Omaha=not prepared today for snow today. Usually it's get to dodge and your gonna be ok, but today sucked. It took me an hour and a half to get from dundee to village point where I work. And I didn't see a plow on the snow the entire way. Whats up with that. But sitting on the hill half way up to 90th st. my car didn't spin the tires in 3 inches plus of sludge type snow.

 

Same here. It's my first snow with the MINI, and I just had my winter wheel and tires installed a week ago.

15x6 Sport Edition E3's wearing 195/60QR-15 Bridgestone Blizzak REVO 1's:

 

Yea, this is the first winter I've been out of my Ford Ranger 4x4 and really miss the traction (don't miss the gas mileage tho). Have to keep reminding myself that I can't drive through snow drifts like I used to. Now I'm even worried about every chunk of ice I see that has fallen off of someones wheel well weather I will clear it or not as I go over it.

I managed to get around in the ice storm last Saturday but really noticed that I was spinning tires a lot more yesterday than I normally do. Not sure what the ASC is supposed to do but all it seemed to do keep flashing it's little warning light every time my wheels were spinning.

Even my wife for the first time asked if she could get snow tires on her Honda Civic. I don't know if I can afford Blizzak's for both cars but I think I need to do something (I have had Blizzak's on a mini van before and loved them).

Just curious where did you guys get your Blizzaks and how much were they? Is there any problems with getting the tires put on/off during the season if the wheels have the low air pressure sensors in them?

Mike...

 

Tirerack.com - it was actually cheaper for me to get new 15" wheels and tires than to just get snow tires for my 17" rims. Plus the fact that it's a lot simpler to have a set of wheels swapped out than it is to have tires changed back and forth. (especially when dealing with run flats)

 

The all season tires are a little too worn for good winter traction, so I just ordered mine from the TireRack. 15" Steel Wheel+195/60R15 Blizak Revo1's, 466.28 Shipped. That is much cheaper than I could have bought just the tires for my 16" or 17" rims.

 

I kid you not - I shopped both Jensen Tire and Tires Inc. - both places actually told me to go through TireRack. Couldn't believe it.

 

JMike,

You don't even have to spend that kind of money on Blizzaks. I ran Kumho Izen's during that winter we were getting 8-10 inches of snow a week for 3 weeks. My car was pretty much unstoppable (SRT-4). The tires were very inexpensive from Discount Tire. My buddy took the plunge on the Winterforce brand (they just came out and I was a little hesitant to purchase a brand I never heard of, but they are dirt cheap) and he said there were no problems getting around.

Right now I'm running the stock all-season 16's. But I only work a mile or so from work.

 

Thanks Tourek for the info. I wasn't sure where I could look at the tires so I decided to go ahead and pick up a set of the Blizzaks at TireRack. Everyone else must have ran them out of the steel wheels so I ended up getting the Sport Edition F2 rims. I thought I would have them by mid week but I just checked on the status and now found out they are on hold due to the rims. I'm going to have to call them tomorrow to see what I can do to get them going.

 

Well I got my tires and wheels in and put them on last night. When I took it out for a test ride I was hearing a bad clicking sound coming from my back right rear wheel. When I got back to my garage I raised up the wheel and rotated it but could not find any problem. When I drove it again I didn't hear the clicking sound so bad. But on the way home from work every time I made a left turn I could hear the clicking again.

When I got home I was going to try to change the wheel to another side to see if the sound went with the suspected wheel. But the pictures below is what I found. The wheel weight was put too close to the edge (and must have actually extended over the edge). The last picture shows how close it actually is to the inner wheel support. All the other wheels seem like the weights are OK, so beware of this if you have wheels balanced. It looks like only the rear wheels have this tight clearance. I'm contacting TireRack to see what their response is to this since they mounted and balanced the wheels.

 

I had Goodyear Winter run-flats put on a few weeks ago. Haven't been in snow yet ... but a Winter Storm Warning has just been issued for NE Ohio from 4pm tomorrow (Saturday) through 4am Monday. I should know how well they work soon!!!

 

I agree, (at least where I live), snow tires are extraordinarily helpful. The 15" steelies/Blizzaks that I bought from the Tire Rack have been so easy to swap on and off each fall and spring. I'm really glad I had the tires mounted to their own wheels, versus me having to take my car to a tire shop each spring and fall, for them to swap them onto my summer wheels. I can do this in my garage now, and it takes me less than an hour to swap all 4 wheels.

No regrets. The best part is how well the MINI drives in the snow! It is truly amazing!

 

Bringing back this thread because believe it or not this would have been my 4th winter without winter tires. Got my blizzaks on tonight and well what the hell was I thinking running summer tires in the winter. Enough said.

 

The most remarkable thing about my Blizzak LM-25 snows is how well they handle in the dry. They ride very well on dry roads (smooth, quiet with good handling) and have excellent snow grip.

 

I've got the Blizzak Revo 1's and I haven't really been that happy with them. I don't know if it's just me or the weight of the MINI but they just don't seem to have as much traction as I would think they should have. I've had Blizzak's on other MiniVans I've had in the past and they were excellent, but on the MINI it still seems like my front wheels are spinning a lot. I will admit that I've never been stuck yet. But I put a cheaper pair of snow tires on my wifes Civic and they seem to have a more agressive tread that allows them to grip in snow more than my Blizzak's do. When these wear out, I definately won't be going back to the Revo 1's.

 

Any recs for a good place to get snow tires?? I, um, got stuck in my own driveway.

 

I got stuck in my driveway the other day too and I have no snow tires. I need them but might have to wait till next year, I can't find any for my original 16's that aren't $700 total. way too much. but other than my driveway my original runflats are doing just fine in the snow so far even though my back tires are pretty much slicks. Oh well makes driving more interesting.

Have a Happy New Year C.O.R.N!!!!!!!