2011 Sport stock tires will do for winter mountain long drive?

[Rodrigo]

At least once a year for 7 years now, I take an 1,100 mile drive down to sunny California in the winter. I had my first gen '06 Fusion SE (4 cyl) with all-season tires, which handled fairly well on wet/snowy roads, but the inline-4 struggled on the steep inclines/declines on the Siskiyou mountains. My '08 Escape V6 (FWD) with its Michelin all-weathers was likewise okay in the ups and downs and snowy roads (even during that weird ice cold winter in 2008, where long stretches of I-5 was layered in several inches of ice!), however, the rear drums did not provide any confidence in the downslopes.

 

I just got my 11 Sport AWD a couple of months ago and though i'm really confident with this vehicle, I have not tested it in mountanous winter roads. Will the stock goodyear tires be enough for such driving conditions? Would appreciate inputs from anyone who has managed through winters with performance tires.

 

I know that winter-tires would ideally be best in those treacherous passes, but I've done it with all-seasons all this time and haven't had a problem. I'm not certain about performance tires, though...

[Moosehead]

They're "performance" tires but their not as bad as Z rated summer tires.

 

Personally in the Eastern Ontario winters (far worse than California, but less mountains) the stock tires seemed ok in the winter when brand new. With more wear on them now, I seem slip all over the place unless I drive like grandma. I was a bit late putting my winters on this past season and I had some close calls.

 

I assume you'll be using chains anyway? Since you have AWD, the snow tires could let you keep the chains in the trunk most of the time. http://www.dot.ca.go...tireschains.htm

Edited June 7, 2012 by Moosehead

[FusionDiffusion]

Since they're performance tires, they're not as good as a regular all season tire in snow. I've driven with them in snow and I would say they're decent with less than 10,000 miles. After that the snow traction starts being a problem. However, they're almost useless on ice because the tread compound is too hard. I've slid down icy hills when my car was brand new ABS a'blazing with almost zero effective braking. I had to pull the hand brake and handle the resulting fishtailing to get it to stop. Luckily it's flat enough here so I can avoid hills when it gets really icy. Wet traction is average.

 

So if you're facing icy mountain descents, I would defiantly put some something better on. If you want to get your money' worth out of the RS-As, use them in the summer and buy a set of winter tires on 16 or 17" steel wheels.

[drolds1]

They're "performance" tires but their not as bad as Z rated summer tires.

 

Personally in the Eastern Ontario winters (far worse than California, but less mountains) the stock tires seemed ok in the winter when brand new. With more wear on them now, I seem slip all over the place unless I drive like grandma. I was a bit late putting my winters on this past season and I had some close calls.

 

I assume you'll be using chains anyway? Since you have AWD, the snow tires could let you keep the chains in the trunk most of the time. http://www.dot.ca.go...tireschains.htm

 

He can leave the chains in the trunk all of the time. From the OG:

 

The tires on your vehicle have all weather treads to provide traction in

rain and snow. However, in some climates, you may need to use snow

tires and chains. If you need to use chains, it is recommended that steel

wheels (of the same size and specifications) be used, as chains may chip

aluminum wheels.

Note: The suspension insulation and bumpers will help prevent vehicle

damage. Do not remove these components from your vehicle when using

snow tires and chains.

Follow these guidelines when using snow tires and chains:

• If possible, avoid fully loading your vehicle.

• Use only SAE Class S cables or equivalent on the front axle for

P205/60R16 equipped vehicles. SAE Class S chains or other

conventional link chains may cause damage to the vehicles wheel

house and/or body.

• Do not install tire chains, cables, or optional traction devices on the rear

tires. This could cause damage to the vehicle’s wheel house or body.

• Do not use tire chains, cables, or optional traction devices with

optional P225/50R17 or P225/45R18 tires.

• Install cable chains securely, verifying that the cables do not touch any

wiring, brake lines or fuel lines.

• Do not exceed 30 mph (48 km/h) with tire cables on your vehicle.

• Drive cautiously. If you hear the cables rub or bang against your

vehicle, stop and retighten the cables. If this does not work, remove

the cables to prevent damage to your vehicle.

• Remove the tire cables when they are no longer needed. Do not use

tire cables on dry roads.

[Big Jim]

They're "performance" tires but their not as bad as Z rated summer tires.

 

Personally in the Eastern Ontario winters (far worse than California, but less mountains) the stock tires seemed ok in the winter when brand new. With more wear on them now, I seem slip all over the place unless I drive like grandma. I was a bit late putting my winters on this past season and I had some close calls.

 

I assume you'll be using chains anyway? Since you have AWD, the snow tires could let you keep the chains in the trunk most of the time. http://www.dot.ca.go...tireschains.htm

 

Actually they are V rated, not Z rated. Perhaps very slightly more all weather and street friendly than Z rated tires.

[Waldo]

Speed rating has nothing to do with winter performance. Winter performance is all about the tread compound and design. The OEM 06 SE tires were pretty lousy in the snow, so if you thought those were fine, the RS-As should be fine as well.

[Big Jim]

Speed rating has nothing to do with winter performance. Winter performance is all about the tread compound and design. The OEM 06 SE tires were pretty lousy in the snow, so if you thought those were fine, the RS-As should be fine as well.

 

Maybe not an exact corolation but speed rating most certainly does have an impact on design factors that can limit adaptability to handle all four seasons. There are very few four season Z rated tires for that reason. Both tread compound and design are greatly compromised for best summer performance when trying to accommodate winter performance too.

[Moosehead]

Actually they are V rated, not Z rated. Perhaps very slightly more all weather and street friendly than Z rated tires.

Yes, I said they weren't as bad in the winter as a Z-rated summer tire, for example

[Moosehead]

He can leave the chains in the trunk all of the time. From the OG:

 

In the case, sounds like he would need to downsize to 16" tires (might as well make them winter tires) to be legal in the chain control areas while still respecting the owners guide then...? Interesting

Or just stay off the roads during the crazier conditions, haha

Edited June 9, 2012 by Moosehead

[Rodrigo]

Since they're performance tires, they're not as good as a regular all season tire in snow. I've driven with them in snow and I would say they're decent with less than 10,000 miles. After that the snow traction starts being a problem. However, they're almost useless on ice because the tread compound is too hard. I've slid down icy hills when my car was brand new ABS a'blazing with almost zero effective braking. I had to pull the hand brake and handle the resulting fishtailing to get it to stop. Luckily it's flat enough here so I can avoid hills when it gets really icy. Wet traction is average.

 

So if you're facing icy mountain descents, I would defiantly put some something better on. If you want to get your money' worth out of the RS-As, use them in the summer and buy a set of winter tires on 16 or 17" steel wheels.

 

Thanks, FusionDiffusion. I wil DEFINITELY keep this in mind. I would be at 17,000 miles by the winter. Scary to leave your fate to just gravity and a possible bump on the road to stop your car!

 

Thing is, only a third of my trip (i.e. 300 to 400 of 1,100 miles) is mountainous and potentially icy. The other 700-800 miles are fairly flat or hilly at the most. So, once I am passed the Northern California mountains, I still have quite a bit of flats to traverse.... Now, with a warmer Cali climate of 50-60 farenheit, would it be advisable to run on winters? Would I be unnecessarily shaving the tires while driving around Southern California for 2 weeks? (Pardon the ignorance, I have never used winter tires before and am not familiar with their performance in any weather or road contition!) I'm guessing all-season 16"s with chains in the trunk would be a 'compromise' alternative?

 

I'd like to put full confidence in the Fusion's AWD system, particularly in negotiating the ascents and twistees, but in the same breadth, I understand that descents and stopping on ice/snow is largely about tires. Maybe SST would provide more useful traction/control with all-seasons? (Can y'all tell i'm trying to force the issue?)

[FusionDiffusion]

The snow tires will not wear that much in the 800 miles you're at warmer temps. If you were putting on 5000 miles in the summer then you might see them wear out faster. You should really have any issues with them. They might be noisier, but that's about it.

 

Whether you go with all seasons or snow tires will be up to you. I guess Vancouver doesn't get all that much snow, so you probably won't get that much use out of snow tires outside your yearly trip. In that case, I would buy all-season tires that are focused more on all-weather rather than performance and handling.

[Rodrigo]

The snow tires will not wear that much in the 800 miles you're at warmer temps. If you were putting on 5000 miles in the summer then you might see them wear out faster. You should really have any issues with them. They might be noisier, but that's about it.

 

Whether you go with all seasons or snow tires will be up to you. I guess Vancouver doesn't get all that much snow, so you probably won't get that much use out of snow tires outside your yearly trip. In that case, I would buy all-season tires that are focused more on all-weather rather than performance and handling.

 

Good point. I will take your advice and seek all-weather, all-seasons, which would best address most of my concerns. Thanks for the insights!

 

I will research on optimum choices. I heard that Goodyear Assurance Triple Tred All-Seasons or Hankook Optimo H727 are good, with the latter being more affordable and less noisy.

[DocPFFP]

So is anyone actually just keeping a full set of 16" winter wheels? It seems like with the 18's on the Sport there's not much room for anything else in the wheel wells.

[Camping68]

I know that the last post was a while back. But I do have a set of 16" rims with winter tires for my car that I will be changing out in the next week or two geting ready for the canadian winters.

[Cobraman302]

Save yourself some time and hassle and get a set of Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires. Best decision ever made on my Sport. You think you are confident with those goodyears on there, just wait. All my opinion though.

[Rodrigo]

I know that the last post was a while back. But I do have a set of 16" rims with winter tires for my car that I will be changing out in the next week or two geting ready for the canadian winters.

Great. Let us know how your car fares in the Alberta winter.

[Camping68]

So far the 16" winter tries work great. I have not had any issues and with all the snow and icy roads here in Edmonton. I also have done some driving on the hi ways and again no issues. Love the winter tires with the AWD. The company truck is a 4WD and I had more issues with the truck then the car.

[BlackBetty]

So far the 16" winter tries work great. I have not had any issues and with all the snow and icy roads here in Edmonton. I also have done some driving on the hi ways and again no issues. Love the winter tires with the AWD. The company truck is a 4WD and I had more issues with the truck then the car.

 

X2

 

I also have winter tires on my sport with 16's and it's amazing down here in Lethbridge. No problems at all. I just put some winters on my Wife's Focus and she loves it too.. Winter tires really make a day and night difference. It's funny bc she use to say her Focus was great in the snow with her all seasons until she got the winters.

 

[Rodrigo]

Winter drive update:

 

So we decided last minute to drive down to Cali last week. Despite my apprehensions on snow/ice performance, the sport with its stock tires behaved well in all conditions. Hard rain in about 700 miles and snow and icy roads in Sisliyou mountains was managed well by AWD, ABS and select shift. Rain sensing wipers were also useful in passing trucks that spewed blinding water on windshield.

 

Temps were 13-35 for the most part except in Cali where it was a nice 50. Drove with a full load of passengers and cargo (about an added 900 lbs)... my rear wheel wells had virtually zero clearance, but I found confidence in the 3.5L to deliver needed power in all cases. Average cruising speed was between 75-80 mph... Slower in the twistees, a bit faster in the straights.

 

On the summits they were checking for chains, but they let me through without, along with other AWD vehicles. The car had no issues negotiating through the icy snowy roads at slower speeds (45-60mph)... Even on stock RS-A tires!! Used select shift for descents.

 

If any, it was the brakes that I wished had more stopping power... In dry hway in Cali at one point, I had a close call when traffic came to a complete stop with me coming fast at 80mph. I was lucky to have a split second to swerve into an opening in an adjacent lane. If there's anything that i'd like to improve in this car, it would be bigger brakes. Maybe brembo??? I'd like to hear suggestions from forum members bout this.

 

Overall though it was a good drive. Travelled 2500 miles total in 9 days. The trek back w as better with dryer roads except for some fresh snow fall north of Portland.

 

Love this 2011 fusion sport! Wondering if the new 2.0 ecoboost can perform similarly with full load....

 

Happy new year to all!!!

[Big Jim]

I have a 2010 Sport with bigger brakes.

 

The Fusion brakes are interchangeable with Mazda 6 brakes. The Fusion is based on the same platform as the Mazda 6. For the 2006 to 2008 model years, Mazda had a high performance version of the 6 called the MazdaSpeed 6, and it has larger brakes. Your factory brakes have 300 mm front and 280 mm rear rotors. The Speed 6 brakes have 320 mm front rotors and 315 mm rear rotors. Everything bolts up and fits behind the Sport wheels.

 

You will need the Speed 6 rotors, calipers, and caliper brackets. You will need Speed 6 front pads. The rear pads are interchangeable. Actually, the rear calipers are the same, but you cannot buy the caliper brackets without the calipers.

 

I'll find a link about this conversion and post it here in a few minutes.

[Big Jim]

http://www.fordfusionforum.com/topic/7616-mazdaspeed-6-brakes-on-fusion/

 

And a similar thread from another forum. As you can see, some of the layers are the same.

 

http://www.fordfusionclub.com/showthread.php?t=395202&highlight=mazdaspeed+brakes

[FusionDiffusion]

If any, it was the brakes that I wished had more stopping power... In dry hway in Cali at one point, I had a close call when traffic came to a complete stop with me coming fast at 80mph. I was lucky to have a split second to swerve into an opening in an adjacent lane. If there's anything that i'd like to improve in this car, it would be bigger brakes. Maybe brembo??? I'd like to hear suggestions from forum members bout this.

 

If you reached the point of ABS intervention (did you feel the pedal pulsing?), then the problem is with the tires, not the brakes. I would spend the money on better tires first and brakes second. If you were loaded +900 lbs you were slightly exceeding the payload capacity so you should expect a longer braking distance.

 

I've been driving on numerous snow covered roads here which has firmly reaffirmed my assertion that the RS-A's are only adequate in winter conditions. Once you drive on aggressive all season or snow tires you know what you're missing. I think you had a full load in your favor this time around for extra traction.

[Rodrigo]

Thanks Big Jim! This is useful info.

[Rodrigo]

Is the increase in brake power significantly felt when you switched?

[Rodrigo]

Very good insight, FusionDiffusion. Indeed the abs was pulsating as i tried braking on a large puddle of water while the car hydroplaned. This was a different incident though.

 

The incident on the highway which required a sudden stop happened on dry road and did not engage the abs. As soon as I felt I was going too fast and wouldn't be able to stop in time, I swerved to another lane. I felt no confidence in stopping the car. Your point of increased stopping distance due to added weight is logical and noted. Thanks!