Gislaved Nord Frost5 - 205/55R16

[Fuman]

paid $815 for a set of 4 w/ steelies and lugs @steelcase. (taxes/labour, everything included in price)

I got a question: With the stock alloys, there is a mazda symbol on the rim. I no longer have that on the steelies.
Where the mazda symbol was (center of the rim), I notice ALOT of rust on all 4 corners. I'll try to get some pics up tonight.
Not sure if my friend has her digital camera here in waterloo. I got my car feb 2006, is this normal? (this is my first season with with winters).

review of tires on dry pavement @10-15 degrees celsius:
Compared to the stock 205/50/17 RS-As, the backend feels less stable. The car tilts/rolls more in the corners.
Its harder to keep the car going straight. When I turn the steering wheel, the front turns first then the rear follows, giving off
this nervous vibe. The car overall feels softer.

If the description is unclear, just quote the section, and I'll try to explain it in better details.

After driving with these tires for over a week, 600KM.
My final thought: Not a chance in hell i'm buying these again


Edit: Dec 5/2006 - in snow the tires are crazy grippy, if it snows alot, then get this tire.
Edit: max psi is 51psi according to the side wall

[RedRaptor]

You are talking about the center caps on your stock alloys. There is surface rust everywhere on your car. If it bothers you, buy a set of Mazda OEM hub caps from Joe to make your steelies look better.

[Fuman]

i'm thinking of doing that, any good products to get rid of the rust?

I found some user reviews on the Nord Frost 5.
http://www.canadiandriver.com/forum/index.php/topic,48529.0.html

thanks raptor

edited for grammar.

[MajesticBlueNTO]

paid $815 for a set of 4 w/ steelies and lugs @steelcase. (taxes/labour, everything included in price)

I got a question: With the stock alloys, there is a mazda symbol on the rim. I no longer have that on the steelies.
Where the mazda symbol was (center of the rim), I notice ALOT of rust on all 4 corners. I'll try to get some pics up tonight.
Not sure if my friend has her digital camera here in waterloo. I got my car feb 2006, is this normal? (this is my first season with with winters).

review of tires on dry pavement @10-15 degrees celsius:
Compared to the stock 205/50/17 RS-As, the backend feels less stable. The car tilts/rolls more in the corners.
Its harder to keep the car going straight. When I turn the steering wheel, the front turns first then the rear follows, giving off
this nervous vibe. The car overall feels softer.

If the description is unclear, just quote the section, and I'll try to explain it in better details.



the part that is covered by the centre cap is part of the Hub. it will get surface rust and isn't detrimental to its function.

If you want to take the rust off, you can remove the wheel and use a wire brush on it. a dremel with a wire brush attachment will make things go much quicker. while you're at it, remove the caliper, caliper holder and brake rotor to get to gain further access to the entire hub....then put anti-seize on the hub so that the brake rotor doesn't bind to it, which will make removal a MAJOR PITA.

check your tire pressures. ensure that they're the same from left to right. you can try bumping up the pressure to make the tire feel 'stiffer'....most i'd go in is 38psi (but check the sidewall to see what the max pressure is as 38psi cold can get over 40psi hot). play with the pressures Front to Rear until you get the ride you like. 36F/34R or 38F/36R were what i used on the old maxima that had 205/65/15 winters from 225/50/17 summers.

another thing, with the T speed rating, the sidewall will be considerably 'softer' than the V-rated RS-A, so that'll explain some of the rolling in corners you're experiencing.

[Wild Weasel]

check your tire pressures.* ensure that they're the same from left to right.* you can try bumping up the pressure to make the tire feel 'stiffer'....most i'd go in is 38psi (but check the sidewall to see what the max pressure is as 38psi cold can get over 40psi hot).* play with the pressures Front to Rear until you get the ride you like. 36F/34R or 38F/36R were what i used on the old maxima that had 205/65/15 winters from 225/50/17 summers.

another thing, with the T speed rating, the sidewall will be considerably 'softer' than the V-rated RS-A, so that'll explain some of the rolling in corners you're experiencing.


If your pressures are set properly, increasing them will not help you here. The squirrelly handling from the winter tires comes mostly from the tread pattern. Instead of having solid tread blocks gripping the road, you now have a lot of large, separated blocks of softer rubber that can all move independantly of one another. That gives you delayed turn-in and the general mushy feeling you've got but has nothing to do with air pressures or sidewall stiffness. All increasing the pressure will end up doing is prematurely wearing the middle of the tread and taking away some dry weather traction.

Also, speed rating has nothing to do with sidewall stiffness. I'm not sure where you're coming from with that.

[MajesticBlueNTO]

If your pressures are set properly, increasing them will not help you here. The squirrelly handling from the winter tires comes mostly from the tread pattern. Instead of having solid tread blocks gripping the road, you now have a lot of large, separated blocks of softer rubber that can all move independantly of one another. That gives you delayed turn-in and the general mushy feeling you've got but has nothing to do with air pressures or sidewall stiffness. All increasing the pressure will end up doing is prematurely wearing the middle of the tread and taking away some dry weather traction.

increasing the tire pressure will increase sidewall stiffness which, in the grand scheme of things, does play into how the car's handling 'feels'. yes the winter tire compound and tread design does play a factor in it, but that is out of his control, tire pressures are something he can manipulate to see if it has any effect. the OP did state that his car 'tilts/rolls more in corners'.

in tilting/rolling during corners, it is quite common to play with tire pressures to negate that effect. and, i'm not talking about over-inflating the tire to the point where the middle of the tread will prematurely wear.



Also, speed rating has nothing to do with sidewall stiffness. I'm not sure where you're coming from with that.


my bad

[Fuman]

k thanks guys, just wanted to make sure my tire isn't defective.
thats alot of work in getting the rust off... time to ask my mechanic for a favour (borrowing his lift)

thanks again.

[Skarbro]

Don't waste your time trying to get the rust off. The rust will just come back. The hub always has rust because it is hard steel. Other then it looking like ass, it isn't going to give you any problems.

[Fuman]

no anti-rust grease or something i can use?

[FLIPDADY]

Whoa Allan I totally misunderstood your email. I thought you were talking about the factory 17" center caps rusting. :P If you want I can give you a good deal on some factory 16" wheel covers so you can cover up that ugly rust.

[Fuman]

thanks Joe, for replying so quickly! I have to get back to you on the rim covers.
Spending so much on snows, I don't have much $ left.

Another question though, should I keep the snows at 32PSI or should I make it higher or lower for winter usage?

[PlatMS6]

Something that I saw in my MS6 manual (dont think i saw it in the 3) is that it states to put in 4PSI more over the stock tires. Whats reccommend for mine is 38PSI, so I guess that would make it 42PSI (lol seems kinda high).

For the 3 I ran the Winters at about 34 and summers at 36 or so.

[Fuman]

i think the max for my tire is 44psi, i'll check the sidewall in the morning.
I'll run it at 36psi this weekend, unless flip says something, or another qualified mechanic.

38PSI on your 18'' rims? wow. I found 35 psi on 17'' mazda 3 rather bouncy/bumpy. so I went back to 32psi.

[Fuman]

Just snowed,
These tires are almost as grippy in snow as in the dry. (today's night snow anyway).
the stopping power is very good but it is not as good as it's cornering ablity.
As a winter tire, and if it snows alot, this is one tire to consider.
4 stars for snow
2.5 stars for dry.

[Wild Weasel]

i think the max for my tire is 44psi, i'll check the sidewall in the morning.
I'll run it at 36psi this weekend, unless flip says something, or another qualified mechanic.

38PSI on your 18'' rims? wow. I found 35 psi on 17'' mazda 3 rather bouncy/bumpy. so I went back to 32psi.



Bear in mind that you should never ever inflate tires to the maximum printed on the sidewalls. That's the maximum safe pressure the tires can hold. When you drive and the tires heat up, the pressure increases by as much as a few PSI. So if you were to fill them to the max, they'd exceed the max while driving.

Just an FYI since you mentioned the max on the sidewall. :)

[Fuman]

i think the max for my tire is 44psi, i'll check the sidewall in the morning.
I'll run it at 36psi this weekend, unless flip says something, or another qualified mechanic.

38PSI on your 18'' rims? wow. I found 35 psi on 17'' mazda 3 rather bouncy/bumpy. so I went back to 32psi.



Bear in mind that you should never ever inflate tires to the maximum printed on the sidewalls.* That's the maximum safe pressure the tires can hold.* When you drive and the tires heat up, the pressure increases by as much as a few PSI.* So if you were to fill them to the max, they'd exceed the max while driving.

Just an FYI since you mentioned the max on the sidewall.* :)

forgot to restate that its 51psi. It was at 40 psi at around 5 degrees on warm tires. so it should be ok now that its colder. I'm gonna redo the tire pressure on the weekend.

Drive safe everyone, if u screw around in the snow, make sure its a safe environment.
Saw a stupid teen trying to "drift" out a gas station with an older C230, and ended up hitting a new BMW 6 series.

[wtom]

Saw a stupid teen trying to "drift" out a gas station with an older C230, and ended up hitting a new BMW 6 series.


Hopefully you stuck around to report as a witness to this???

If it was the "people's laws," that teen would have his license suspended forever!

[Fuman]

Hopefully you stuck around to report as a witness to this???

If it was the "people's laws," that teen would have his license suspended forever!
sorry for the 4 month late reply... didnt see this.
I asked if they needed a witness, they took my cell # and never called.

edit:
since I brought this thread back from the dead, I might as well ask it here.
I noticed that my car turns like ass as the weather got warmer. It feels like the outer side of car is
rolling more that it appears. Is it caused by the weaker sidewall (in comparsion to our good old RS-As)?