Need Some Help With Kia Soul Snow Tires?

[fredster]

I run winter tire on all our vehicles -they are worth every dollar. Blizzaks on the wife's Impala are on their 5th winter and should go one more before we replace. Cooper M&S's on my truck are on their 4th year - same thing. Son's car has the winterforce tires, they are a lot cheaper than the Blizzaks, seem to be comparable in most conditions.

Just make sure you don't put them on until temps are staying below 45 degrees and pull them off when the big thaw occurs in the spring.....they really do not wear very much in the winter, but they go fast in summer.

One word of caution - do NOT put only two winter tires on a FWD car. On a curve the fronts will stay planted and the rears will cut loose and you'll have major oversteer and be in the ditch. Discount Tire will not install two tires on a car due to liability, they insist on an entire set. Tire Rack talks about this on their website, too.

Regarding that Soul - if she intends to keep it a while, buy the cheapest set of wheels you can find and get tires to match - save the nice 18" rims for the summer and don't worry about the road salt corrosion in winter - best way to go.

 

[tyeeman]

X's 2 what Fredster said about putting all 4 tires on. I've read a lot of articles on that and it is always highly recommended that you install 4 snow tires just so the back end doesn't come around on you.
I've read also that if your strapped for cash and need tires but can only afford two, , install the new skins on the back, again to keep it from coming around on you in a panic stop or a swerve or a curve.

 

[bonnevier]

So were you able to get her out by turning off the traction control??

 

[Team Elkhorn]

So were you able to get her out by turning off the traction control??

+1.
My guess is thats 75% of the problem. We run Eagle GTs on our Mazda3. Its just an all season performance tire and never have problems getting around. Even with a snow scoop front spoiler and three foot drifts we have today.
Right before we get to the blown over section of road we just turn the traction control off.

 

[whitedust]

Spent the entire day cleaning up snow getting the Kia Soul home & talking to tire dealers + Kia dealer. Took my truck up my driveway & forgot to put in 4WD & my truck came around 90 degrees so very icy. FRs here hard packed with ice underneath so Aok for 4WD no so good rear wheel or FWD without snow tires. Tried releasing traction control & Soul jumped 3 feet to left.....Reset traction control & Soul handled much better but could not make it up hills & these hills are steep. So I backed the Soul up in traction control down hill & half way up smaller hill to get running start for bigger hill & got up big hill but not by much. Now I have huge hill to climb after steep downhill so got going pretty good no idea how fast no time to look at speedo & Soul slipping & sliding & sharp corners to boot. Hairy ride but got the Soul home & parked. Called Kia & they said traction control integrated to engine RPMS ,slip clutch & brakes so the more you spin tires the more the clutch slips & brakes engage results in no power up hill but keeps car in straight line. Only time to release traction control is when you rock the car out of ice hole & during this experience I agree. Next checked out my Tahoe all fluids ,aired up tires tires & gave that to Kathlyn until we get snow tires for Soul. Called tire dealers for P235/45/R18 snow tires & Blizzak LM 60s are going to cost $1200 for 4 tires. Goodyear has new P235/45/R18 snow tires Ultra Grip Ice WRT 4ea $900 so our thinking is to save the $300 & go with the Goodyears.

Anyone using Goodyear P235/45/R18 snow tires Ultra Grip Ice WRT?

 

[vmax1994]

I've been down this road many times...pardon the pun. Seriously look at tirerack.com - the prices are $200 to $400 cheaper than you just quoted. Personally, I would investigate changing the rims. You can reduce the rim size and have a higher tire height to compensate. Then you can go to a narrower tire as well. Narrow helps a lot in the snow. The smaller rims will result in a cheaper tire price offsetting the cost of the rims. Of course with rims, you can save two tire swaps a year. Plus the tire goons will nick up your nice 18" rims. In the end, the rims may even save you money. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I use a 1" smaller rim in the winter. You may even want to investigate dropping 2"s.

 

[vmax1994]

Did a little research for you. You can run a 215/60/16 and have about a half of a percent of speedometer error. You can buy blizzaks or those goodyears for just over a $100 a piece in this size. You can pick up 4 16" rims from tirerack as well for about $400. Not sure what mounting and shipping is but its cheap. You'll be out the door for less than $900 with rims.

 

[fredster]

I second running the 16's. Potholes show up every spring and the taller sidewalls deal with this much better. Wife's car has 18's stock and we run 17" winter tires with other rims and it works out great. We were travelling yesterday and I noticed a lot of Soul's with factory rims that appear to be 15-16", gotta believe that the brake rotors are the same on all Soul's so any OEM rim should fit just fine!

 

[groomerdave]

I run General Altimax Arctics on my cars. Cheaper than Blizzaks and alot more bite. I get them through Triumph Tire out of Green Bay. They deliver all over north WI and Western UP.
Think Snow! -Dave

 

[whitedust]

Went with the Bridgestone 18R LM 60 Blizzaks & the 2013 Kia Soul ! is a frigging bulldozer now. Bad part $1105 for 4 tires but went with the sure thing for a real northwoods winter when it finally gets here.