Best winter tires for a 600hp m4

[twoface_f82]

Hello from Canada! I have a 600hp F82 and need advice on tires that I can get atleast some traction out of in the winter time. It is currently -7 degrees outside.

Advice?

[JH M3]

Michelin PA4s hands down. It's a performance winter tire so you give up a bit of snow traction for dry performance. I've driven M3s on them in New England snow with no problems.

[deeldoo]

Originally Posted by twoface_f82

Hello from Canada! I have a 600hp F82 and need advice on tires that I can get atleast some traction out of in the winter time. It is currently -7 degrees outside.

Advice?

I live in toronto, i flash my car down to just a gst tune, catless dps, m performance exhaust etc and i run Alpina PA4 245 40 18.

They are damn good in the dry, just look ugly as they are so narrow, should have gotten 255's.

Other than that they have decent traction in dry in cold weather but i mean everything is relative. You can't floor it in first and second, and only in 3rd if you are over 100 kph or you are going to end up in a ditch.

Overall they are good but no point in driving fast in canadian winters anyways

[Kilabyte]

Originally Posted by JH M3

Michelin PA4s hands down. It's a performance winter tire so you give up a bit of snow traction for dry performance. I've driven M3s on them in New England snow with no problems.

I wonder how they compare to my X-Ice, might try them next. As much as I like mine for traction in the snow and being surprisingly good in a straight line in the dry they aren't the most confidence inspiring in turns. The rear feels like it wants to come around if EDC and steering are in Comfort.

[deeldoo]

Originally Posted by Kilabyte

I wonder how they compare to my X-Ice, might try them next. As much as I like mine for traction in the snow and being surprisingly good in a straight line in the dry they aren't the most confidence inspiring in turns. The rear feels like it wants to come around if EDC and steering are in Comfort.

Don't bother, they are the same, decent traction in straight, sluggish and lazy feels like they are going to step out on you in turns.

All winter tires suck nothing you can do

[Kilabyte]

Originally Posted by deeldoo

Don't bother, they are the same, decent traction in straight, sluggish and lazy feels like they are going to step out on you in turns.

All winter tires suck nothing you can do

They really don't, they make an undriveable car driveable. I've owned nothing but RWD (besides one mistake) in a very long time

[deeldoo]

Originally Posted by Kilabyte

They really don't, they make an undriveable car driveable. I've owned nothing but RWD (besides one mistake) in a very long time

Ahaha no i mean when you put it that way i whole heartedly agree.

They legit make you able to drive your rwd car, i am just stating they won't perform like your summer tires in summer conditions so no one should be trying to shop for the "magic" tire.

Winter tires are there so you can get to your destination safely and to drive at 5/10.

In this regard i was saying to not venture on trading the winter set for alpina PA4s if you were expecting magic.

[twoface_f82]

Originally Posted by deeldoo

I live in toronto, i flash my car down to just a gst tune, catless dps, m performance exhaust etc and i run Alpina PA4 245 40 18.

They are damn good in the dry, just look ugly as they are so narrow, should have gotten 255's.

Other than that they have decent traction in dry in cold weather but i mean everything is relative. You can't floor it in first and second, and only in 3rd if you are over 100 kph or you are going to end up in a ditch.

Overall they are good but no point in driving fast in canadian winters anyways

So no matter what tires I have in the winter I can't floor it? First rwd car coming from a 435i

[swagon]

Originally Posted by twoface_f82

So no matter what tires I have in the winter I can't floor it? First rwd car coming from a 435i

Elaborate further. You can floor anything at any time.

What do you expect to happen when you put your foot down in the winter (i.e. slippery surface and cold temps, or any other conditions with DSC off for that matter...) in a 600hp front-engined RWD car?

[deeldoo]

Yup this ^^

You can do anything you would like, as for which direction the car is going to go largely depends on you. Most likely it's going to go sideways.


Even in the summer in a 600 whp rwd car i wouldn't recommend pinning first and second with dsc off.

[dirtygrid]

For some reason I feel like I get better straight line traction when running 275 PA4s in winter vs when running 295 PS4S in the summer. Maybe it's the softer compound?

[deeldoo]

Originally Posted by dirtygrid

For some reason I feel like I get better straight line traction when running 275 PA4s in winter vs when running 295 PS4S in the summer. Maybe it's the softer compound?

Yup i do too, super soft compound, it basically allows for flex instead of the minor wheel hop you get on summers.

The chassis doesn't have much flex and if your tires don't either, you could imagine when the car rear dives to accelerate you end up losing traction.

Now, this is if your summers aren't heated up, if you get those PS4S properly warmed you will have 0 issues

[dirtygrid]

Originally Posted by deeldoo

Yup i do too, super soft compound, it basically allows for flex instead of the minor wheel hop you get on summers.

The chassis doesn't have much flex and if your tires don't either, you could imagine when the car rear dives to accelerate you end up losing traction.

Now, this is if your summers aren't heated up, if you get those PS4S properly warmed you will have 0 issues

I've always wondered, what is the proper operating temp for the PS4S? At what temp do they start to function optimally?

[deeldoo]

Originally Posted by dirtygrid

I've always wondered, what is the proper operating temp for the PS4S? At what temp do they start to function optimally?

The tire or ambient?

If you are talking ambient temperature they start working best at 15 Celsius and above.

The hotter you get them the more grip you get until they get too hot and then there is diminishing returns.

Similarly the closer you get to R compounds the hotter the ambient temps need to be for the car to be optimal but the trade off is insane grip.

Also you have to take into account that the reason you got less than optimal straight line traction on PS4S is a combination of maybe having poor suspension geometry (Did you get your car aligned after you put them on? Especially Toe), the tire having a stiff sidewall and stiff compound until properly heated.

I for example have Potenza RE71R which are definitely a few notches above PS4S in grip but also horrid for longevity and also just plain noisy. I can hookup with them like a bat out of hell when it's above 20 Celsius and i have gotten a few pulls out of them. If i just took the car out and decided to pin it i would be in a ditch though, they are one of the faster tracker tires to heat up but even so they take quite a bit.

I have Alpina PA4s for my winter setup in 255 square and those actually hookup okay in cold dry conditions because they are spongy soft with mushy sidewalls, car just squats down, horrible in my opinion in the handling department they always want to roll over.