GY Ultra Grip GW-3 or Firestone Winterforce

[Blue_Goose]

It's only be a few miles and yeah they are a bit louder as advertised but nothing irritating I ordered without the tpms. It took the system awhile to even realize it was missing. Now it blinks for a minute or so and then stays lit. No biggie. No chime at all I heard that the caps are a bear to get on lol

 

[cp3]

Originally Posted By: mlatour

Keep those bags for the kitty! Believe me, it doesn't take much wheelspin or sliding to activate the traction control / stability control on the Charger. With no extra weight added to the trunk over winter, and despite often trying to 'kick it out' around snowy corners the backend never got loose on my 2011 (w/WinterForce). If anything it's the lightweight front end that looses traction first. All that extra weight might make for longer braking distances too.

Nothing in my trunk either. I get a foot or so of lateral motion in the rear before the electronic nannies kick in. Seems about the same with the TC switched off, I don't think you can switch off the ESC. Don't expect to get moving quickly when the snow is flying with out extra weight though. I run the same as summers(235/55 18), 35psi by the door sticker. Hmmm, never thought about a second set for the summer. Mine is black and I've blacked out the grill and emblems. Looks pretty sinister. Might have to consider this too! Think I'd keep the 235/55 size for the summer though.

 

[cp3]

So your tire light blink all the time? Do you have the EVIC with the pressure display? My light goes off after about 30km, only thing I get is an amber N/A for tire pressure in the EVIC.

 

[Blue_Goose]

Originally Posted By: cp3

So your tire light blink all the time? Do you have the EVIC with the pressure display? My light goes off after about 30km, only thing I get is an amber N/A for tire pressure in the EVIC.

It only blinks for about 30 seconds and then stays on (solid light on dash) Yes I have the pressure display on the EVIC. The first time I go to change display from speed to trip etc, it brings me to the tire pressure screen but I just arrow past it. What year is your Charger? Post a pic, I'd like to see what you did blacking things out. I'm seriously considering getting the lugs and hub caps. the exposed middle on the wheels is staring to rust...not that they wouldn't with hubs, just will be hidden lol

 

[supton]

Maybe wipe down or at least spray some oil on the rims? A mist of WD40 would do in a pinch. Would need frequent touchups. If you were closer I'd loan a can Fluid Film. Eureka says it's safe on rubber, so you could spray next to the tire bead w/o fears. Only thing is, I'd think it would not stay on the rim long.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

If you don't want the exposed metal parts to rust, just slap some grease on there. I put some on the axle nut and dust cover on the Focus.

 

[cp3]

Mine is a '13, strange that they are different. Maybe it's a north/south of the border thing. Yes, mine rusted pretty quickly too. My boss sprayed white lithium grease on the axle nut area of his truck last fall but he hasn't put his winters back on yet for me to see if it worked or not. I don't really mind the look without the caps, even with the rusty axles and honestly I don't have the spare cash right now to buy them anyway. If I went to steelies for the summer I would have to spring for them though and likely Plasti Dip them black too. OK, not the best pics but she's way to filthy right now for new ones... Plasti Dip is very easy to work with. Tape it off about an inch outside what ever you want to paint, in this case the grill. I taped the grill section and only painted the chrome surround. Spray several coats until you're happy with the coverage and thickness, then just start peeling the tape. It comes right off the paint but the small gap between the body and the grill surround have separated the layer so it stays on the surround. Same idea with the emblems just a little more tedious getting it out of some letters. I actually got some water under the Plasti Dip on the surround and it bubbled it. Still holding on though, kind of surprised. Thinking in the spring I may peel it off and re-shoot it although I may pull it out this time. Apparently the front bumper on these is very easy to R&R.

 

[Blue_Goose]

Good tip on the grease...not sure if it will fling all over the side of the car? I'm one the fence for hubs...I may just do it but they sure are pricey for what they are Car looks good....I may try the plasti dip in the spring. I like how it looks. Apparently the front bumper/nose is very easy to remove. Based on a video I saw about Spyder headlights it looks like it can be done in short order. Some pushpins and a bolt in the wheel wells and some screws underneath for the most part....I want to add fogs but I'm sort of chicken about disassembling my car lol Have had the tires on for about a week and almost 500 miles. Noisy as advertised, ride rough as advertised, squishy on cornering as advertised....I'm ok with it though...I will say their wet weather traction is pretty good as it has poured here for a good part of the week and no slippage at all They do look boss though and still waiting for snow to test them out Supton- I'm taking about the center hub of the wheel where the axle is exposed...the rest of the wheels look great

 

[Blue_Goose]

Hit 4000 miles today.....picked up car 10/27 You can see my TMPS lit up

 

[SwampSurvivor]

You drive a lot!

 

[cp3]

Washed it today so I got a shot of the overall look.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Blue_Goose

Good tip on the grease...not sure if it will fling all over the side of the car? I'm one the fence for hubs...I may just do it but they sure are pricey for what they are Car looks good....I may try the plasti dip in the spring. I like how it looks. Apparently the front bumper/nose is very easy to remove. Based on a video I saw about Spyder headlights it looks like it can be done in short order. Some pushpins and a bolt in the wheel wells and some screws underneath for the most part....I want to add fogs but I'm sort of chicken about disassembling my car lol Have had the tires on for about a week and almost 500 miles. Noisy as advertised, ride rough as advertised, squishy on cornering as advertised....I'm ok with it though...I will say their wet weather traction is pretty good as it has poured here for a good part of the week and no slippage at all They do look boss though and still waiting for snow to test them out Supton- I'm taking about the center hub of the wheel where the axle is exposed...the rest of the wheels look great

Doesn't fly around for me

 

[Blue_Goose]

Looks good CP! What tire pressure you running at? (ooops just saw your previous comment 35 psi) Ok, still waiting for some snow...I'm afraid I'm gonna burn these tires down to the wear bars before we get a flake Maybe 1000 miles on the tires....they have gotten progressively louder and apparently the Tire Rack didn't do the best job in the world in balancing...then again they do look like they took a bit of weight to balance so that may part of the issue. Again, I'm fine with the noise as long as they perform in the white stuff....... Miller, thanks for the tip. I may try the white grease

 

[SubLGT]

Originally Posted By: Blue_Goose

………...apparently the Tire Rack didn't do the best job in the world in balancing...then again they do look like they took a bit of weight to balance so that may part of the issue…………...

I would bet the issue is not balancing, but excessive road force variation with the Firestones.

 

[Blue_Goose]

That could be.....I'm a little naive on the subject but wouldn't a Road Force balance eliminate most of that?

 

[krzyss]

I got winter wheel/tire combo setup from TireRack with something like 40lbs road force in one, none were below 15 lbs. It was undrivable on the highway. Apparently "free road balance" does not mean they will do anything with assemblies that show excessive force, before shipping. I ended up with different tires (Dunlops 4D replaced with Xi3) on the same MSW wheels. I paid 2 visits to prefferred local installer with Hunter road force machine - one to diagnose the problem and second to mount replacements. If TR cannot ship properly mounted and balanced assemblies I have my doubts about their process, but it was a year ago. Maybe they improved, maybe not. Krzys

 

[CapriRacer]

Krzyss, What tire size are we talking about?

 

[krzyss]

205/55R16

 

[Blue_Goose]

Originally Posted By: krzyss

I got winter wheel/tire combo setup from TireRack with something like 40lbs road force in one, none were below 15 lbs. It was undrivable on the highway. Apparently "free road balance" does not mean they will do anything with assemblies that show excessive force, before shipping. I ended up with different tires (Dunlops 4D replaced with Xi3) on the same MSW wheels. I paid 2 visits to prefferred local installer with Hunter road force machine - one to diagnose the problem and second to mount replacements. If TR cannot ship properly mounted and balanced assemblies I have my doubts about their process, but it was a year ago. Maybe they improved, maybe not. Krzys

Well that stinks....mine is not undrivable on the highway but it is def not a smooth ride. But then again I wasn't expecting a great ride based on what people have said about Winter Force tires. Still waiting for snow to test them out.......all we got today was a ton of rain

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I bought a set of 4 in 2011. I thought the car was going to shake apart. It was the two in the front that were bad. Had them road force balanced and nothing. They had bad belts. Also had a pretty bad radial pull - the steering wheel was always at 1 o'clock to go straight. Reading reviews on TR, I thought it was only the smaller sizes. The only way I could get it driveable was if I inflated the tire pressure to 50 on them. I bought two more in August of 2013 and these ones are fine. Over the summer this year, two of my car's tires were slashed. So I had to run on two snow tires (on the back of my Focus until the replacements came in) and it destroyed one of them. So I'm running the two new, good ones in the front, one of the bad originals and one of the good originals in the rear.