which tire should i get? I live in NJ and we do get snow, but only couple a times through out the winter.

what is the difference between the too?

is one more of a hardcore snow only tire? and one for more dry and snow ?

also how awful is it driving on dry grounds with snow tires?

 

i'm running dunlop graspic ds-2 on my ap2 now, 205 in the front, 225's in the back. they're studless snow and they SUCK in the dry. haven't tried them in snow yet.

 

There is a big difference between the two. The studless winter tires have a tread compound that is very soft, more like a rubber foam. This is to have excellent ice traction. The knobby tread pattern helps in snow. Neither is great for dry performance on a performance car.
Winter performance tires have a rubber compound that still remains soft and grippy at low temperatures but not as good as the studless winters. Much better than all season, though. Winter performance tread patterns are a compromise between snow traction and dry stability, various makes favor one over the other.
So on my wife's TSX I put on studless winter because she wanted the best winter traction; on my S I have Dunlop Winter M3 performance winter because in my suburban area of MN the roads get cleared pretty quickly and most winter driving is on dry roads. My S is my daily driver so I need snow and ice traction too. Performance driving is more important to me than the last bit of extra snow/ice traction for the S.
As you can see, there is no single answer, depends upon your needs.

 

also, i only have about 40 miles on the tires, so hopefully dry traction will improve a little bit once they've broken in.

 

Well said!

 

The handling is not going to improve on the Grapics. They are going to be good in the ice and snow but they will be bad in the dry. You will kind of get use to it as the winter goes on though. You can try adding a couple PSI more to the tires to tighten them up a little.

 

I'm in NJ as well and Jim recommenced the Dunlop Winter Sports for me, got them on and I can't thank him enough. They are fantastic on dry roads and the very small opportunity I had to run them in about an inch of snow in PA they were fine. Looking at their tread I'd expect them to be awesome in any of the snow we see here.

 

what size did you get 16 in or 17 inch? or did you get a different set of rims? did you get them from tire rack as well?

 

I bought a set of 16*7 45mm offset wheels from a local member who had used them on his AP1 as a winter setup. I put a staggered Dunlop Winter Sports on those wheels on the advice from Jim, 205/55/16 3D in the front and 225/50/16 M3 in the rear. I've gone this route on past cars too, the 16" snows are cheaper then 17's and with the extra set of wheels you dont have to worry about dismounting/remounting tires a couple time a year.

 

[QUOTE=ThatPreludeGuy,Nov 30 2008, 07:26 PM] I bought a set of 16*7 45mm offset wheels from a local member who had used them on his AP1 as a winter setup.