MTLer

Thanks for the info!

Yeah i have 15" Blizzaks on my Olds Alero, not bad, looking for something that performs along those lines if not better, and if the Hak 2's do just that. I will definately look into them as well as the nordman. Do they make them in the size you suggested?

Thanks

iTimmy

I just looked at the Nordman's that are available, and closest size you can get is a 215/55R16 I compared that to the Hak2 price and the Hak2 in the optimal 205/60R15 size is about $8 less per tire, so it would only make sense to use the Hak2. If you can not find them in your area, send me a PM and and I can get you prices.

MTLer

Didn't get a chance to call more dealers today, will do so tommarow. Just to compare, what do you think of the Toyo Observe line... mainly the garit HT and the G-03.

I would trust Fins to makes a better tire than Japs but it got a good review so just putting it out there.

Thanks

curls

I REALLY liked the Toyo X-10 I had on my Integra, BUT...

I like the Nokian Hakka's my wife's Protege had a LOT more than the Toyo's.

iTimmy

I honestly can't say how good or bad the Toyo's may be. Toyo has horrible distribution through out America so there is no point in me paying much attention to their line, simply because I couldn't get them even if I wanted to - niether can my competetion, so Toyo completely misses the boat with indpendent tire dealers.

I will say, that when I was in Ivalo Finnland, there was not a toyo found any where. They have all of the top of the line snow's there to test at their own facility, to compare to their tires directly. They do this to learn how to improve on their own design and to show just how much better they are.... In other words, only the best get shipped out there, and the Toyo's weren't any where to be seen. When you deal with the Finn's at Nokian, you learn to trust them, they are fanatical about what they do and that is creating the safest winter tire in the world.

Vanos

there are tons of nokian tires on ebay

vipermz666

yo what size are your michelins on the tsx...????

excited

Wheels 5x100\5x4.5 +42mm offset

Tires Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2 - P225/45R17



Excited

sauceman

Bought my WR's. Will be looking forward to trying them by mid-December.

In the meantime, I'm leaving out west for two weeks. We'll see how Edmonton looks like in late October fall.

MTLer

So i got a quote for the unstudded hak 2's for about 1160$ CDN Tax in with steelies this is a 205/60/R16 package.

I will get them installed sometime..what's the general consensus on when to install winter tires? I don't want unneccesary tread wear by putting them on too early.

Thanks

The Judge

Would a 98 accord 16" tires fit on a TSX, and are the offset's the same?
Also has antone had expreriences with Dunlop Graspic tires?

Thanks!

narci

Sounds pricey.

Someone around toronto posted a price of $142 CDN + tax each for Nokians and then $50 CDN a steelie.

Comes to about $883 CDN

sauceman

MTLer, being myself from the area, it looks about right.

You'd be good to go on winter tires installed around Nov 20th to beginning of December. Should be fine in Montreal.

MTLer

Thanks

SPARKIE

My buddy got them last winter for his accord (cheap at Walmart). Good in snow, terrible on dry and really noisy!

MattR82

Hi Tireguy,
I am new to the acurazine site, but have read many of your excellent posts regarding snow tires. I am from NJ, but am in school in Massachusetts. I have an 05 TSX automatic. I want to get the Hakka 2's for the TSX, but all the sts tires (which I found from the Nokian site) in NJ say that the TSX is not made to fit the Hakka 2's. I gave them the 205/60R16 size for the Hakka's, but they said the only tire they have from Nokian that "fits" the TSX is the WR. I want a designated snow tire, not an all season tire. They are recommending Bridgestone Blizzak's in the same config as the stock TSX tire. What should i do?
Thanks Again,
Matt

Anyone else with information, please chime in too!

narci

Blizzaks are not a true snow tire. After about 50% treadware, they are rated as an all season tire and not a snow tire anymore.

zircon

Anyone know who retails 16" steel rims for snow tires in Canada (205/60/16)?

dP-

Your dealer - I picked some Honda OEM steel rims for $50/each.

narci

which dealership?

steel wheels or rims?

zircon

Really? They (Honda) quoted me 84 per rim, Canadian Tire was 95 + taxes of course. Both seem high to me for a steel wheel.

curls

I know my local Honda dealership has 16" OEM Steelies for $59.25 each + $65/set for mounting and balancing of your tires (I have used snow tires to bring them to put on).

Under $60 is a GREAT deal, and they're OEM so they're hubcentric for Honda/Acura and of better quality than Canadian Tire ones (which are $69.00, lol)

zircon

actually Canadian Tire quoted me 95 plus tax for 16 steelies. I live in Windsor and will go to discount tire in Detroit to pick up alloys for the same price (US$). Screw these bozos.

dP-

I got them from Markham Acura. The service manager chatted with me about winter tires and told me that the dealership got some early purchase from the manufacturer in July and thats why they can offer the X-Ice package at a very competitve price. It worked out to be nearly the same as Costco (who use generic steel rims). I ended up just picknig up the rims since I'm getting some Hak2's.

HoRRo

Got mine sitting in garage now, the treads look damn sexy:

Honda/Acura Steelies with Hakka2's (205/60/16)

http://tsx.horro0912.com/winter/

excited

You want to see sexy. Here's twins draped in an orange nighty:

(Also garage bound at the moment)



Excited

sauceman

Stuck my nails in these today, and the rubber is pretty soft too, should be good. Not nearly as soft as the RSi's though. Those should be ridiculously efficient on ice.

My WR's are on the rims as of today, now I just gotta patience out for a month still and I'll try and give a good review of their performance vs Michelin Pilot Alpins

HoRRo

lol excited, nice pic. FWIW, the Hakka2's apparently are T-Rated (190km/h), which is quite nice for a winter tire.

rmpage

What is the advantage of a 16" rim with a winter tire? Or is it just easier to find steel wheels in that size?

I just put my factory alloys back on for the winter today.

gdcwatt

The contact patch shape of the 60-series 16" tire is longer and narrower than that of the 50-series 17" snow tire for the TSX. The total area of the contact patch should be about the same, driven largely by the weight of the car, which doesn't change in this scenario, so you'd think traction would be the same, driven by lbs/sq in - but it's not. As the tire rolls forward, more tire actually touches each small area of slippery ground, looking for bite, and whereas a wider tire might ride up onto the snow, a narrower one tends to cut through it. The narrower tire also resists sideways motion better (ie. less prone to fishtail).

The first number in the tire size, say 205, is the total width of the tire, not of the tread, in mm. If you look at the same model of tire, a 205/60 will have a wider, shorter contact patch than a 205/70, although both should have a 205mm maximum width.

It also depends on the tire you're looking at too. The new Bridgestone Blizzak REV-01, 205/60-16, has a narrower tread (contact patch) than a Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50, 195/55-15; I happened to see both side by side at a Mazda dealer, and went to confirm this at tirerack.com.

While size matters, tread compound and tread pattern are probably more important; low profile snow tires do work, but I've never driven a TSX in the snow, and don't know how much/well VSA and traction control can compensate for other factors. Given where you drive, look over the survey results/comments at tirerack.com, 1010tires.com, tiretrends.com, and the chatrooms like this one.

rmpage

Hey, thanks for the detailed explanation gdcwatt. That's exactly what I was looking for.

ryanhook

Mine are enroute from BC right now. I too went with Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2s, but 205/60/16 on steelies. It was a toss-up between the Nokian WR and the Pilots — I was getting prices from local retailers that brought the Nokians in line with the Michelins in terms of price.

Just an aside, for all those in Canada looking for the Nokian WR, the best price I got quoted was $143 a tire. The Michelins I ordered from TireTrends for $153 a tire. (All prices in Canadian dollars, before tax.) The Michelins were the better deal because I ordered them out of province (hence, GST only).

What made me finally settle on the Michelins were a few reviews in some German and Swedish auto magazines from the last few years that compared the tires directly. The Michelins came out better on the tests for high speed handling and snow grip, so that sold me on them.

This will be my first time ever using snow tires. We'll see how they fare in my daily driving in southern Ontario.

excited

Does that mean that the Tires Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2 - P225/45R17 that I purchased would have an even more narrow patch than the 206/60 and cut through the snow even better?



Excited

gdcwatt

The 225/45-17's will have a shorter (measured front to back) and wider (measured side to side) contact patch, compared to the stock size or a 205/60-16. Your size is probably not the one I'd choose if I wanted to go skiing often, but would likely work well in slushy Toronto (not where you live), and would be great on a cold, dry day. On the other hand, there do seem to be a lot of very low profile snowtires around these days. The 06 BMW 330 needs 17" rims, and would probably take exactly the tire size that you've got.

Generally, the lower the aspect ratio, the closer to the ground you find the widest part of the tire, whatever that width is. So, if you take a cross-sectional view of something like a 205/70-15 (not a TSX size), what you see is sort of round; the cross-sectional view of your 225/45-17 is definately flatter, and wider, with somewhat squared shoulders top and bottom.

I don't know if this is a problem in the TSX, but the 225/45-17 is slightly smaller in overal diameter - just under 2% by my calculations, which means that your car's torque at the road is greater. So, do you have to try to start more gently, to reduce the chance of excessive wheelspin, promted by your now seemingly more powerful car? Or will traction control take car of that for you? On the other hand, the TSX is a fairly heavy car, and I believe the 205/55-16 is a stock European size, which is the same overall diameter at the 225/45-17, so the car can handle the variation.

excited

Thanks for the detailed answer. When my TSX arrives in a few weeks, I will let you know how well the tire works.

Currently I get excellent traction with my Escape, so I will be able to benchmark it against it.



Excited

zircon

Thanks man - picked some up myself there. Their price on X_ice was the same as Costco. Also got my trunk recall dealth with when I popped in.

weirdg

I'm going to buy 215/50 R17 Nokian WR all season tires.

WG

wesleyl524

The WR's seem to be a good bet- I love Nokians.

Ill have Blizzaks for this winter and see how this goes. I had Hakk 2's on my previous Honda and they made the car handle almost as well as an AWD Subaru.
Amzing pieces of rubber.

I hope I dont hate these Blizzaks. I've heard opinions on both sides.

HoRRo

You won't, at least not for the first winter or two. After that...... be careful if you're done half the tread.

wesleyl524

Thanks for the tip. Two winters would be fine before having to replace them. Myave by then, Nokian will have a dedicated wainter tire in the stock rim size.