Upgrading for the Winter?

[FearNoEvil56]

Hi everyone, Im Ed and im a new member and quite frankly, I have not an idea about cars. Anyway, I have a 2013 Chevy Sonic, the turbo version. I live in northern michigan now and we have to deal with terrible winters. Ive had my car for 2 years now. I got it at 11k miles basically brand new. Im at 25k and still have the stock tires

I need to mod my car to be liable for the winters. As of now I can barely get into my driveway because it is not paved and pot holes put mt car at an odd angle. My main concern is that the car sits so low that the car itself gets stuck on the snow if im on a bad angle.

I dont know if its just the front bumper because it scoops so low, or if its the car itself. But I want to somehow gain height off the ground. Starting with bigger wheels? Im a complete noob and could really use some advise. Im paying to own so i want to do everything i can to make my car last its lifetime.

What should I do? What kind of tires? How can I raise it without effecting performance? If bigger tires what size?

I appreciate your time and input. Thank you.

 

[Espysonic]

Hi everyone, Im Ed and im a new member and quite frankly, I have not an idea about cars. Anyway, I have a 2013 Chevy Sonic, the turbo version. I live in northern michigan now and we have to deal with terrible winters. Ive had my car for 2 years now. I got it at 11k miles basically brand new. Im at 25k and still have the stock tires



I need to mod my car to be liable for the winters. As of now I can barely get into my driveway because it is not paved and pot holes put mt car at an odd angle. My main concern is that the car sits so low that the car itself gets stuck on the snow if im on a bad angle.



I dont know if its just the front bumper because it scoops so low, or if its the car itself. But I want to somehow gain height off the ground. Starting with bigger wheels? Im a complete noob and could really use some advise. Im paying to own so i want to do everything i can to make my car last its lifetime.



What should I do? What kind of tires? How can I raise it without effecting performance? If bigger tires what size?



I appreciate your time and input. Thank you.

FS - Lifted/Off-Road Setup for 2012+ Hatchback - MI
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...com/forum/showthread.php?t=22496&share_type=t

Read this thread, also, few free to stop into a tire shop and see what your options may be! Never hurts to ask



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[Maddmatts]

Changing tire size will throw out the speedometer/odometer. Taller tires will make the speedo read slower than you're actually going.

There are options to fix this though with recalibration via engine tuning software or a number of aftermarket modules (yellowbox) that intercept the vehicle speed sensor and output an altered signal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n6DEYqVDEY

 

[FearNoEvil56]

That is brilliant ha. Exactly what I am looking for! Thank you. Im just curous about the pros and cons? Im sure it will void my warranty as well..

 

[FearNoEvil56]

So will the tire size actually get me more height? Which would be more suitable? A body lift or a suspension lift?

 

[Espysonic]

So will the tire size actually get me more height? Which would be more suitable? A body lift or a suspension lift?

Suspension off of a Chevy trax, as well as a slightly larger tire is similar to that off road style sonic, I believe he has 33” tires on it which is massive ! Tire size will get you minimal height, you’d have to get tires 2” taller to make a single inch difference


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[5.0]

The reason your having trouble in the snow is because the factory hankooks tires are terrible/damn near suicidal in snow and it's well documented.

You don't need to do a lift or start changing suspension or putting on oddball tire sizes. Just get yourself a set of snow tires and the car performs just fine.


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[Palmaris]

I really have no problems with my Sonic in the snow or with ride height. It does a wonderful job. I have removed the little rubber deflector at the bottom of the front bumper and installed a aluminium skid plate that offers slight piece of mind. All the rubber air dam did was make scary noises but really your not driving over any problems at all.

Other winter problems include slow engine warm up time, so some other users have tried to block some of the front grills on the car in the wintertime, the obviously bad all season tires. There is a Sonic in the Snow master Thread that you can read!

 

[gnonne]

How far North in MI?

I'm in Muskegon and I have three Sonics. The factory tires are USELESS in any snow at all. I replaced them with a set of Pacemark snows that I got on clearance at Sam's Club. Used them for three winters and they still have 9-10 32nds tread. Maybe they quit selling these because they were too good.

But, I got tired of changing tires all the time, so I have migrated all three cars over to the Pirelli P4 all seasons Plus tires that Sam's sells. Very good all season tire.

Right now I have the 4 snows in my garage, yours for $120. I also have a set of the factory Hankooks with only 5k miles on them that I would want a bit more for.

 

[FearNoEvil56]

Im in Petoskey and I just might take you up on those tires! I have stock which I believe are 15s? And yes they are completely trash in the snow -_- Do you stand by the Pirelli P4 all seasons? Id rather have all season that perform well in winter, simply due to the fact I have nowhere to store other tires.

As far as the front bumper being the issue, by far it is. I only have little under 5 inches of clearance from the ground. I bottom out alot.

What issues would you all expect if I were to lift the suspension? Its something in really interested in.

 

[Espysonic]

Im in Petoskey and I just might take you up on those tires! I have stock which I believe are 15s? And yes they are completely trash in the snow -_- Do you stand by the Pirelli P4 all seasons? Id rather have all season that perform well in winter, simply due to the fact I have nowhere to store other tires.

As far as the front bumper being the issue, by far it is. I only have little under 5 inches of clearance from the ground. I bottom out alot.

What issues would you all expect if I were to lift the suspension? Its something in really interested in.

Honestly the only issues with the suspension would be that you’d have to find a donor set or springs etc from the Chevy trax, simple install to be honest, just would look a little off


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[92dakota]

got a good set of winter tires on my sonic and so do my parents.. it aint no 4x4 but still better then my dodge caliber..

 

[Blue Moon Sonic]

Living in WI with what used to be brutal winters, I can vouch about the factory hancooks. they're suicidal bad. I'm lowered and don't have any issues in the winter. If the snow storm is bad enough, I'll throw winter treads on. Otherwise, I run all seasons year round for daily use.

 

[gnonne]

Pirelli P4's

The P4's are NOT as good as real snows tires, but they are a very good reasonably priced all season tire, very quiet in summer, etc. Tirerack has them ranked #2 out of 15 or 20 standard all season tires tested. #1 is a Continental TrueContact that is hard to find, but Walmart can order them for you for less than Tirerack charges.

I went with the Pirellis from Sams because I live two miles from a club and the workers at the local Walmart tire center are just terrible.

BTW, two of my three Sonics do have the 15 inch wheels.