Firestone Winterforce Snow Tire Review

[Quemoto]

Hey Guys,

Just mounted my Snow tires today, so I figured a quick review was in order. The tires are Firestone Winterforce M/S with studs, I got them in 185/65 R15 on my stock rims and yes 65's do clear just fine. Before I continue some pictures


Side view of my '09


Pleanty of clearance


Good Clearance in the back as well

Ignoring the bluryness the tread on these monsters is almost scary


So on to the Review...

Things I Liked

• They look good
• I could mount a meater (is that a word) tire on my stock wheels
• They are one of the few studable tires left on the market
• Priced fairly at about $75 a tire
• The tread looks almost like a truck tire which inspires confidence if nothing else
• Ride quality is quite smooth even compaired to my summer tires
• Great handling on dry pavement (better than most snow tires)
• Handled on par with most all seasons in the rain (It rained while I was writing this so I ran out and played with them)
• Did I mention the look good...

Things I did not like

• Holy S*** they are loud, Between the poping sound of the studs and the singing of the deep tread they almost drove me mad just going down the street to get gas.
• They were so loud that several people stoped what they were doing to look up as I drove past.
• They are very heavy, almost twice the weight of my 17 inch summer tires.
• The make even more noise turning

All in all other than the noise issues which I expected for the most part the only real surprise was the weight, however I did not notice any differance in acceleration.

Hopefully It starts snowing soon here so I can Update this with a review of how well they perform in the snow/ice.

[denman]

Thanks for the detailed report, .... I look forward to hearing how they handle in marginal traction, .... betcha you'll be pleased with that aspect of performance.

[Quemoto]

Im hoping so, I have a 30 mile drive to work every day, and I work in the primary snow belt up by cleveland so it can get fairly nasty. With luck I wont have to drive my Jeep It may be a 4x4 but it also get 9mpgs in 4wd.