Winter Tire Experience - Be Careful

Comment on the original post. On January 30th I got my Clarity. I couple of days later with driving less than 200 miles on smooth roads got a flat that was from a hole on the interior sidewall. The sealant wouldn't work and I too was a victim of the lack of a spare tire. Went to a tire place they said it was probably a defective tire and to have the dealer put in a claim. So the dealer said it wasn't defective, I really think it was because it was on a seam and nothing was hit. So there was a debate about who should pay and the dealership ultimately "did me a favor" and didn't charge for the flat tire that did not last 200 miles and I gave them a good review.

Anyway, after reading the original post I have to wonder if it is a coincidence or not. Mine flat was the front right tire.

 

I could not pass the deal. I got them for $100. Only the TPMS sensors are worth that, but I know I do not need them. I am now looking for a good deal on 215/55 225/55 or 235/50. I only use snow tires when needed, I do the swap my self. I would change them 2-3 a winter if needed, it rare that we have more than 1 week of snow on the ground here in PNW. I have my eyes on a set of 235/50R17 Nokian hakkapeliitta 8, used for 1 Year at $200 (3 hours away...). I think I could sell the 235/45/R17 Hankook i*pike W409 for $150. If the deal pans out then I might not get to see how the 235/45/R17 perform on the Clarity.

 

Congrats for spelling Hakkapeliitta correctly! I love mine on both our Clarity and my little Insight--both have the low-rolling resistance R2s (not the newer R3s that look the same).

I don't know how many winters you plan to drive your Clarity, but keeping my snows on all winter stretches the life of the OEM tires. How do you decide when to put your snow tires on, every time the weather report predicts snow or only after the frequently inaccurate snow-panic report proves accurate? We were supposed to get 1-2 inches in Ann Arbor today and got 5. It's not often the weather report under-predicts.

 

I copied and paste Hakkapeliitta, somebody else deserves the congrats. We have the plug-in Clarity, and plan to keep it until it falls apart. We will likely move to Eastern Europe in a few years, there is not much charging infrastructure there.
We have studless snow tires on rims for our 2011 Leaf. Since I can change them my self, I usually wait until I actually see snow outside. This year that was a couple weeks ago. Once the Leaf has snow tires, it covers the shopping and work driving. The Clarity sits in the garage when there is snow outside. It will only get the snow tires if we decide to do a longer trip in snow. The way we enjoy snow is to stay inside were is warm and look out the window. Our longer trips in winter are to Hawaii.

 

I put my snow tires on last minute during a bad snowstorm we had in mid November. I probably would not have made it home without them. Then we have not had snow needing the tires since then, oy. Usually I make it until the end of December. (Coastal CT)

 

I could not resist to try the 234/45R17 studded ($100) tires. I drove 50 miles on them, from Camas to Bonneville (and back) up the Columbia Gorge on SR14. There was no snow or ice on the road but the temperatures were low, close to freezing. First impression: they are louder than I am wiling to drive on. The car did not complain at all, all system seemed to work fine. I noticed a couple times something weird, but I am not sure that is the car malfunction. Most likely just the way the tires grip to the road. So, I wanted to get a feeling for how the tires handle on the winding road at a bit higher speed. That required me to go out of the lane on the right. The line departure system did the steering wheel shaking thing and the dash popup as expected. But a couple time it seemed to me that the steering wheel got stuck vibrating to the right and it needed a bit of extra effort to bring back the car to original direction. I was on the lookout for anything unusual, and I did not drive like that on that road on stock tires. I pretty sure was just the road and how the tires behave.

 

Wow, even our wheels are complex. What’s the hope of keeping these cars many years and miles?