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MY LR 19 Inch winter tire setup

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Sottozeros also work on Mt Hood.
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I just got Vredestein Wintrac Pro tires mounted. 255/45-19 104 One caveat, I have not driven on ice with them yet. With that said, WOW. Just WOW. We drove up to Mt Hood to try them out in snow today. The best winter tires I have ever tried. I haven't been able to try them on ice yet, but on dry pavement, wet pavement, packed snow and deep snow they are outstanding. Quiet and good rolling resistance too... Kind of a magic tire! We drove right by an Audi that was stuck in the un-plowed parking lot. (It took seven of us digging and a big 4x4 to get him out of the lot.) 7" of new Cascade Concrete on top of packed snow. I was a little nervous pulling in to the lot, just the stuck Audi and some big 4x4s dared the snowplow berm to get in. We did great! I've had good luck with X-ice and Blizaaks in the snow and ice, but both of those are so poor in the wet, not to mention loud and high rolling resistance. I am now officially a Vredestein fanboy!
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what type of rims are these?

thanks
 
Sottozeros also work on Mt Hood.
Nice!! I've not tried the Sottozeros. I'm so onboard with the Vredesteins not just because of how well they do in the snow; I've had lots of tires that have done that. I'm thrilled because in addition to being so good in the snow they also handle and brake outstanding on wet roads and are quiet with low rolling resistance. I've never had a winter tire that ticked all of those boxes.

I like your TST wheels!! I'm thinking of the 19 x 8.5s for my summer wheels. What size are yours?
 
Nice!! I've not tried the Sottozeros. I'm so onboard with the Vredesteins not just because of how well they do in the snow; I've had lots of tires that have done that. I'm thrilled because in addition to being so good in the snow they also handle and brake outstanding on wet roads and are quiet with low rolling resistance. I've never had a winter tire that ticked all of those boxes.

I like your TST wheels!! I'm thinking of the 19 x 8.5s for my summer wheels. What size are yours?

I assume with 7 inches and plowed berms and stuff your front end was scraping a lot... did that make you cringe much or notice any scratches or damage?

I’m thinking good winters and the AWD will keep me from getting stuck, but with that low ground clearance I’m a little worried about decent snow (6+ inches) may cause issues when a plow goes down a Main Street & leaves a 8-10 inch berm along every entrance to a parking lot or side streets intersection. Things went well with you in those situations?

It might but a moot point unfortunately for me at this point... VikingContact 7s and Sottozero seems to be sold out now from TireRack in the stock 19 inch Gemini size... still waiting for xIce SNOW with a temp delivery date of 12/25/20 but I’m not expecting to get them then. Occasionally we don’t get significant snow till January/February time frame, so if xIce SNOW ships first week or so of January that might work for me still...
 
I assume with 7 inches and plowed berms and stuff your front end was scraping a lot... did that make you cringe much or notice any scratches or damage?
No issues, I scraped the berm a bit going over but nothing visible. I think it all stayed under the painted part of the nose. With 7.75" of ground clearance I was over most of the snow except for where it had drifted deeper than that, but even though the snow was typical heavy Cascade snow it was fresh so it just pushed out of the way in the deeper drifts. I do have the MPP lift kit... Without it I wouldn't have tried going over the berm.
 
It might but a moot point unfortunately for me at this point... VikingContact 7s and Sottozero seems to be sold out now from TireRack in the stock 19 inch Gemini size... still waiting for xIce SNOW with a temp delivery date of 12/25/20 but I’m not expecting to get them then. Occasionally we don’t get significant snow till January/February time frame, so if xIce SNOW ships first week or so of January that might work for me still...

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...ewall=Blackwall&partnum=545VR9WTPXL&tab=Sizes
 
Mine are Martian 19 x 8.5" custom ordered with a +45 offset.

Thanks for the tire recommenation. I live in Tahoe and have been trying to figure out best tire combo that will fit.

Just curious if you noticed any efficiency gain when you installed the Martians? The weight savings is real and I've seen some Youtubers claim big gains on this exact model on their M3.
 
Thanks for the tire recommenation. I live in Tahoe and have been trying to figure out best tire combo that will fit.

Just curious if you noticed any efficiency gain when you installed the Martians? The weight savings is real and I've seen some Youtubers claim big gains on this exact model on their M3.

No worries!

As far as efficiency, not only no gain, but the first tires I tried were lower efficiency with these wheels than the stock 21s. (Bridgestone Quiettracks.) I have a freeway test loop I use to test efficiency at 65 mph. with the stock 21s I averaged 270 - 275 wh/mi on this loop. With the 19" Martians and the bridgestones I averaged about 295 wh/mi. Switching to Vredestein Quatrac Pros brought me back down to about 280, so pretty close to the stock setup. The stock Uberturbines are very aero, so even with the performance tires they do well with efficiency. The Martians aren't aero at all, so apparently even with more efficient tires you don't see a benefit. (At least with stock size 19" tires.) I have a set of Tsportline TST 19" wheels coming and these should be more efficient than the Martians. I read an interview with a Tesla engineer where he stated that the Tesla wheel that the TST is copied from had over 60% of the aero benefit as the Model 3 aero wheel. I almost ordered the TSV wheels--copies of the Uberturbines--in 19" as they're probably the most aero aftermarket wheel available. I chose the TST because they're 5 pounds lighter than the TSVs and should have better ride and handling characteristics. I'll be running the TSTs in the summer and the Martians in the winter. I'll get some efficiency numbers for the TSTs probably in March.
 
Thanks, this is super valuable.

I gotta ask: how do you do all the tire tests? Do you accumulate tires and just eat the costs or do you have some way to sell used or something else that lets you try out?
Not that many tests really. I had the stock 21s, so those were easy. I got the Martians and mounted the Bridgestone Quiettracks. Bridgestone has a full return policy, so when I didn't like those I returned them for a full refund and got the Quatrac Pros. I really liked those, but I run two sets of wheels & tires, one for summer and one for winter. I got the Wintrac Pros for my winter tires. We have a 3 as well; I run Michelin Cross Climates for summer tires and Alpin PA4 winter on the 3. I still have the 21s for the Y, so we have three sets of summer wheels and tires stored right now.
 
Get them from Tire Rack. Discount Tire can order them for you. Here's the PA4: oops, my bad. Those were only a 100 load rating. Here's the Wintrac Pro. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...VR9WTPXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes We have the PA4s on our 3 and the Wintrac Pro on our Y. I prefer the Wintracs. Quieter, seems to be less rolling resistance, better ride, cheaper. Other than that they seem to be pretty comparable.
 
I tried ordering Viking Contact7s through TR and also selected their in-house installer ASAP Tire which is a mobile installer. It wasn't until after money changed hands and I was in the scheduling phase when I saw that their only available install time was 4 weeks out, which is just unacceptable to be paying for something as time sensitive as winter tires. I cancelled TR. I ended up getting Pirelli P Zero Winters installed today, which are apparently a new product this year so cross my fingers.

Eqskels, How are the P Zero Winter tires working out? I will probably do the same based on availability if they meet with your approval. Please advise ---