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Thread: Winter tires on a Mirage G4 - what are you using?

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    Winter tires on a Mirage G4 - what are you using?

    Yesterday, we installed a set of Maxxis Arctic Trekker WP-05s on a 2018 Mitsubishi Mirage G4 SE (175/55R15) heading home to Idaho after a long road trip. Knowing how grippy the tires are, they're capable of tackling harsh winter roads, like the Coquihalla highway or the I-90. Plus with over 23,000 miles on the odometer, the all seasons were wearing thin and losing grip on icy roads. I wouldn't be surprised, considering how packed the trunk was. Not to mention the G4 was carrying three to four people on board.

    Since this is the second Mirage I worked with (the first came in for a synthetic oil change on an as-scheduled basis), I want to ask any Mirage owner which winter or all-weather tire you're using on a daily commute in winter. And since the Maxxis WP-05s are also available in 165/65R14s, would you consider buying a set in those sizes?


    Last edited by MetroMPG; 02-15-2019 at 08:04 PM. Reason: (added info to title)

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    Quote Originally Posted by jtr990 View Post
    Yesterday, we installed a set of Maxxis Arctic Trekker WP-05s on a 2018 Mitsubishi Mirage G4 SE (175/55R15) heading home to Idaho after a long road trip. Knowing how grippy the tires are, they're capable of tackling harsh winter roads, like the Coquihalla highway or the I-90. Plus with over 23,000 miles on the odometer, the all seasons were wearing thin and losing grip on icy roads. I wouldn't be surprised, considering how packed the trunk was. Not to mention the G4 was carrying three to four people on board.

    Since this is the second Mirage I worked with (the first came in for a synthetic oil change on an as-scheduled basis), I want to ask any Mirage owner which winter or all-weather tire you're using on a daily commute in winter. And since the Maxxis WP-05s are also available in 165/65R14s, would you consider buying a set in those sizes?

    I have the sense that more winter tire options exist in Canada verses the United States. Dunlop Winter Maxx WM02 are probably the most common 165/65-14 winter tire option here by far.

    I have a pair of 165/65-14 Nokian Nordman 7 (made in Russia, not Finland) snow tires on the front of my 2017 Mirage. I have to climb a winter ridge road to get home. I have not been overly impressed with these tires, but they are much better than the factory stock Dunlop tires. In my case, I would try the Winter Maxx WM02 next time. Other than that, there aren't a lot of other choices here. I never even heard of the tires you posted here. Looking them up, they seem good. I am a firm believer in skinny over wide when it comes to snow tires on small, lightweight small cars.

    If I went with an all-season tire that could handle some snow, I would probably try the Vredestein Quatrac 5. Our 165/65-14 sizes offered here are quite limited.

    For me personally -
    Federal SS657 (summer)
    Vredestein Quatrac 5 (all-season/all-weather)
    Dunlop Winter Maxx WM02 (winter)

    These are the only 165/65-14 (22.4" outside diameter) tires that I would still consider purchasing. Anything else would require jumping to a 175/65-14 tire (23"), which opens up all sorts of options in the U.S.

    You will probably get better feedback from your Canadian friends!

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    I have run the Pirelli Snowcontrol S3 on my car for the last three winters. We have really gotten socked over the last week as far as snow/ice and these tires handled it very well. The S3s are reasonably quiet and have worn well, too. VERY sticky on wet roads, which is important in the Pacific Northwest because the roads are wet here 3/4 of the year. I hope to get one more season out of them before I need to find another set of winter tires.

    I bought these on clearance in late spring of '16 from Tire Rack when somebody on this forum posted that they were being blown out. Wish I had bought two sets!

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    I have the Dunlop winter maxx in 165/65r14
    They have worked very well for me.
    I was very surprised as they seemed much quieter than previous snow tires on other vehicles I haved owned.
    Personally I always run a set of wider all seasons in the summer and narrower winter tires in winter.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cobrajet View Post
    I have run the Pirelli Snowcontrol S3 on my car for the last three winters. We have really gotten socked over the last week as far as snow/ice and these tires handled it very well. The S3s are reasonably quiet and have worn well, too. VERY sticky on wet roads, which is important in the Pacific Northwest because the roads are wet here 3/4 of the year. I hope to get one more season out of them before I need to find another set of winter tires.

    I bought these on clearance in late spring of '16 from Tire Rack when somebody on this forum posted that they were being blown out. Wish I had bought two sets!
    This is not a brand new thread, but I got a lot of information about winter tires from it.

    I think I will try Pirelli Snowcontrol's, so long as I can find 4 of them new for sale near my house. The Vredestein tires and also Nordmans are also options. But truth be told, it's like each tire store carries only one 14" tire option. So I have to literally shop around.

    I want more cold weather grip in winter, before I consider my 4WD upgrade options. I want to max out what my Mirage is capable of first; and get the best I can out of the car with winter tires in the winter and all seasons just in the summer.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dspace9 View Post
    This is not a brand new thread, but I got a lot of information about winter tires from it.

    I think I will try Pirelli Snowcontrol's, so long as I can find 4 of them new for sale near my house. The Vredestein tires and also Nordmans are also options. But truth be told, it's like each tire store carries only one 14" tire option. So I have to literally shop around.

    I want more cold weather grip in winter, before I consider my 4WD upgrade options. I want to max out what my Mirage is capable of first; and get the best I can out of the car with winter tires in the winter and all seasons just in the summer.
    I was very happy with them. After three seasons they are getting a bit low on tread, but I may run them this year for one final season. However, I already bought some studded Nokian Hakkapeliittas on clearance this past spring in a truly odd 155/70-14 size. They are ready to swap on if it looks like this winter is going to be a bad one.

    The Nokians look absolutely beastly. My last two sets of snow tires were bought at a crazy discount, and both were bought in the spring.

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    Right on Cobrajet. Maybe I will go with Nokian's then too. They're kinda pricey off the regular priced shelf. But maybe you get what you pay for. Sounds like it from what you say beastly tires. Only thing is I can't get the studded version. Beastly snow tires sound like a good call.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.2 mpg (US) ... 17.9 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.7 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by dspace9 View Post
    Right on Cobrajet. Maybe I will go with Nokian's then too. They're kinda pricey off the regular priced shelf. But maybe you get what you pay for. Sounds like it from what you say beastly tires. Only thing is I can't get the studded version. Beastly snow tires sound like a good call.
    You have more snow tire options in Canada. For us, the Dunlop Winter Maxx II & Nokian Nordman 7 (studded or non-studded) are the main ones offered.

    I would buy whatever one is the best deal. Most likely any snow tire will be an improvement, because of rubber compound in them work better in colder temperatures.

    The Mirage does ok in snow, but it's not going to out perform an AWD vehicle with snow tires. I've climbed the same snow covered hill roads with both my Mirage & Forester. The Mirage traction is limited by its light weight. Snow tire help, but it's not like driving my Forester in snow. It doesn't do as well as my old Ford Festiva did in the snow either, & the Festiva was a lighter car overall.

    I credit some of that difference to tire width. Festiva had narrow 145SR12 tires, & it was awesome in snow. We had vehicles like a VW Golf during that time, & the Festiva would climb hills in all season tires whereas the other cars needed snow tires or tire chains.
    Last edited by Mark; 10-07-2019 at 07:45 PM.

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    We run off brand sailun iceblazer's. I'm sure quattro carriers that one. We've run the dunlops wintermax' that came with some of the cars when they were having a winter tire promo when you buy a new car. Some drivers prefer the sailuns over the dunlops. The dunlops do wear faster. We tried some starfire? brand and they were junk, wore out after one winter.

    Every winter here is a little different. Out of the different tire's I've ran on my personal junk my favorites were bfg winter slaloms on my 86' cutlass rwd and some old style appearing mud and snow tires I had on my 02' dodge pickup. They had a nice chunky tread pattern that cleared easily and lots of sipping for grip on ice. I had some blizzaks about 3 years ago and hated them on my Caravan, they were decent and stopping on ice but otherwise were not a great tire for the winter we had here. It's hard to find a decent all around tire that's good at everything, seems most are tight packed treads with lots of siping, basically a summer tire with softer compound and more slits cut in it that'll be better on ice than slush or deep snow.

    I usually prefer a narrow tire in the winter, we get lots of snow and slushy conditions it's easy to have your ass end pass you if you're running wide tires and driving through fresh snow or deep slush on a highway. But different places get different crap on the roads to deal with and every winter seems to be different here.
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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    I have wider snow tires than the all seasons...because it worked out that way.

    GT Radial Champira IcePro, 175/65R14 tires, on 5"? wide 14" steel rims.

    The winters I generally see have either deep snow or just salty pavement...so I don't feel too disadvantaged with the wider wheels.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2018 Mirage SE 1.2 automatic: 33.6 mpg (US) ... 14.3 km/L ... 7.0 L/100 km ... 40.4 mpg (Imp)


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