I live in Minneasota- the RUST BELT- and has anyone done rust proofing or undercoating on thier HHR? Also what do you think of the stock tires, I have 16" Firestones, for winter. I ask cuz just had to buy one new tire for it, got a screw in the sidewall on saterday, found Tires Plus had them $149.00 installed.
Thanks

 

Firestone Firehawks in the snow should be banned. Crap on one and bury it with the others. IMO

 

Undercoating/rustproofing is crap these days IMO. Most any car will resist rust pretty well without it. As for the tires, the people complaining the most about snow traction had 2LT's with the 17-inch tires and I fully agree that they suck in snow. The 16's appear to fare a bit better, with mixed reviews. $149 also sounds a bit high for one of those tires, but I could be wrong.

 

Owners manual states neither rust proofing or undercoating is needed or recommended.

 

Good thing All it does here is Ice up. NO Snow In OK!

 

Undercoating done improperly can trap salt and moisture and accelerate the deterioration of the metal. The HHR has a 100,000 mile 6 Year rust warranty which tells me that Chevy is pretty confident that the factory protection is enough. Put on undercoating and you can bet they would have a good case to deny the rust warranty coverage. http://www.chevrolet.com/warranty/

 

If you had 17's, they would be the Firestone Firehawks, which the general consensus is that they suck out loud in the wintertime. With the 16's, though, you would have the Firestone Affinity tires, which in my experience have been workmanlike in winter conditions. That price is probably about right for the direct replacement: if you go through a reputable tire shop, they should be able to find you a comparable replacement for less if money is the issue.

 

The Firestone dealers in this area advertised our Firehawks, almost every week, for $129.00/ea...plus balance, taxes, disposal fee, etc.

So, your price seems about right.

 

Thanks , I will probly upgrade tires next year, I put alot op miles on every week, I usually go through TireRack.com and check out the reviews and ratings. I just put Conti's on my truck 3 months b4 I sold it ,those were not noisey at all and theroad nice. we will see next year....

 

Under coating is a thing of the past.

Tires on the HHR are cheap OE Firestones. [Lowest bidder] You get what GM paid for not much.

Firestone makes better tires as do all companies. IN OE tire deals the GM wants tires for noting and you get many time poorer tires.

Goodyear got out of many OE deals because there is no profit and your name takes a hit for poor tires.

I put a set of 17" Assurance Triple treads on my wifes GTP and it goes through anything [We get lake effect snow here]. I also will see 50,000+ miles out of them. The OE BFG Comp TA radials only got 26,000.

One way to save money on tires is to buy brands like Dunlop [Owned and made by Goodyear] Or Uniroyal [owned and made by BFG/Michelin]. These tires are often as good or even the same construction just with a little different tread. You can get better deals on them and get a top quality tire.

But in the end cheap tires from anyone give you less in performance and quality. You get what you pay for.