hello,

what do you guys think. i got my S2k a month ago and been driving it. IT FUN. but it been all over the road when it rains....i mean fish tailing, going sideways. u name it ....it does it when it rains.......and i live up here in chicago.....do u think putting all season tire will work or snow tire........dont konw which one to get? any big time difference........and would you happen to know how much it would cost for set of 4 tires...any estimates? thanx and have fun

 

1) When it rains, doesn't matter what kind of tires, drive it like a $1,000,000 camry.
2) All season tires will help a lot, but I guess I live dangerously and drove with S02s with 3/32 in heavy rain at 80mph without any lasting issues (Anyone who knows the I80 between Fairfield and Davis knows what I'm talking about). No, I do not recommend this.
3) If you're in Chi town, you're going to need to gear up for snow or prepare to be stranded (I could be wrong... never actually touched snow in my life, I either lived in Hawaii or Cali). Cars like the S really should be parked if it's snowing, might want to use the money for the all season tires towards a cheap awd beater or something.
4) If you do want new tires, all seasons are typically cheaper than summer tires, I'd say under 100 bucks a pop.

 

It almost seems a sin to put all seasons on a car like the S.
You might look into a different set of summer tires.
When I first got the car, I had very worn out ES100s on the rear, and S0-2s on the front and it felt very squirly in the rain.
I since replaced them all with matching T1-Rs all around and I have had no problems.

And yes, prepare for snow and get some good snow tires and you will be fine as long as you drive smart.

 

I run BF KDW's and they are awesome in the rain. I would recommend them

 

*DO NOT* drive an s2k in wet snow no matter how light the coating on the road. I tried it twice (aka my first time and my last time) and almost didn't make it back to the house. No matter how slow you go, you will spin out on any hill. I was running the stock tires. After the snow adventure, I consider rain to have a high probability of hydroplaning due to the large tire footprint. For tire options, I like the below online site for seeing what is available and prices.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/home.do

 

some people say they don't have a problem in the snow...

Before MY07 I always had FWD/4WD cars for the winter. I love driving in the snow and can reasonably control any skidding.

I bought MY07 right at the tail end of this last winter and drove it in a couple snow days. I live in philly, and we haven't really gotten a lot of snow in the last few years and I only drove it in a couple storms that dropped 1-3" each....

From my experiance, unless you load the trunk up with a lot of ballast, you are going to have some serious problems in chicago. I was on my OEM tires, but it would take me 5+ minutes to get out of a gas station when there was just a light covering. 1st gear or 2nd didn't help, there was just zero traction on the back end.

I found my snow time in the S was fun, but purely because it is happening so rarely in philly. My experiance, the back end had no tracktion for acceleration, but the front end had enough to steer and brake without an issue. I drive about 80% highway to work and didn't have a problem, but I would have been stuck in just a covering of snow IF I got stopped at any uphill lights. Other than acceleration (which might be fixed with some trunk ballast... maybe others will chime in) I thought the S was fine in the snow.

Since you get a lot more snow than I, I would suggest having a backup plan if your S is your DD. I'm going to keep mine as my winter DD, but I have access to many other cars and can always take the train in to work if I really get stuck.

As for your comments about being all over the road... It is easy to spin the wheels in 2nd, you really just need to get a feel for the car and know how much you can push it. I like driving in the rain since I have that feeling for the car, but only experiance with testing the car limits will give you that feel. My experiance with the snow is that whatever tracktion you have in the rain is about 20x as much as you have in the snow.... keep that in mind when thinking about the winter.

 

They are now discontinued, but S03 Pole Positions used to be really popular here in Seattle, where we do know something about driving in the rain. S02s are barely OK when they have lots of tread, but downright dangerous when they are at 3/4 tread or less.

And snow is completely different. No car is going to drive well in snow without proper tires for it. They do make snow tires in S2000 sizes. Either use them or don't drive in the snow.

 

I have two recommendations since I own an S2k and have also worked in the Tire Industry for 11 years. The best tires right now for the weather you are encountering are the Bridgestone Potenza RE960ASs. I have these on my own car right now. They'll give you about 85% of the dry grip of the stock S02s but will stick like glue in the rain. They don't come in a 2454516, however, so you will have to decide whether or not this is acceptable to you as you will have to resort to using the 2255016 size for the rear. I have no problem with it and I drive like a bat out of hell (just ask Silverstreeker). Otherwise, if you want a cheap alternative that does come in the 2454516 size and is pretty damn good in the rain as well, try the Yokohama ES100s. They'll give you about 70 percent of the dry traction of the stock S02s and much better wet traction, although not quite as well as the 960s. Keep in mind that with the ES100s, you will notice a significant decrease in wet weather performance as the tire wears down. This condition is not experienced to such a significant degree with the 960s. Hope this helps.

 

I'm not a big fan of 225 rears.

All-seasons would help in the rain, but your dry handling is going to suffer big time.

You WILL need snow tires in Chicago, though. There are always people selling stock OEM AP1 wheels for $300-500.

People will tell you they haven't had problems with summer tires in snow. Fine. Good for them. You could run across the highway with your eyes closed 20 times and be "fine." It doesn't mean it's safe.

It all comes down to compromise. Some people do summer tires + bad weather beater.

 

The S is a 50/50 weight distribution...you do NOT need to load up the trunk like you would with cars that are often 60/40. If anything, loading up the trunk would severely compromise your steerability in adverse weather.

Just get some good snow tires, and be gentle on the throttle and you shouldnt have any problems unless you're on a reasonably steep hill.

I live in an area that can get good coverage of snow in the winter and while running Toyo Observes (studless snow tires), I only had trouble getting going ONCE and that was an awkward intersection.

The day I brought the car home, still on summer rubber, it snowed that night and I had to take the car to work so I could get it in to the tire place for winter rubber. it was a light dusting and doing anything but the most gentle acceleration would start the rear end sliding.

If it's going to snow, get some winter tires