[pasei]

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?

 

[pasei]

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.

 

[pasei]

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 ;-)

 

[pasei]

I'm going to be using the stock wheels. The CrossClimate 2 tires can be use year round.

Oops yes of course. I wanted to buy them for my wife but as you said they were not available. We got the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady instead, which are supposed to be equivalent.

Keep us posted this winter! And keep an eye on the mpg also...

 

[pasei]

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?

 

[pasei]

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

 

[pasei]

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?

 

[pasei]

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

Thank you. I am looking to go for a Minus One size for tires, which would be 205/60R16. Now I'm seeing wheels with are 16x6.5 and others that are 16x7. I even see 16x7.5.

What are the OEM rim size? How would I know which size is compatible?

(PS: @insightfully are you alright mate?)

 

[pasei]

Anybody?

 

[pasei]

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?

 

[pasei]

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?

 

[pasei]

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.