Winter Tires

How many run winter tires and what do you use. Thought it would be nice to get peoples opinions. I will start for five seasons I had a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks WS-50 on my wifes CR-V. Awesome traction, the downside is the squisshy feel from the soft tread and the fuel mileage reduction. They do have a short life span, I think they lasted about 22K miles. However with all the downsides the traction makes up for it

This year I got Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 with claw studs. The stud is really neat it has a square point and is very sharp. These tires are suppossed to keep your fuel milage up and not be so squishy. We will see, I just put them on yesterday and did not drive it yet.


They will have some big shoes to fill after following the bridgestones, but I think they will be up to the task.


Eric

It all depends on how much traction you really need. As a NEPA expatriot living in southern New Hampshire; which, is flat as a pancake, it doesn't make sense for me to run winter tires. Down in the NEPA mountains where I grew up---it's a different story... Do you live and drive where you need 4WD just to get up your driveway??

I have all seasons with pretty aggressive tread on my truck, but its also 4x4, does pretty good. Wife has all season on her Escape with about 50K on them, they do good also. One nice thing with Escapes, they are Front Wheel drive/4 wheel drive. The rear wheels kick in only when needed.

Just put some Firestone Winterforce on my Scion. They look pretty aggressive. no snow yet to try out.

watkinsdr wrote:It all depends on how much traction you really need. As a NEPA expatriot living in southern New Hampshire; which, is flat as a pancake, it doesn't make sense for me to run winter tires. Down in the NEPA mountains where I grew up---it's a different story... Do you live and drive where you need 4WD just to get up your driveway??

I understand that. I am looking at it from the point when I say traction I also mean stopping traction. I don't see winter tires as a way to keep moving, I look at them as a way to stop. You and I may be a good driver but what about the others on the roads. suppose someone pulls out in front of you, If I can stop 15ft shorter it was all worth it.

Just my take on it, to many people with awd and traction control forget that stuff gets you going but if your tires don't have traction that stuff isn't stopping you any faster.


Eric

Picked up a stud gun at the local fleamarket during the summer, a few new o-rings and it works like new. Bought a set of Ebay Nokian Nordman snow tires(made in Ussr) for the Escape and a set of factory alloy rims(without sensors!) so i am hopefully ready for any snow we get this year. I think there was 120 studs per tire.

Stopping is a very important part of a good snow tire. I ran Blizzaks for years and loved them, I would put them on all four corners of my two wheel drive vehicles. I had a 4X2 pickup and would put generic studded snows on the back and Blizzaks on the front, add a few hundred pounds in the back and that truck went almost anywhere. I live in the middle of the Adirondacks and see a lot of weather so tires are very important. One of the things I see a lot is when you have a 4X4 or even all wheel drive you get over confident because you can go so well, but you can't steer or stop any better than anyone else. Driving with old fashioned studs is a little different than regular tires, sometimes you can let them spin and they dig down to where they can grip something but you have to be especially careful when the roads are clear with only the sand on them because then you are actually at a disadvantage and have less grip than the guy with half bald all seasons on his car.

I have been using Snotrakker tires for awhile now. Made by Goodyear but way cheaper because the Goodyear name isn't on them. Good traction, and wear well too. I have them on my Tracker and run them year round. About 30,000 miles on the current set and I think they'll get me through this winter.

WNY wrote:Just put some Firestone Winterforce on my Scion. They look pretty aggressive. no snow yet to try out.

I'm running Winterforce on my Jetta TDI wagon and going on the 3rd season with them. Previous to the Winterforce I ran the older Winterfire version and ran 5 or 6 winters with them before one developed a big tread bubble. I just installed them yesterday, as a matter of fact. I run winter tires from Thanksgiving to about April Fools around here.

Personally, I think winter tires should be MANDATORY for any region that gets significant snow. After driving with proper tires in the snow, you will NEVER go back to "no-season" tires - they are absolutely scary in comparison. I drive mostly county roads to work, and while it is flat out here and the roads are rather straight, they are also poorly plowed. With the crops harvested, there is nothing to stop the wind and drifting/blowing snow. My county uses about a 75% sand/25% salt mixture on the roads, which is still enough salt to eat your car but not enough to really melt the roads and the sand (more like slightly crushed boulders) blasts the heck out of your paint job. Anyway, I can drive pretty much the posted speed limits regardless of snow conditions with complete confidence and control as long as it isn't icy. It becomes frustrating, however, because most others are crawling along at 20 mph with a death grip on the wheel. But traffic is light enough so that I can pass safely while they look at me like I'm some kind of nutcase. They just don't understand. All-season tires are like shoveling snow in your sneakers. Actually, my Jetta is better in the snow than the Jeep Liberty CRD running in 4WD with Firestone Destination A/T tires as long as the snow isn't stupid deep.

I have two sets of rims for the car, which facilitates fast and easy swaps. The original alloy rims are shod with "no-season" General Altimax tires which are really nice for the money - quiet and long wearing with decent traction. I also have a set of OEM steel wheels and wheel covers that I keep the Winterforce tires on. I rotate front to back each time I install either set, and it is a 30 minute job if I'm slow. The extra cost of rims is more than offset by not having to dismount and remount/rebalance tires twice a year.

Chris

Just today we switched out the summer tires for the winter tires on the Honda Odyssey.

We use the Michelin X-Ice Xi2 winter tires which are the highest rated according to Consumer Reports and other unbiased reviews and owner feedback.

We don’t drive much in the snow or maybe I should say we don’t drive our vehicles much in the snow, company vehicle is a different story. The AWD Bravada has all season tires year round, the front wheel drive Lumina gets winter tires front and back, I don’t specify, I just get what they have on hand or can get. The Bravada and Lumina do very well in the snow for the amount of driving we do. The rear wheel drive Chevy 3500 pickup is best left home in the winter. I never spent the money for true winter tires because load range E truck tires generally are not cheap but I am. I have all seasons on it and they are marginally OK when new but after you wear some of the tread off they become useless real quick. Maybe if I were to load two ton of weight in the box it would make a difference but I’m lazy and cheap. When the pickup has to go and the roads are snow covered I have chains to put on. It feels as if you can go anywhere when driving on chains. It is a noisy rough ride, and you don’t want to drive too fast but it sure goes. It also brings back memories of when we would go to school in the winter and the busses would have chains on. They don’t do that anymore, they just cancel school.

We got a second set of wheels & put Bridgestone Blizzaks on the wife's CRV. It's the best snow machine ever! They say they don't last long, but this is the 3rd winter with them & it looks like we might get 4.

I drove Winterforce a couple winters. They felt squishy on dry pavement and needed to be inflated about 3 pounds higher than usual to handle well. Last year I got General Arctics and they handle much better. They do make a huge difference in snow and slush. But honestly, I don't know if I will bother with snows when these wear out. I almost never drive in the snow any more -- if it storms I can work from home, not as good as being at the office but OK if I just do it occasionally.

It really doesn't matter what tires you use,

the big issue is to get that summer air out of the tires and replace it with winter air !!!

9 out of 10 blondes agree.



Rick

BF Goodrich all-terrains on the '99 Silverado...

I just put the most aggressive tread all season tire I can find on my cars and use them year round. On my truck I run mud tires even though I rarely if ever see any mud. The mud tires give me a little more noise and a little worse fuel economy on my f-250 but, it's worth it for never having to worry about getting stuck in just about any situation. Two years ago I made the mistake of sliding off a levy road down onto the edge of a bar ditch and managed to save myself and my truck while being up to the axles in mud with a heavy diesel truck. During the october storm in buffalo 2007, I was able to drive around downed trees and through unplowed streets covered in 2 feet of snow, last year I was able to make it slowly through the adirondacks during a snowstorm which left me driving through about a foot of unplowed snow. The tires make all the difference; firestone destination m/t three sets so far- great tire for any kind of shitty situation.

I drove a friend's jetta with one of the major brand snow tires on it during snow and it was apparent that there was more traction. I don't know that I would bother for the small difference it seemed to make on a car, at least. If you have a truck or suv, you can't beat a decent mud tire for any kind of deep snow traction. stopping distance is not why I would look to a snow tire, if the weather is that bad you shouldn't be in a position where a few feet will make a difference anyway.