Anyone ever try Winterforce tires?

[Prince Valiant]

Just purchased a set of winterforce tires from tire rack for winter driving here in WI:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... es&place=6

I purchased them sized 185/60R14. They do also have 175/65r14's and even some 13 inch tires available. Price was 55bucks/tire w/o shipping.

It's a studdable tire.

I've used them on other vehicles in the past with GREAT results. Mounted 4 of them on an AWD jeep grand cherokee and found it to be near unstoppable. Night and day difference from an already wonderful winter vehicle. They compared nicely to others who had blizzaks, but for less than half the cost.

I drive so many miles and find myself in snow quite often. Like a mailman, rain, sleet, snow can't stop me from my work, so an insight that can't be stopped is a must (it's my only car capable of commuting), I figure a good aggressive winter tire gives me the best chance of being where I need to be, no matter the weather.

Plan on mounting them on the OEM wheels, and either finding another OEM set, or purchasing a set of aftermarket wheels w/ dedicated summer tires.

[Guillermo]

Those are usually the cheapest winter tires available.
I don't know anyone that has used them. They look good for deep snow but the higher technology brand name winter tires grip ice better.

[Scott]

I would expect a pretty significant mpg loss going from a narrower LRR all season tire (assuming you have the OEM RE92's) to a wider snow tire.

[Prince Valiant]

I would expect a pretty significant mpg loss going from a narrower LRR all season tire (assuming you have the OEM RE92's) to a wider snow tire.

I'll certainly report what kind of drop I see. Currently averaging about 65mpg in normal driving over the last 5000 miles (I've owned the car for 5 months, and have added 20,000 miles so far). I've haven't had the car during the winter/cold yet, so there is a factor that I can't account for there either.

But I understood there would be a drop, and I am more than okay with that. I considered going to a taller tire even, but felt the few times a year that it gets deep, the 1/2 inch taller winter that I could easily find would not amount to much.

I don't know anyone that has used them. They look good for deep snow but the higher technology brand name winter tires grip ice better.

This may be true. Here in Milwaukee though, they salt the roads so much that we rarely drive on ice...so this is an acceptable trade-off for some. My past experience with these tires however, was that even on ice, while a more modern winter tire might outperform them, the difference b/w the winterforce and your everyday "all-season" tire was night and day.

I will also report any differences in ride/handling quality, road noise, and tire wear over the winter.

[james]

"I drive so many miles and find myself in snow quite often. Like a mailman, rain, sleet, snow can't stop me from my work, so an insight that can't be stopped is a must..."

Hope I'm not snowing on your parade, but the Insight can be stopped. It's not a snowplow, and more that about 5" of snow on the roads (enough to reach the belly pan) will make it very difficult to move.

That said, it does as well as any 2WD car in snow that's not that deep. I've driven mine over 8900 ft Sierra passes in heavy snow. (With tire chains, of course.)

[Prince Valiant]

Hope I'm not snowing on your parade, but the Insight can be stopped

Of this, I am well aware

Since I live in the city, our primary roads are aggressively plowed...so I'm not too worried about ever going through more than even a couple of inches on most the roads I travel. However, I do worry about the side streets of which I live on. They can go unplowed for a couple days, and then plows come by and put up big drifts that might need some momentum to get through

[duane w]

Has anyone tried the Bridgestone Blizzak that comes in original equipment size (165/65-14). Tire rack had them listed in a catalog I got a month ago, but does not list on the web right now, so i forget the model, but it was a Blizzak). I was thinking about a package from Tire rack--steel wheels ($40 each) and the Blizzaks.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Duane.

[Scott]

Tire Rack won't sell a wheel and snowtire combo for an Insight. You would have to order it for a Civic.

[Guillermo]

The latest technology studless winter tires grip ice better then Winterforce (cheap) winter tires WITH studs. Check this out:
(Scroll down to the graph that summaries the results if you don't want to read all of this tire test.)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/tes ... sp?ttid=94

But even cheap winter tires without studs provide much better braking and turning grip on snow and ice then any all season tire.