After driving through yesterday's snowstorm here in Wisconsin... resistance is futile !! 36mpg
On the bright note the Michelin ICE-X 3's performed very well, passed many cars in the ditches, and many driving 30 in a 55-65. Slushy wet snow and didn't get much pull from them... kept good traction.

 

How many miles do you have on you're Michelin X-ice v3 Snow Tires?

When are they not snow tires anymore? After 20k miles?

 

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.

 

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 ;-)

 

Emphasis on SNOW tires guys. I had a Subaru and it was okay in snow but once I put on winter tires it was phenomenal. If you need to drive in snow make sure you pony up for the snow tires and just change them when winter is over. No comparison with "all season".

 

just checked in to confirm 80 lbs torque on the lug nuts... Tires are on the 15' rims are not an issue at all...

 

Have you noticed any changes to consistent MPGs with this setup? Considering same sizing for consistent use, but unsure if lighter weight is beneficial across the board.

 

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?

 

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.

 

Snow Tires are Worth It

When I moved to central Maine 30 years ago, I tried keeping the all-season Michelins on my '84 Accord coupe year-round. Big mistake! At one point, I touched the brakes just after cresting a small hill at a slick spot and found the car going backwards down the road before I knew it. Turns out that snow tires are not only for straight-ahead traction, they are also for stopping and for turning. You will miss that a lot if you go through a winter of snowy roads without them. My winter tire of choice is the Michelin X-Ice series.

 

Turns out that snow tires are not only for straight-ahead traction, they are also for stopping and for turning. You will miss that a lot if you go through a winter of snowy roads without them. My winter tire of choice is the Michelin X-Ice series.

I know so many people that buy 4WD cars, and think its great, they don't need to worry about winter tires.

4WD only helps you move forward better then 2WD
Winter tires help start, stop, and turning.
Reminds me of a great video

 

Excellent video. One question, however, is whether the Brits' summer tires are basically the same as our all-season tires, which are what most everyone drives on in North America.

I would say that Consumer Reports Magazine did testing and came to similar -- if not so dramatic -- conclusions.

 

Bit of an old bit of forum dredging on my part but probably something people might be interested in anyway; having grown up in the UK, I have to say the Brits are willfully obtuse about tires -- they would always buy basically what we'd consider summer tires and tend to use them year round and then wonder why they have zero traction in half an inch of snow. And the typical US all-season generally wasn't widely available there...I don't know for sure about now. Nokian does a variation of their WRG tire for the UK market and I hope others are following suit, because really, it's a perfect year-round tire for the UK climate. And indeed that's a summer tire that they're failing up the ski slope with. Quite different from most of central and eastern Europe......see the link below.

https://www.continental-tires.com/transport/knowhow/european-winter-regulations

 

If you can find a good deal from a junk yard on old rims for the snow tires then going for additional rims is a great idea. I did this for the Subaru and it saved time, money , and tires can only be changed so many times before the beads won't hold air anymore.

 

Duh! I never considered junkyard rims! I got my spare from a wrecking yard. I should have known this! '16-'18 Civic rims fit the Insight! My wife has an '18 Civic, and the tire size is identical to my Insight. I think I need to make a few calls!

 

New Insight uses passive TPMS which looks for wheel rotational speed differences. There is no special valve stem required.

 

Just got these put on my Touring at Discount Tire today - 16" X-Ice 3 & cheapo rims.

 

X Ice, I’ve bought 3 sets of these over the years

Not only the top performer on consumer reports, but one of the few low rolling resistance winter tires that are also great on gas !

 

We got about 6" of snow on Sunday/Monday (not common where I live) - and I've been driving my Touring on Blizzak WS80s. I've been driving for the past couple of days on snow and snow/ice under the Normal mode. I like driving Normal rather than Eco in the snow/ice, but I'm more careful with the throttle. If I didn't have studless snow tires, I'd probably be staying home because of the hills and ice, and might be inclined to drive in ECO to avoid the tire spin on ice.

 

I have a hilly driveway which presents challenges during winter weather, especially in icy conditions. At times when conditions were especially slippery, my old GEN 2 Insight had to be left at the bottom of the driveway.


This past week we received snow, followed by sleet and freezing rain and unfortunately I was caught out in the weather. I knew this was exactly the conditions that would mean my old GEN 2 would be unable to make it up the driveway.


I was very pleasantly surprised my GEN 3 Touring made it up the driveway without any issue at all (and with stock tires)!

 

I was very pleasantly surprised my GEN 3 Touring made it up the driveway without any issue at all (and with stock tires)!

I drove in a slushy snowstorm 2 days ago on the highway at around 40-45mph with stock tires (EX). The car was stable and didn't lose traction once. It did better than my drive on a sunny and windy day to New Hampshire. :grin:

 

Michelin X-ice3 can go 20-25k miles before changing. That's amazing for snow tires. That's 4-5 winter seasons

 

Will you be opting for X-Ice then as your snow tires for the season? If you're interested, Costco carries these in the 17" Touring spec and 16" LX/EX spec (winter downsize for Touring). With $110 discount for tires and installation, the total price is $597.92 mounted OTD (or for tires only - $140/tire = $562 full set) thru 11/1/19.

 

Thanks for the info but unfortunately I'm in Canada

 

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.

 

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.

 

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?

 

At a minimum you would want to have the speedometer recalibrated. Not sure if thats all it would take to get all the mpg calcs etc. working correctly. Look at this for the actual size difference:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=215-55r16-185-55r16

 

Wheel Hub size

Does anyone know what the wheel hub size is for the Honda Insight. It is not in their specs concerning tires. I have the touring with the 17 inch wheels. I kept 17 inch snow tires from my previous car that were mounted on mag wheels. The size of the tire is suitable for the Insight. My previous car (Kia Optima SX) had a hub size of 67.1mm and the mags were 72.5mm so to ensure a perfect fit I used wheel adaptor rings. I know I can jack my Insight up and remove a wheel to measure the hub but I am hoping someone here already has the answer. Then, I can order the proper wheel adaptor rings.

 

The Civics appear to be 64.1. So that would be a good guess for the Insight.

 

That's what I thought as well but I will need to confirm before ordering adaptor rings.

 

Question about winter tire strategy

We live in eastern Washington where there's a fair amount of snow in the winter. The roads are sanded and salted and perhaps treated with other chemicals. This does cause some corrosion on the aluminum alloy wheels over time, but it takes a few years, according to a knowledge friend of mine, to really notice much wear. We also travel east a lot into Montana over mountain passes that are treated.

For my last two cars, both purchased new (2010 and 2015 Hond Fits), I had the wheels and tires removed in mid November every year and put on metal wheels and good snow tires. I did this to get better traction in the snow and to perserve my good aluminum alloy wheels. The downside of this was having to do this every November and March, very heavy for a 61-year old to take to the tire shop and store the old ones in the shed. Plus there was the cost of the tires and wheels.

My friend who also drives a lot in the snow said that for his new Chevy Silveradom the all-season radials that came with from the factory are fine in the snow and there really isn't that much corrosion involved on the wheels, plus the wheels can be treated after a few years with some treatment solution to restore them to close to original.

So here are my questions. Does the 2019 EX Insight come with good all-season radial tires that would be sufficient for my winter driving situation? My second questions is about preserving the aluminum alloy wheels. If after a few years the corrosion is noticeable, is there a solution for restoring those wheels?

The quote I am getting from my local tire shop for good quality studless snow tires plus metal wheels and hub caps is around $880. I'm wondering now if this is necessary.

Your thoughts?

 

The EX tires are marketed as all-season, but that doesn’t mean much. I’d check Consumer Reports. That said, I live in Minnesota and have never run snow tires on any of my cars. I do ‘wax’ my rims with the same stuff I use on the car and always make sure I’ve had applied a good coat to both before winter.

 

What kind of wax do you use for your wheels?

 

Whatever I use on the body. Lately I’ve been using Meguires Ultimate Liquid. It’s a synthetic polymer and is really slick.