Help with winter tires

[my1stgen515]

Greetings from the new member and proud 1st time owner of a 2015 1ss LS3 with a Diablo tune (93 octane). I Love this car. As I'm in the Northeast region and this Camaro will be my daily driver I was wondering if someone here can give this newbe some good advice on winter tires. The stock tires on the car are summer rated;
Fronts 245/45 zr20 103y
Rears 275/40 zr20 106y.
Thanks guys

[pyroguy]

Welcome to camaro5! For winter/snow tires you want Bridgestone Blizzak snow tires. Not sure if they make one for the camaro 20's, but if they do then they're your tire. I have them for my wife's Grand Am and they're awesome!

[chasmanian]

I have the general G max tires. They're considered all seasons but they're great in the snow. Ive gotten out of being plowed into a spot at work that was eight inches deep and at least two feet across.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[chasmanian]

Don't try to drive with the p zeros. It's bad- real bad.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[ChocoTaco369]

Originally Posted by my1stgen515

Greetings from the new member and proud 1st time owner of a 2015 1ss LS3 with a Diablo tune (93 octane). I Love this car. As I'm in the Northeast region and this Camaro will be my daily driver I was wondering if someone here can give this newbe some good advice on winter tires. The stock tires on the car are summer rated;
Fronts 245/45 zr20 103y
Rears 275/40 zr20 106y.
Thanks guys

Where in the Northeast? I'm in the Philadelphia area.

The PZero's were absolutely WORTHLESS in the winter. Literally a dusting of snow and the car could not move forward or backward. It was a joke. I got stuck in a driveway with a power coat on it and my girlfriend's family all had to push me out.

Fast forward a couple months and I put on a set of GMax all seasons. No issues. We had an 8 inch snowstorm and I cut uphill just fine. They work great FORWARD. They're directional tires, so there is no traction backing up, though.

Winter tires can't be driven on asphalt, so if you get them, you best be sure your roads stay snow covered the whole winter. If your roads are mostly bare asphalt but you get a couple storms like we do in Philly, all seasons are far superior IMO.

[ChocoTaco369]

Originally Posted by chasmanian

I have the general G max tires. They're considered all seasons but they're great in the snow. Ive gotten out of being plowed into a spot at work that was eight inches deep and at least two feet across.

Sent from my Nexus 7

Yes. I was amazed how well they performed. And asphalt doesn't destroy them like winter tires. They are also the quietest tires I've owned, they have outstanding dry weather grip for an all season and they're substantially lighter than stock. I believe each GMax is 5-6 lbs lighter than the PZero's. I saved 30 lbs swapping from RS wheels and PZero's to the GMax's and FR ZL1 wheels.

I am so impressed with the GMax's they are all I'll ever put on this car. In fact, with any car I ever own they'll be my go to. These are what I recommend:

http://generaltire.com/tires/performance/g-max-as-03

They actually have a mileage warranty, too.

[Rangore]

How do the GMax do in summer for traction?

[chasmanian]

They're still actually pretty good. Obviously they're not the p zeros but they're still pretty sticky.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[Flashpoint135]

been through 4 NY winters, run blizzaks daily and they work great. They are not destroyed by bare payment, they work fine. I wouldn't run them in summer / high temperatures, but November - April is fine.

[Rangore]

Thanks

[ChocoTaco369]

Originally Posted by Rangore

How do the GMax do in summer for traction?

The roads in PA are horrible. Worst roads in any state I've ever been in, so to be fair, you never really get to "test them out" when you live on washboard roads around Philadelphia, one of the nation's oldest and most outdated cities (we have 11 feet wide lanes, no shoulders and potholes every dozen feet). That being said, I don't detect any difference VS the PZero's. This was my best no-compromise mod - no loss of dry performance (at least for what I do with the car), huge increases in wet and snow traction, they look better, the treadwear is literally double, they're a whole lot lighter...I couldn't recommend them more.

If you Auto-X your car or race it a lot, I can't say any all season will perform as well as a summer tire, but for my purposes it was a major, major upgrade.

[FrostySS]

Originally Posted by ChocoTaco369

The roads in PA are horrible. Worst roads in any state I've ever been in, so to be fair, you never really get to "test them out" when you live on washboard roads around Philadelphia, one of the nation's oldest and most outdated cities (we have 11 feet wide lanes, no shoulders and potholes every dozen feet). That being said, I don't detect any difference VS the PZero's. This was my best no-compromise mod - no loss of dry performance (at least for what I do with the car), huge increases in wet and snow traction, they look better, the treadwear is literally double, they're a whole lot lighter...I couldn't recommend them more.

If you Auto-X your car or race it a lot, I can't say any all season will perform as well as a summer tire, but for my purposes it was a major, major upgrade.

I don't know man, I grew up in NJ, I think NJ, or at least parts of south jersey beat us PA people in shitty roads lol

You're right on the P-Zero's though, my God those things were horrendous with just a dusting.

I have Falken Pro G4 All Season's now, I want to see how they are in light snow, just picked up a cheap Saturn SC2 as a beater car but once it snows I might take the SS out just once to see how they perform.

[spadz93]

+1 on the gmax AS-03 tires, they were definitely a big, BIG upgrade next to the pirellis. Although, I may try to get a set of wheels with blizzaks on them

[ChocoTaco369]

Originally Posted by FrostySS

I don't know man, I grew up in NJ, I think NJ, or at least parts of south jersey beat us PA people in shitty roads lol

You're right on the P-Zero's though, my God those things were horrendous with just a dusting.

I have Falken Pro G4 All Season's now, I want to see how they are in light snow, just picked up a cheap Saturn SC2 as a beater car but once it snows I might take the SS out just once to see how they perform.

You live in Buck's County, man. Just take a ride down Bristol Pike! OMG.

You can tell how much better the DOT standards in NJ are than PA just by driving over one of the bridges. I spent the first 18 years of my life in NJ and I can tell you first hand the roads are paved totally differently (I worked a paving crew in NJ for a year). PA loves to put base concrete underneath their roads, then pave asphalt on top of it, so when it gets cold, the concrete underneath contracts at a totally different rate than the thin asphalt layer. The end result is spider cracking everywhere which collect water, then freeze overnight and split the roads in half.

NJ doesn't use base concrete. They use compacted subbase, considerable amounts of base asphalt and a 2" top of 9.5mm asphalt. The roads are also about 2 feet wider. They cost a lot more to pave roads in NJ and as a result, they last better. PA also uses this terrible asphalt mix called "superpave." Ugh, I could go on and on. This state.