[andrew28]

Nokian offers All-Weather tires that is approved for winter use. I'm not sure how well it does but heard good things about it from Tesla owners.
https://www.nokiantires.com/all-weather-tires/nokian-wr-g4/

I have never used snow tires living in Boston and no winter accidents the past 10 years either.

• The snow plows do a good job where I travel
• I practice defensive driving in the snow
• I leave plenty of room when following other cars
• I try not to drive above 30mph depending on conditions
• Avoid hills when possible
• Make sure tires are properly inflated weekly

Once the Michelins are due for replacement or I change my mind about needing snow tires... I will most likely replace them with Nokian All-Weather tires. Don't have space in my apartment to store the all season or winter tires.

 

[andrew28]

Has your snow driving adjusted at all with the Insight? Do you just drive "as normal" without trying to manage speed via offered modes (Eco) or Regen?

It hasn't really snow much or at all this winter in Boston so I can't comment on this yet. Only driven the Insight in the snow once or twice but the roads were plowed already.

 

[andrew28]

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:

 

[andrew28]

Hello, I have the Touring-trim with factory 17" wheels.
I'm getting Snow tires and want 16" wheels.
What 16" wheels would you buy? (Light weight and great deal on four 16" wheels)


I live in the northeast and winters here are crazy. What 16" snow tires would you buy? 70miles one way trip to work:-/

I would go with the Michelin X-ice Xi3. It's the highest rated snow tire on tirerack and is GreenX so fuel efficiency shouldn't be as detrimental. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Honda&autoYear=2019&autoModel=Insight&autoModClar=EX


I will let others provide recommendations on 16" wheels.

 

[andrew28]

The 215/50/17 Touring size X-Ice is out of stock at my local Costco, too. Tirerack says the alt size 225/45/17 will work for the Touring. X-Ice regular and run flat versions are available at my Costco for that size.


Speedometer will be off a little if you go with the 225/45/17. For example, 70mph on the speedometer will actually be 68.65mph. You can compare the 2 tire sizes and speedometer differences here. https://tiresize.com/speedometer-calibration/

 

[andrew28]

Sweet
205, nice and narrow
X-ICE, great performers, fuel efficient
15", save money
Lightweigh alloy, only 15 lbs

Do a test for us, go do a test loop in your car, record the mileage, temperature just before the tires are swapped
After the swap, do it again, and compare the mpg.
I wouldn't be surprised if the winter tires had virtually zero mpg effect, with narrower, lighter rims.

Not sure if it's a fake tirerack review or not but this guy had his X-Ice on for the whole year due to better fuel economy, lol.

 

[andrew28]

I just put winter tires on yesterday and went with the Bridgestone Blizzak WS90. I went down a size on the touring to a 215 55R 16 from the regular 17 inch. I was going to buy them from Costco but found a better deal with my local tire store and they were offering a $50 rebate from Bridgestone which Costco wasn't. On a side note -I ordered the rims from Costco and when I was putting the winter tires onI noticed that the rims were made in China ( I guess just about everything is these days anyway) and the Bridgestone tires were made in Japan. I was also surprised that the Insight Touring alloy rims were also made in China. Who would have thought.

https://www.costco.com/online-offers.html?COSTID=MVM_header
Probably too late for you but Costco is offering $110 off Bridgestone tires starting today.

 

[andrew28]

The Michelin CrossClimate+ is another option for those that live in the city with adequate snow plowing. They're all season tires and have a snow rating. CrossClimate+ tire sizes that fit the Insight are posted here.

 

[andrew28]

I just got my Michelin X-Ice v3 put ON using OEM Touring 17" wheels. I really hope these will get me through western-NY crazy lake-effect snow weather.

What are some of the reviewers saying about these winter tires?

I've had my Touring-trim for 3 months now and racked up 11k miles on the OEM all-season tires (summer & fall weather).
I hope these new Snow tires I just got do me well for the crazy snowy weather 😕

From what I have read it's usually between the Michelin X-Ice and Bridgestone Blizzak as best winter tires. The Michelin X-Ice isn't the best in one category but more of a balanced winter tire that does well in many like fuel efficiency, tread life, noise level, dry handling, etc...


The Michelin X-Ice are GreenX tires so let us know how your fuel economy is like once you have more miles on them. :smile:

 

[andrew28]

What is "Green X" mean on the X-ice v3 winter tire mean?

Looks sounds like a duck (cough cough gimmick)...lolol

The Green X logo is Michelin's guarantee that a tire provides a level of energy efficiency among the highest in the market for its category without compromising other key characteristics, such as traction and tread wear.

It could be nonsense but I think you might get better fuel economy than the stock Touring Conti tires. The stock Michelin Energy Saver tires on the LX/EX is marketed as Green X, too.

 

[andrew28]

What is CO2 in tires for Green-X?

No CO2 in the tires. They're referring to less CO2 pollution since you won't be using as much gas with efficient tires.

 

[andrew28]

Overall, I have positive experience. But at a very slippery hill, when the ABS light keep flashing, only electric motor was working. And it moved very slow. A little bit scary at that point.

What kind of tires do you have on your Insight?

 

[andrew28]

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

Aren't the X-Ice warrantied up to 40k miles?

 

[andrew28]

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+.

 

[andrew28]

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.

View attachment 5415

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

 

[andrew28]

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.

 

[andrew28]

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

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

 

[andrew28]

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

 

[andrew28]

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.

 

[andrew28]

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.