More winter tires

[ron460]

Installed the "snows" from the MKVIII 225/60R16 on the weekend and above 80km/h-50mph the Traction Control light comes on and cuts the power off. If I turn the TC off it runs fine.

Thinking I had two different size overall diameter tires I measured them but were within an 1/8 of an inch.

So I left the front 16's on and run the 18's on the back no TC light ,I ended up getting two 225/70R16 and all is well.

The steel rims come with both the 5x4.25 and the 5x4.5 bolt circle worked out good but the front ones barely cleared the caliper.
Don't ask!!!

[SergntMac]

I'm not planning to challenge snow, the way it comes down around here, snow wins. Once you're hit with a heavy snow, you got 24 to 36 hours befiore that snow turns to rock. Remember that this car is one and one half inches closer to the ground than standard CV/GMs. Remember that you have eight inches of rubber at each corner. It's not the diameter of the wheel that counts here, it's the width of the tire. Serious snow will just dam up in front of the tires and the lower front air dam (as well as other undercarriage stuff) won't survive the rocks. Around here, we live with "ruts" on side streets for months, and once you get stuck, you'll be stuck. Save your snow tire money, and your MM. Get a beater.

[Bigdogjim]

SergntMac: well put! Out here in NJ-Pa. were are going to get 2-6" tonight(Tuesday). Just pick the Merc for the shop were I had the heated seat installed. Leather is great but gets cold! Also had remote start put on. Time to put the cover on for a few days. Love the 4X4 pick for times like this!
Bog Dog Jim

[Mikeenh]

Big Dog Jim,
How about some more info on the heated seat installation. Price, where the controls are, how big a job etc. Once you've had a car with heated seats, it's tough without them here in cold country. Any of you out there with back problems would also love heated seats. Thanks

[NYSP618]

Talked with the dealer about putting snows on, his advise is don't bother unless I want to start plowing with this. Says the current tires available would lower this baby too far. Oh well, guess I'll just wait for the plows.

[Wags]

TireRack told me about 3 wks ago that they would have a package to offer in two weeks. They were waiting for wheels to come in. Well, I called them the other day, and now I'm told they don't know what I'm talking about. Someone was supposed to call back, but never did. I'm worried about my wheels getting messed up over the winter, and want to swap them out. What size wheels did anyone go with for a swap? My dealer says that the CV-GM wheels will not work, but people on here say that they will. Do they?

Wags

[mtnh]

Wags,

Brian said that they will work with the 2003 new offset value in a 16 inch standard CV/GM wheel. The offset is around 50 mm. The Tire Rack wheels at $49/ea have the 52 mm offset for the 2003 listing, and I have a set of 4 being delivered from them today. I used Michelin Pilot Alpin 235/60-16 rear and Pilot Alpin 225/55-16 front. They will spin more times per mile, but they assure a proper 1.05:1 rolling circumfurence ratio difference front to rear, so ABS should not alarm. I'll let you know how they fit in a few hours. I also threw in a set of wheel covers for $28/4. It's gonna look like crap, but my summer wheels will look great if they can avoid the salt and crud.

I don't agree with Mr. NYSP's dealer's sentiments on this, but I will take measurements before and after for the vehicle's height with this size tires. If it lowers the car an inch, that will be fine. Hey, Didn't Kenny do that for the "s"? :^)

Mike

[tetsu]

mtnh, please let us know how this works out for you. I'm ready to order about the same setup for mine.

Thanks alot,
Johnny

[MN6]

I had bought the CV/GM (2003) Wheel/Tire combo with Blizzaks. When I put the Fronts on the Outside edge of the Tire was outside of the Lip on the Qtr panel. I did not try the Rears. The fronts fit over the Calipers but I did not try driving (looked kind of Stupid) so on went the Originals and the Blizzaks went on my wifes car. The MM is now residing with with the Vette in Storage for the Winter. mtnh, give me a pm when you have your winters on, I would like to see how they look.

Scott

[SergntMac]

I've seen a few other threads here, with concern over confusion between MM and GM, and I can't help wondering if these 3rd party vendors have the real dope about our cars. They share a lot of parts, but are not the same models.

I'm eager to hear the correct answer on snow tires, a success story, and until I do, my MM is parked.

[mtnh]

I got the tires and wheels today from Tire Rack, but the car had to head up north for the holiday before I could test the tire and wheel fit. From my observation of the new wheels, they should not protrude from the wheel wells. The flange plane is just set back from the outer wheel plane a few mm. There is no way that these wheels will protrude past the fender wells. I won't know, however, until late Thursday or early Friday. By the way, the tire rack wheels at $49 each are very impressive in that they have an uninterrupted steel surface from the tire bead all the way to the center hole. The valve stem actually fits into an unseen area from the outer viewing plane and protrudes through one of the 7 vent holes in the steel outer plane, almost like the outer steel plane is a hub cap. All in all, these wheels look great for the price. Everyone else is at least at $85 a wheel and most of the people I checked with are not even able to come up with a 2003 listing!

One warning, though, is that the tire rack sells you tires and they don't necessarily ship with much speed. I ordered last Tuesday, and they did not ship until this Monday. They only took 2 days to ship to New Hampshire from Delaware on UPS ground service, but took a little too long to leave Tire Rack, IMO.

[Bigdogjim]

Mikeenh
Heated seats are about $400. installed. The shop that did the work does this and more for all makes. They have a web site streetroad.com While they not near you you can check the web site and see if any info is there. Control for the seats is on the dash. The remote start is a must for the cold! Together they life a little warmer.(haha). Only took one day to the work.
Big Dog Jim

[mtnh]

The snow tires and wheels are now mounted on the car. The fit is good, no problem with wheel well protrusion at all. They lowered the car by 3/4" front and rear. The handling is superb, the ride is quiet, there is no shake/vibration, and the only thing that is not quite up to snuff is the traction on dry pavement, in particular, rear wheel bite. I noticed the car making squealing noises on minor starting power while turning out of a stop sign. I just had to take it easier, I thought. I got up to a set of lights, in pole position in the right hand lane beside a Lincoln LS, same color as mine. When we got green, I took off smartly, mid-throttle. I then turned up the burner at around 25 mph, manually in first gear, when I hit 30, the rear tires just started breaking loose! This is in dry conditions. Man, did I have a grin (a surprised grin) after I throttled down following that little "slip-up". At $125 mail order and $155 locally, per tire, I can't be doing that too often.

When guys talk about these cars "hooking up" at the strip, I have a whole new respect for the stock tire traction of these wonderful cars.

At the same time, part of this car's new behaviour has got to be due to the new rolling circumfurence of the smaller tires fitted. I would estimate that I moved the effective gear ratio to nearly the 4.10 range with the drop in diameter to 27.6" from the stock rear tire diameter of 28.5". This car now has some serious pickup in the upper end of the 2nd gear as well. I can see why the switch to 4.10:1 gears livens this car up with the stock tires.

I have some photos awaiting approval in the photo gallery of some of the different angles of view with these wheels. It looks pretty coppy with those wheels from the side now. Nah, I'll pass on the spotlights for now.

Mike

[Murader03]

Mike:

Okay, you've got them installed, they look decent, so now give us the low down on exactly what size rims and tires you bought. Cripes! If I put these on with the 4.10's I'm having installed, that'll be an approx. ratio of 5.xx something. Holly cow, Bat Man!

[mtnh]

Bob,

I bought the 16" steel wheels for 2003 spec. The offset should be around 50 mm. The ones that I bought have 52mm of offset. The tires is the tough part, since you don't want differing tread designs. It is tough to find sizes that can yield a 1.05:1 front tire rotation to rear tire rotation ratio as needed by the ABS system, so that limits you on that front. I settled with Michelin Pilot Alpins, sized 225/55-16 front and 235/60 rear. They are H-rated and handle very nicely. They just lack straight-line bite traction for those high-speed marauder getaways. I can get used to that, and starting off in second gear helps very well. That will have to be the rule in actual falling snow conditions.

If you read the tire reviews on Tire Rack for these tires, people with all types of cars are using them and the impressions are very favorable. Some folks boast of driving 80-90 mph in deep snow with theirs, but you won't see me trying that. My wife, maybe, but me, not.

Mike

[mtnh]

One thing that I kept on forgetting to add here is: if you get the wheels and or tires from Tire Rack, don't bother ordering wheel covers. The wheels they sell just do not have any room for any wheel cover to attach, since the outside edge fo the wheel is virtually flat across from tire bead to tire bead. Now I need to send my wheel covers back, which they sold to me without knowing that they would not and could not fit. See the close-up shot in the photo gallery if you need to have a visual of what I am saying.

Mike

[ron460]

I'm running 225/60-16 up front and 225/70-16 out the back. No problems with ABS whatsoever. If your car has traction control rear tire size has to be close to original diameter which is 28.6"

[TAF]

I sure am glad I live in the South...

[tetsu]

Will Ford centercaps fit on those rims?

Johnny

[MarauderBoy]

If Tire Rack has come up with a decent winter combo, it seems that the interest on this site would warrant a little volume buying power! How many are interested in the Tire Rack combo?

[SergntMac]

Just a thought for the MM owners, and I also posted this in another snow tire thread.

Yesterday, Chicago got it's first "sticking" snow. Came down slowly all day long, first inch melted on impact, second inch turned into slush, and the last two inches stuck as good packing powder. Just perfect conditions to see what I may expect if I had to run my MM in snow, so, I conducted a very scientific examination.

First, I just drove around the block a few times, and concluded that if I had to drive the MM anywhere in these conditions, I should allow myself additional travel time, because, this car will not get out of it's own way. Next test, speed bumps.

I have a paved alley behind my home, with two speed bumps to keep the gear headed kiddies from down the street, on the street. The bump is about 2" high at it's peak, and about 24" wide, not a severe rise. I pulled up to the edge of the bump and "staged" the MM against the gentle rise. I did the best I could to feather the accellerator and push myself over the bump. Nada, zip, zilch, she wouldn't budge an inch. Applying more power just made it worse and the MM drifted first left, then right. Backing up five feet and taking a rolling start at it, no problems, but I proved my point.

I don't know if this help anyone or not, but those of us who HAVE to drive our MMs in the snow, are going to have problems. Maybe this is why LM seems to be cooling down on the advertising push of a great car? Not the time of year (in some places) to try to sell a sports car of this nature. Better off selling the safety and driveability features of the AWD lines.

Like I said, just a thought...

[NYSP618]

I agree about the snow driving, came into work yesterday and the parking lot had not been plowed yet, about 3 inches of nice fresh powder snow, as I turned in I touched the gas and found the MM had a real tight 360 degree turning radias, hope the kids at the school across the street appreciated it. Going to be a long time till April.