zeiss

Just had a set of Michelin X-Ice tires put on. They are only rated for 160 kph, but since I wasn't planning on going on black ice at that speed, it was't a factor in my purchase decision. I decided to go with performance on snow and ice over performance in handling on dry pavement, and what a difference these are from my other tires. The sidewalls are more flexible on these and the handling is not exactly precise. I've had winter tires on ordinary sedans before, and never noticed such a difference. Guess the car is more sensitive to this than others that I've owned. Looking forward to the spring, when I can get back to my regular tires. Looking forward even more to replacing those regular tires (Yokohama Avid all-seasons) with some real performance tires, as I suspect that the all seasons are to performance tires what the snows are to the all-seasons.



Zeiss

Fongu

I don't know, snow tires on my Integra are really mushy compared to no-season's too. But when there is snow, you just get used to it.

Most of it is due to sidewall stiffness. I had these old Toyo's T1-S summer performance tires that I got with the some extra OEM rims. Those sidewalls were super soft compared to Bridgestone SO2's. And the SO2's were stiffer than the Toyo RA1 R-compounds. Long way to say that depending on the tire manufacturer, a gripper tire doesn't automatically mean more precise steering.

wing

Good luck driving your S. Will it be daily or do you plan on parking it on really bad days?

Like the day we had a few weeks ago, that ice storm. No way could I imagine driving the S. I was driving the IS350 with snow tires on and even with all the electronic gizmos I was sideways a few times. The underside of the car was scraping as well and it is nowhere near as low as an S2000.

03_AP1

I drove mine for 3 yrs with minimal problems - yeah, i scraped here and there - but it was on snow, no harm done. Yeah, tail gets loose, but so does my STi.

Take it easy and you'll be fine.

zeiss

Yes, I plan to drive it all winter. How successful I will be remains to be seen. I was out of town during the freezing rain, so missed that test of the car's ability.

Zeiss

Matt_in_VA

I have been traveling to your beautiful city a couple of times a year on business since 1999. Sometimes even during the summer months, but mostly in the Jan to Mar time frame. I can't recall ever seeing an S2000. I guess that you people are a fairly small group in numbers.

For what it is worth: I picked up a set of Dunlop M-2 Winter tires after having one of the scariest drives of my life on 4 Dec 03 when I got caught out in about four inches (10 CM) of snow on my S-02's. On an untreated, unplowed road I could not keep the car pointed where I wanted it at 8 MPH in first or second gear. The Dunlop's work well I have been in snow deep enough that it was scraping the belly pan and never spun a tire.

Emil St-Hilaire

Hey Matt,next time,come on down to Quebec city;will have a party...

Matt_in_VA

Thanks for the invite. But the Canadian part of the multi-national that I work for pays for my travel up to Ottawa (for my mind share). I do not have any say in my travel arrangements on those trips.

But thanks for the invitation.

hapa

Hey Matt...our Ottawa group has been about 10 people or so. We tend to hibernate more in the winter but have had some get togethers. We tend to get together more in warmer season!