Dec 23, Getting snow all day, It started around 4:30 am, at 7:15 am we have close to 4 inches. Left for breakfast. And with this I thought of doing some evaluation with the Firestone winterforce tires.

Disclaimer, I did some cornering and traction tests that I would prefer everyone not do them self. My HHR was driven by a Hired professional (me).

First, I left the house and drove through the 4" of snow with no hard starting or sliding. The HHR had a good grip on the hill out from the house.
After getting to the highway I got on the gas moderately and was pleased with the grip and increased throttle with no break-away of the front tires. Having to blaze my own trail for close to 4 miles to one of the main highways, it proved to be a good time to slow and start at 30 mph up to 50 mph, each 5 mph to see where the HHR would break traction. Doing steering wheel shakes. The HHR broke at 45 mph with some slight tail wagging.

I did accelerate up to 55 mph in this stretch that you would travel at 45 with this amount of snow that was not plowed.

On the 4 lane highway to town, one lane was plowed, the passing lane was not, I was suprised that at 50 - 55 mph, lane changes were nothing like the shift sideways I would feel with the stock tires. At 63 mph I started to feel the HHR giving the break-away feeling with the cross wind.

Cornering: I picked a nice gradual 40 mph corner for this test and did the test at 35, 40, 45, and 50 mph. Each time around the corner resulted with good results until 50 mph where the tires did not break away, but I started to drift in the corner.

Breaking in all of my conditions was real good and the tires did not break the grip unless you did heavy to locking the wheels up.

Overall I am very pleased with the grip the Winterforce tires give.

Will I buy them again.... Heck yea..

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f137/TomsHHR/Snow%20tires/S5000931.jpg (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f137/TomsHHR/Snow%20tires/S5000931.jpg)

Good review....thanks, I'm thinking of getting winter tires this year but not sure of which ones to get.

Tom

On the bare asphalt or concrete, how do those ride and what noise level do you get compared to the stock tires. I'm eyeballing a set of those also from TireRack.
Also are you sure those are made by Firestone???

TomR

Yes they are Firestone, here is the size and the rim info. I have the 16" tires on my 1LT and this is the suggested swap for winter. The tires are one size narrower than stock.
4 15x6.5 5-110 et45 cb65 st new In Stock $38.00 EA $152.00
4 205/60SR-15 Firestone Winterforce In Stock $59.00 EA $236.00
4 Mount and Balance (No Charge) N/C
From Tirerack.com

These are noisier than a stock tire as they are more aggressive with more open tread and they are a softer compound, this suggests to take them off your car the end of march or the first part of april.

And I almost forgot, Your stock lug nuts work with these rims.

Those tires actually look good to. I'd like to get winter wheels and tires but I don't want to have to buy another set of pressure sensors.

Those tires actually look good to. I'd like to get winter wheels and tires but I don't want to have to buy another set of pressure sensors.

Kind of wondering.....

IF you put another set of wheels and tires on your car, WITHOUT THE SENSORS, what would it hurt? Does it shut down, or minimize, other systems? If the "receiver" doesn't sense a signal does a display stay on the dash?

I ran my new wheels without sensors for a bit and it doesn't hurt anything. It is annoying however. The DIC shows pressure warnings and sensor warnings, along with beeping until you acknowledge warnings, everytime you start it.

Ok thanks......

Well I just ordered my set online this evening.

A 16" set with the Winterforce tires (205/60SR-16) and 16" black steel rims with the tire pressure sensors, mounted and balanced. These are probably overkill for my area, we haven't really had any BIG snows in the winter for some time now. You can't beat the price though.

While washing my 08 HHR with the 17" chrome alloy wheels the other day I noticed some pitting in the clear finish on the rear wheels. :eek: I guess that clear coat must be pretty soft. :( So I thought I better get them off there for the winter.

Thanks for you info Tom.

TomR

I just bought the TPS sensors on Ebay. Paid $49.00 plus 10 bucks shipping. You'll quickly tire of the light coming on the dash without them!
Search "HHR TPSM".....there are 3 other sets from the same seller.

Cheers!

Thanks for the input Krusty


This is for the 2008 owners

I know I saw it on here somewhere, did a search and came up with 11+ pages already. Hopefully this will be quicker.

But, what is the proper torque for the wheel lug nuts??

TomR

100 ft/lbs

You're lucky. The lowest price I could find around here was 90.00 each mounted and balanced. Couldn't afford them with Christmas, I ended up getting some cheaper ones.

Well my 16" WinterForce tires mounted on black steelies with Tire Pressure sensors came UPS today. Installed them myself, wasn't to bad to do, one wheel at a time. I thought they would be shipped in a box, they were shipped with cardboard on both sides of the wheel/tire and banded with nylon straps, already inflated. Inflation was off a coupled lbs. probably due to the fact it was only about 31° here today with a windchill of about 21°.

Took them out for a short spin, balance felt perfect (only went up to 65mph), seemed only slightly noisy on really smooth asphalt, on rough asphalt I couldn't tell any difference from the 17" Firestones.

Any you other folks in South Central PA won't have to buy snow tires now, cause everytime I buy something like this, the reason I bought the item for never happens (snow). Same thing happened with my snow blower, had a 2 ft. snow in 2002, went and bought a snow blower and haven't had hardly any snow to blow since. So I just saved you all some money!! :lol:

TomR

I hope you enjoy them I have for the last few weeks.

Did you buy yours yet JonyyB?

I would never be a sales man. Have a hard time tellin lies..

Can anyone clarify the specs on a 16" or 17" rim for me. I'm going to keep an eye on Craigslist, I dont' have $800 for rims and tires on my HHR-SS.
I'm thinking 16X6.5; 5X110mm is correct...

JIm

Overall I am very pleased with the grip the Winterforce tires give.

Will I buy them again.... Heck yea..




i have a similar set up. i bought a set of 15" steel rims from tirerack, wich i noticed they are not offering any more. i picked up some winter forces localy, and mounted and ballanced them my self. i also scuffed the rims up and sprayed them with some hardend single stage black paint, to protect from the salt on these chicago roads.

FYI: if someone out there is looking at getting the 15 " setup everything fits and clears okay, but i do not recemond you get the 205/60/15 tirerack recomends. the diamater is considerably less than the stock 17" tire. i had some junk tires i test fitted before buying my set of winter forces, and discovered the 205/65/15 fits much better, and is almost identical with the stock diamater. i have sence checked my speed with two diffrent gps systems, and the spedo is dead on balls arcurate. litteraly.

anyway, i would diffenitly recomend this set up. the stabibility, and traction is second to none when compared to the stock gta's. those will soon be up on ebay to be replaced ba a dedicated summer tire. :one::bow::one:

wow this is an old post lol

Yep but a worthwhile one and FYI the 205/60/15 are the tire change from my 16" tires and rims. Circumference difference on my tires is 1/16th In.

For what it's worth, I just put a set of these snowshoes on my '07 LS and love them so far. On New Year's Eve I slid off the road driving to work since the wonderful state of New Jersey decided not to plow the exit ramps off the highway... I took the turn at about 8-9 mph and still broke loose, bounced off two curbs and ended up jumping a curb and coming to a stop in a field. Two stock steel rims ruined, so instead of getting OEM replacements, I opted for a set of 15" steelies from Tire Rack with Winterforce 205/60R15's wrapped around them and am loving them. Much better traction than the cheapo tires I had before.

I just wish I made the purchase in November as I had planned, and I would have never done $500 of damage to my suspension. Needless to say, all is repaired, and I'm back on the road.

And I'd hate to say it, the car looks great with black steelies and a black paint job. I may get a second set of 15" steelies for the summer tires too.

Could these tires be left on year round without any trouble? Or would you burn through them too quick?

Winter tire only due to the softer compound take them off by the end of march.

Has anyone had any experience with studded winter tires?
If so, any recommendations - Mine is an 06 LT with stock rims. -- Thanks

I was thinking about maybe getting some of these snow tires for my HHR. Is it okay to just buy two for the front wheels, since it's FWD? Or is that not recommended? I don't have a lot of extra money to spend. I was planning on just having them mounted on my current wheels instead of buying new wheels. What do you think? Is going with just two okay?

I put a set of 15 inch studded snow tires on just before our first ice and snow storm (about 8 inches of snow over 2 inches of ice).
They worked extremely well - hugged the road like a cat.
They also work well on rainy roads to my surprise.
I would recommend studs on all 4, as braking and skid control is enhanced significantly by having studs on the back.

Yes and no....... It's always recommended to have all four match, especially with ABS, but even without anti-lock on a front wheel drive car having all 4 with snows helps keep the rear end behind instead of in front during braking....... but that can still happen anyways. Two just in the front should be fine if you are a careful and snow savvy driver. Keep the same diameter as the back tires, or as close as possible, and that may not be the same "size" because a snow has deeper tread which can add to the diameter slightly. No body ever recommended running 4 snows on a RWD, well I did on occasion for back road fun..... :lol:

Personally I would get wheels as I don't like mounting tires over and over again, it can damage the bead and tear the cords....... My $.02

Yes they are Firestone, here is the size and the rim info. I have the 16" tires on my 1LT and this is the suggested swap for winter. The tires are one size narrower than stock.
4 15x6.5 5-110 et45 cb65 st new In Stock $38.00 EA $152.00
4 205/60SR-15 Firestone Winterforce In Stock $59.00 EA $236.00
4 Mount and Balance (No Charge) N/C
From Tirerack.com

These are noisier than a stock tire as they are more aggressive with more open tread and they are a softer compound, this suggests to take them off your car the end of march or the first part of april.

And I almost forgot, Your stock lug nuts work with these rims.

i have a 07 lt 4door 16" tires rims are you saying this conversion to 15" will work ? also do you know whether the continentels extreme winter contacts are better or not. john

Not sure about the continentals but I have a 1LT with 16" at least till it sells.. yes the conversion works

We got a set of Winterforce tires for my daughters 01 extreme blazer and she can't believe the difference they have made, being a lowered 2wd. I bought a set of blizzaks 205 60 16 for my 09 LS and could'nt be happier. I have had blizzaks on a fiero for the past 7 years and that car would go through anything. I will always run winter tires on my car every winter from now on.

tom i have a 2007 lt 2.2 with 215-55-16 . will those 15" fit on my hhr i am leaning towards general altimax artic i have a five bolt 110 dont know the off set i do want a set of tires and rims complete