I just purchase an 04 CTS - love it! I am used to front wheel drive cars so I don’t know what kind of snow tires I should get for it. help!
It’s not what kind you get, but how many. You will need FOUR snow tires if you want to have any hope of controlling this car in winter conditions. Properly equipped, however, it should be OK.
Check TireRack.com and similar websites for winter tire info. There are lots of brands/styles from which to choose.
Your best bet would be to call tirerack.com They are very knowledgeable.
My recommendation is to purchase four winter tires mounted onto new rims. When you purchase from them they will mount/balance the rims and then ship. Basically you just need a shop to swap off your mounted wheels which is minimal charge (~$20 during oil change).
The same kind of tyres you would buy for a rear wheel drive car, but you need four of the for safe driving. The plus side is with four winter tyres it will stop faster than a rear wheel drive car with just two winter .The CTS IS a rear-wheel drive car, as is the Cadillac STS, with the DTS being the only front-wheel drive Cadillac sedan. Personally, I think that GM made a big mistake in selecting these names for their newer design sedans, as the similarity in names is very confusing.
That being said, I would agree with the previous recommendations to go with one of the “packages” recommended by Tire Rack. They do extensive testing, and can recommend the best type of winter tire for a sedan of a sporting nature, such as the CTS.
I personally prefer Michelin winter tires as a result of superior traction and superior tread life–a combination that is unmatched by their competitors. But, overall, I would recommend that you follow the advice of the people at Tire Rack–and remember that you do indeed need 4 winter tires, whether one is driving a fwd vehicle, a rwd vehicle, or a 4wd vehicle.
A set of wheels like the ones on your car might be quite expensive. Try to find some less expensive steel wheels with wheel covers for the winter tires. They look pretty much all the same when coated with a layer of winter grime and salt anyway.
Nah, the CTS looks bad-ass in Winter with some black steelies and a set of snow tires.
A RWD car is a little trickier to drive in the winter, but I think the CTS probably has reasonable traction control and a limited slip rear, so it’ll be a lot better than Uncle Fredo’s old Sedan DeVille.
Do yourself a favor and buy a FWD econobox for days when the CTS might need snow tires. Why degrade such a fine car with moron drivers and road salt? For the price of 4 decent wheels and tires, you can buy a “snow-car”…Leave the CTS in the garage.
CTS is a decent car but not a museum piece. Cars are meant to enjoy not sit in garages.
Buying four winter tires on steel rims is a smart move. Tirerack is a good place to research and maybe buy tires - but a local shop may be able to come pretty close to their price, and offer some close-at-hand help right away and maybe down the road.
The November issue of Consumer Reports has had test results on winter tires for several years running, and probably this year, too. Should be out soon.
Right…Drive it 90% of the time when the roads are DRY.
It’s not worth degrading the cars superb handling by fitting snow tires for a few snowy days. Take the beater to work on crappy days…