Winter Tire Choices

[why?]

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.

Originally Posted by lamawithonel

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.

[Gear_One_Performance]

Originally Posted by jawn

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

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

[frslee]

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.

[STV3]

Originally Posted by why?

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.

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.

[lamawithonel]

Originally Posted by why?

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.

"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.

[CatDaddysBBQ]

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.

[CandorLush]

Originally Posted by FT86Hypnotic

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?

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

[Jaywest717]

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.

[changy]

Originally Posted by Jaywest717

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.

Sent from my NX507J using Tapatalk

[Jaywest717]

Originally Posted by changy

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.

Sent from my NX507J using Tapatalk

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)

[Hyper4mance2k]

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

[why?]

Originally Posted by Jaywest717

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)

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.

[CandorLush]

I was out in that first snow and it was VERY slippery, I am pretty sure it was teflon, not snow, that was falling. Felt like as soon as your tires hit the snow, it turned to ice and that was with my blizzaks.