Dec 23, Getting snow all day, It started around 4:30 am, at 7:15 am we have close to 4 inches. Left for breakfast. And with this I thought of doing some evaluation with the Firestone winterforce tires.

Disclaimer, I did some cornering and traction tests that I would prefer everyone not do them self. My HHR was driven by a Hired professional (me).

First, I left the house and drove through the 4" of snow with no hard starting or sliding. The HHR had a good grip on the hill out from the house.
After getting to the highway I got on the gas moderately and was pleased with the grip and increased throttle with no break-away of the front tires. Having to blaze my own trail for close to 4 miles to one of the main highways, it proved to be a good time to slow and start at 30 mph up to 50 mph, each 5 mph to see where the HHR would break traction. Doing steering wheel shakes. The HHR broke at 45 mph with some slight tail wagging.

I did accelerate up to 55 mph in this stretch that you would travel at 45 with this amount of snow that was not plowed.

On the 4 lane highway to town, one lane was plowed, the passing lane was not, I was suprised that at 50 - 55 mph, lane changes were nothing like the shift sideways I would feel with the stock tires. At 63 mph I started to feel the HHR giving the break-away feeling with the cross wind.

Cornering: I picked a nice gradual 40 mph corner for this test and did the test at 35, 40, 45, and 50 mph. Each time around the corner resulted with good results until 50 mph where the tires did not break away, but I started to drift in the corner.

Breaking in all of my conditions was real good and the tires did not break the grip unless you did heavy to locking the wheels up.

Overall I am very pleased with the grip the Winterforce tires give.

Will I buy them again.... Heck yea..

 

Good review....thanks, I'm thinking of getting winter tires this year but not sure of which ones to get.

 

Tom

On the bare asphalt or concrete, how do those ride and what noise level do you get compared to the stock tires. I'm eyeballing a set of those also from TireRack.
Also are you sure those are made by Firestone???

TomR

 

Yes they are Firestone, here is the size and the rim info. I have the 16" tires on my 1LT and this is the suggested swap for winter. The tires are one size narrower than stock.
4 15x6.5 5-110 et45 cb65 st new In Stock $38.00 EA $152.00
4 205/60SR-15 Firestone Winterforce In Stock $59.00 EA $236.00
4 Mount and Balance (No Charge) N/C
From Tirerack.com

These are noisier than a stock tire as they are more aggressive with more open tread and they are a softer compound, this suggests to take them off your car the end of march or the first part of april.

And I almost forgot, Your stock lug nuts work with these rims.

 

Those tires actually look good to. I'd like to get winter wheels and tires but I don't want to have to buy another set of pressure sensors.

 

Kind of wondering.....

IF you put another set of wheels and tires on your car, WITHOUT THE SENSORS, what would it hurt? Does it shut down, or minimize, other systems? If the "receiver" doesn't sense a signal does a display stay on the dash?

 

I ran my new wheels without sensors for a bit and it doesn't hurt anything. It is annoying however. The DIC shows pressure warnings and sensor warnings, along with beeping until you acknowledge warnings, everytime you start it.

 

Ok thanks......

 

Well I just ordered my set online this evening.

A 16" set with the Winterforce tires (205/60SR-16) and 16" black steel rims with the tire pressure sensors, mounted and balanced. These are probably overkill for my area, we haven't really had any BIG snows in the winter for some time now. You can't beat the price though.

While washing my 08 HHR with the 17" chrome alloy wheels the other day I noticed some pitting in the clear finish on the rear wheels. I guess that clear coat must be pretty soft. So I thought I better get them off there for the winter.

Thanks for you info Tom.

TomR

 

I just bought the TPS sensors on Ebay. Paid $49.00 plus 10 bucks shipping. You'll quickly tire of the light coming on the dash without them!
Search "HHR TPSM".....there are 3 other sets from the same seller.

Cheers!