Winter Tire/Rim for the G37 Coupe

[joey_v]

So, I narrowed it down to 18" Sport Edition A7 and Dunlop Grapic DS3 tires instead of the Blizzak LM25 or LM60 (size 225/50/18).

Anyone have any experience with this combo or similar?

Also, how would it feel if the tire was a studless true winter tire vs a performance winter tire? I mean, I don't expect to be racing anyone in winter so what would I gain from a performance winter tire like the LM60 over the Graspic 3 or the WS60?

Thanks guys and I look forward to the replies.

J

[jab23]

I can only give you some input on the LM-25 and WS 60. I had WS-50s (which the 60s replaced) on a couple of RWD cars and they are amazing in the snow. However, the ride can be a little "mushy" in the dry, especially if you run into a warm spell during the winter. The handling is severely diminished to the point the car feels like it sways in corners.

I've had LM-25s on my last 2 cars. They are much better performers in the dry and never feel soft or mushy. You can still drive in a spirited manner and not have to worry about performance. They give up a little in the snow department, but work great anyway. I will stick witht he performance oriented versions for any car I am driving.

Hope that helps a little.

[joeposter]

The WS60 isn't available in our size so that's not an option.

The DS3 is a performance snow that's a little more aggressive than the LM25.

I found the LM25 to be slightly better than an all-season in the snow but they got me through a northern ny winter.

I'm running the 245/45R-18 x-ice now and they're much better than the LM25's in snow. On dry pavement I've never lost control even though I can blink the slip light by punching it at almost any speed.

I would think you'd want a true snow tire in Chicago.

[Neal@tirerack]

Both are good tires, but work in different ways.

The Dunlop's work well in areas that have compacted snow/ice almost all the time. On the clear days they are pretty loose handling. They improved over the Graspic 2, but not by much.

However, the LM60 is a more sport based snow so it looks like the WS60 in design but lacks the tube multi cell compound the WS has. This makes it better handling for areas that see a lot of plowed roads but not a lot of accumulation.

What's the lesser of two evils - better traction at the sacrifice of handling or better handling at the cost of heavy snow traction - ?

Personally if I'm using snows it's to get home when I need to. Don't mind trading some handling and driving slower to get home at night after a snow storm during work. I'd normally recommend the Blizzak WS, but in this case where you have rwd and live in the snow belt like I do... I'd do the Graspic.

Give me a call and we can get that going

[Reiki_Rocket]

Originally Posted by jab23

I can only give you some input on the LM-25 and WS 60. I had WS-50s (which the 60s replaced) on a couple of RWD cars and they are amazing in the snow. However, the ride can be a little "mushy" in the dry, especially if you run into a warm spell during the winter. The handling is severely diminished to the point the car feels like it sways in corners.

I've had LM-25s on my last 2 cars. They are much better performers in the dry and never feel soft or mushy. You can still drive in a spirited manner and not have to worry about performance. They give up a little in the snow department, but work great anyway. I will stick witht he performance oriented versions for any car I am driving.

Originally Posted by joeposter

The WS60 isn't available in our size so that's not an option.

The DS3 is a performance snow that's a little more aggressive than the LM25.

I found the LM25 to be slightly better than an all-season in the snow but they got me through a northern ny winter.

I'm running the 245/45R-18 x-ice now and they're much better than the LM25's in snow. On dry pavement I've never lost control even though I can blink the slip light by punching it at almost any speed.

I just bought a G37S a couple of weeks ago and figured it would probably be a smart idea to put a set of dedicated snows on in place of the staggered 19's. So I got a set of 225/50 18's Blizzack LM60's per TireRack and DTD's reccomendations on a set of 18x8 wheels a few days ago, and I almost feel like I can't even drive the car now.

Besides the horrible handling and sway mentioned above, I can't drive the car without blinking the damn "Slip" light unless I totally baby it - and I mean really baby it. Even a mildly spirited part throttle acceleration on cold dry pavement (about 1/2 throttle) causes the "Slip" light to blink merrily away - I can't even imagine how horrible this is going to be in the snow. Even on cold wet roads, or mid-teen temps on dry pavement- my Yoko S Drives stick like glue compared the Blizzaks.

I'm not going to be racing on these things, but I'm a pretty "enthusiastic" driver and the current set up is pretty much unbearable. Any ideas? Should I go back and get different tires, or maybe try 245/45 18's instead?

[gthal]

Originally Posted by Reiki_Rocket

I just bought a G37S a couple of weeks ago and figured it would probably be a smart idea to put a set of dedicated snows on in place of the staggered 19's. So I got a set of 225/50 18's Blizzack LM60's per TireRack and DTD's reccomendations on a set of 18x8 wheels a few days ago, and I almost feel like I can't even drive the car now.

Besides the horrible handling and sway mentioned above, I can't drive the car without blinking the damn "Slip" light unless I totally baby it - and I mean really baby it. Even a mildly spirited part throttle acceleration on cold dry pavement (about 1/2 throttle) causes the "Slip" light to blink merrily away - I can't even imagine how horrible this is going to be in the snow. Even on cold wet roads, or mid-teen temps on dry pavement- my Yoko S Drives stick like glue compared the Blizzaks.

I'm not going to be racing on these things, but I'm a pretty "enthusiastic" driver and the current set up is pretty much unbearable. Any ideas? Should I go back and get different tires, or maybe try 245/45 18's instead?

I'm running LM-25s on stock rims and am constantly amazed at how great they handle on dry roads for winter tires. I have to try to get the slip light on. Having said that, I would trade the dry performance for much improved snow/ice traction. Where I am, you can't really push the car hard in the winter most days anyway and I would prefer to not get into trouble on ice/snow on the way home from work. I think you just need to understand the inherent compromise. The LM-60s seem to be more of a snow/ice tire than the LM-25 and, therefore, you would expect less grip on dry pavement. Maybe you should consider swapping them for LM-25s to get better dry performance. Your comments do surprise me a bit because I know another guy in the city with LM-60s and he hasn't had any of your concerns... maybe he drives less aggressively .

[Reiki_Rocket]

Originally Posted by gthal

I'm running LM-25s on stock rims and am constantly amazed at how great they handle on dry roads for winter tires. I have to try to get the slip light on. Having said that, I would trade the dry performance for much improved snow/ice traction. Where I am, you can't really push the car hard in the winter most days anyway and I would prefer to not get into trouble on ice/snow on the way home from work. I think you just need to understand the inherent compromise. The LM-60s seem to be more of a snow/ice tire than the LM-25 and, therefore, you would expect less grip on dry pavement. Maybe you should consider swapping them for LM-25s to get better dry performance. Your comments do surprise me a bit because I know another guy in the city with LM-60s and he hasn't had any of your concerns... maybe he drives less aggressively .

I'm aware of the compromise between a summer & winter tire since I alternated between 225/45/18's Nitto NT555's summer tires to 205/60/16 General Mud & Snows in the winter on my previous car for 5 years; but have never experienced anything close to this!

On my way home tonight I had do to a quick lane change at about 70-75mph on the highway to avoid some idiot not watching where they were going and I about crapped myself! I thought for sure the back end was going to come around on me. I'm ok with the decreased responsiveness up front, but I swear it feels like the rear tires have about 20lbs of pressure in them the way the back end sways every time I change lanes or take a corner. I tried changing the with air pressure from 34 to 38 lbs, but no real difference.



I've got to take it back to the tire place to get this checked out. I'm wondering if part of the problem might be a mistake on the alignment as i noticed that even with my 19's, the car seemed to wander a lot before I put the snows on.