Help snow tires & handling

[burt ragio]

I have snows installed every winter. Had to purchase another four after seeing three winters. Bought same size but a different brand. Four General Altimax Artic 215/65/R16 front 225/70R16 rear. The handling is horriable.To much over steer. It feels as like I have twenty PSI in the rear. I need advisement for a fix ?

[RubberCtyRauder]

I had general altimax arctic on a cv before and thought they were great..They do get high ratings. They are directional..are they mounted on rims and car the right way with tread? Sorry...have to ask.

Not sure what brand you used before but the arctics have soft tread compound and really perform better when temps are colder..they do have deep tread so they may feel a little squirrly compared to performance tires.

I have Firestone winterforces on the back of my daily driver caprice and run them year round and have about 35000 on them..they were a little squishy feeling when they were new due to all the lugs and siping inthe tread.

[ctrlraven]

I ran 235/70-16 (front) and 255/70-16 (rear) winterforce tires before with good results, handling went down of course because of the tall sidewall which gives a lot of sidewall flex and the soft tread. Last winter I bought a set of 18" mustang wheels and run 235/50-18 (front) 255/55-18 (rear) goodyear wrt ice tires and they have been great on dry surface, car does seem to float when above 80 mph.

[babbage]

Winterforce and General are garbage compared to Blizzak. "Performance Winter / Snow tire developed for the drivers of sports cars, sporty coupes and luxurious performance sedans"

I run 235-55-17 Blizzak V Rated to 149. Decent grip, does not feel like a waterbed on wheels as you get with other brands. This is a perfomance winter tire as opposed to just a "winter tire" -Big Difference. Don't buy the cheap ones next time!

[RubberCtyRauder]

Blizzak and even Nokian are most excellent winter tires..but there is nothing wrong with winterforce or altimax arctics, they do there job well..but you are correct about the performance aspects..but you pay for that and when shopping snows..winterforce were $88 vs like $150 for blizzak.. I'm not the one worried about performance or handling.

[RF Overlord]

Winterforce and General are garbage compared to Blizzak. I wouldn't go that far. The Blizzak is an excellent, albeit very expensive, tire...but Mary's car has had the Altimax Arctics for 4 seasons and they work great.

[RacerX]

Out of curiosity, have you rechecked the lug nuts? Studded snows here. Blizzaks ftmfw!

[Vortech347]

The only snow tire I will ever run is a blizzak. We had them on our old Cobra that my wife daily drove for 3 years.

Remember they are snow tires, they have a purpose. Snow. Not performance handling.

You wear high heels for a night out on the town and running shoes on a treadmill. Same concept with cars.

[RacerX]

My buddy who owns an auto repair shop here in town asked me if I wanted studded or non-studded. I asked what he thought. He said for the extra $20, get the studded. I showwed up to get my new studded tires on the police rims and his crew laughs and asks why I got studded, the way I drive they're just going to fly out. I looked at them with a straight face and told them I didn't get them for the ice... I got them for the cool spark show I'll throw off at night! :banana2:

[Vortech347]

My buddy who owns an auto repair shop here in town asked me if I wanted studded or non-studded. I asked what he thought. He said for the extra $20, get the studded. I showwed up to get my new studded tires on the police rims and his crew laughs and asks why I got studded, the way I drive they're just going to fly out. I looked at them with a straight face and told them I didn't get them for the ice... I got them for the cool spark show I'll throw off at night! :banana2:

Just be careful they don't fly out and dent the fender or scratch up the rear bumper. I worked at a tire store as a kid and saw this a few times. At the time I believe the speed limit advised with studs was 65mph.

[burt ragio]

When I relized how different the car handled the 1st thing I checked being the tires are directional was the arrow then air pressure then lug nuts. All checked out fine. I did bring the tire pressure up to 38psi but it made no improvement in handleing.They are by no means a performance tire but on the other hand they are nothing like the old Pireilli winter & ice.

[larryo340]

I use my Marquis in the winter, and have used the Winterforce for the past seven winters until now. It was time for new winter shoes and felt that it was time for a change. Don't get me wrong I liked the Winterforce, but they were very noisy and sloppy in the handling department. For the past 25 years or so I've always run Yokohama tires so now I figured it was time to give their winter tires a try. I put a set of Yokohama Ice guard IG20s in size 225/60/16 on steel wheels two months ago and so far I like them much better overall than the Winterforce snows....they're much more quiet, grip on wet road is worlds better, and they handle much better in the dry. With that said I hope that in deep snow they're as good as the Wintetforce snows although I'm not so sure since the tread is much less aggressive. Unless they're terrible in deep snow I'll be sticking with these for years to come.

[nh muscle]

I use garage tires the name brand is called Don't Drive It from Dec to April!

[RacerX]

I use garage tires the name brand is called Don't Drive It from Dec to April!

U need to take ur skirt off Ken. Let me know if you need a ride around the block. :lol:

[EMAS]

I bought some Continental Extreme Winter Contacts for my wife's car this year and they are the best winter tires I've ever driven on. Far better than the non-performance Bizzaks and the older Michelin X-Ice though I haven't sampled the current X-Ice 3.

Definitely not a performance tire but much better handling on wet and dry roads than other winter tires I've had and they were amazing on the day when roads in my neighborhood was a sheet of ice. I'll be getting a set for my car for next year for certain as my existing winter tires are getting down there.

[nh muscle]

Bill I have no choice now 2 months for a fuel pump wtf!

[RacerX]

Bill I have no choice now 2 months for a fuel pump wtf!

WHAAAAAtttttt??? To install or just to get it???

Sorry, thread hijack alert! :D I'll ttyl Ken.

[burt ragio]

I bought some Continental Extreme Winter Contacts for my wife's car this year and they are the best winter tires I've ever driven on. Far better than the non-performance Bizzaks and the older Michelin X-Ice though I haven't sampled the current X-Ice 3.

Definitely not a performance tire but much better handling on wet and dry roads than other winter tires I've had and they were amazing on the day when roads in my neighborhood was a sheet of ice. I'll be getting a set for my car for next year for certain as my existing winter tires are getting down there.

What size did you go with front & back ?

[EMAS]

What size did you go with front & back ?

They are on my wife's car, a Fusion, and my daily driver is a Grand Marquis. I don't have winter tires for my Marauder.

[gaudette]

General altimax arctic 225/60/16 all around. Run them studded on my marauder and my brother has them on his crown vic. We're each on our third season. Mine are still like new and his are getting pretty worn down in the middle.

I've never had any issues with them until this year. They wont grip ice very well at all and can feel floaty at times. The sad thing is they feel 1000x more responsive than the firestone wide oval as I put on this sumemer.

[burt ragio]

So I have been chasing this handling problem for some time. I was at my witts end. So I brought it to my mechanic. Turns out it is the steering shaft u joints. They were binding up. He said I need a new steering shaft. He said Grand Marquis & Crown vic certain years there was a recall. Except our Marauder even though we have the same shaft. If our sreering shaft is the same why did we not get a recall. Did we get the shafted ?