Just curious if anyone Changes to Snow Tires on their RWD F-Types for winter. I have 2018 RWD F-type and live in New York, although I don't intend on Driving in snow, but will use the car in winter and roads/highways do get slick in winter months.

 

If you don't plan on driving in the snow, get a good 4 season tire (all weather...) The compound is designed to provide much better grip than the stock summer performance tires when the temperature drops below 50 degrees. Depending of your wheel size, Nitto Motivo perform very well.

 

Hi Robert,

I live in western NY and will be throwing away the summer tires that came with my 2019 based on this from Continental:
Based on comments here I will most likely switch to Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 all-season tires in the fall. If the snow is too bad I will stay home!

My dealer and a local tire retailer were not interested in my summer tires with 100 miles.

Bill

 

I'm planning on putting winter tires on my RWD S V6 somewhere around November. It gets cold enough around here (Boulder, CO; occasional -5F days) that "all-season" is a lie. The rubber compound on a proper winter tire comes into play even on dry, cold roads.

With that said (and sorry if this is hijacking the thread), does anyone have recommendations on good winter tires? TireRack only offers Pirelli Sottozeros in my size. Those might be wonderful tires, but I'd like to at least have options.

I do see that Michelin makes the Pilot Alpin 5 in an appropriate size. Any others to consider?

Also: what about going to a narrower tire for winter use? Is the claim that reduced contact width translates into greater adhesion (because of greater ground-force) credible?

Corey

 

Are you aware that there are 3 season and 4 season all weather tires?

 

I don't know that I've seen anyone make that distinction. I take "all-season" to imply that it's all four seasons, which includes winter. But from all of my reading on the matter, all-season tires are not winter tires and do not have rubber compounds designed to remain plastic well below freezing. I suppose you can take a winter tire and run it all year (I've been lazy and have yet to switch out the tires on my Impreza). A winter tire is plenty sticky in the summer, but undoubtedly wears faster.

With all that said - if there are suitable all-seasons, again, with compounds explicitly designed for low temperatures, I'd be pleased if you pointed me at them.

Corey

 

That was my understanding and belief also. We had to pick new fleet tires for company vehicles (in the northeast and in snow). I met with several manufacturers and the fine folks at Goodyear invited me to a very nice presentation and tour. I never knew that there are 3 seasons and 4 seasons tires. Ultimately we went with Goodyear Weather Ready tires.

I did not want to believe the hype but after a winter (and a terrible one at that) we all agreed that they were amazing and did as well as the Blizzak that we used before.

https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/tires...e-weatherready

I spoke with Nitto and tried the Motivo on the F-Type in 35 degrees weather. They performed amazingly well (but NOT in snow)

 

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/al...d-winter-tires

Good read also

--

 

I find it interesting that Nitto does not include the "Winter Performance" bar on their page for the Motivos, but they do include it for the NT90W studless snow.

The Goodyear page at least acknowledges cold conditions, not just wet ones.

I'm still a bit skeptical. I ran all-seasons on my Impreza 8 months of the year and winter tires the remaining four. The all-seasons (Continental PureContact EcoPlus) perform fine in the snow, but the Goodyear UltraGrip Ice are astonishing. I certainly don't expect the RWD Jag to be as sure-footed on ice as the Subie was, but I wouldn't mind getting close. This my new daily driver...

 

That helps clarify things, thank you. The list of all-weather tires also provides a good starting point as I look to swap out the stock P-Zeros when winter approaches here.

 

The biggest concern for me was the avoidance of tire damage when driven at near freezing temperature. I never drove the F-Type in snow (in spite of AWD) but I wanted the ability to drive it if I wanted on a nice 35-40 degree day. For my son, because of size availability I went with Nokian and they performed very well (WR G4) in snow as well.

I was skeptical too.

 

Greetings all. I thought I would put my 2 cents in as I am in the Detroit area and I intend to drive my RWD F-type S year round. My strategy is to utilize a specialized winter tire/wheel package from November through April. I have conferred with the folks at my local Discount Tire and they are proposing I go with 245/40 19" package on all four corners. So my choices from Discount Tire are:

1) Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 - my first choice as I have had these before and they were just excellent on my BMW 128i. Last forever too. Not cheap though!
2) Bridgestone BLIZZAK LM-32 - well reviewed and I have had them before, but I thought they wear out rather quickly.
3) Pirelli WINTER SOTTOZERO 3 - also well reviewed, but may not last all that long from what I am reading. Expensive like the Nokians too.
4) Hankook Winter i Cept evo 2 W320 - not all that well reviewed - so I am not considering these.

Note that Michelin X-Ice, General Altimax Arctic are also very good but not available in this size. I don't think the Goodyear UltraGrip Ice is either. The Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 is also available, but I think the R2 is more suitable for Detroit where I will be on cold pavement far more often than packed snow/ice.

I am going to use these cheap wheels for winter use only (they are about $170/each) - and they look decent:




I'll let y'all know how it all works out in November...

 

+1 on the Hakkapelittas, The best by far (though you pay for the privilege). Running the narrower 245s front and back makes a lot of sense, but keep in mind that the wheel offsets will need to be different front and rear, otherwise the rear wheels will sit inboard and look silly. To leave the oem face alignment you will need a 19 x 8.5 - 49mm offset in front and a 19 x 8.5 - 12mm offset in the rear. To address this issue using the same offset front and rear, you could use adapter spacers in the rear.

 

I had the Nokians (20 inch) on my RWD XF supercharged. They worked well. Had issues on hills with ice, but I don't think anything short of studded tires would have helped that.

 

I drive my V6S rear wheel drive year around. Living in Boston it is a little cooler and snowier than New York but basically similar.
I use summer performance from April to december and Blizzak LM32s for winter. Very happy with them. I prefer not to drive in snow but only because I don't trust the other drivers not to buy me.
I personally think that dedicated winters are far better than all seasons in our climate, there are moments when you really want all the control you can get
Ps kept the sizes unchanged from the summers for wheels and tires

 

Just another note. With the Nokians, I went with non-staggered widths so I could rotate them if needed. With my oem wheels I was able to do that as the XF from and rears were only different by an inch width. I both summer wheels and used the oem performance rubber.

 

Pard, I just went through the same learning curve to come to the same conclusion for my '16 R.

After much shopping and comparison, I went with the Nokian Hakkapelittas.

For winters here in The Minneapple, good winter tires are almost requisite. I've used quite a few different brands on my different cars over the years, and these are second-to-none and better than most at traction, plus they last the longest. They're worth the money. The other top-of-the-line winner is Michelin, but they're not made in the 19's I want. I think I prefer the Nokians anyway.

I, too, would like to have the same width on all four corners. Not only for ability to rotate them, and thereby have them last a bit longer, but also because using tires as wide as the rear OEMs just doesn't make as much sense for winter traction.

Then for rims, winter is terribly hard on their finish. Fully powder-coated, with no milled surfaces, hold up best finish-wise. Plus, dedicated winter rims means I can then go with 19" rims in order to get taller sidewalls on the winter tires. (Not only better for winter traction, but also for better winter ride comfort.)

So I went with the same size for all four corners: 255-40-19s. (Bonus: 19s are less expensive tires than 20s, too.)

I then shopped rims harder than I shopped the tires. I like a lip on my rims. I just prefer that look. Finding fully powder-coated with a lip proved damned difficult -- only individually made, two- or three-piece wheels. Expensive, plus they take months, not weeks, to get. For winter wheels, no less. So I shopped and shopped and learned I had to go outside the boxes to find less-expensive, one-piece rims.

I've decided I'll have new rims powder-coated before I use them -- once I've proven they clear the brakes of my R. (Steel brakes, 15".) Having them re-finished is cheaper and faster than the custom-made option.

After researching specs of wheel after wheel, it appears TSW Jaramas should fit, but they just might not clear the brakes. They're 8" wide with 40 offsets. If they don't clear the brakes, I'll settle for no lip. TSW Sebrings are fine-looking no-lip rims that are not "outside the box." TSW guarantees they will fit on a '16 R with steel brakes. (They're 9" wide.)

For my white-with-black-top-and-all-black-trim convertible, I want black rims. Sebrings even come in all-powder-coated-all-black.

I'm going through these contortions in order to have lips on my rims. (What a man won't do to get beautiful lips on his rims.)

Putting the same size on all four corners of an F-Type does mean I will now go through another learning curve: wheel spacers.

Unhingd mentioned there should be threads about wheel spacers on this forum, but I have yet to find one. (Forum use is another learning curve I'm going through.)

Will you be using spacers? I presume some are good and some are bad.

Call me newb; I'll be learning more.

 

255 tires will not fit properly on an 8" wheel. You will need a minimum of 8.5" and preferably 9".

 

Wow. Discount Tire said they'd work and ordered both simultaneously for me. I'll look into it further. Thanks, again, Unhingd.