️snow tire recommendations

[riser4]

If I had the time and money I would have a heated workshop garage and a quiver of different mounted tires for each vehicle along with the proper tools and equipment to make it as easy as changing my footwear.

[Cruiser]

Back when I did the swap regularly I could knock it out in under 20m. There were times when it was a little tedious but the confidence you get when you're on studded snows couldn't have been more worth it. I had separate rims, a basic floor jack, and a cordless impact so there wasn't a whole lot of effort or tools involved. Did it on a forester xt and a kia soul. The kia was nice with them but the awd turbo manual subie was an entirely different sport.

[summit]

Back when I did the swap regularly I could knock it out in under 20m. There were times when it was a little tedious but the confidence you get when you're on studded snows couldn't have been more worth it. I had separate rims, a basic floor jack, and a cordless impact so there wasn't a whole lot of effort or tools involved. Did it on a forester xt and a kia soul. The kia was nice with them but the awd turbo manual subie was an entirely different sport.

Same here, same equipment $75 Chicago Tools (HF) impact wrench, walmart floor jack, two walmart jack stands, a torque wrench and some rocks as wheel chocks. I do it at home on my own schedule. I try to only go to the tire shop when I have new tires. I can rotate too if needed, and it is faste and easy to do oil changes.

I will say that the soft-as-snot Surbaru tire studs can easily overtorque with the impact wrench making it impossible to get the lug nut off/on next time (requires a shop to replace). This is a known issue and shops have fucked it up too, so not a home change issue. You can use a torque wrench to avoid.

[BFD]

Was great in the world of 16" wheels. These 20" wheels even with aluminum rims are a workout.

[lowsparkco]

I like doing my own, if for some reason both my wife and I need to go on a longer trip in the spring and don’t want the studs.

I would say a torque wrench is pretty non-negotiable on later model cars.

If I stay in central Oregon I think I will always run studs on at least one car. Total game changer for us. No worry about ice, just drive.

The General Altimax Arctic 12 has just been ok. Different class to the Nokians and Hokkas I’ve run in the past.

[MakersTeleMark]

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).

Ditto. I can't imagine a better tire.

[skaredshtles]

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

Running X-Ice on our Mazda CX-5 AWD and found the limit on those last Thursday up in Basalt, CO, when I started to drift oh so slightly on a curve of wet, glare ice. It was disconcerting, but fortunately nothing went sideways...

On the way back to Denver on Saturday, though they were awfully nice as they allowed me to pass hundreds of slow vehicles crawling in the left lane up/down Vail Pass.

[bigdude2468]

Any insight on Bridgestone Weatherpeak 3PMSF tires? Thinking of using these on our Dodge Grand Caravan as an all season tire, they have a 70K mileage warranty but this tells me the compound is not very soft. Costco is short Michelin tires and this pops up as being available.

[gravitylover]

Go for it. I've become a big fan of the all weather category. I prefer the ones aimed at the light AT side since I spend a lot of time on questionable road surfaces but the Weatherpeak should be a nice, quiet ride as opposed to the Nokian Outpost APT I put on my Caravan. Not that they're noisy but they're not as quiet and smooth as the WR G4 I had before.

[schuss]

Any insight on Bridgestone Weatherpeak 3PMSF tires? Thinking of using these on our Dodge Grand Caravan as an all season tire, they have a 70K mileage warranty but this tells me the compound is not very soft. Costco is short Michelin tires and this pops up as being available.

Some reviews here if you're curious - https://www.tirerack.com/survey/Surv...irePageLocQty=

[Yonder_River]

Any insight on Bridgestone Weatherpeak 3PMSF tires? Thinking of using these on our Dodge Grand Caravan as an all season tire, they have a 70K mileage warranty but this tells me the compound is not very soft. Costco is short Michelin tires and this pops up as being available.

I just put some on a minivan and I've been happy so far with the traction on wet steep roads here in Seattle. Still have hakkas on an outback for mountain travel but I think I'd feel okay taking these up if I had to.

[gravitylover]

From some of what I've been reading about the Weatherpeak they have a pretty soft sidewall so make sure to get at least a 106H load/speed rating for the Caravan. If the General RT43 or 45 are available they should also be at the top of your list.

[k2skier112]

Same here, same equipment $75 Chicago Tools (HF) impact wrench, walmart floor jack, two walmart jack stands, a torque wrench and some rocks as wheel chocks. I do it at home on my own schedule. I try to only go to the tire shop when I have new tires. I can rotate too if needed, and it is faste and easy to do oil changes.

I will say that the soft-as-snot Surbaru tire studs can easily overtorque with the impact wrench making it impossible to get the lug nut off/on next time (requires a shop to replace). This is a known issue and shops have fucked it up too, so not a home change issue. You can use a torque wrench to avoid.

It's not the hardness of the studs, it's not the torque wrench, it's the monkey operating the torque wrench. I installed wheels for years with a torque wrench that put out over 200 ft lbs, never ever stripped any lug nut. Always, always, always finish by hand. ( ba dum tish)

[bodywhomper]

“Once upon a time there was an engineer”

The mid-grade ryobi battery impact wrench has a setting that stops the wrench when it hits resistance. It’s worked great for me to not overtorque lugs on studs. Occasionally, it’ll stop prematurely.

I finish off with a torque wrench to the manufacturer recommended torque

[Tor-tour]

I'm going to go against the grain and say that I absolutely prefer the Pirelli over the Blizzaks. I'm running them on a 2016 Dodge Ram 1500, and in the past I had almost always run Pirelli on my cars, but the last time I needed tires the 20" Pirelli wasn't available and was talked into the Blizzaks. If they were any better on ice, I couldn't really tell but the snow and slush performance were average at best. They also seemed loud on some surfaces and the wear length sucked. I just put the Scorpion AT-P onto my truck and even though the have pretty big lugs they are quiet on the highway and eat up the slush and snow compared to my Blizzaks. Put the same Pirellis onto my wife's 4Runner and she loves them, she was running Firestone Winterforce and she loves her new tires. IMHO

[OregonDead]

who has the best deal on snow tires right now?

[mcski]

I saw a deal on tire rack recently for blizzaks

[kokomas]

Micheline Xi3 for all those miles.

Truth

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[Toadman]

who has the best deal on snow tires right now?

I would imagine that Tirerack and Walmart are putting winter tires on sale to get rid of them.

[jmedslc]

Discount tire is pumping a 150$ off BFG

[OregonDead]

scored a deal on marketplace for some like new blizzaks on rims. wildest thing about the transaction was that the guy that sold them to me is literally Bernie Sanders (or his doppelganger or long lost twin IDK). Anyways Bernie says he only skied like one time last season and now he has a new plug in Subaru. (think he is probably going to sell the car he had the snow tires for in favor of the Subaru) He showed me his new Subaru and also his old Atomic sks. super wild grateful to Bernie Sanders for the generous hookup. We didn't dicker and he took $10 off asking price

TLDR: looking for some cheap all seasons now that I have new Biizzaks and extra rims

[XXX-er]

In an aha moment maybe 15 yars ago the GF before last asks about snow tires to go on her mom's ( yes seriously ) very low milage 88 toyota corolla she had inherited and i suggested some cheap option which I forget

but she said " well what do you have, I want the best just like you " even tho a set of studded Haks/ rims would cost < the 88 toyota corolla was worth

So in spite of being a pain she got the concept that good snow tires was about > the money

so actually she was pretty smart ... not like a lot of the people in this thread

[gravitylover]

Haha

[grinch]

Words to live by

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[skaredshtles]

Installed brand new Michelin X-Ice Snows on the CX-5 a couple days ago, and I gotta say - there's nothing better in a snow storm than some nice, fresh snow tires. Found the slush performance of these newer X-Ice model seems to be quite a bit better than the old ones, too.

BRING ON WINTER!