Tires (Summer/Winter/All-Season)

[Caconym]

FWIW - I don't have my SE yet, but I'm a big fan of winter tires over all-seasons. I've used Bridgestone Blizzaks and Michelin X-ICEs on a Honda Civic hatch, a Honda Fit (amazing snow car), and the little insight in the picture. They seem to be about equal. Others around here swear by the Nokians, but they are a bit more spendy. We get about 150" of snow a year, and even living in the mountains with a long 20% driveway never felt like we need AWD.

There is one issue, though. It's really helpful in the Hondas to be able to switch off traction control for low speed snowy stuff. On the worst days TC can bog the car down when you want a little wheelspin to grind up a hill, for instance. It may be that TC is just more clumsy in an ICE car, especially in combination with a manual trans (all ours are), but has anyone had experience with real snow driving in the SE? How does the TC behave in really slick conditions?

 

[insightman]

I finally ordered a set of Michelin X-ICE Snows in 205/55R16 (they don't make 195/55R16) to use on the stock 16" Victory Spoke wheels. I wanted to try the Hakkapeliittas but they're backordered.

I had no trouble getting 195/55R16 Michelin X-ICE Snows last winter. Michelin at least did make them. I have the Hakkapeliittas for our Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, which we drive in EV mode 99% of the time. They are much noisier than the Michelins. The Hakkapeliitta tread pattern is more aggressive than the Michelin, but I was very satisfied with the performance of the Michelins in deep snow.

What surprised me is how the SE's anti-wheel spin feature reduced the power to the wheels to match the available traction while driving in deep snow. When I floored the accelerator the car just crept forward with no wheel-spin. It felt sort of like trying to accelerate while driving through thick mud.

 

[Carsten Haase]

I had no trouble getting 195/55R16 Michelin X-ICE Snows last winter. Michelin at least did make them. I have the Hakkapeliittas for our Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, which we drive in EV mode 99% of the time. They are much noisier than the Michelins. The Hakkapeliitta tread pattern is more aggressive than the Michelin, but I was very satisfied with the performance of the Michelins in deep snow.

What surprised me is how the SE's anti-wheel spin feature reduced the power to the wheels to match the available traction while driving in deep snow. When I floored the accelerator the car just crept forward with no wheel-spin. It felt sort of like trying to accelerate while driving through thick mud.

View attachment 13576

Michelin's naming makes this a bit confusing. Did you get the new "X-ICE SNOW" tires or "X-ICE XI3" snow tires? I previously had the XI3 version and they were fantastic so I'm confident the new "SNOW" version will be at least as good. Not sure what the difference is but the tread pattern looks a bit more aggressive.

Michelin doesn't have any 195/55R16 winter tires on their website for either of those so I guess they discontinued that size.

 

[insightman]

Michelin's naming makes this a bit confusing. Did you get the new "X-ICE SNOW" tires or "X-ICE XI3" snow tires? I previously had the XI3 version and they were fantastic so I'm confident the new "SNOW" version will be at least as good. Not sure what the difference is but the tread pattern looks a bit more aggressive.

Michelin doesn't have any 195/55R16 winter tires on their website for either of those so I guess they discontinued that size.

You're correct, I have the XI3s. I didn't know there was a newer X-ICE SNOW tire.

 

[Puppethead]

has anyone had experience with real snow driving in the SE? How does the TC behave in really slick conditions?

See the Traction Control thread for explanation of the modes. I did serious snow driving in my SE last winter, and sometimes you need to turn it off in order to get the wheel spin needed.

 

[Teddydogno1]

I received the last of the 4 take-off wheels and tires from my eBay purchase. They arrived staggered...1 on Tuesday, 2 Wednesday and the final one today. They are gray Revolites and appear to be basically brand new. I don't see any scuffs on the wheels and the tires have zero wear. I believe the seller that they were taken off a brand new car (bought from a BMW dealer in Florida).

The bad news is that the tires are Hankook Optimo H426B run-flats. These are all-season tires with the M&S rating (not severe Winter duty). I did want A/S for 3-4 month use here in the Puget Sound area, but the Hankooks have really poor wet-traction reviews at Tire Rack. I can only hope that they aren't as bad as many reviewers say. We get a lot of "wet" around here!

Rob

 

[insightman]

I did serious snow driving in my SE last winter, and sometimes you need to turn it off in order to get the wheel spin needed.

Driving in deep snow felt more like my previous FWD cars after turning down the traction control (you can't really turn it off), but I don't believe I was accelerating any faster than when the traction control was fully engaged. I guess if you needed to burn through the snow beneath your tires to get to the road surface for some traction, turning down the traction control would be the only way to do that.

 

[electriceddy]

Michelin demos it's prototype airless tires with electric Mini SE:

Source:
https://www.thedrive.com/tech/42482...-tires-on-a-mini-ahead-of-planned-2024-launch

 

[insightman]

Michelin demos it's prototype airless tires with electric Mini SE

I prefer my SE's center caps to the duct tape on these wheels in the video. These wheels/tires must be worth $10K apiece and they couldn't make a Michelin center cap for them?

Do those wheels go out of balance after they accumulate a gob of mud or a rock in just one area? Will Michelin come up with a new svelte version of their bulbous, air-filled mascot, Bibendum, made from vanes of gray plastic?

 

[Puppethead]

Do those wheels go out of balance after they accumulate a gob of mud or a rock in just one area?

Didn't this get discussed in the Michelin Airless Tires thread? The video covers the balancing is done at the factory since the wheels are attached to the tires, and never go out of balance.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

I was under the assumption that the lack of sidewall was just for marketing the prototypes, and that the final product would in fact have some kind of (non-structural) sidewall. Otherwise, yeah, those tires are going to fill up with rocks, mud, snow, you name it.

 

[Carsten Haase]

I really wish we got a choice of tires when ordering... I have way too many tires in my garage!



205/55R16 X-ICE Snow winter tires will be going on the stock wheels as soon as I can get the new wheels on.

New wheels/tires are: 17x7.5 ET50 OZ Superturismo LM with 215/45/17 BFGoodrich Comp 2 A/S plus tires.

Shock clearance is a bit tight with only 2.5mm between the tire's rim protector and the shock so I'm getting some slim spacers before driving with them.

 

[polyphonic]

I would like to run a set of CrossClimate 2 tires. My current tires are 195 55R16. The CrossClimate 2 come in 205 55R16.
According to this tire size calculator they are within the acceptable range.

Does that seem right?

 

[Carsten Haase]

I would like to run a set of CrossClimate 2 tires. My current tires are 195 55R16. The CrossClimate 2 come in 205 55R16.
According to this tire size calculator they are within the acceptable range.

Does that seem right?

I have some 205/55R16 winter tires waiting to go on, I'll let you know how they fit when I get them mounted (hopefully within the next week).

You'll have less shock/tire clearance with the wider tires but it should be roughly the same clearance as the OEM 17s (also 205).

Do you plan on running them year round? The crossclimates use a winter compound which is unique for all season tires so they'll probably have a pretty big hit to range/efficiency

 

[polyphonic]

I have some 205/55R16 winter tires waiting to go on, I'll let you know how they fit when I get them mounted (hopefully within the next week).

You'll have less shock/tire clearance with the wider tires but it should be roughly the same clearance as the OEM 17s (also 205).

Do you plan on running them year round? The crossclimates use a winter compound which is unique for all season tires so they'll probably have a pretty big hit to range/efficiency

Please let me know how they work out!

I am looking at running the CrossClimates on another set of wheels as a "winter" tire. The difficulty is the weather in my area fluctuates widely. The winter time temperatures can hit 10 to 70 degrees in the same week.

 

[MichaelC]

It's finally time to choose some winter tires for my SE. For those who have Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3s, how do they handle in the wet?

 

[Puppethead]

It's finally time to choose some winter tires for my SE. For those who have Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3s, how do they handle in the wet?

I have them, they work great in all road conditions.

 

[Carsten Haase]

It's finally time to choose some winter tires for my SE. For those who have Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3s, how do they handle in the wet?

Have you looked at the new Michelin X-ICE SNOW tires? Supposedly they have 9% less rolling resistance than the previous XI3. The tread pattern is definitely different, it looks more like the Crossclimate tires with no circumferential grooves.

I chose them specifically because they use the same tread compound all the way through and have full depth sipes so they should still perform well when worn (unlike blizzaks)

They're also claiming a bunch of other stuff about performance improvements with a giant wall of poorly formated conditional statements at the bottom of the page that I didn't bother to sort through

 

[MichaelC]

Have you looked at the new Michelin X-ICE SNOW tires? Supposedly they have 9% less rolling resistance than the previous XI3.

Yes. Here's my current list of contenders and the EU tyre label ratings I could find for them:

• Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 : 195/55 R16 91R XL
  • Fuel: B
  • Wet: E
  • Noise: 72dB
  • Weight: 18lbs
• Pirelli Cinturato Winter : 195/55 R16 91H XL
  • Fuel: C
  • Wet: B
  • Noise: 66dB
  • Weight: 8.18kg = 18.03lbs
• Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 : 195/55 R16 91H XL
  • Fuel: C
  • Wet: A
  • Noise: 71dB
  • Weight: 8.94kg = 19.71lbs
• Michelin X-Ice Xi3 : 195/55 R16 91H XL
  • Fuel: C
  • Wet: F
  • Noise: 71dB
  • Weight: 20lbs
• Michelin X-Ice Snow : 205/55 R16 94H
  • Fuel: C
  • Wet: F
  • Noise: 69dB
  • Weight: 22lbs

From what I have seen, these ratings can vary for the same model of tire across different sizes, speed ratings, and load ratings.

 

[Carsten Haase]

Yes. Here's my current list of contenders and the EU tyre label ratings I could find for them:

• Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 : 195/55 R16 91R XL
  • Fuel: B
  • Wet: E
  • Noise: 72dB
  • Weight: 18lbs
• Pirelli Cinturato Winter : 195/55 R16 91H XL
  • Fuel: C
  • Wet: B
  • Noise: 66dB
  • Weight: 8.18kg = 18.03lbs
• Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 : 195/55 R16 91H XL
  • Fuel: C
  • Wet: A
  • Noise: 71dB
  • Weight: 8.94kg = 19.71lbs
• Michelin X-Ice Xi3 : 195/55 R16 91H XL
  • Fuel: C
  • Wet: F
  • Noise: 71dB
  • Weight: 20lbs
• Michelin X-Ice Snow : 205/55 R16 94H
  • Fuel: C
  • Wet: F
  • Noise: 69dB
  • Weight: 22lbs

From what I have seen, these ratings can vary for the same model of tire across different sizes, speed ratings, and load ratings.

Do you know how Europe does the wet testing? The US UTQG system is dumb and just drags a locked tire across wet concrete which isn't a good representation of real world traction...

Europe is clearly a bit ahead of us with their labels but not sure about testing methods