Blizzak Tires (or equivalent)

[Blood]

Originally Posted by zackcp04

Thank you for the input guys, I think I will just get a truck for the winter... I'm not a crazy driver but I don't like surprises either. I was just merging on to the expressway (with presumably clear roads) and lost control on an icy bridge.


Any recommendations on good all seasons tires? There is a gash in one of mine so I might need to get new ones anyways, plus... I read a lot on these forums that stock tires are awful.

There's no such thing as a "good" all season tire, since the whole point of an all season tire is to be "okay" during all seasons, and not excel at any of them.

When you lost control, did your car have the stock (Michelin Primacy) tires on it? Because if so, sorry but driving your car during winter conditions with those tires was a stupid choice, since they are summer tires. The car is very controllable with a set of winter tires on it. Like a few others in this thread, I used Michelin X-ice Xi3 tires this past winter and they were great.

[Thunderleg]

don't get a truck!! Get a set of Blizzacks! You can honestly control the car through the snow. And it's a lot of fun when it starts to slip!

[stockysnail]

Don't get all seasons. They do nothing well, only everything mediocre. Get a summer set and a winter set for each vehicle you would drive in the winter, even a truck with 4wd. You'd be unstoppable in a 4wd anything with winter tires. Without winter tires you'll still make it around but not nearly as easily.

Runners don't wear converse classics to run marathons, so why should your vehicle?

[AC13_JohnG]

Been a life long Blizzak fan, then I discovered the General Altimax Arctic. A friend of mine that has been a Saab guy his whole life turned me onto them. Supposedly the parent company to General bought a smaller company and acquired their patent for these tires. These tires are equal of a little better than the Blizzaks and more cost effective, plus studdable. Hands down the best bang for the buck snow tire out there.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Blood

There's no such thing as a "good" all season tire, since the whole point of an all season tire is to be "okay" during all seasons, and not excel at any of them.

Originally Posted by stockysnail

Don't get all seasons. They do nothing well, only everything mediocre.

For sure there are plenty of all-seasons that absolutely SUCK in the snow, as bad as any Summer tire. But there are also some that do very well. You can't throw every all-season tire into a single category and say they're all mediocre at everything.

There is an *enormously wide* spectrum of winter performance from all-season tires.

It's not a practical or necessary solution for people who don't normally have to deal with snow, but *might* have to occasionally to have two sets of tires. For those people, known, proven GOOD all-season tires should work fine.

Tire Rack website is a TREMENDOUS resource for determining what all-seasons do well in the snow. Best is if you can find a tire test where they actually test in the snow like this: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=165

But since they don't test all all-season tires in the snow, you can still at least get an idea looking at customer surveys:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...jsp?type=UHPAS
If the survey ranks a tire as utter crap in the snow, rest assured it is. My neighbor's Genesis sedan came with Dunlop Sport 5000 M (rated 2.3/10 for deep snow) and that car would not move in the snow on them. Now he's on these: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....lus+Technology , rated 8.2/10 for deep snow, and gets around in New England winter snow just fine.

That said, if you KNOW you'll be driving an FR-S/BRZ in the snow during the winter, dedicated winter tires should be very strongly considered... Particularly if you might want to track or autoX in the warmer months, in which case you'd want dedicated Extreme or Max Performance summers.

[jm1681]

Just throwing my $0.02 in...


I ran a set of Firestone Winterforce (13/32 tread depth, with really big grooves. Same tire I've used on all of my FWD cars, my wife's Mini, and my mother's Passat. If it only happens to have these results with RWD, well that sucks) this past year in NY and not for nothing, I missed a lot of days of work. Yes, snows help a ton, and being delicate with the throttle is essential.


However, there were times when my driveway had less than two inches of snow on it, and any attempt to move forward was met with a slide to the left; 0mph. While rolling, they were much better, but from a dead stop on level ground, they were terrible. Eventually I could get the car moving, but if anyone was around me, or I needed to do it quickly, I would never have been able to. The tires would not dig in.

[Homegrown]

I have a new set of blizzaks on new stock wheels with stock lug nuts and TPMS for $850 listed in the classifieds......

[xxBrun0xx]

Originally Posted by jm1681

Just throwing my $0.02 in...


I ran a set of Firestone Winterforce (13/32 tread depth, with really big grooves. Same tire I've used on all of my FWD cars, my wife's Mini, and my mother's Passat. If it only happens to have these results with RWD, well that sucks) this past year in NY and not for nothing, I missed a lot of days of work. Yes, snows help a ton, and being delicate with the throttle is essential.


However, there were times when my driveway had less than two inches of snow on it, and any attempt to move forward was met with a slide to the left; 0mph. While rolling, they were much better, but from a dead stop on level ground, they were terrible. Eventually I could get the car moving, but if anyone was around me, or I needed to do it quickly, I would never have been able to. The tires would not dig in.

I noticed the same thing with my Blizzak WS70's. Wonder if some extra weight in the rear would help get grip when the snow isn't very deep? Has anyone tried this?

[Skurj]

4wd... when you lose it.. you aren't getting it back

It likely will soon be law here in Canada I bet, but the best way to go is get 2 sets of rims, a set of summer only's and a set of winter only's. People complain that they don't feel they should have to spend money on a second set of wheels and tires.. but hey.. look at it this way, your tires last twice as long! (disclaimer: pending your driving habits)
The storage thing.. well even cdn tire will store your off season set for less than $40..

[dradernh]

I drive a Tundra 4X4 in the winter. On winter tires. In this climate (v. similar to OH), anything else doesn't make sense. It's just part of living in the north.