️snow tire recommendations

I ran Sotozero 3 or its previous incarnation like 15 years ago when I got it on sale and it performed well but felt that it had lower durability vs the similarly performing Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D. I didn't have a second set of rims so I just went through a set a year put them on in the fall and ran them through the summer (I was driving a lot of miles).

Those winter performance tires rail pretty well in the warm dry considering they are winter compound... good for pulling g's in the corner as early 20s guys do... and better durability than a DMV3 at the price of snow/ice grip.

Xice is supposed to have impressive durability for a true snow and should have better snow/ice performance than the winter performance...

If staying with the high performance winter tire, and if you have 20” wheels Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 outperforms the Pirelly basically everywhere:

https://www.tire-reviews.com/Article...-Tire-Test.htm

If you look at regular winter tires, check out Conti VikingContact as an alternative to the X-Ice. They generally outrank the Michelin, and I’ve been happy with them on our van. Like them better than the Hakka R3 on our other car, but not an apples to apples comparison since the vehicles are so different.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

Any reason you’re concerned about the lower speed rating? Does she plan on driving at 115+ mph for sustained periods of time?

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She does rally in this car… but not concerned about the speed, maybe more about how that rating affects the wear of the tire? Also, is a standard snow going to feel supper squishy/ sloppy. There is a ton of torque with the linear acceleration. I have come to the realization that this vehicle is going to crush tires.

Size is 255/45 R19

I didn't feel like the DMV2 was sloppy on 4Runner or V6 Outback... did you? It has a reputation for predictability in dry... but my Hakka 10s definitely are soft feeling on the dry! Maybe it is the studs?

I've never been impressed by Pirelli winters.

Looks like a bunch of options - if you don't need a pure winter, you can get crossclimates or quatracs (all season with mountain/snow rating) in that size as well. Also looks like Conti, Michelin and Vredestein all make winter options that are v rated. Check tirerack.

I'll also say - there is not a shit ton of difference between H and V rated tires for normal driving. You'll probably just notice more noise at higher speeds.

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Originally Posted by schuss

I've never been impressed by Pirelli winters.

Looks like a bunch of options - if you don't need a pure winter, you can get crossclimates or quatracs (all season with mountain/snow rating) in that size as well. Also looks like Conti, Michelin and Vredestein all make winter options that are v rated. Check tirerack.

I'll also say - there is not a shit ton of difference between H and V rated tires for normal driving. You'll probably just notice more noise at higher speeds.

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Anybody run them vredesteins? Was kicking tires for new tires when those first came out on tirerack. All the reviews looked great. A year later when I actually bought, the vredestein reviews had dropped several stars and said something like they are good for the first 1000 miles, and not so good once the "new tire smell" wears off.

Repost from the all weather tire thread...

Anyone here running Arctic Claw WXI's? Did a search of this thread and didn't find any results. I live somewhere where I drive on snow for 4+ months of the year so going full dedicated snows for the first time in a while. For my f150 w/20" rims I was quoted about $300 less than Blizzaks and they seem to be decently reviewed.

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Originally Posted by jpcm

She does rally in this car… but not concerned about the speed, maybe more about how that rating affects the wear of the tire? Also, is a standard snow going to feel supper squishy/ sloppy. There is a ton of torque with the linear acceleration. I have come to the realization that this vehicle is going to crush tires.

Size is 255/45 R19

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Speed rating has more to do with with the carcass construction than tread compound - centripetal acceleration trying to fling the tire apart.

That said, I’d guess that the typical high performance winter tire would have better treadwear than a regular winter. Don’t think I’ve seen a test showing that though. Pilot Alpin did have better wear then the Pirelli.

Standard winter tire will feel sloppier than a performance winter. Although a ‘less responsive’ tire isn’t necessarily a bad thing in slippery conditions. Also, a 45 series tire is fairly low profile anyway. My winter sets are both 65 series, and they’re sloppier, and I don’t really care.

On my old 6000 pound Rover I loved the Nokian WR G4 SUV in the winter. They were a 107V XL, handled great and rode very nicely. They're not a dedicated winter tire but do what you need them to.

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Originally Posted by ASmileyFace

Repost from the all weather tire thread...

Anyone here running Arctic Claw WXI's? Did a search of this thread and didn't find any results. I live somewhere where I drive on snow for 4+ months of the year so going full dedicated snows for the first time in a while. For my f150 w/20" rims I was quoted about $300 less than Blizzaks and they seem to be decently reviewed.

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If you're stepping down from Blizzaks, Altimax Arctic's are solid. I would not go lower market than that if you want any reasonable snow performance.

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Originally Posted by jpcm

Anyone have experience with the pirelli winter stozero 3? It’s really the only option for an exact match for model Y. Could also do a Michellen X ice /snow but with a lower speed rating. Not really concerned about deep snow performance, this is wife’s business commuter car. She drives 600 miles per week up/down front range CO

I’m a longtime blizzack guy but no close options available

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I've run both, would definitely go X-ice. Better in every aspect with maybe the exception of deeper slush/slop.

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Originally Posted by LongShortLong

Anybody run them vredesteins? Was kicking tires for new tires when those first came out on tirerack. All the reviews looked great. A year later when I actually bought, the vredestein reviews had dropped several stars and said something like they are good for the first 1000 miles, and not so good once the "new tire smell" wears off.

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I have the Wintrac Pro's on my wife's Mercedes ML250 Bluetec. I've already been up the mountain with them this season. And I live on a steep hill, and steeper driveway. No issues. They are a very capable tire in snow or compact snow and ice.

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Originally Posted by LongShortLong

Anybody run them vredesteins? Was kicking tires for new tires when those first came out on tirerack. All the reviews looked great. A year later when I actually bought, the vredestein reviews had dropped several stars and said something like they are good for the first 1000 miles, and not so good once the "new tire smell" wears off.

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I bought Quatrac 5's as an all season tire for my wife's Alltrack; we run Blizzak WS-80's Nov-March. She wanted an all season tire with snow biased performance and these have been solid. Can't say I've noticed a falloff in performance and we're probably 15k into them.

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Originally Posted by ASmileyFace

Repost from the all weather tire thread...

Anyone here running Arctic Claw WXI's? Did a search of this thread and didn't find any results. I live somewhere where I drive on snow for 4+ months of the year so going full dedicated snows for the first time in a while. For my f150 w/20" rims I was quoted about $300 less than Blizzaks and they seem to be decently reviewed.

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I've run WXI's on Econoline's in the past; my fleet is now Transits with Hakka CR3 and Altimax Arctic 12 XL which are noticeably better. I have them WXI's currently on my '05 Escape and they're fine but don't seem to have as much initial grip or precision. For daily driving they will suffice but I'd say the Blizzaks are definitely better.

FWIW Consumer Reports rates the Michelin higher than the Pirelli (Michelin is one of the two top rated winter tires.). Pirelli is only fair at stopping on ice.

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Originally Posted by schuss

If you're stepping down from Blizzaks, Altimax Arctic's are solid. I would not go lower market than that if you want any reasonable snow performance.

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Originally Posted by alpinevibes

I've run WXI's on Econoline's in the past; my fleet is now Transits with Hakka CR3 and Altimax Arctic 12 XL which are noticeably better. I have them WXI's currently on my '05 Escape and they're fine but don't seem to have as much initial grip or precision. For daily driving they will suffice but I'd say the Blizzaks are definitely better.

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Good beta from both, thanks. I'm a bit cash starved right now, but throwing an extra $300 to get the Blizzaks seems like the right call considering I drive nearly 100% of my time during the winter on snow and ice.

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Originally Posted by ASmileyFace

Good beta from both, thanks. I'm a bit cash starved right now, but throwing an extra $300 to get the Blizzaks seems like the right call considering I drive nearly 100% of my time during the winter on snow and ice.

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Alternatively, I’ve been running Pathfinder ATs on my F150 with good all-around results. You might go down to Discount and at least have a look. They’re listed @ $190 each. I can’t remember if they are made by Yokohama or Hankook, iirc.

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There are some pretty good tire deals out there if you try hard to find them. One jumped out at me recently, my Capital One CC shopping deals has 20% off from Tire Agent so I got a set of the new Nokian Outpost APT for my van. They were about $700 for the set. They're fantastic! They have the deepest tread depth of any all weather, light AT tire, come in a variety of load and speed ratings and I think they have a 60k treadwear. Again, not dedicated snow but they have the 3 Peaks snowflake rating and most of the new all weather tires are as good in the snow as dedicated winter tires were just a few years ago, I'll put them to the snow test late tomorrow. They're also pretty incredible in the rain and feel good at 80-85 mph. So far I really like them.

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

There are some pretty good tire deals out there if you try hard to find them. One jumped out at me recently, my Capital One CC shopping deals has 20% off from…..

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A few months ago I replaced trailer tires at Discount Tire after finding the ones they had for a lot cheaper on Amazon. They honored the lower price and had them delivered from their warehouse/another store and on in a few days.


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Originally Posted by sierraskier

I've run both, would definitely go X-ice. Better in every aspect with maybe the exception of deeper slush/slop.

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Originally Posted by old goat

FWIW Consumer Reports rates the Michelin higher than the Pirelli (Michelin is one of the two top rated winter tires.). Pirelli is only fair at stopping on ice.

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Yep, Michelins it is. They are actually a little cheaper and I haven’t found any really good reviews of the Pirelli. I was a little worried about the reduced dry road handling, but it will be fine

Reduced dry road handling just makes it easier to have fun drifting at lower speeds :biggrin:

Seattle people, let’s hear some real life performance stories!

We have Michelin x-ice on the Subaru, and Nokian hakkas on the 4runner. On previous Subarus we always ran bizzaks.

The x-ice is the quietest of the three, and the best on ice. Blizzak was the loudest and squirmiest on dry pavement, but great in snow and almost as good on ice. The Nokians are right between the two on noise and dry pavement, but the best in snow.

I didn't drive yesterday, but if I saw real ice on a regular basis, I'd go studded.

Studded Nokian Haka LT3s covered 200 miles of the lovely ice at a comfortable 45-50sh.

Do I always need studs? No, but they sure are nice when I do. I got 4 years out of my last set and they were still 60%. I sold them and got new, well cause I could. I have last year and this on the Haka LT3s and not a single stud has been lost. They hand dry, wet, snow, ice all well.

WRC tires seem good.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a4...-mind-blowing/

My mind is just blown by these Hakka 10s.... passing people at 55mph through ice and snow piles like its dry pavement when traffic is crawling at 30-40mph.

I'll NEVER go back to Blizzaks (which were still great tires).