Winter Tire Choices
 

I have never really needed to buy winter tires in MD until the recent few years and since I have had the FRS I am starting to realize how badly I need them. What sets do you guys recommend?

Blizzak or X-ice. Blizzaks are better but wear out faster from my experience

Ran my Blizzak LM-32s for the first time last night and they were aweeeeeesssoommmmmmeeeeee. They are way less squishy than the WS80s are above 55mph(I don't feel the squish till 80ish)

Drove from Davidsonville up I97 to Elkridge about 10 pm and there were cars and SUVs littering the shoulder and I was just cruising along

Yeah I am sadly still on stock tired and doubt I will be able to get a set by tomorrow haha but I will definitely need to pick up a set do you just run the steel rims?

Good to know. I am about ready to buy my 3rd set of winter tires (might make it though this year) and want something new to try. I ran WS70's and really liked them but they are sooo squishy. If I picked them up from the inner sidewall it would flop out lol my summer tires hold their shape

The General Altimax Arctics are pretty legit for a cheap option, too. Also squishy.

I bought some ebay specials. Continental "ice Viking" tires. They were 280 for the entire set on my forester. From my research they are the EU spec version of the extremewintercontact by continental (could be wrong, not a lot of info) but either way.... they have been very good to me. No loss of mileage, not a lot of noise, and when we have had snow this year (very mild here in the stl area admittedly) I have had zero issues. For the price, you can't beat it. I was going to do blizzaks but they were over 500 for the right size.... so. Yeah.

If you don't care about performance during the winter I would say either Firestone Winter Force or General Altimax Arctic. Cant go wrong with either tire. Yeah they are soft and "squishy" but when it comes to getting through the snow they are freaking amazing!

I have personally been running winterforces on my other car for the past 4 years and have never gotten stuck anywhere.

Also I would just go on tirerack or a similar site and order a set of snows with 16" steelies. They usually have well priced packages. You want a nice narrow tire with a tall side wall.

Altimax Arctic's 205/55/16 never had any problems with them.

yeah I just need to do something considering they are calling for 20-30 inches of snow this weekend and I bet this wont be the only serious amount of snow we get this year.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...old-war-page-2

I just bought a pair of the ice gaurds on steelies off of here. They held up well on the commute today.

There is a master review thread for winter tires:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24037

But yeah, go get some. Any snow tires are better than no snow tires.

Blizzaks are iffy on ice for me, on them currently. I was able to move about though. I loved my Wintersports 3D (Discontinued).

First year with the car and I am running Dunlop WinterMaxx tires. I have already driven through several storms throughout Northern New England this year and am thoroughly impressed. I also have never run a winter tire in my life living in Northern New England and am having a revelation of why have I never bought a winter tire before. First storm of the season this year I drove through 6 inch deep snow for several miles with no problems blasting right through the stuff. Stopping an going was no problem at all in just snow.

Ice is ice.....you get pounded with the stuff, I feel driver skill comes into play more than the tire cause it just sucks to drive in it regardless.
Anyway I recommend the Dunlop WinterMaxx....If you are a good driver just buy the winter tire that fits your budget and you will be fine. Hope that helps. :)

I can tell you what not to get, the Yokohama ice guard. I got a set off Craigslist mounted on Wrx rims, I start in second gear if there is any snow on the ground.

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Squishy you say? Feels like I'm driving on greased jello at any speed higher than 60mph.


Holy FACK.

I've never bought winter tires for Maryland, but it all depends on the person. I replaced the stockers with Continental DWS's and they haven't let me down on ice, snow or very low temps. I'm not a fan of winters for this area due to how warm it is here and how quickly they would wear out.

I am very happy with my Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2's

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...9/IMG_2506.jpg

Nokians are best. Nokians is life.

Yes, and lets be honest, just saying that your car has 'Hakkapeliitta's' is pretty darn awesome too. :D

I will never learn how to pronounce that! NEVER!

One minute in :party0030: :

https://youtu.be/3pb8Oe-Ki5c

never had winter tires either. went with altimax artics as well 215/45/17. so far so good!

Oh come on, that squishy feeling is awesome. You'll get used to it, also just add some more air.

Blizzaks are just way too expensive and the reviews are too mixed.

There are three classes of winter tire: Studdable Snow, Studless Ice & Snow, and Performance Winter.

Studdable tires are the most extreme, able to get better traction on ice than even a summer tire can in the dry. But without studs, which are illegal in most our area, they are useless in almost all conditions-- dry snow might be OK.

Studless Ice & Snow tires are great all-around winter tires, working well on both snow and ice without studs, but they also give up a lot of dry/warm traction. I currently have a set of these, Michelin X-Ice Xi3s-- 'had them for two and half seasons now. I love them in the cold-wet, snow and Ice, but they really suck 95% of time around here. Be it dry or wet, when the temperature gets up around 35F or warmer they're quite a bit worse than the stock tires.

What I wish I had purchased are a good set of Performance Winter tires. Think of them as a winter-biased all-season tire. They do well on warm, dry surfaces, but their tread is designed to work well in snow and ice and the compounds are slightly biased to cold weather. On the downside, they don't do as well on snow or ice compared to the above classes and they wear out faster than all-seasons. But for our area, I think this is probably a good compromise.

From what I've read, the Pirelli Winter Sottozero Serie II are the best of the Winter Performance class. I've even heard they can have better dry traction than summer touring tires due to their soft compound. Once my tires wear out, these are what I plan to get.

I gotta say, not impressed with my WinterForces. I got them and the wheels they were mounted on barely used for cheap, so I can't complain about the value, but I'll be mounting a better tire once these wear out.

I don't mind the squishy-ness, they just don't have the grip I was expecting. I've driven lightweight RWD cars in snow before, so I have some basis for comparison. These tires definitely work, but not enough to give me real confidence.

Wherever you got that paragraph from, ignore that person and never go to that site again because it is bullshit. Just because a tire is studdable does not make it useless without studs. That is moronic to even think. General winter tires are studdable, yet also have great reviews on here from many people without studs. Studs are almost not necessary at all any more unless someone drives a lot of dirt or gravel roads.

We love these tires, pretty sure they're one of the best bang for your buck snow tires out there.

First time using winter tires (yokohama iceguard ig52c). I think any brand winter tires will get you through snows fine. This tire was rated few behind Bridgestone Blizzaks, Michelin Ice, etc but it worked fine for me on snow and ice.

This^^^ I don't know where that info came from.

I've been using Firestone Winterforce's (studdable) with no studs for the past 4 years (on my other vehicle) and have plowed through any type of snow that was thrown at me. Have never gotten stuck, and have driven though foot deep snow.

"Useless" may have been an overstatement, by I stand by the sentiment. Studdable tires without studs are never as good as studless ice & snow tires. The compounds and tread patterns make some compromises, because they have to support the studs.

I have had various blizzaks (don't remember the model) and they've all been good.
My wife's 128i had a set of pirelli sotozeros and I wasn't too impressed.
Swapped hers out for the cheapest tire that Discount Tire had - Champiro GT IcePro or something. They are a bit noisy but do SO well in the snow its insane. Not sure it'd be my choice, but i'll say i wouldn't pay the extra for the bridgestones when the time comes to replace mine next year.

Sorry, just saw this, bought em off Craigslist and they came mounted on a set of MSW type 14's

So...can someone explain to me why we had 400+ "accidents" on that first night of snow we had recently? Even cars with 4WD were having trouble. Do all these cars simply not believe in using snow tires or were the roads just that bad?

A friend of mine put snow tires on her car and when she tried to drive that first night, said she had less traction than some of the other cars on the road. I'm thinking she just had cheap snow tires, but who knows.

How does she know she has less traction? Some times people think they have snow tires/awd/4wd and therefore must be untouchable. A lot of factors such as feathering the gas, threshold braking, over inflating the tires come into play.

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She was sliding all over the place while everyone else was still somewhat stable. Believe me. I was just as confused as you may be. She uses snow tires every winter and said this was the first time this happened.

I guess I'm just curious if roads can become so bad, that no matter what kind of tires you use, it'll still be dangerous? (Before I drop $1200 on a set of performance snow tires and wheels)

I had a lot of fun this week getting around on the Primacy's.

not all snow tires are the same. It should not cost you $1200 either, that is nuts. I spend under $1000 for wheels and General snow tires. They are awesome in the snow. They are a little squishy if you do not pump them to 40 psi though.

Go to tirerack and look at the deals there.