iqurei

I am just curious how many people have installed winter tires for their RDX. For those who have can they share what tires and wheel size they opted for and what has been their experience so far.

terdonal

Trying to find them in the stock size but having difficulty up here. Hope they have some success searching the US warehouse's tomorrow. May have to go to 17" and use the mags I have from the TSX. Will take them in and try them if they still can't come up with something good in the 18".

schuchmn

There was another thread on this one -- the title mentioned 17" wheels but the discussion was about winter tires. Take a look if you haven't seen it. 17" wheesl might not be a bad choice.

amypinseattle

I have not done chains or studded snow tires since I've had AWD cars. To be truthful, if that isn't going to get me where I need to go, I don't need to go...

I've gone with all season tires - primarily due to space limitations. They have been good enough. This is when I've lived in conditions where we got snow and ice - MN, GA, and Eastern WA, and now primarily rain with other stuff thrown in- Western WA.

terdonal

Thanks for the tip, will look for it.

terdonal

Yes I was thinking the same as winters have been pretty mild up here but we do get some black ice and I travel very early in the morning to work. Also want to feel comfortable if I choose to go up to Whistler or out on some of the back roads.

I am into photography and hope to be a litte less restricted on some of the back roads this winter.

Not too sure how well the all seasons we have will perform on snow and ice as I have always run 4 snows all the way around.

jaobrien6

The one thing that most people don't take into consideration is the AWD helps you get going in the snow, but it doesn't do anything to help you stop. Snow tires significantly improve your traction on snow and ice, and that makes a big difference in stopping distances, as well as handling (even SH-AWD isn't going to do much if all 4 tires lose traction and you start to slide).

schuchmn

Last time I drove V-rated all season tires (Michelins on a '95 Integra GSR), they were awful on cold roads even without ice or snow. I think the tread compound had to get warm to get sticky.

iqurei

I called up my dealer and he recommended Blizzak DMZ3. Tirerack seems to have good reviews for this tire. I am debating whether to get them installed on my current factory wheels this season or wait.

RSXster

W/ AWD you wont need Winter tires. Just use the stock All-Seasons and you will be fine unless you live in like Alaska or some remote area in Canada/US where they dont plow at all and have lots of ice.

If they use Salt/Sand in your area and plow then all you need are All-Seasons.

schuchmn

Beg to disagree. Winter tires will always give you better traction in winter conditions. Unless you live in Florida., salt and plows often can't keep up with smow and ice on all of the miles of roads.

neo1738

Like Jayobrien6 said...winter tires greatly decrease STOPPING Distances. I work in EMS so if it is snowing, I cant wait for a plow before I go to work. I ordered the Blizzak's from TireRack with their cheapest alloy rims (which arent terrible looking) and new TPMS, should be here in a week If you do choose to order new rims, make sure you call to place the order because you have to have the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitor Sensors) or you will get codes all day long.

schuchmn

The car is also less likely to fishtail or lose it in a curve.

iqurei

I went ahead and got Blizzaks installed on my current wheels - the dealer here in calgary is selling them for CAD$190 per tire which based on my research here is not that bad.. of course tirerack is cheaper but freight and brokerage can add up when you are importing from the US.... I may wait till next year to find a good deal on wheels / sensors ...

DrMaturin

I currently drive a Volvo XC90 (I'm looking to get an RDX when my lease is up in the spring). The first year I didn't use winter tires and I had some pretty scary moments. Also, I had trouble getting up my driveway which is at a slight angle. The next year I used winter tires and the difference was instantly noticeable. AWD or no, I'll always use winter tires from now on, no matter what I drive. You may only need them once but once is enough.

oilhead69

I just ordered Toyo Open Country G-02 Plus winter tires in the 235/55R18 size, they exceed transport canada's winter tire rating, you can see them at 1010tires. com, goto http://www.1010tires.com/tiresearch....ategory=Winter and you can see their review which is pretty good. I will post an update after this Tuesday (Nov 14/06) and give my review. It is pretty tough to find winter tires in this size though, I completely love the RDX and the only thing I would change is the tire characteristics so that we had more selection available to us.

arefog

We recently installed Michelin Latitude Ice-X tires in the OEM size on the stock 18" rims. While we haven't had any meaningful snow yet I can say they appear to be just as quiet and handle/ride as well as the stock all weather tires on dry pavement. They have great customer feedback on the Tire Rack site and they're less expensive than the Bridgestones.

Dick fogg

Flamesfan

I have had the Toyo's on my RDX for almost 3 weeks , the traction is pretty decent overall. Up here in Calgary we have had lots of ice and snow to test these puppies out and overall I would give them a VG rating . The cost was $1200.00 CDN for tires /installation/balancing and tire tax.

oilhead69

I would have to agree with you, we have had a lot of snow here in Edmonton lately, and last few days have been really bad. My winter tires (Toyo Open Country G-02) were put on today and I have logged quite a few miles testing them out around town and on a couple of highways. I am very pleased with them, good traction, good stopping ability at intersections, I took it on quite a few back roads with a lot of snow and it handled great. Overall I am very pleased and would recommend these tires to others.

terdonal

Just got the Bridgestone Blizzak DMZ3's installed on Saturday. Maybe a little noiser than the stock Michelin's and handling is probably down a little. Will also take a few hundred clicks to wear off the slickness that comes when new.

Don't want to push them too hard as they are softer and will be susceptible to faster wear if I push them as I do the stock tires. Of course I say that now but I am sure I will forget that as I hit my favourite twisties every day.

Will see what opportunities I have to utilize their capabilities as we move into our West coast winter which down low is usually more rain than snow but black ice out where I live in the very early mornings can be an issue.

The Michelin Latitude X ice were my first choice but couldn't seem to find any and got the last set of DMZ3's in the stock size, at least at this time, that Volco could get their hands on. Their price was also $65.00 a tire cheaper than the only other tire dealer that I could find that said they could get them.

FEPTS

I just put a set of 16" with toyo open country g02+ on my rdx yesterday, I'm surpise the rdx fit 16" as well, so you guy can save a lot of money by going 16"

Skeandhu

16" ??!! I agree that this is a significant price saving (and impressive that they fit!), but there must be some serious handling deficiencies by having the huge sloppy sidewalls.

Out of curiousity, what did you do for the tire-pressure monitoring? Where you able to buy additional valve stems from the dealership?

FEPTS

I didn't get the monitoring for my new set of wheels, it cost too much, I just live with the tpms light on

and the handling is not that bad, but who will drive that fast in winter anyways

Skeandhu

Good to note. Any idea of how much they were charging?

Me. (Just don't tell my wife). LOL

BTW, can you post pics? I'd like to see what 16s look like on the RDX...

acurardx

My friend who is a mechanic told me that it also high depends on individual driving habit.

In Toronto GTA, I think unless for those heavy snowing days/snow storm (maybe several times a year), I think all seasons tires would be fine if you drive slowly and carefully. For those exceptional days, take public transit.

FEPTS

dealer told me is around $200 per sensor, but after market is around $300 a set cdn

I will post some picture if I have time to take some

Deak69

I get the feeling that lots of people don't understand what the advantages of winter tires are. It is not just about snow....at any temperature below 7C the compound in a performance or allseason tire starts to get too hard to provide optimum grip. The compound in a winter tire stays soft to much colder temperatures, and grip is much better on all surfaces, even dry ones. This softer compound is usually combined with a tread pattern optimized for snow or ice, but even on dry roads stopping distances are significantly shorter with winter tires in cold climates. If you live in Canada, you NEED winter tires, end of story. The same is true in parts of the USA....Californians and Floridians can save their money!

castor

Winter Tires FTW!

Once you have them you'll never go back to All Seasons in the winter.

I live in a crazy snow belt north of Toronto, just outside Collingwood, ON.

I'm getting some 17's....maybe Dunlop SJ6's /(have them on my wife's SUV and they are as good at the Blizzaks I had on my Subaru).

terdonal

I always run winter tires all round. Have them mounted on oem rims and use after market wheels for summer use. All Season tires is generally a misnomer as most All Season tires are not DOT approved snow and ice.

The only ones I know of offhand were the Nokian WS that I ran on my last TSX and they performed quite well in the dry and very well in the snow and ice. Not that we get a ton of it.

I drive a minimum of a 100 km's a day and leave for work early in the morning (3:30 - 4:00 a.m.) when black ice hides in wait and if it snows the roads are still not plowed. I find it to be a major safety factor for handling when the winter conditions are there with some loss of performance on dry roads but still pretty good in the rain.

INEEDATRUCK

The SH-AWD system in this car mated to the tires that come standard seem to be a fine combination for the snow. The day after I got the car it snowed about 12". The car was covered in my driveway which was not shoveled at the time and the truck plowed out great. Once I got on the unplowed roads again it kept itself in a straight line without much work from me at all. I wouldn't waste my money on snow tires unless you plan on driving on a lot of ICE which no AWD system no matter how advanced can handle without studs or chains.

jaobrien6

Agree 100%, and no matter how many times people say this, it still doesn't seem to sink in. AWD gets you going, winter tires help you stop.

terdonal

You are most certainly right about that.

Lrpba300

I didn't put any winter tires on this last winter b/c I wanted to see how the Michlins did in the snow. They weren't bad, but not great. Stopping is the problem. If you go over to the MDX board, many guys like the GY Fortera tires. I had the older style on my '03 MDX & they worked great. Smooth, great handling, braking was better. The only down side was 1-1.5 worse mpg b/c of the better GRIP!