I'm in Utah. They have laws here restricting studded tires to winter months. I was happy to have the studs a handful of times, but they are overkill 95% of the time. For my next set, I will definitely choose studless winters.

 

I can recall when my father used to change to snow tires with studs. That stopped decades ago when the State of Michigan outlawed studs. It seems they were accelerating wear and tear on major roads. What state are you in?

 

3rd update on CrossClimate 2s:
2 year mark - 16.2k miles

Fuel Chart: 10/15/22 - 10/10/24

My fuel efficiency shot up(50-58mpg) starting in August, which I think was due to a change in my commute. My commute is now double the distance (22 miles vs. 11 miles), and it's a 40-50 mph road, with traffic only during the first mile at the beginning of the trip.

I had to deal with ice for the first time with CC2s in January. The traction light came on when I accelerated, so I needed to be careful with the throttle when starting from a stop. I would recommend using actual snow tires if driving on ice frequently, but the CC2s are still better than all season tires.

After two years with the CC2s, I would say they work as advertised in snow and rain. I still need to double check the tread wear myself, but the dealership told me they were at 8/32 with 16.2k miles when I did an oil change last week. My tire pressure is set at 39/37 psi or 38/36 psi, depending on the season. I rotate and balance them at Costco every 5k miles.

 

No not much change in MPG's always less in winter with the winter blend of gas seems to be the bigger factor.

 

Understood. I was just reading the forum on MPG difference between LX/EX and the touring model, and was unsure if same economy gains would be realized with a smaller/lighter rim/wheel combo. Completely understand that there are a host of factors that impact overall economy realized, but appreciate the feedback.

 

This is my fourth winter with the ICE - X's on... Tread is getting a little thin but thankfully its been a mild winter otherwise I would have gotten new ones. I have over 60K of mileage on the tires and will be getting a new set next winter.

 

I have a set of steelies with studded snow tires. They worked great last year. Picture is up in the lot at a ski resort.

I guess honda OEM lugs are not suitable for mounting steelies. I just picked up a set of conical lugs for them this year.

 

I have a set of steelies with studded snow tires. They worked great last year. Picture is up in the lot at a ski resort.

I guess honda OEM lugs are not suitable for mounting steelies. I just picked up a set of conical lugs for them this year.

View attachment 8090

Nice. Which tires are these? Have you tried studless snow tires? And it wasn't suiting your needs?

 

The Touring OEM tires are terrible with these temps (around 15F). They lose traction super easily even without ice or snow. Considering the X-ICE or the WS90 if somebody has a strong opinion.

 

Considering the X-ICE or the WS90 if somebody has a strong opinion.

@whiteinsight and @RcLab1 liked the X-Ice a few pages back in this thread.

https://www.gen3insight.com/threads/winter-tire-strategy-insight-in-snow.574/post-35746

 

2nd update on the CrossClimate 2:
I can say these tires perform really well on wet roads. So well that it makes you feel you can do things you shouldn't. Did a 2 hour drive in heavy rain with poor visibility last Sunday on the highway. I was going 80mph even though I probably shouldn't be going that fast in these kind of conditions. Had to suddenly brake at one point due to a crash up ahead and the car came to a stop a lot quicker than I ever could do with the Energy Saver.

Another thing I want to bring up is the stability of the vehicle with these tires. I remember with the Energy Saver tires I can feel my vehicle shake while stationary if a passenger is like wiggling around. I chalked it up to the vehicle being 3,000 pounds and light weight before. With the CrossClimate 2, the vehicle doesn't shift around even when I purposely wiggle in my seat. This seems like a dumb thing to bring up but it has a really big impact when driving with cross winds. I previously turn on LKA(lane keep assist) when driving with cross winds on the highway to keep my car centered without having to do micro-adjustments to my steering. The CC2s seem to keep my car stable enough where cross winds don't seem to push my car around as much.

After 2 months with the new tires. I can say the noise issue is mostly on smoothly paved roads. I don't notice anything different on rougher road surfaces. When I got the tires I can say the road noise on smoothly paved roads did annoy me. Where as with the Energy Saver I looked forward to driving on smoothly paved roads but not with the CC2s. I'm not sure if I got use to the noise or the tires have broken in but the noise seems quieter now.

Finally, the fuel efficiency. It's no surprise to me this is where I would take the hit with these tires. My recent fill ups have been 50.7, 49.3, and 47.7mpg. The 47.7mpg tank is lower than normal because I drove 200miles in heavy rain while doing 70-80mph. Calculations were done with a fuel efficiency tracker app instead of relying on the infotainment system. In my case, the infotainment system underestimates by 0.5 - 0.8mpgs. I run my tires at 40psi front/38psi rear now since the CC2s are XL tires with stronger sidewalls so I figure they can take more from potholes.

No snow yet so I will do another update when that happens.

 

The tires arrived earlier this week at Costco and I went in to have them installed today.

Pros:

• Love the aggressive thick tread block design. Reminds me of an off road tire. Looks great on the Insight.
• The steering wheel is much more stiffer when traveling straight. It doesn't have any play to it where I had to do small corrections to really keep it straight on the highway. My Insight is due for a wheel alignment but I was surprise this tire actually improved my vehicle's ability to track straight. It's so straight that my vehicle doesn't even squirm when traveling over bridges with metal grates.
  
• Less body roll when making tight turns.
• Overall handling is much better. This tire makes simple things like quick lane changes on the highway much more precise. Without needing to do corrections once you're in the next lane.
• Does a much better job at absorbing road imperfections. You'll still feel speed bumps and potholes but not as harsh.

Cons:

• I can definitely hear the tire growl noise depending on speed and type of road. It'll probably not faze me as I give it more time like the Insight's engine noise.
• Tire doesn't glide as much as the Energy Saver. I notice myself hitting the gas pedal more to keep up to speed.
• It's too early for me to tell what the mpg impact of this tire will be. Based on the trips I've done today, I would say about 5%(city) - 10%(highway) impact.

Unknowns for me right now are snow and rain. If it does as good as the professional reviews say then I wouldn't mind sacrificing some mpgs for more grip. Which are my main reasons for choosing the CrossClimate 2.

 

The tires arrived earlier this week at Costco and I went in to have them installed today.

View attachment 7631

Pros:

• Love the aggressive thick tread block design. Reminds me of an off road tire. Looks great on the Insight.
• The steering wheel is much more stiffer when traveling straight. It doesn't have any play to it where I had to do small corrections to really keep it straight on the highway. My Insight is due for a wheel alignment but I was surprise this tire actually improved my vehicle's ability to track straight. It's so straight that my vehicle doesn't even squirm when traveling over bridges with metal grates.
  
• Less body roll when making tight turns.
• Overall handling is much better. This tire makes simple things like quick lane changes on the highway much more precise. Without needing to do corrections once you're in the next lane.
• Does a much better job at absorbing road imperfections. You'll still feel speed bumps and potholes but not as harsh.

Cons:

• I can definitely hear the tire growl noise depending on speed and type of road. It'll probably not faze me as I give it more time like the Insight's engine noise.
• Tire doesn't glide as much as the Energy Saver. I notice myself hitting the gas pedal more to keep up to speed.
• It's too early for me to tell what the mpg impact of this tire will be. Based on the trips I've done today, I would say about 5%(city) - 10%(highway) impact.

Unknowns for me right now are snow and rain. If it does as good as the professional reviews say then I wouldn't mind sacrificing some mpgs for more grip. Which are my main reasons for choosing the CrossClimate 2.

Hi Andrew, how are you handling the snow this year? And how much MPG are you getting ;-)

 

Yep, I'll definitely post an update once I get them install.

 

Costco finally have the Michelin CrossClimate2 (Insight LX/EX size) in stock again after being sold out for months. I just placed an order and the total w/installation came out to $645.xx which is about $120 more than it was 2 years ago. 😬

Anyone planning on purchasing new tires for Winter should consider before the end of September. Bridgestone and Continental have announced price hikes starting October 1. Goodyear and Toyo already implemented price changes in July and August. Michelin hasn't announce anything yet but they did increase prices twice(March & May) already this year.

 

Awesome! $645 is without rims right? What/where did you get rims?

 

Thank you. Two more questions about the Honda dealers if anybody knows:
1) Do they typically sell winter tires AND rims?
2) If I bring my own set from tirerack during the inspection, will they swap them for me? for free or for a fee?

 

Thank you. Two more questions about the Honda dealers if anybody knows:
1) Do they typically sell winter tires AND rims?
2) If I bring my own set from tirerack during the inspection, will they swap them for me? for free or for a fee?

1) They don't sell rims, but you can bring your own.
2) $35, same as rotation

 

The bottom line here is that you want to outside diameter of the new minus one winter tires to match up with the outside diameter of the original tires supplied with your car. You can go to any number of online tire retailers and perform the calculations on their web sites to make sure that you get a match. It so happens that the 17 inch tires supplied with the Touring model match up almost perfecty with the 16 inch tires supplied with the LX and EX models. By going with a taller but thinner tire with the correct outside diameter, you should get better road grip in the winter and still avoid confusing the onboard electronics that are expecting the OEM recommended tires sizes.

 

Anybody?

 

N00b questions:
Both 215/55R16 and 205/60R16 go on the same rime size 16x7?
What about the offset 38 or 45mm? What is it and which one to chose?

 

The recommended tire size for the Insight EX is 215/55R16. 205/60R16 is narrower in width and has taller sidewalls which will affect the speedometer and handling of the vehicle somewhat. Some people prefer to run narrower wheels with a larger sidewall in winter to improve handling in deep snow and reduce damage from potholes. The first number is the tire width in mm, the second number is the aspect ratio (sidewall height vs tire width) in %, and the third number is the rim diameter in inches.

Wheel offset is the distance from its hub mounting surface to the centerline of the wheel. Tire Rack offers wheels with offsets between +35 mm and +48 mm for the Insight so anything within that range should work

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-100...=autolinker&url=https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=101

 

There is about a 3 mpg difference.... weather is the larger influencer.. ie -20 degrees dropped my winter mileage to about 38 mpg vs normal winter weather of about 43... with the summer tires on and my usual summertime commute I am getting about 48 mpg.

 

Michelin X-Ice have been taken off a couple weeks ago, have 40,000 miles on the tires and they are holding up well. Definitely will get another winter out of them.... two winters so far...

 

Any difference in mpg when you switch? What is your average for the winter?

 

Long time reader, first post, but I just put Michelin X-Ice on my 2021 EX after reading various recommendations on this thread. Weather dropped to 28 degrees tonight, was nice to have the winter rubber for tight merges.

 

Just took it out in 2in of unplowed snow to remind me how bad it is on stock tires (Conti). Well, it's not awful but it isn't great. It actually gets traction even on an incline but turning or braking feels unsafe. Hard to justify spending 1k on snow wheels when I'm not even driving to work though I have a pair of chains in my trunk ICE.

 

I went with the Bridgestone WS90 and also hubcentric rims. Got the rims from Costco and the tires at a local shop. I had them install the rims to the tires and balance them. I brought them home and installed them myself.

 

I finally placed my order for winter tires and rims. I decided to downsize to 16" for my 2020 Touring. I've had amazing success with Quattro Tire in Canada (3rd set of tires I've ordered) and got a solid discount on top of the $60 cash card. I went with hubcentric steel wheels and Kumho WINTERCRAFT ICE Wi31 tires. They'll ship balanced and ready to install

 

I finally placed my order for winter tires and rims. I decided to downsize to 16" for my 2020 Touring. I've had amazing success with Quattro Tire in Canada (3rd set of tires I've ordered) and got a solid discount on top of the $60 cash card. I went with hubcentric steel wheels and Kumho WINTERCRAFT ICE Wi31 tires. They'll ship balanced and ready to install
View attachment 5843

I was going to ask a stupid question but then I re-read your post. So...nevermind.

 

Has anyone used the Continental VikingContact 7s? I know my Insight sports Continental Tires stock and wanted to get some info. Premium tire and lots of positive reviews on other vehicles.

I'm also looking as WS90s and Kumho Wi31 on 16s (downsize for my Touring). I'm in the Canuckistan Prairies and winters with FWD, snow tires are a must.

 

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-100...id=autolinker&url=https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=250

 

^
I too put about ~22k miles on my Michelin X-ice Snow tires. Amazing. I never got stuck while everyone was slow.

Am I good to use these snow tires again next winter? I drive a lot. I put about 40k miles on my Insight TOURING trim in one year (142 miles round trip to work Mon-Fri)

😊😬😬

 

Am I good to use these snow tires again next winter? I drive a lot. I put about 40k miles on my Insight TOURING trim in one year (142 miles round trip to work Mon-Fri)

Depends on your remaining tread and use/maintenance, but the X-Ice tires themselves are warrantied up to 6 yrs / 40k miles (until 2/32" depth).

 

Just took the snows off today!! Every time I was thinking of taking them off the future forecast was for more snow !! And Yes last Sunday... Mothers Day we did get snow !! Put on 20780 miles on the ICE X's very happy with them this winter... up to 6 inches April snowstorm that dumped 10 inches wet and heavy, by the time I was rolling home there was 6 inches down. As long as I kept the momentum going I did not have any problems - It was at its limits as I was plowing through. Kept pumping the gas and tried to keep the speed up, I am sure that if I stopped I may have gotten stuck! Ground Clearance being the enemy... So yes thumbs up for the Michelan's I think I should be able to get 2 -3 more winters out of the snows at the mileage I pound on the Insight.

 

X-Ice is a low rolling resistance snow tire according to Michelin. They also offer a snow tire that can be use in all seasons called the CrossClimate+.