man, you are so full of it

http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/.../33764794.html
http://www.abouttires.net/winter-tir...comparison.php
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/200...snowtires.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...o/home/?query=

tell me if you cant find more information from more authoritative sources... cause you sure aint better than the ones I linked.

I don't care if you hate the guy but the crap you said is BS. Anyways the videos are still make the point.

 

I think you can see the main culprits for the crash in your first pic

I got (4) winter tires on our 06 HCHII last december. We'd been inundated with snow on the BC, Canada lower mainland, and it was just getting too dangerous. There was close to 12" on the ground, and the road plowing was "spotty" on my way down to the tire place. The OEM tires were Bridgestone Insignia SE200_02, with close to 60,000 km use, and approx 5/32" tread remaining.

I barely made it there, and it definitely was not safe. I got Nokian WRG2 put on, all round, on steel rims. While not a dedicated snow tire, they are definitely a good 4 season choice: biased more towards snow/ice conditions than a typical "all season".

It was more or less the choice, due to a shortage of snow tires in our area (due in part to Quebec legislation mandating snow tire use, coupled with the heavy snowfalls), and with our variable conditions looks to be an ideal choice.

The difference between the OEM and Nokian was night and day. First, the tread on the new tires was 11/32", and that tread has a lot of aggressive cross-blocking, coupled with fine lateral sipes. And the rubber compound is designed to stay more pliable in cold temp's. By comparison, the OEM's have mostly longitudinal tracks, and the shallow cross blocking had for the most part worn off.

The continuing Achilles heel of the HCHII is it's low ground clearance. Get into really deep stuff and you'll be stuck again. But even that will happen a lot later, with aggressive tread all weather or dedicated snow's.

 

Hi Mendel;
I think the Nokian WRG2 are a great choice for your area and most area for that matter. I'm sure that is my next set of tires! How are they for LRR as far as you can tell. Can you get good FE with them?
Hal

 

The FE is not that far off the OEM. How far it's a little hard to tell, since they are on in the colder months, with winter formulated gas, etc. Plus they're on steel rims which are a bit heavier, less aerodynamic (miniscule diff. I think). I would speculate they've depressed mileage slightly, say from 6.0 liter/100 km to 6.4 liter/100 km. Looking at my mileage logs from last winters (when we had the OEM's on) seems to confirm this.

They roll very nice, ie: coasting up to red lights they feel very free wheeling. And we've had some very good highway mileage.

When I swap back to the summer tires, which shouldn't be too long from now, I will pay careful attention and let you know what I find. I suspect there will be a slight improvement, but not a big difference.

Maybe, and this is very seat-of-the-pants, their main mileage hit is in slow speed stop-and-go. They seem to make it a little harder to break that initial inertia, when the car gets rolling from a dead stop.

I've got them at 40psi, front and back. The max sidewall pressure is 51psi. I believe there's actually two versions of these: different load ratings. Mine are indicated as "extra load".

They are very well behaved, compared to some dedicated snow tires we've had in past. Slightly more road noise than the OEM, when I first got them on and got out on clear pavement around 70km I could just hear their "song", but very subtle.

A lot of snows seem to give up some dry traction, causing you to spin tires a bit when doing a quick left turn from a standing start, for example. The WRG2 are very good in this regard, keeping good grip.

 

I stand by statement cause you take it upon yourself to determine who is good and who is not. that is plenty arrogant to dismiss people who are more highly regarded and qualified than you. Wheather you ignore me or others not makes no difference at all and I am happy I can point out your stuff for all to see.

You stop being grumpy and badmouthing others and will not point out anything. Its really simple.

ks

 

Wow.. this has turned into quite the discussion!

Ok, for spinner, here's what happened.

I was still at home, and my wife left in the car to go to work as normal - she won't take the hybrid in the snow for obvious reasons, but that morning there was no snow (and we hadn't had any for a month) at our house so she took the civic as usual. She called me later to tell me she had hit a tree, and then I took our other car up to see what was going on. Once I got up the hills, which can't be more than a couple hundred feet higher, there was about 2-3 inches of snow and driving to find where she was on the route - I couldn't believe she had even made it as far as she did.

Why didn't she stop/turn around? I think she though she was going to get out of it soon, and she said she couldn't see anywhere to turn around or stop safely so she kept going. It had been wet the day before so it's possible there was some ice, but I don't know as I wasn't there, and by the time I got there, only 25 mins or so later, several cars had been though (she would have been one of the first) and then a snowplow.

So yeah - I don't know how exactly it happened, she doesn't remember apparently and I didn't press it.

So no one has had this type of repair happen and has any tips? Should I go to a Honda dealer afterwards and have them check it out or what?

 

I should add - since I looked at the pics again. By the time I got a tow - it was almost 4 hours later and the snow had pretty much gone.

 

I would not worry to much about the repairs! You may need a wheel alignment. Have they determined the amount of damage yet? Its not a wright off is it? Hal

 

Yeah, the damage was assessed at $4,737.65 and they said they would do an alignment as well. I'm also having it detailed inside and out while it's there. I did tell them not to use a power washer on the engine bay though - right?

 

Sorry Brant ,you did mention the amount of damage in your fist thread. H