Those with 245/50/16's (wet and snow traction questions)

[slick]

Those of you with 245/50/16's, how is your wet/snow traction with the wider tire? I'm most likely just going to put on a set of all seasons/ passenger tires onto the TGP rims for the Regal, but just curious more or less.

 

Then again, the car does have another 45k miles left on the current tires, so maybe I should just keep the 15's and hubcaps for the winter, and pick up a cheap set of summer tires for the wheels.

 

Just thinking outloud more or less. Comments, suggestions, idea's?

 

Thanks

[slick]

BTW, if anyone is willing to do a PS for me (the Regal with TGP wheels, but a few other idea's rolling around in my head), PM me.

[Addicted To Boost]

Wet traction is excellent, I have never been able to hydroplane in the TGP, and it stays very firm footed in cornering, braking, and moderate acceleration.

 

Snow traction however is terrible lol. I've driven 2 very similar cars back to back in the snow (TGP, 89 GP SE) and the SE with 225/60/16s was worlds better than the TGP with 245/50/16s.

 

I am running Yokohama Avid V4S tires on my TGP btw. Traction is excellent everywhere, except on ice/snow.

[slick]

Well, the 15's that the Regal currently has are either 205/70/15's or 215/65/15's, I can't remember anymore. Either way, they do sooo much better than my 225/60/16's on my Bonneville, and they are the exact same cheap-ass tire! So yeah, I'll definately keep these around for winter.

 

That being said, how much were your Avid's?

 

Truthfully, I'm not all concerned about performance much. Currently, the car floats like a boat down the highway. The car has the stock shocks/struts (which I will be replacing here very soon with GR2's) and the 15" floaty tires (going to the TGP size wheel/tire combo soon as well). All in all, should still ride great, and handle every so slightly better, which is fine with me for a DD.

[Addicted To Boost]

I'm not sure how much they were to be honest, the TGP came with the brand new Avids when I bought the car. The guy said he paid $500 for all 4 tires.

[meltboy1]

ok, well I have 225/60/16 daytonas on my 89 5spd, and overall traction is excellent, snow and rain are great, I only have problems in really wet slush, but then again, what tire really doesn't. In regular snow they were great. I can take turns almost as fast as I can in the TGP.

 

on the TGP I have hancook ventus HR2s 245/50/16 and they have never seen snow, so I can't comment on that, but they have seen rain a few times, and it doesn't phase them at all. The traction is absolutely amazing, I have never been able to take turns as well as I can with those tires on there. The one problem I did have is they rubbed on the wheel wells, but when I put my new bumper on I had to take the plastic wheel wells out, and just decided not to put them back in as normally I don't drive the car that much, it has seen a lot more action lately than I would prefer with the 5spd outa commision.

 

I would recommend 245s as they will add a lot of fun to your driving experience, not to mention they just look plain cool being so wide!

 

btw, the hancooks were 385 shipped to my door through discounttiredirect.com

[slick]

Hmm.... Now I wonder if 245's will rub on the Regal. I'm not too worried about it, I'll just pull the plastic out if they do.

 

Yeah, I'm set on going 245's for sure.

 

Got a quote on powdercoat for the crosslaces- $300 for all 4. Not too shabby. Now I just want a photoshop to make sure it's what I want before I follow through with it.

[mra32]

just for input...I had 195/75/14's and 205/70/14's on my lumina which were regular all sesons before i switched to crosslaces with 225/60/16 Falken Ziex ZE 912's and the traction in the snow was a huge change. They are supposed to be performance all seasons though. These tires just cannot do snow, and I get spooked and run home every time it starts snowing. Rain is fine, however. My roommate has the 512's and says rain traction sucks. I dunno, I havent noticed an issue.

[5speedz34]

They shouldn't rub, but I know my car was tougher to steer in parking lots and low speeds with the 245's.

 

I had them mounted on 7.5" 5 spokes and they sucked. I only got stuck once in front of my house when it snowed 10". I actually drove 45 min. from Detroit to my parents house in the snow and I'm lucky that I didn't get stuck.

 

I had BF Goodrich KDWS which suck for anything else other than dry conditions. The car rode like shit and the tires where junk. Honestly I wouldn't do it since 245/50's are more $ and for a daily I would just rock 225's.

[Q-Ball]

My 245/50/16 Bridgestone Pontanza's are horrible in the snow. I would never run 245's again in snow. My 225 Goodyear ultra grip ice are so much better. Even with ABS off, night and day.

[jerry455]

i have bridgestone potenza g009's and they are not too bad. i don't think that any brand is much better than another in the snow or alot of water. next year i am putting on some blizzaks for the winter and keeping the 245's in the basement, maybe i will redo the rims. i think i will get some narrow 15" blizzaks as they worked fantastic on my fiero in the winter. i think we had over 60" of snow in the metro detroit area this winter. so much for global warming!

[5speedz34]

i have bridgestone potenza g009's and they are not too bad. i don't think that any brand is much better than another in the snow or alot of water. next year i am putting on some blizzaks for the winter and keeping the 245's in the basement, maybe i will redo the rims. i think i will get some narrow 15" blizzaks as they worked fantastic on my fiero in the winter. i think we had over 60" of snow in the metro detroit area this winter. so much for global warming!

 

You live in Sterling Heights and have a TGP?! My parents live in Shelby Twp., but I live in Detroit now for school. We should meet up.

 

I really don't think we got 60" this winter. I think the reason GM switched from 245/50/16's is because of lack of availability of tires and the fact that all-season performance kinda sucks with that size.

[jeremy]

Yeah, I'm set on going 245's for sure.

 

Got a quote on powdercoat for the crosslaces- $300 for all 4. Not too shabby. Now I just want a photoshop to make sure it's what I want before I follow through with it.

 

there's a guy from xceed that last time I looked will powdercoat 16-18" wheels for $50 each, I think he is in owosso...I can try to find his info if you would like

[slick]

Well, Jeff Ford (I'm sure he posts in the craigslist up that way as well, and I know he posts on xceed) is right over the border. I'm not really looking to travel too awful far to get work done.

 

And, now that I think about it, the Regal is just a DD. I'm not going to dump $300+ into a set of wheels on a car that I don't really care too much about. So.... parts store paint it is lol.

 

As for right now, I'm searching for someone local to do some media blasting. Once that is done, then I'll probably do up the wheels.

[jeremy]

I don't blame you one bit, I wouldn't have even considered dropping $300 to powdercoat x-laces.

[Taylor]

I have 245/50R16's on my 1994 Cutlass Supreme vert, and it is fine on wet and dry. Here in south texas, we only get snow when there are problems in hell, but during wet, the car stays on the road fine.

 

FYI, when it is wet, I don't drive like an idiot. I don't want to wreck my vert, but I have not had the car start sliding out yet, and my ABS does NOT work.

[5speedz34]

Taylor, your ABS doesn't work or never comes on?

[CSI_MuNkY]

Slick,

I just paid $320 Canadian (approx. $260USD) to get all 4 cross laces powder coated. I got the lip done too though. The next closest quote I got was for $500 for the whole set, but that would of been powder coat and then the lip machined.

 

Jamie

[slick]

MEh... I'm not too worried about it. The Regal is just a DD, nothing special about this car. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was an immense waste of money to PC some wheels for a car that I don't care much about.

 

That, and how I plan on doing them, when the car go's and someone wants to buy them, it will be easy enough to strip the paint off and refinish.

[Taylor]

I want to get mine powdercoated, but that will happen after I do everything else.

 

As for my ABS, the pump is bad. Under hard braking, you can feel the pedal start to sag, and it loses pressure. I have a new unit, just have not gotten around to putting it in yet. I was going to do it over spring break, but I spent all of it sick in bed.