What’s your go-to winter tire?

RossD said:

It just seems like such a pain in the butt for little gain. The roads here are salted often and early, and the snow is cleared within hours. 

Are snow tires better on cold dry pavement than an all season?

I would say I don’t notice a difference on clear pavement...I live on a small road with a steep hill. I see people every year getting stuck at the bottom of the hill spinning their tires. My wife’s focus with winter tires has never had a problem as long as the snow wasn’t high centering the car. 

There is also an all weather classification of tire. Kind of a snow/all season tire. Might be worth looking into. 

Some info on all weather tires:

https://www.consumerreports.org/tires/all-weather-tires-offer-an-edge-in-snowy-conditions-perform-well-year-round/

NGTD said:

80sFast said:

RossD said:

In reply to Nate90LX :

I have been driving 21 years in Wisconsin with no snow tires. All seasons for all seasons and cars with summer tires only run between the salting seasons.

My stepfather always said this (in northern Michigan) then he tried snow tires...

100% correct - once you have winter tires for winter, you will always want them

I had them for 10 years on my WRX, which I sold a couple months ago to buy a new GTI. Didn't have enough spare cash leftover to spring for winter tires this year, so I'm going to have to deal with brand-new all-seasons with FWD vice AWD. I used to look forward to snow days, but this year I am kind of dreading them without my winter tires. They make that much of a difference, even against the BEST all-seasons. It's not even close. 

To drive that point home, if it snows I will likely take the (RWD) rally car out, since it has Altimax Arctics, rather than the FWD/LSD GTI.....

RossD said:

It just seems like such a pain in the butt for little gain. The roads here are salted often and early, and the snow is cleared within hours. 

Are snow tires better on cold dry pavement than an all season?

On cold dry pavement, if you're driving cautiously, you won't feel a huge difference necessarily. Until you hit that black ice patch. But if you're pushing at all, especially in a corner, snow tires have much softer compounds and are night and day in terms of cornering and braking traction even on frozen dry pavement.

Again though, the way to go is "performance winter" tires - which are damn near as good as most typical A/S tires in ANY condition (wet, dry, cold, warm), and ten times better in snow and ice. 

Dunlop WinterSport 3D, followed by Bridgestone Blizzak WS-70

RossD said:

It just seems like such a pain in the butt for little gain. The roads here are salted often and early, and the snow is cleared within hours. 

Are snow tires better on cold dry pavement than an all season?

Congrats on living somewhere that takes care of its roads, here? They dont even plow the side roads most the time....and the arterials only grudgingly.

The difference between winter tires and all seasons is like racing a vw bug against a veyron, the difference is amazing. Studded tires are stupendous for what i drive too, and are the same differnce again

I have tires with tread on them.

Wisconsin here as well.  Been driving since 1984.  I have Haakas, Blizzaks, X-Ice, Altimax Arctics, Toyos, Nexxens and likely a few I am forgetting.  I will never drive in winter with an all-season on my car.  If nothing else, it doubles the life of your "summer tires".   If they save you only once, I'd say its good insurance and money well spent.

The 2017 Elantra Sport rides on Nexxen Winspikes--for what I paid for them, which was very little, they are in the same league as the General Arctics.  They rated very well on a list of like 15 winter tires tested a few years back, and were significantly less money than any of the better rated choices.

Tom_Spangler said:

NGTD said:

100% correct - once you have winter tires for winter, you will always want them

I guess I'm the exception to this. I had winter tires on 3 different cars some years back, and while they were great, both of our dailys are on all-seasons now. I do like them and know they are better than all-seasons, but it's not night and day, and there is a cost and time factor involved in switching back and forth. Modern all-season tires are pretty freaking good, too.

Cost and time factor?  Not if you put your snow tires on a set of rims of their own.  I buy Blizzacks from Discount  tire and put them on their rims. Then when temps drop permanently below 45 for the winter I bring them in and Discount tires does the swap for free.  I make an appointment a few weeks in advance  ( usually around Thanksgiving and Easter) I’m in and out in as little as 15 minutes. Going on 4 years on the Honda CRV and 2 on the Accord. 

In my youth I busted tires myself but at 70 it’s nice to have it done. They do the job right too! Set tire pressures, torque lug nuts, confirm tire pressure sensors are working properly.  

Edit: Honda tires wear out faster but not when you have the benefit of winter tires and All season.  At 55,000 miles  the worst tire still has 7/32 of tread left 

Does everyone run the same size summer and winter? I try to get a taller skinnier tire. That way I get a little more clearance, better tire compound/tread, and apply more  psi to ground with each tire. I’ll take any small advantage I can get to avoid shoveling lol. 

FSP_ZX2 said:

If they save you only once, I'd say its good insurance and money well spent.

Exactly this, I live in area where cell service can be spotty and people aren’t always going to drive by to help. Avoiding getting stuck or getting in an accident is worth every penny. 

I like to run a size (or two) smaller rim diameter on my winter tires. My Accord with 215/50/17 goes to 205/65/15 in the winter. I don't think a narrower tread makes a terrible amount of difference in normal snow, though it may help turn in deep stuff. 

My reasoning for a smaller diameter wheel is it gives me taller sidewalls to help cushion dramatically worse potholes in Michigan winters. Oh, and the tires are cheaper too. 

I've run Nokian Hakkas, Altimax Arctics, and WS80 Blizzaks. I'd rate them in that order for my snow/ice mix. The Nokians were noticably better on dry roads and ice, but tend to cost twice the Altimax. The Blizzaks were very loud. 

In reply to Erich :

More sidewalk the better IMO too.

80sFast said:

Does everyone run the same size summer and winter? I try to get a taller skinnier tire. That way I get a little more clearance, better tire compound/tread, and apply more  psi to ground with each tire. I’ll take any small advantage I can get to avoid shoveling lol. 

Generally, no, but whether I go narrower (and if so, how much) for winters depends on what size the summers are.  Narrower snows will do better in slush and fresh, wet snow (you want to dig through these), but wider is better on hardpack and ice (those behave more like pavement). 

The snows on the Jeep are 235/70R16, summer size is 255/60R17 (same diameter, just a width and wheel size difference).  On the BMW, my snows are 235/50R18 (stock front size for the car), summers will be 255/45R18 in front (the stock rear size), 275/40R18 rear. 

I have 2 sets of wheels for each of my cars.  Winter and summer tires.  I usually buy whatever I get a deal on in the spring.  Saab has Dunlop,  bmw has the new sumitomo snow tire,  my wife Acura TL has blizzaks, and my Acura TL 6 speed awd has  Nokians.  They all seem to pretty good these days.

I also run taller and skinnier for each car.  My Acura has 245-45-18 summer I went to 215-60-17.  BMW had 255-55-18 I went to 235-65-18.  My tire shop alway seem to be telling me they won’t fit, and seem surprised when they do

North Central Minnesota above 45th latitude. I have been using winter tires for 25 + years. We can not use studs here. Most have been Blizzaks of different types depending on vehicle/size. I have a set of Arctics on the Tacoma 4x4. Noisy compared to the Blizzaks and not quite as good on ice. CX5 AWD on Blizzaks. Just had 15 inch snowfall with freezing rain mixed in. Unplowed/poorly plowed/unsalted/snow packed/icy roads. Wife came home singing praises for the car and the tires. 

Winter tires allow better steering/braking/acceleration/de acceleration in low traction situations. So, the traction control, stability control, ABS, AWD will be able to function much better as well. 

As far as what sizes, take a look at what the winter rally cars use.

I purchased a set of Michelin Defender LTX M+S for the Tacoma for summer use. Quiet, excellent ride quality/handling. I have not tried them in winter, but according to Tirerack, they get very high winter ratings. If I lived further south, I would attempt to run them year round.

If nothing else, winter tires assist me in avoiding accidents with cars without them. Time/money saved.

frenchyd said:

Cost and time factor?  Not if you put your snow tires on a set of rims of their own.  I buy Blizzacks from Discount  tire and put them on their rims. Then when temps drop permanently below 45 for the winter I bring them in and Discount tires does the swap for free.  I make an appointment a few weeks in advance  ( usually around Thanksgiving and Easter) I’m in and out in as little as 15 minutes. Going on 4 years on the Honda CRV and 2 on the Accord. 

In my youth I busted tires myself but at 70 it’s nice to have it done. They do the job right too! Set tire pressures, torque lug nuts, confirm tire pressure sensors are working properly.  

Edit: Honda tires wear out faster but not when you have the benefit of winter tires and All season.  At 55,000 miles  the worst tire still has 7/32 of tread left 

You're still buying a second set of wheels, though. My SHO has factory 20" wheels, and the cheapest decent-looking wheels that fit the brakes are still at least $100 each, even the police interceptor wheels. Modern cars require TPMS sensors, too.

Again, I'm not saying they aren't better, they definitely are. I've had Dunlop Winter Sports, Michelin X-Ice, and Blizzaks. I liked the Dunlops the best, they made my Contour SVT an unstoppable tank in snow. But when I first drove the SHO in the snow with it's all-seasons (Goodyear Eagle Sports), I was impressed enough that spending $1000 on a second set of wheels and tires became much less important to me.

If you're running a second set of wheels and change them out yourself, the only extra cost over the life of the car is the extra wheels.  Which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't much.  The extra set of tires isn't any more cost, as you end up replacing 2 sets in 4 years instead of 1 set every 2 years, for example (being that the mileage gets split between 2 sets). 

I've had Altimax arctics for the past 5ish years. Unfortunately, we haven't had any significant snow or ice events to really test them in the same time period 

I’m kinda surprised how taking the time to get tires change over is such a PITA for people. Only took me an hour to have them changed over. Kinda of a small price to pay for a safer more capable vehicle...especially on a forum dedicated to wasting time and money on vehicles lol. 

Tom_Spangler said:

frenchyd said:

Cost and time factor?  Not if you put your snow tires on a set of rims of their own.  I buy Blizzacks from Discount  tire and put them on their rims. Then when temps drop permanently below 45 for the winter I bring them in and Discount tires does the swap for free.  I make an appointment a few weeks in advance  ( usually around Thanksgiving and Easter) I’m in and out in as little as 15 minutes. Going on 4 years on the Honda CRV and 2 on the Accord. 

In my youth I busted tires myself but at 70 it’s nice to have it done. They do the job right too! Set tire pressures, torque lug nuts, confirm tire pressure sensors are working properly.  

Edit: Honda tires wear out faster but not when you have the benefit of winter tires and All season.  At 55,000 miles  the worst tire still has 7/32 of tread left 

You're still buying a second set of wheels, though. My SHO has factory 20" wheels, and the cheapest decent-looking wheels that fit the brakes are still at least $100 each, even the police interceptor wheels. Modern cars require TPMS sensors, too.

Again, I'm not saying they aren't better, they definitely are. I've had Dunlop Winter Sports, Michelin X-Ice, and Blizzaks. I liked the Dunlops the best, they made my Contour SVT an unstoppable tank in snow. But when I first drove the SHO in the snow with it's all-seasons (Goodyear Eagle Sports), I was impressed enough that spending $1000 on a second set of wheels and tires became much less important to me.

One trick that makes everything very affordable is junk yards.  Especially the pick a part type yards.  If you’re lucky the tires on the rims will be newish enough to get you several years of driving.  Then all you’re doing is buying a set of tires. 

I get it if you live in a southern state where snow is a rare  or never happens event.  But the braking and cornering on Ice and snow is so much better with good snow tires that it gives you confidence you haven’t had. 

X-ice3 are my current favorite.

I have a set of performance winters (khumo and Michelin) on my terrible new car. I'm leaning towards saying that I prefer a hardcore winter tire, but the car doesn't work enough to give a fair account of the tires.

With winter tires, you are basically use two sets of tires half as fast. So at 10,000 miles a year, it would take 8 years to wear out two sets of 40,000 mile tires. Don’t the winter tire compounds degrade with age?

In reply to Nate90LX :

I drive way more than 10k miles a year. I go through tires about every three years so I’ve never had a problem. But even if they went bad in four years it’d be worth it to me...$200 a year isnt that much. 

In reply to Nate90LX :

A little but they wear out before any effect.

Also  you don't run winter tires down to 2/32".     They start losing their grip at about half tread.

18 years experience with Blizzaks.