Winter Wheels and Tires

[Dirkbg]

I think I'm going to get performance all season tires this year for the cold weather - not for driving in the snow. Tire Rack search (4BW) gives the Michelin PS AS4, BFG G-Force Comp2 A/S Plus, and Falken Azenis FK460 A/S. I know many have used the Michelin, but the Falken looks like a good tire with better life, quieter, and a bit lower cost ($208/$220 to $272/$300). The BFG seems to be a bit behind the other two. Has anyone tried the Falken? I've never used the brand before and don't know anything about them.

 

[Hi Ho Silver]

I picked up one of the last sets of the stock size all seasons Coopers from TR, which I will mount on my OEM wheels. I was only looking for cold weather tires...not for snow or ice. These were the ONLY 305/30x19 I could find and I did not want to move to a more narrow tire.

Now I am looking for some after market wheels for the summer tires 305/30 275/35. It's really hard to find 10" front and 11" rears in the stock offset which I believe is 21.7 mm front and 57.5 rear. Correct me if I am wrong. I found some BBS wheels in 19" but the width and offset is as follows:

19 x 10" 25 mm offset (front)
19 x 10.5 " 35 mm offset (rear)

Any concerns? I am most concerned about what TR calls "mildly aggressive" fit for the rears. One of their reps said I may need to "roll the fenders", which is not going to happen. I am not expecting going down the .5" on the width is an issue for the 305s and not certain how that affects the fender fit if at all.

Advice would be appreciated about the fit or any other wheel recommendations for the stock size tires. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dirkbg]

Have you checked out the Apex Wheels? I like the EC-7, and the SM-10 is pretty nice too.

 

[The_Ghost]

I can highly recommend Axe wheels. I'm very picky when it comes to wheels. It took me 2 years to find what I was looking for on my weekend car. And Axe had the wheels. I'm thinking about getting another set for my BW of the same. If you find a wheel you like, contact the vendor directly or the wheel store where they have them and ask them to get you blanks. They can drill them for you and it's like $35/wheel. Just make sure the caliper will fit behind the wheel without hitting it!!! You will of course need hub rings (as you will with any non-OE wheel).

 

[Hi Ho Silver]

I now recall looking at the Apex . The offset is closer to stock. Thanks for the reminder @Dirkbg. I had a Joe Biden moment. Definitely on my short list.

For the 5BW, does anyone know the "range" of acceptable offset for front and rear? Am I correct that "less" positive offset than stock (57.5 down to 44mm) will provide more caliber clearance but extends the wheel further outboard? I expect the rear fenders can handle the extra half inch.

Going from 21.7mm to 25mm on the front, moves the center inboard but so insignificantly, less than 1/4 inch, that I expect caliper clearance should be okay.

Anyone think differently?

 

[Magnetic Flux]

I now recall looking at the Apex . The offset is closer to stock. Thanks for the reminder @Dirkbg. I had a Joe Biden moment. Definitely on my short list.

For the 5BW, does anyone know the "range" of acceptable offset for front and rear? Am I correct that "less" positive offset than stock (57.5 down to 44mm) will provide more caliber clearance but extends the wheel further outboard? I expect the rear fenders can handle the extra half inch.

Going from 21.7mm to 25mm on the front, moves the center inboard but so insignificantly, less than 1/4 inch, that I expect caliper clearance should be okay.

Anyone think differently?

I am pretty sure the stock wheels for the 5BW are:
19x10 et20 front
19x11 et50 rear

I don’t expect a 44mm offset to be much at all, however not all 19” wheels have the same inner barrel diameter and won’t fit over the calipers.

Apex wheels does have selected Cadillac fitments they have tested to work on their page.

Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Wheel & Tire Fitment Guide

apexwheels.com

Or you can get truly custom fit wheels with the right hub size, offsets, etc. from Signature Wheels @Terrance Sig as they make awesome looking wheels direct fit for the Blackwings.

 

[NJ4BW]

265/35r18 in Nokian

Hakkapeliitta R3​

Available on Amazon currently.

Only t rated for speed but still, it’s a workable fitment in a reputable winter tire.​

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07BFJ5CNT/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[BadCadiWI23]

I think I'm going to get performance all season tires this year for the cold weather - not for driving in the snow. Tire Rack search (4BW) gives the Michelin PS AS4, BFG G-Force Comp2 A/S Plus, and Falken Azenis FK460 A/S. I know many have used the Michelin, but the Falken looks like a good tire with better life, quieter, and a bit lower cost ($208/$220 to $272/$300). The BFG seems to be a bit behind the other two. Has anyone tried the Falken? I've never used the brand before and don't know anything about them.

Have had the Falkens on my 4BW for a couple weeks now as cold weather continues to advance here in WI. So far, I am a fan of these tires...quieter than the OEMs on the freeway. Don't plan to drive in the snow either, but expect they will be great in the cold temps on the dry roads I might drive on in the winter here.

 

[travysh]

Or you can get truly custom fit wheels with the right hub size, offsets, etc. from Signature Wheels @Terrance Sig as they make awesome looking wheels direct fit for the Blackwings.

+1 for this option.
It's not exactly what y'all are looking to do but my winter tires are on the OEM wheels and summers on Signature wheels. No messing around with spacers or clearance concerns.

 

[THeXBK]

Shopping for winter tires and wheels at the last minute here for my CT4-V BW - I guess I should have prepared way earlier!
I'm looking for Pilot Sport Alpin PA4's and running a staggered setup. The 265/35R18's are nowhere to be found! Might have to revert to a square setup.

My next steps are to call around and see if this tire can be ordered - if not then I'll need to come with other options.

So I went to Costco Tire and found they can order me a set of Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 staggered with 255 front and 265 rear but said I won't get a warranty due to the diameter angle not being in tolerance. So looks like I need a set of wheels that work with this.

I didn't realize finding winter tires for this car would be so painful!

 

[nktn1985]

Shopping for winter tires and wheels at the last minute here - I guess I should have prepared way earlier!
I'm looking for Pilot Sport Alpin PA4's and running a staggered setup. The 265/35R18's are nowhere to be found! Might have to revert to a square setup.

My next steps are to call around and see if this tire can be ordered - if not then I'll need to come with other options.

If you keep your OEM you can go 285/35 in the rear. I have it on mine now. Frimts stay standard 275 assuming for 5BW

 

[Super Saloon]

I went with the Michelin Alpin PA4, 265/35/18 in the rear and 255/35/18 up front. I’ve used these tires in the past on my Focus RS and CLA 45 AMG and they are a fantastic winter performance tire and also do well in the snow (on those platforms). I ordered through fitment industries, the rears are back ordered 1–3 months but I figured that’s okay as I don’t yet own a Blackwing. I’ll report back once I get the tires and find a Blackwing to install them on

 

[THeXBK]

Update Nov 3: updated my tire selection.
Update Dec 3: finally got my tires installed, had to buy OEM GM TPMS sensors because Discount Tire wouldn't mount without them for safety reasons

I gotta say, winter tire shopping hasn't been easy for my CT4-V Blackwing. Not compared to my 2017 WRX where I had a big selection of wheels that fit and tires packages to select.

I guess that's what happens when you buy a limited run performance car.

I wanted to share with you my thought process and decisions for what I picked, it might help some folks out.

My dream setup is a set of tech bronze wheels and Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4's. With the auto strikes going on right now, obtaining OEM wheels is extremely difficult to impossible. Plus the cost is about $700 per rim. Best price I can find for this setup is approx $3000 after taxes for the wheels and another $1400 after taxes for the Pilot Alpin PA4's so $4400 all up. Unfortunately I don't see myself doing any hardcore driving in the winter and this would be way overkill for my needs but heck it's still what I'd love if cost was no object.

Research
Based on this article from Car & Driver here: Our 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Brought Smiles for 40,000 Miles they mentioned they reached out to GM directly for winter tire recommendations:

"We asked Cadillac's engineering team what they run, and they pointed us to a 265/35R-18 rear size. There are two such tires available, a Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 and a Pirelli Sottozero Serie II, and both were hopelessly backordered. After much searching, handwringing, and considering sending our CT4 to the West Coast to ride out the winter months, we happened upon a set of discontinued Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 winter tires on eBay in the correct sizes."

@Mirza Grebovic's also gives some suggestions in this thread and I treat his word as gospel - for those of you who don't know he was the Group Engineer Manager for both Blackwings at GM.

You cant run a 255 on the rear wheel, it will stretch tire too much and decrease your OD. Just buy as close to stock no need to overthink this, your talking almost no difference in cost.

Tire Selection
So based on @Mirza Grebovic's widsom I decided to go with a staggered setup and go close to OEM:

• Front: 255/35R18 (same as stock) on a 18x9 wheel
• Rear: 265/35R18 (a little narrower than stock but as mentioned in the article above from Car and Driver) on a 18x9.5 wheel

This leaves the following options:

• Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4
• Pirelli Sottozero Serie II
• Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3

Finding a staggered 255/35R18 and 265/35R18 winter tire is a nightmare!
Finding a 255/35R18 and 265/35R18 setup was a nightmare.

Costco, they had stock of the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4's but refused to sell them with a warranty to me because the rear tire is outside their accepted variance from the stock summer tires. It's a liability issue for them swapping a 275mm summer tire to a 265mm winter tire. The tires ain't cheap and not getting a warranty was hard for me to accept.

I went down the eBay rabbit hole trying to get Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3, I managed to get the 265/35R18 tires but the 255/35R18 tires I got the run around from different retailers. eBay retailers were listing Nokian tires they didn't have in stock. Given the tires are discontinued I don't recommend doing this unless you can source these tires.

I ended up going to my local Discount Tire, they had to call Michelin directly to special order me a 265/35R18 rear tires, the 255/35R18 they have in stock.

Finding aftermarket 18 inch wheels that fit is tricky
I just don't have the time to figure out what wheels fit and what don't. I do know that the brakes are huge and finding a 18 inch rim that fits is not something I want to waste time and leave to trial and error.

Hence based on @cnofar's efforts to go all the way to Tire Rack and have his car scanned, I trust the fact that whatever tirerack have listed - fits.

Hey guys, thought I'd share some info, especially as I'm sure there are a few others looking for wheel/tire setup for winter for the CT4.

I ended up driving to Tire Rack in South Bend, Indiana a couple months ago to the "guinea pig" and allow Tire Rack to scan my car so they can see what wheels/tires fit the CT4 BW.

To summarize, there aren't any staggered dedicated performance snow tires available, only staggered all season tires, and only in 19 inch sizes. And there are very few 18 inch wheels available/in stock (one in stock at the time of my purchasing), otherwise I'd have to upsize to 19 inch wheels and all season tires, which is not what I want for various reasons.
I prefer dedicated snow tires for Michigan as this is what I've always done on various sports cars, so I "built" my own setup, approved by Tire Rack. If you need any assistance you can call and ask for Taggart at Tire Rick, awesome guy, super helpful and patient!

Here's what I purchased from Tire Rack and I must say, it's entirely a bolt on kit, complete to the last detail.
Forged One Competition FF05, 18x9.5 +20mm front, 18x9.5 +33mm rear. Staggered sizes are needed instead of a "square" 4x rear setup as there would be rubbing in the front.
Tires are Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 255/35/18 front and rear.
TPMS installed
Came with 4 center caps, 4 hub centric rings, and even 20 lug nuts with deep wall socket!

Here are some pictures, attached. These wheels are much nicer looking in person than pictures on the website (even my 5 year old son likes them!). I dare say I like them more than the stock wheels and have even thought about swapping summer tires onto these FF05 wheels, and putting the snow tires on the OEM Cadillac wheels, but that's a lot of effort just for looks.

Problem is that Tirerack doesn't have great stock or selection at the moment. I decided however to call them directly and see if I could order some of the out of stock wheels. I was able to order a set of TSW Imatra's on their way in about 5 weeks time. Thanks to Bruno at Tirerack for helping me out with this.

Tire Pressure Monitoring System
The tire shops will try to sell you their third party ones. When Discount Tire checked their database they couldn't confirm if they would work with the CT4. They suggested I get OEM ones. Discount Tire happily took a wheel off to check the official part number for me which was 13538760. I grabbed a set of x4 used ones off eBay for cheap.

Conclusion
My setup is as follows:
Front: TSW Imatra 18x9 wrapped in Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 255/35R18 Winter Tires
Rear: TSW Imatra 18x9.5 wrapped in Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 R3 265/35R18 Winter Tires
TPMS: OEM GM P/N 13538760

Got my first choice of tires, rims ah well I'm using what works.

 

[Steelwing]

Dang. I have a set of Pirelli Sottozero Serie II in my garage taken off a WRX, but they’re 265/40R-18. When I moved to Minnesota with the WRX in winter I had the same issue and bought the taller tire just to get by since nothing else was in stock.

 

[AtrociKitty]

I likewise couldn't find much that fit my 4BW and ended up copying cnofar's setup almost exactly. I went with the same Forged One Competition FF05 wheels in the same sizes (18x9.5 +20mm front, 18x9.5 +33mm rear), and the same tire size (255/35R18 on all four corners). The only difference is the tire, I picked the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 for hopefully a decent balance between performance and winter traction.

 

[Mcard23]

I likewise couldn't find much that fit my 4BW and ended up copying cnofar's setup almost exactly. I went with the same Forged One Competition FF05 wheels in the same sizes (18x9.5 +20mm front, 18x9.5 +33mm rear), and the same tire size (255/35R18 on all four corners). The only difference is the tire, I picked the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 for hopefully a decent balance between performance and winter traction.

I loved the PA4 on both my Camaro 1LE and 392 charger. If they made them in 5BW fitments I would’ve gotten them again but had to resort to Pirelli Sottozeros

 

[fmusignac]

If anyone wants to buy mine, they're available. Perfect set up for me in the cold. Only selling because I traded my car and the one's bolt pattern is different.

For Sale - CT5-V Blackwing Winter Wheels and Tiresn

Winter wheels and tires. Square set up. Worked perfectly and fit perfectly. Were on the car for about 2 months. They were also ceramic coated. Include TPMS and black lug nuts. No curb rash or any blemishes or issues. Have 5 wheels (bought a spare) and 4 tires. The 5BW drove like a tank in snow...

www.cadillacvnet.com

 

[Alex71]

Hey fellas,
I tried to read this whole thread but wound up skimming it, without finding my answer...

Has anyone run a square setup on a 4BW on stock wheels with winter tires? I'm looking at Michelin Alpin PA4 in 255/35-18 for all 4 wheels. I'm looking for a couple people with first hand experience running this, or if i'm crazy about even considering this i'm sure lots of ppl will chime in to tell me.

Finding winter tires for this car sure is harder than my last car (STI). When i bought the 4BW I got some michelin all seasons in the correct sizes because i couldn't find winter tires for the rears. That turned out to not be a productive move, as there is only marginal improvement over the stock summer tires.

Thanks

 

[AtrociKitty]

Has anyone run a square setup on a 4BW on stock wheels with winter tires? I'm looking at Michelin Alpin PA4 in 255/35-18 for all 4 wheels.

These are the exact tires and size I bought, but I haven't mounted them yet (I put them on a separate set of wheels). I got the idea from here, and copied it down to the wheels. Just Michelin Pilot Alpin tires instead of Bridgestone Blizzak.

 

[THeXBK]

Hi guys, I updated my mega post above - ran into some issues getting Nokian's on eBay and gave up. Went to Discount Tire and they sorted me out with Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4's instead. Made updates so hopefully people find it useful.