I need snows for the 86. I don't need a very aggressive snow, as I'm mostly on cleared highways. I liked the x-ice, they seemed to have much better dry road manners than the bilzzaks. I have an extra set of stock wheels so they will be 215/45 17, or similar. I don't want a floaty feel most of all!
what's everyone's thoughts?
Honestly if you're not likely to encounter deep snow or serious ice and care about ride quality above all else, i'd be looking at good quality all seasons. Something like the DWS06 and any of its equivalents are surprisingly good in moderate snow and drive like normal tires the other 98% of the time that you're on clear, dry pavement. If I even drive enough this winter (yay work from home) to justify getting new winter tires they'll be all seasons...and then probably left on all year.
I've ran general Altimax artics for the past 7 years on both my cars. If I decide to spring for winters on my new to me suv. They'll be altimax artics.
I like my Altima's Arctics from general. I liked them enough on the Elantra that I put them on the Sedona.
dps214 said:Honestly if you're not likely to encounter deep snow or serious ice and care about ride quality above all else, i'd be looking at good quality all seasons. Something like the DWS06 and any of its equivalents are surprisingly good in moderate snow and drive like normal tires the other 98% of the time that you're on clear, dry pavement. If I even drive enough this winter (yay work from home) to justify getting new winter tires they'll be all seasons...and then probably left on all year.
Too bad you're so far away I've got a set ofBlizzacks that size with about 1/2 tread left I'm going to throw away.
I've run artimax before as well, and they are fine, great in to snow but had a bouncy feel. But they were also 65 series instead of 45...
I had X-Ice on my Squarebody for the past 5 years or so. Awesome in ice, less awesome in snow.
General Altimax Arctic's on the wife's M35x, and I LOVE them.
Cooper Evolution's are new on the Square this winter; I couldn't get the Altimax in my size.
I've ran just about everything except for Michelin x-ices over the past 25 years starting with Firestone winterfires and currently altimax arctics on one car and blizzaks on the other. Here is my advice. Tire technology only gets better. If a proven company comes out with a new winter tire, consider it for sure along with the other options. I see that continental has a new one out now that looks promising. The blizzak seems to get almost annual improvements. Determine what you need, deep snow, ice, uncleared roads, etc. and match that with whatever is proven vs the latest tire out there. I know that seems esoteric on the surface but like me, I think that will lead you to the best tire for you, and if you deal with a ton of ice always consider studded tires.
I picked up a set of Conti Viking Contact 7s last year for my FiST. The data available at the time suggested they were a good choice vs. the other top tires in the class. Price at the time was a chunk cheaper too. After Tire Rack put out one of their tests and seem to justify the decision, but the top tires are all pretty close. That said, I'm not enjoying them on the FiST, its party trick is corner turn in and the Contis seem to take the edge off more than I'd expected. I have experience with the X-Ice3 on other cars and I liked them significantly better than the Blizzak WS80s.
I tend to believe in the best performance possible in a given scenario, or close to it, especially in dicey weather situations. I live ~2.5 hours east of you, the weather we get can be no joke, based on my experience I don't think all seasons are up for the job. I had some limited experience with high performance winters. I wonder if they might be a choice worth considering? There's not a lot of data comparing the hardcore winters to performance winters.
X-ice are designed for ice. Blizzaks are designed for snow.
I had some X-ice on a scion xB and they were fair in snow, but not great. True snow tires are designed with thousands of wee little sipes. The engineering is such that those little sipes get packed with snow, and the snow grips other snow. You know how you can just brush unpacked snow with your glove, but if you make it into a snowball it's really solid? Same principle.
I keep good A/Ts on the truck and good AS on the cars and never have much trouble. I did put Blizzaks on my Chester Molester van because it was completely helpless and I had a steep driveway at the time.
Hakkepelitas (sp?) are getting a lot of love as well.
I really like the Altimax Arctics, GREAT tire, especially for the price. Not super agresssive (say for deep snow). Studdable, if you so choose.
I have one more winter left on my Blizzaks, I have been a happy user of this brand for 20 yrs. They have been the go to tire in ice racing and yes they do work well on ice.
That being said, since my winter driving has come to staying on plowed roads an less snow etc. I most likely will go to an all season tire .
I tried viking 7s this year and like them for the quiet smooth ride. But in your situation I would go back to xice. I think they have the best dry manners. But I purposely look for the opposite in a winter tire. It is fun/funny to toss a car into a corner with gummy sidewalls and feel it flop over, squirm and howl. Also the pirellis have some more performance oriented winters. I think in most part xice does so well because the tread blocks are so shallow. Which you really notice in a few inches of mushy snow.
I recommend something studded, I know it's not a popular opinion but they are stupendously better than studless.
If you insist on snow tires, here are my data points: I had a set of blizzak ws80s last year. I'm not denying that they're amazing on ice and moderate snow, but on dry pavement they drive like garbage, even in a reasonble size, and I don't think they would have lasted through a second winter (well...they'll survive this winter, but only because I'm primarily working from home and they won't be going on the car unless I absolutely have to drive somewhere while there's snow or ice on the ground). The original altimax arcitcs I had before that were plenty fine on snow and ice, drove not great but a lot better than the blizzaks, and were on pace to get four winters out of them when I got rid of them. Winterforce 2s seem to work pretty well, they drove pretty terribly but I also had 60 sidewalls that were a much larger overall diameter than stock and on smaller diameter wheels (and on a very different car than all the other tires discussed here), so that's not really a fair comparison. Didn't put enough miles on them to get a sense of wear. I had the previous gen yokohamas (ig20 i think?) and on dry roads they were by far the best driving winter tire I've had, and seemed to work pretty well in snow, but were downright dangerous on cold and wet roads (like high 30s/low 40s...definitely cold but definitely not cold enough to be icy). Like, there's a hill near my house that I'd have to take in third gear because the car couldn't maintain 35mph in second without doing a burnout, while being passed by suvs on all seasons. I would be inclined to do some research and maybe consider one of the newer versions of that tire though because of how good its dry road manners were.
Had Altimax Arctic's on my Fiesta, and now have the Viking Contact 7s on my Focus, and they both have done extremely well. They both made the car feel much softer, and squishier during cornering, but both rode much quieter and smoother than their respective summer tires.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:X-ice are designed for ice. Blizzaks are designed for snow.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplayWinter.jsp?ttid=250
Hmm...
I think in general you want to look for a tire in the studdable snow category, rather than the studless snow and ice category. Studless tires like the Blizzak and X-Ice are more suited for extreme conditions, and the soft compound and tread design will be noisy and wear faster in dry driving. Studdable snow tires like the original Winterforce or Mastercraft Glacier Grip generally seem to have harder compounds and wear better.
Note, I'm not saying to buy studded tires, just to look in the studdable category. If you're already leaning towards a less agressive winter tire then you probably don't need studs.
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
Only on ice or hardpac. No help in snow. They are noisy on pavement
Reread the op, I think you want the Mich x-ice. Perfect for that app, and long lasting too.
Nokian WRG4. Better dry road manners than the Hakkas, still fantastic in snow.
I should note that I don't have experience with the current lineup, but that was true 7ish years ago.
iceracer said:In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
Only on ice or hardpac. No help in snow. They are noisy on pavement
Sure but if you live where I do, ice happens pretty randomly.
I have to have tires good in all conditions.
I put on studded snows around thanksgiving and take them off in mid april. They see plenty of street miles and I don't care. A little clicking is worth it to me. I see 4-700" of snow each winter but also freezing rain and ice over my 20 mile, 1500 vertical foot commute. Plus my driveway is about 25% and I need all I can get to go up in the evenings.
Studded tires aren’t legal for road use in some states, MI is one of them.
We put a set of 16” Continental Wintercontacts on my wife’s Mazda5 and I’ve been pretty impressed with how they handle on a dry road.
Honestly any snow tire is the answer. I have run about every cheap snow tire and none have let me down.
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