I am tempted to buy it right now for my Fit, we just got our first snow and the stock tires are...shite.

 

I'm curious about this as well, I just ordered winter tires and I'm getting them installed soon... Anyone have any experience with the sport wheels in the winter?

 

Since my ’07 Sport Fit came with the 16” accessory wheels, I still had the stock 15” aluminum sport wheels. I put on Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi 195/55R15XL on the rims and just love them. They are not studded but handle fantastic. Sure you can slide them, but I’m doing 80 ALL the time. Even in 6" of snow. Posted limit is 70 around here. Black ice is very manegable too. 15 cars and trucks all spattered over the road and ditches, and I'm crusing by at 60. I had them on all last season driving between Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Last season if there was even a threat of snow, they salted the sh!t out of the roads. I've got more than 15,000 miles on this set and I just put them back on two weeks ago. They still look brand new. But I also bought an unlimited car wash from Mike’s Car wash here for $80/mo and washed the car at least once per day. Several times, I even washed it twice in one day to get all the salt off.

 

Good advise right there. I have tried out everything from Blizzaks to cheap no-name tires. The difference was marginal, and definitely not worth the $200+ price difference. However, I had studded snows and they outperformed all of the other snow tires by a land slide. If your streets are mostly covered in snow most of the season and if your state allows, studded is good. If not, though, just stick to studless tires.

Find the cheapest and skinniest possible. If you don't want to do the 14" size, go with 185/60/15's. Tirerack has some Firestone's for $61]Firestone Winterforce. You can stud them if you'd like or run them as is. But get another set of rims. Every time you switch tires from snow to summer, you're out ~$50. If you just go ahead and get some rims for $100-200, you'll have them already paid for by the second season. Plus, you can change them at your convenience, instead of waiting hours at the tire shop.

 

I can't say it'll be the same, but my old '97 CR-V wheels still looked pretty darn good after 13 years of super salty Minnesota winters. Hope my Fit wheels are of the same high quality and put up with similar abuse.

 

I am using Michelin X-ice 2 on my 2010 Sports AT. Works great. One thing I really like about Michelin is that it gives a quiet ride.... does not feel I have winter tires at all.

I could not comment on other brands as I've never used them.. what I heard is that some other snow brands suffer from louder than usual road noise.. some people commented the FIT drives like a tank with noisy snow tires...

So if you are deciding which on brands, first, check out what users are commenting on various brands..and you will get a more non-bias accurate picture from true users experience rather than previews and write-ups by professionals..

 

+1 on the Michelins.

My only concern is wear over time and then obviously performance; as snow doesn't stick around much anymore on routes that today are maintained fairly well. I may have to look at less expensive brands in the future if these soft compounds all wear the same or not very well; which I'm guessing is the case.

Needed this car for the mileage and never considered that I would be wasting many of those same dollars saved by being forced into (very) soft compound tires on dry pavement 95% of the time (again, road crews doing the job that they do).

 

Or you could save the snow tires for 'special occasions' when there's snow actually on the ground, and just switch back to regular tires a couple of days later. Then the snow tires would last forever. With a $30 pump-type jack and a decent $10 lug wrench it takes about fifteen minutes to swap wheels. If I had a garage I'd have bought new wheels & snow tires in an instant.

Alas, I have a driveway but no garage, so it's more complicated (and colder).

 

Tires will degrade over time also. So there's a time limit to using them, no matter how much tread is left.

In this case, "forever" is at most, 10 years (and thats only if you care for it VERY WELL).

Tire Tech Information - Tire Aging – Part #1

 

Great idea... good to be active physically...

It would also save money, gym membership costs, and no need to buy the expensive abs machines advertised on the shopping channel that we have to exercise twice a day.

If it snows more often, then we can change the tires more often and get more physically fit.. I like that

 

Yeah... they are saying to also shield the tires in storage from sunlight and ultra violet lights (florescence lighting) as much as possible to avoid deteriorating the rubber compound. I wrapped mine in huge black garbage bags - new garbage bags of course.

The other good thing about having to swap snows and all-season tires twice a year is to check for nails before storing the tires away. When I changed to snows in Nov last year, I checked my stock tires and found a nail (black headed) pierced in between the tire threads which I would not know and would be hard to detect if the tires are still mounted on the car.

This way, I can quickly throw that nail pierced all season tire into my trunk and leave it with the tire shop and come back to put it up after they fix it.. no need to leave my car there.