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Today, 01:12 PM | #1 |
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Michelin Pilot AS4's, doable for winter if you can pick your battles??
Hey all
looking for opinions experiences on whether the AS4's can cut it for the winter if you don't have to commute. would be going on a mid engine Rwd car don't have a commute and don't really have to drive if conditions aren't favourable. but at the same time would want to feel free enough that if they are calling for anything less than 2 inches of snow I would feel comfortable going out. I know a proper dedicated set of winter tires and rims would be better but in my experience even those don't get you full confidence in a RWD powerful car in the winter and I still avoided going out in anything above 2 inches of snow. so I am debating, can I get by on the AS4's? |
Today, 01:25 PM | #2 |
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Doable, yes. Skip the crappy weather until plows come around.
It's those random times you're stuck on a steep hill at a red light and the snow has been coming down wet and heavy, you'll wish otherwise tho. |
Today, 01:40 PM | #3 |
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There's a big difference between "2 inches of snow" and "snowed but plowed clean"
Snowed but plowed clean, you're probably fine. 2 inches of snow on the ground, you're probably stuck inside. |
Today, 01:43 PM | #4 |
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AS4 are not snow rated all seasons. Some all seasons have the snowflake designation. On an AWD car, you would be fine — the last 2 winters in NH, I have run AS4 on my F90 M5. I have winters, summers and all seasons all on rims for the car and have not bothered to put the snows on the last 2 years.
On all the RWD cars I have run in the winter in NH, I have used snow tires. Usually I put snows on the stock wheels and buy lighter and wider aftermarket wheels for summer use or I buy a used set of stock wheels for winter use, sometimes going down 1” in diameter if smaller will clear the brakes. |
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Today, 03:00 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
based on this review: the michelins seem to be the best... |
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Today, 03:41 PM | #6 |
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Have you considered an all weather tyre rather than all season? Specifically the Michelin Cross Climate or Conti multimegaweather thingy?
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Today, 05:05 PM | #7 |
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305/30/20 is wide and stiff, which are not a great combination for snow. Try them out and if you are not happy buy snow wheels or don’t drive in the snow. I find that roads are clear many days in winter. I don’t like snow tires because dry road handling suffers, but they can be necessary if you must drive in snow.
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Today, 10:27 PM | #9 |
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Yeah, Toronto isn't all that far north, sun will come out and melt stuff, surface of the road, etc. You will get a lot of nasty weather from the plains above, ice storms, snow storms, etc., but waiting it out it should get better pretty fast and I doubt there's be a huge issue here. Driving on packed snow should be a rarity. If you do foresee driving on a lot of packed snow and fallen snow, you'll need a pretty aggressive snow tire. You might experience some of those slushy conditions where basically everything but an AT and hardcore snow tire hydroplanes in the slush. Not much you can do there.
If going with a 2nd wheelset though, an aggressive winter tire could be a good idea, doesn't need to be as wide as stock (which will be cheaper) and can run like Nov-March or something.
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Today, 11:15 PM | #10 |
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The OP did not provide his location or required tire size in his original post. I can only speak to my experiences in PA and NH in the New England region of the US, which are southeast of Toronto, but I maybe Toronto winters are milder.
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