Snow/Ice winter tires

708 messages, Last post on Nov 10, 2009 at 12:57 PM

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#247 of 708 AWD/4WD by protege_fan Apr 01, 2003 (3:15 pm)
Both AWD/4WD are good for getting you moving, but don't help in making you stop. That's where I think the benefits of winter tires really shine.
#248 of 708 The WR by theiceman Apr 01, 2003 (4:37 pm)
...is the ticket. It is an "all weather plus" tire according to Nokian's brochure - as some of you have pointed out. And, yes, they carry the mountain snowflake emblem. There are indeed two WRs: one is a passenger car tire and the other is an SUV tire. The two are distinguished from one another based mostly on load rating. I put 4 225/55/17s WRs on my '00 Bonneville - these are passenger tires which have a 101 load rating and are V-rated for speed. In contrast, the only other 55 series 17" WR is an SUV tire. It has a 255 wide tread - a beefier tire all around - and is rated higher for load (at 104) but lower for speed (at H). Both consistent with SUV parameters. Nokian invests a lot of resources in northern tire research but little in marketing - it seems that they're not interested in being big, just in being the best in their niche. I think their terribly inadequate websites reflect this rather accurately. BTW - 8,000 kms on the WRs through an Ottawa, Ontario winter and have to say that these were a dream to drive on. The plus side apparently is that the rubber compound in the WR is also supposed to be wear-friendly. That negates the need to have two sets of wheels to alternate between - you know, for those Tahoe weekends.
#249 of 708 Firestone or Kumho winter tires are fine for most people by pluto5 Apr 01, 2003 (4:40 pm)
Most of the other brands are too expensive IMO and unnecessary. Esp. if you have 2-3 vehicles to equip. Also I would think twice about buying extra rims cause they are a pain to carry. Wal-Mart or Costco will mount your winter tires and give you lifetime balancing for less than $50.
#250 of 708 pluto by theiceman Apr 01, 2003 (6:37 pm)
It depends on where you drive and what kind of driving you do but, on the whole and for the average driver, I cannot take issue with your last post. There are others, though, for whom performance in a variety of conditions is important - as is comfort, noise, wear, etc. Unfortunately, the information we get from the industry and reviewers is far from perfect and helps us little in selecting our rubber. Tirerack is a good source of information - but only for those brands it carries. CR is another decent source (again, far from complete and rarely very useful for the performance-minded). Sadly, I think too few people give any thought to their tires - either in choosing a tire or in maintaining them or replacing them at proper intervals for their driving needs. Unfortunately, tires are easily the most critical safety components of our cars which is subject the most rapid degree of wear. Because of that, I'd never criticize anybody for maintaining their car - even if it means spending "unnecessarily" on their tires. Conversely, I know of people who pay prestige marque "performance" cars and who, at tire replacement time, buy their tires on sale at Sears. "All seasons, don't you know - and they were 30% off..."
#251 of 708 pluto5 by robr2 Apr 02, 2003 (10:18 am)
IMHO, a second set of rims for snow tires are worthwhile. First - it keeps my alloys out of the winter weather. Second - will Wal-Mart or Costco dismount/mount my tires every spring and fall forever for a single $50 charge? Third - steel rims are fairly cheap - for about $120 I got 4 rims. Again just MHO.
#252 of 708 2nd set of rims for snows by geoffdgti Apr 02, 2003 (2:09 pm)
robr2 writes: IMHO, a second set of rims for snow tires are worthwhile. First - it keeps my alloys out of the winter weather. Second - will Wal-Mart or Costco dismount/mount my tires every spring and fall forever for a single $50 charge? Third - steel rims are fairly cheap - for about $120 I got 4 rims. I do the same thing. I bought slightly used set of 15" VW steel rims and hub caps from somebody who had upgraded to alloy wheels. Saved wear and tear on my alloy wheels and makes it much easier to swap twice a year. Last spring, I swapped tires myself in a parking lot after I couldn't get any of the local tire shops to sneak me in. I have ~22,000 miles on my Nokian Hakka Q studless friction tires on the VW and I have at least one more season left on them. I am very happy with their ice and snow performance and the wear has been excellent. I spend a lot of time on dry roads at 80 mph. The road noise is typical for a snow tire (lousy) and the handling is typical of a soft sidewall tire (lousy). Blizzaks don't wear this well and I get near-Blizzak ice grip. I just bought some slightly used alloy wheels for my 2003 Mountaineer on Ebay for $350. Not quite the same deal as my steelies for the VW but it's still a pretty good value and they're clones of what is already on the car. The studded 235/65R17 Hakkapeliitta SUVs will fit on them perfectly. It's nice to finally have some decent snow tire options for SUVs. I've owned them for 17 years and their braking and cornering characteristics on slippery roads leave something to be desired. Not particularly surprising when you run stock A/T tires on a 5,000 pound truck. It will be nice to pick up the extra safety margin in emergency handling. For people complaining about the lousy Nokian web site, they're supposed to be upgrading it for May. Until that happens, the search engines find some Nokian pages that aren't accessable from their stale site that talk about the WR and Hakka 2. This information is also stale but it's better than what is up officially on their site. Nokia Hakkapeliitta SUV Nokian Hakkapeliitta 1 Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2 Nokian WR
#253 of 708 by adp3 Apr 02, 2003 (2:29 pm)
so it appears, provided you can get a decent set of rims cheap, is....how the hell do you store an extra set of tires in these puny garages they build for you in the SF Bay Area?!! obviously, you don't carry the extra set around in the back of the minivan if I go with the approach suggested by iceman, will I still need chains/spiders on a trip up to Tahoe in a FWD minivan? (I suspect that no matter what tires I am on, the CHP will require me to slap chains on, unless I am in a 4wd/AWD rig)
#254 of 708 by adp3 Apr 02, 2003 (2:33 pm)
I don't mind having two sets, if one set is "good" for 9-10 months a year, and will give me better performance (mpg, noise, handling) than the "snow" set - and then keep the snow set on for ski season (with poor mpg, handling, etc., in comparison to the 3-season set)
#255 of 708 extra rims by pluto5 Apr 02, 2003 (3:34 pm)
I admit that having the winter tires mounted is appealing, especially if you have room in your garage. Winter weather hasn't seemed to affect my alloy wheels yet. However, Wal-Mart will mount your carry in tires for 3.50 per wheel after you pay for the lifetime balancing. So, first time $44 for all four in my neighborhood, $14 for four each year after that--pretty cheap but they use a torque wrench which I don't see at other tire shops anymore. I believe that Costco is similar although not sure about the lifetime balance. As far as selection, I found that tirerack has much better selection than any local tire dealer and tirerack service is super (no i don't work for them. IMO every one needs winter tires if you have winter.
#256 of 708 by adp3 Apr 02, 2003 (5:53 pm)
but I only have winter when I WANT winter the Costco approach sounds good - a neighborhood tire place might do something similar - I'll talk to my local place - maybe they'll even store them for me