Hey all. I just wanted to share my experience with taking the dive into getting dedicated summer and winter tires. I live in SE Wisconsin and we see quite a bit of snow and definitely cold temps for a decent part of the year. It all started after getting 6-8 inches of snow, I was driving to my gf's house and I got stuck 3 times in the 1 mile trip in 3 inches of snow. Stuck to the point where i'm sitting in the middle of the road kicking away snow with my feet for 15 minutes just to have a chance to get moving. Another time in the same trip I was randomly outside a friends house and he came to help me with a shovel. You might say it's my fault for driving, but it snowed during work and I had no choice. That night I had to park on a steep a** hill and in the morning I was sandwiched in by two cars who gave me decent space, but I was facing downhill and had had to somehow get out of the tight spot while stuck on deep snow and ice. Again this resulted in me kicking away snow with my work shoes for 30 minutes this time, turning off traction control, gunning in reverse and hoping I didnt nail the car behind me. After that I said screw it and bought some Michelin Xice 3's. I used to think you had to have awd to have any confidence in snow, but these tires are awesome in snow, on ice and in temps below 40 in the dry. I've tested braking in a snowy parking lot, accelerating and turning and the difference is night and day. I never wanted to take the jump because I thought it was only for people who constantly drive in snow, but these tires also shine on rainy days when the temps are around the mid 30's. With my stock all seasons I'd try to take off from a stop light just for fun and In these conditions and my tires would spin like I had a 400 hp muscle car
. While thats fun these new tires take off with almost no slip at all. Also, buying snow tires gave me a reason to buy max performance summer tires and new rims. I have a 2.5 4 door and I probably went way overboard and bought some enkei rpf1's and bridgestone s04 pole positions: 235/50/17 while my stockers were 215/60/16. I just put these on and they are awesome. My car is pretty underpowered for tires like these and there just about impossible to brake lose or even to get to squeel. Also the reduced sidewall height makes for better cornering feel. However, the larger size makes them a tad heavier than my snow set up on the stock rims which are by the way made by enkei hehe, I was surprised to see the little logo when I took them off. Any way heres my whip. 2012 2.5 s, racing line strut bar, stillen rear sway, enkei rpfi's, bridgestone pole position s04 235,50,17. I know theres a lot of wheel gap, but I'm not going to buy lowering springs without shocks that can handle the increased stiffness and that is money I'm not willing to spend on this car as much as I like it. The reason I went overboard on these rims is they'll sell in a heart beat to a Subaru WRX owner. These rims at these size are in high demand by those dudes and the hole pattern is the same.
