we got some snow here in chicago area tuesday nite and i was out driving with my tsx, it handled okay, i used manual mode and always start moving at 2nd gear. i did feel the crappiness of our OEM tires though. hope my future goodyear eagle f1 a/s handles better. the VSA did work when i tried to give it more gas on a empty street. the car just felt like it pulled itself back.

 

drove from NC to NJ Friday. started my drive at 6:30am, arrived at my destination at about 5:30PM. Numerous multiple vehicle accidents on 95 (many of them were suv's) My car handled extremely well with the stock tires.

 

Well, as promised, I'm posting again, because it snowed and iced a lot today here in good ol' Mass (still is!).

My conclusion:
1) The TSX and the Blizzaks worked out awesome, I'm so glad I chose them both!! While it did take me almost 3.5 hours to get from work to home (a commute that generally takes me 25 minutes in normal to light traffic, and 40 minutes in rush hour traffic!), it wasn't because I was stuck... It was because everyone else was! The car handled great, I did have to go through a few completely uncleared roads with almost a foot of snow accumulated, but those were no problem at all! In fact, it was fun to drive with complete control!

2) The VSA is awesome - kept the car straight, and right on track!

3) REALLY glad I have MT - I almost believe that I couldn't drive an AT in this weather!

4) The ABS still drove me nuts, but I think I'm getting used to it.

5) Heated seats are still my best friend.

6) The wipers, while better than having the old wipers on my civic (conventional, with all the holes where ice gets stuck and the wipers don't clean), ice up really easily. I had to keep getting out to clean them - at some point, my passenger side wiper wasn't even touching the windshield, the snow was! ... But then again, I was basically parked, barely moving for 3.5 hours and every one was doing the same...

So all in all: TSX + Blizzaks + Winter in MA =

As a side note for those of you who were following the thread about the dude in WI who sold his tsx for a bimmer: All the cars that were stuck spinning wheels (and holding up traffic) on CLEARED roads that I saw were either Toyota sedans or 325i bimmers.

 

yeah, but that dude got a bmw 328xi, which is AWD.

How much are Blizzaks normally for 4? I'm sick of trading cars with my folks, they are using my TSX and I'm using their MDX since I drive far for work and it's up north near the WI/IL border where there is a lot more snow. The 04 MDX, while quicker than our TSX due to the V6, it handles and corners horribly.

 

My TSX + Dunlop Winter Sport M3s handled perfectly in today's ice/slush mix in NJ. I love snow tires.

My parents think I'm for buying snow tires, but I swear by them. They make driving in this weather so much easier.

 

I like my jeep grand cherokee =D

 

had no problems with my blizzak ws-50's in today's icy rain, i am on 3rd and final winter w/these tires. i can't wait to next week when i take it thru back roads of VT to Killington.

 

I have summer tires... Kumho Ecsta SPT. You know why? In NC, it's still 75 degrees...

 

The VSA has surprised me with it's ability to keep the car pointed in the same direction it's moving. It's a strange sensation when it brakes just one of the rear tires and you feel the car rotate, seemingly magically, back into alignment with its inertial moment. Very cool.

ABS is a little weird at first but it's easy to adapt to. Pretty much you just brake as hard as is necessary for the given situation and don't concern yourself at all with need to modulate the brakes to avoid locking them up. Of course you'll still want to be smart about your braking. Don't wait till your at the apex of turn to start braking thinking the ABS will automagically make the car move smoothly through the corner. You still need the same consideration for body dynamics that you always did.

As for the wipers, when it's coming down hard like that, I find it very helpful to blast the defrost. It sort of keeps the windshield lubricated with melting snow. It sucks that you have to dessicate your eyeballs in the meantime though.

I've got a set of brandy new Blizzaks waiting to go on my car and not a moment too soon. I've had em for a week now but have been unable to find a spare 30 minutes to swap em out. I hope they're as nice as I've been hearing. I've got lofty expectations at this point.

 

when I had my driver's side seat cover replaced by the dealer-they told me the heat in the seat was not working-they were ordering parts-never had to use it-live in Hampstead, NC.

 

I searched around, the cheapest and best deal I found for the Blizzak WS-60s was tirerack.com... with some decent alloy wheels, it came to just under $800 installed. I would have swapped the Blizzaks onto my stock wheels and just bought some mags in the spring, but I ended up with the 16" winter tires (partly for cost differential, but mostly because I wanted to go with a bit of a smaller tire for winter)...

And I'm without my TPMS this winter because I couldn't afford to buy another sensor system to use with my winter tires... I could have swapped them from my stock tires, but I figured I have my old-fashioned TPMS anyway - a good ol' tire gauge ;-) I decided I could deal with the little 'i' on for a few months.

In case you're wondering, an extra TPMS system would run you a couple hundred bucks extra, but at least you won't have to deal with the 'i', you'll have your TPMS year-round, and you don't have to swap the sensors from summer to winter to summer again.

I hear the Dunlops are good too, not sure if they're cheaper... Anyone? Nokians are good too but more expensive I think.

Lukeatron: Thanks for the ABS tips, I'll keep them in mind. I've actually never had ABS engage in mid-turn... only straight up stops. And now I've resorted to pumping my brakes like I always did to avoid the ABS, and that stops the car fine too.

As for the wipers, I had the defroster on full blast the whole time, but I guess when you're parked for most of 3.5 hours in traffic with snow coming down at warp speed a couple of inches per hour, nothing will help!

On a side note, I think I might have screwed up the wipers in the snow. I was trying to keep the car moving but had to clean off the wiper on the driver's side, so I rolled down the window and caught the wiper enough to knock the ice off. The ice came off but now my driver's side wiper is loose at the pivot joint. Does anyone know if I just tighten that pivot joint, and with what - I think pliers would be far too damaging?

 

I used to shut down the VSA when there's snow, because it would always kick in early, and cut out the fuel in the middle of corner. I have snow tires on Accord rims, the traction is much better than the stock of course. Right now my front lip is scrapping all over the place, I need to raise my car by 2 inch if the weather get worst..

 

there was about 1 cm of fresh snow on the ground last weekend and the stock tires just completely suck. I was only going around 30 k/h and it took forever to come to a stop Lol. also turning onto my street, understeer like mad hahah.. i think my van handles and stops better than the tsx right now...gotta get some winter tires during the break..and more goodies =)

 

You gotta retrain yourself not to do that. I know it's hard when it's all but instinct from driving that way for so many years. The ABS can pump the brakes way faster and more accurately than you can. Plus it only pumps on the wheels that need it.

I've played around with it in an empty parking lot a while ago and you can stop way faster by just letting the ABS deal with the tire slip.

 

Wohooo... expecting 25-30cm of snow tonight and tomorrow, it will be fun.

 

Just out of curiosity for all the people who are saying the Blizzaks are great, have you guys ever had any other winter tires to compare them too? I am not trying to come across rude I am just curious to know what winter tires people feel they are better than.

 

Just came back from driving when it was raining ice and snow last night. Since I never driven in the snow, I just tried to drive slow. I got bored so I tried to drive harder and VSA kicked in a lot and there were 2 lights that the light changed to yellow so quick that I had to step on the brakes hard. It was fun feeling the ABS kick in and it kicked in for like the 5 seconds it took me to stop.

 

I got stuck at the end of my driveway in Detroit today. Snow sucks.

 

We're only half-way through the storm and we've got a good 18 inches up here in Aurora so far. Add that to the 3 feet we already had and it's pretty crazy up here.

The Nokian RSi's I put on this year have been awesome in the snow, but at this depth, my car is more of a snow plow. It's so deep in some places that the snow lifts all four wheels of the ground.

 

Dan, you live in Aurora? I live just up the road in Newmarket! to locals!

 

I forgot to add that I put my good heated mirrors to use. Thank god for those! The mirror froze over so all I saw was ice on it. I tried to brush it off but it froze on completely lol.

 

Nice! We'll have to get together when the snow melts...

Here's Street Spirit standing behind our snow pile:

 

Wow, those are some nice banks!! I'm at school in windsor right now and theres not nearly that much accumulation. Previous to last nights snow fall, we had only dust. boo! Can't wait to come home and play in that, only 4 more exams standing in my way lol.

 

Another Torontonian here! Drove my baby out to go to the gym at around 5 (and it was closed...argh) and I just love the car. I have Dunlop Graspic DS-2s on my car. Maybe it's psychological but I think my old Michelin Arctic Alpins worked better, but perhaps that's cos I was driving an Accord then and it had less power.

But whatever the winter tires couldn't contend with, the VSA stepped in and took care of the situation. VSA rocks!

 

My guy was actually wowed by the TSX in the snow. He had it a couple days before he gets his rental as his WRX is in the body shop after a 60' Maple tree fell on it during the ice storm this past week (we're getting it back in a month as there was no frame damage!!! we're very happy as we think we have the 2 best cars for us and they don't make a "real" WRX anymore... The car snapped at least one 7" limb even! Such a fighter... )

But I digress. He was driving to work passing all sorts of cars spun out on the side of the highway, and he didn't have any problems at all. Of course, he's also not a dumbass and doesn't drive like an idiot in the snow, but still, it did quite nicely.

 

Nobody wants to hear about how good you have it.

 

I'm primarily comparing the Blizzaks to Good Years and Michelins (I won't even name the cheapie winters on other people's cars). On my previous car I had first gotten Blizzaks (an early generation), which were awesome. I chose to try Michelin X-Ice once the Blizzaks were worn, seeing as I'd heard they were good too, and they were slightly cheaper than the Blizzaks... No dice, I was so disappointed with them. Good Years weren't so bad (Ultra Grip I think?) but Blizzaks are better and have gotten me through everything on my previous car and on the tsx - great tire in snow and ice... The X-Ice were awful in snow, and not good on ice either. Now my mother and my uncle also drive with Blizzaks, and like them a lot too.

Then again, I've never had much luck with Michelins - bubbles in sidewalls causing blow outs (and it wasn't even my car!), bad handling, poor tread, etc... but those X-Ice tires really were the straw that broke the camel's back.

But you know, I think tires are personal too in a way - a lot of it is the driver and how the tire handles in conjunction with the way the driver drives... Just my

 

i don't think i would've made it anywhere in the oem michelins. shit, i couldn't even get up my driveway today to swap my tires (didn't think i could've procrastinated any longer).

running viking snowtechs. no problems, but, i keep forgetting to disable vsa when in the snow.

 

I was up 8:30a.m today and back to office for study. I was disappointed due to the lack of snow (on anywhere). Well, things changed pretty fast. After 5hrs of studying, went out to McDonald and wow, snow was all over the place, about 15cm high. Alot of car got stuck and I keep revving in lower gear everywhere, besides the cop who got stuck too... lol

I have Viking Snowtech for my winter setup, not the best on highspeed, but does it job on the snow. I wonder how many of you turn off your VSA in snow? I turn it off (became a habit) most of the time, because it get pretty useless especially when you deeply stuck in the snow (no more traction). If it keeps cutting your fuel due to slippage, what's the percentage of you getting out of those snow bank? 0.

 

I havent had good luck with the X-Ice either. I am still debating whether i need winter rubber here in Cleveland but if the answer is yes i am contemplating the blizzaks or the nokian hakka rsi's. With that said the best winter rubber i ever had was the toyo g02.

 

Car in garage FTMFW!

Too bad, I don't have that option.

 

After the last storm I decided the OEMs on my 06 are terrible in the snow, I've never felt so unsafe. I just got my set of Goodyear UltraGrips but they're not mounted yet. I'll try to get that done this week and post back!

 

snow should be banned, hate the stuff

 

You must have a pretty miserable life in Iceland then. One might suggest residing somewhere south of the arctic circle.

 

I hope you have better luck than I did. Have heard good things about Nokians but I couldn't find them cheaper than the Blizzaks. I think my sister was running Toyos on her Prelude... Oh wait, those mighta been summer tires. Oops. Nevermind
But they were good summer tires

 

A friend of mine has the Nokians and swears by them. I find them to be noisy, but he claims that the grip is better than anything he's ever seen.

I'm running Pirelli Winter Carving tires and I've been very impressed. We got close to 50 cm of snow over here, and my TSX ploughed through everything. I had to deactivate VSA on a number of occasions to allow the tires to bite through snow banks, but made it through everything...

 

to all the GTA-ers in this thread... I'm also running the Snowtechs and they're fantastic... can't complain at all... I was the designated driver on Sunday a bunch of us went to see a movie, went to the mall etc... most other cars couldn't handle the snow but the TSX with snows was fantastic... I kept my VSA on as I never got stuck - is it always better to have it disabled in snow??


My ONLY beef with the TSX in snow is that whenever I open a door (any door) the snow falls in and all over the seats, and I can never get it all off...

 

Wow in all honesty I could not even have imagined driving my TSX on Sunday here in Toronto. My car is used as a casual driver, since I am off for the holidays I don’t drive it much in the winter. I take the MDX out during the rough weather, seriously though if anyone needs SUV tires I recommend the Good Year Fortera’s with triple thread technology. I have had those installed for a little over two years now great in snow and all year round.

 

My Toyo Observe GO-2+ did a very good job with those 2 major storms we've had so far.
Every one was sticking @ 40km/h braking often in the right lane, seems like I was the only one comfortable enough to pass on the left lane. I luv this car.

 

Winter settled in pretty good and early here in Edmonton but nothing like what you guys just got out east. My sympathies to you.

I'm running 16" Blizzak Revo's and am extremely happy, especially since they were on sale for $79 ea. from the Tirerack.com. My VSA hardly ever comes on because the tires bite so well. There aren't many other types of vehicles I'd rather be driving in the Canadian winter than a FWD stick with traction control.
Wrap it all up in something as beautiful as the TSX and that's a winter I can handle.