She's Ready For Winter

[Dustineering]

I just got the snow tires installed, topped off the antifreeze, new wiper blades, and winter window solvent. Show me the snow.




Special thanks to Brian, "bdshaffer", for the 16" wheels and covers.

[bdshaffer]

Man those wheel covers are ugly. Bet you can't wait till summer.

[Dustineering]

Well, they aren't the prettiest, but they will do until summer. My 18"s are just sitting empty, I need to figure out a good summer tire before spring. Good thing I have time to save

[nicolas_p]

Winter tires are great if you want to take the car off road

[Tom S2]

Originally Posted by nicolas_p

Winter tires are great if you want to take the car off road

i have winter tires on my car so i can stay ON the road!!!

[CadiEldo67]

I have the same rims for my Astra.

I really lucked out. Last year about this time I was looking for some steelies for it, nothing fancy, and when I looked on Tirerack.com they had some for $55 a piece, and you would "need" to add the tmps but it was out of stock.

After I went ahead and bought some new all seasons for my 17s, which turned out to really have met their match over the winter, I found steelies from a guy on Craigslist who worked for Saturn. He said he got them pretty cheap from working there and wanted to pass on the savings..total cost to me, $100 for 4 steelies with the tire sensors and 4 wheel covers. I'd say I'm glad to have waited.

[phatfire6]

Originally Posted by CadiEldo67

total cost to me, $100 for 4 steelies with the tire sensors and 4 wheel covers. I'd say I'm glad to have waited.

Now that is the deal of the year!

[Midnight13]

Originally Posted by Tom S2

i have winter tires on my car so i can stay ON the road!!!

They do work great offroading! I have vids on Youtube of my Vue offroading in New Mexico, on a huge sandhill, and on the trails.

I put my snows on last year about this time, and it didn't snow until end of Nov, and barely. Waiting for the high temps to be 45 and lower, higher temps not good for snow tires..but I heard it's supposed to snow next week sometime. Probably not much, but don't want to risk any chance of them dumping salt on the roads while my custom 17's are still on the SL.

Still have to RustStop the underside too!

and to add, got 3 17in alloys for my Vue for free,friend worked at Saturn before it closed, got one from Ebay for $75 with shipping, and 4 almost new Michelin X-Ices for $125,

2 different pairs for the SL of snow tires, still new tread, $115 for all 4.

Craigslist deals came through for us last year!

[lgodave]

CadiEldo67

Can the Astra's TPMS keep track of 8 tires? Or only 4 (with a reset each season)?

Tirerack and my local shop was real good about bundling my Winter Tires and Wheels (on sale plus Michelin discount). Glad you found such a good deal on Craigslist...

Dustineering

Good luck with the Continental ExtremeWinterContact (Right?) tires. I'd be curious to know what you think of them as they wear...

I suppose being in MI you're likely to be seeing Lake Effect Snow soon... much earlier then us here in WI.

Thinking my 2003 ION will be getting it's Winters installed again (Michelin Xi-2) by early November. (When temps start staying below 45F/7C)

As for additional Winter tips/prep:

Might I suggest applying Rain-X to the Windshield... and putting some Rain-X Windshield Fluid Additive in your Winter Washer Fluid (if it isn't Rain-X brand already). It's been very helpful here in reducing the amount of scraping (Snow/Ice Buildup) I've needed to do.

I've also usually had the best luck with -35F/-30F Washer Fluids. (Along with Rain-X additive I tend to use some Winter Blend year round with maybe some 50/50 blending in the summer so I've always got some freeze protection. A friend had gotten some Summer/Water blend from a repair shop once so I've been careful to make sure I keep topped off with "good stuff" before/after a service)

I've also seen way too many -25F/0F that "refreeze" even in much warmer temps. IMO, the Rain-X (Treatment and/or Additive) does tend to limit a complete "white out" if it does happen.

Not to over hype Rain-X but are you using bracketless Wiper Blades in the Winter? (Rain-X's Latitude or Bosch Icon are examples of this... while Michelin sells a "Hybrid" which claims to be a combination of a bracketless/traditional blade.) I've really liked Latitudes over traditional blades, which had left "dead zones" on my Passenger Side because of a curve in the Windshield, and lasted longer.

My last pair of traditional blades, besides leaving a "dead zone", used plastic "caps" to keep the refill blades in place. Well those didn't last very long. Almost lost an entire rubber blade during heavy use. While they aren't as cheap as a traditional blade/refill I don't think I'll be going back. Too many advantages.

[Dustineering]

I did quite a bit of research on these tires before I purchased them. TireRack's test, along with the rebate I received (Spend $500 and get a Magellan RoadMate GPS), led me to buy them. I hope they don't wear as bad as the last pair of Continentals I had.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=135

[AlexM90]

Safety first! Im not a fan of hubcaps, depending on how often you wash your car in the winter, the hubcaps actually build up salt and snow which in turn will lead the steelies to rust. If your already riding on steelies, I say keep them bare.

For the winter I keep my 16" steelies bare, and their easy to wash, not having to take the hubcaps on and off. I also don't like the "fake" look of hubcaps pretending to be a rim.

[blackastra]

Originally Posted by bdshaffer

Man those wheel covers are ugly.

That's an understatement.

[CadiEldo67]

Originally Posted by lgodave

CadiEldo67

Can the Astra's TPMS keep track of 8 tires? Or only 4 (with a reset each season)?

Tirerack and my local shop was real good about bundling my Winter Tires and Wheels (on sale plus Michelin discount). Glad you found such a good deal on Craigslist...

I guess we are going to find out what happens. I'm not actually sure how reset the TPMS, but I'm sure it can't be that difficult.

[Tom S2]

Originally Posted by CadiEldo67

I guess we are going to find out what happens. I'm not actually sure how reset the TPMS, but I'm sure it can't be that difficult.

drive the car about 300' and it resets. remember the tires take 35#. most shops put 32# in and wonder why the sensors are on.

[nicolas_p]

i have 8 sensors on my car and never needed to reset anything because the sensors don't actually know which wheel is which

[phatfire6]

Originally Posted by nicolas_p

the sensors don't actually know which wheel is which

+1. TPMS only activates once you reach a predetermined speed, or are blatantly low in air pressure.

[lgodave]

Suppose it all depends on what kind of TPMS system (factory or aftermarket) you are discussing.

If I bought a vehicle with TPMS I suppose I'd prefer it to be real-time, display Temp, PSI , and Wheel Position. If it didn't have that maybe an aftermarket that does. Maybe even upgrading my existing Non-TPMS vehicle to do that would be well worth the advantage.

If something is going to go wrong... I don't see why anyone wouldn't want an early heads up before it goes completely bad/irreversible.