Snow/Ice winter tires

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

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#51 of 708 BMW Snow Tires by skijazman Sep 14, 2001 (10:40 am)
I'm convinced about the need to put snow tires on my 323i. Now I have to decide on the "right" tire by deciding which has the best combination of traction and dry road characteristics. The primary tires most sites recommend are the Blizzak, Artic Alpin and the M2. The M2 sounds like a good one and the Tire Rack recommends it for the 323i. As for size I think I will go with the 195/55 on 15" steel wheels. Not pretty, but living here in Connecticut, it's only for 4 months at most. leogenghis and others....thanks for the input. I'll keep checking back from time to time to see what the latest input is.
#52 of 708 winter tires for sequoia by robynk Oct 10, 2001 (5:40 am)
Hi, I am shopping for winter tires for my 2001 Sequoia (16" wheels). I was looking at Bridgestone Winter Dueler DM-Z2 245/75QR16. Our local dealers don't stock these and are recommending a Cooper winter tire (don't have the details -- my husband spoke to them) and studs. We are in the mountains in Vermont. We drive about half of our miles on dirt roads that have a base of ice on them all winter long; the other half on hilly, curvy paved roads (2 lane hwy) with imperfect snow removal and often black ice. We had Cooper all-season tires on our last SUV (Expedition) and they were pretty good, but we really want to go with dedicated snows to make life easier this time. What would you use in these conditions? How will the studs be on paved roads? Thanks in advance!
#53 of 708 Bridgestone by guyf Oct 13, 2001 (5:13 am)
I live in Quebec and last winter I installed the Bridgestone Winter Dueler DM-Z2 on my Santa Fe and my brother did the same on his 4Runner. We both agree that these are absolutely the best tires we ever had for both snow and ice. I would certainly recommend you go with the Bridgestone!
#54 of 708 Nokian Hakkapeliitta 1 or Toyo Observe winter tires? by cocomo Oct 13, 2001 (4:19 pm)
Does anyone here have any experience with these tires? I'm thinking of getting either the Hakka 1, Toyo Observe G-02 or Observe X-10 for my Protege 5, in 185/65R15 size. Which one offers the best performance for Canadian winters? The tires will not be studded as studs are illegal here. I'm looking for good snow/slush performance without sacrificing dry handling & noise too much. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
#55 of 708 Nokian by guyf Oct 14, 2001 (10:55 am)
For your Protege 5 you should go with the Hakka. The toyo are very soft shouldered and are not a good choice if you want to maintain your dry handling. A co-worker had Toyo's on his Golf and had them replaced as the car was all over the place with those tires. I drove another co-worker minivan with Toyo's and I tought the car dangerous to drive. You should also consider the Blizzack.
#56 of 708 Guyf : Hakka 1, Hakka Q or NRW? by cocomo Oct 14, 2001 (2:07 pm)
Which one of these Nokian tires should I get? How much different are they from each other? Which Blizzak model do you recommend? I heard Blizzaks wear out pretty fast. Is it true? Thanks.
#57 of 708 by drew_ Oct 14, 2001 (3:08 pm)
The Bridgestone Blizzaks WS-50 are the newer generation ones. The WS-15 is good for heavier snow, but it doesn't ride or handle as well as the WS-50. That said though, the Blizzaks while good in snow, do wear quickly on dry pavement. Personally, I'd go with the Michelin Arctic Alpins since they offer Blizzak-like performance, but handle better in dry and wet conditions. Additionally, they also don't wear out as quickly on dry surfaces. That said though, you should remove these winter tires as soon as the winter season is over since their soft compound (which allows them to stick/grip very well on snow and ice) wears quickly. I hope thie helps! Drew Host Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
#58 of 708 Blizzaks vs Michelin by guyf Oct 14, 2001 (3:37 pm)
It is true the Blizzaks do wear quickly on dry/hot pavement. As Drew mentioned, you want to wait as long as possible to install them in the fall and you want to take them out as soon as possible in the spring. This being said, I have to disagree with Drew on the performance of the Michelins. They do handle dry asphalt better than the Blizzaks; in fact they are as good as most 4 seasons on dry pavement. However, they are certainly not as good as the Blizzaks on snow, sleet and ice. They tend to pack more and they dont have the sheer adhesion of the Blizzaks in those conditions. My Volvo S-70 is still on Michelin Alpins and so was my CR-V. As I mentioned earlier, I put Blizzaks on my Santa-Fe and wow; what incredible traction, braking and cornering on snow, ice, wet snow... Next tires on the Volvo will certainly be Blizzaks. For the Hakkas, sorry cocomo, I can't help much. I know they are good tires but my earlier post was mainly to mention what I knew about the Toyo's. I would probably go for the NRW which is, I think, their latest design.
#59 of 708 More on Blizzak and Arctic Alpin by dudleyr Oct 14, 2001 (7:50 pm)
I have used the Blizzak WS-15 and the Artic Alpin, and agree with the above that the Alpin has much better dry handling with what I consider equel winter traction to the Blizzak. My Integra is unstoppable with either tire. I search for the deepest banks and go right through them - sometimes freaking out 4wd owners in the car with me. I did find that the Alpins have one major weakness. They get there traction from sipes that are perpindicular to the direction of travel. This is excellent for braking and starting, but maybe not so good for lateral traction. My wife were driving 2 cars in 35-45 mph cross winds once, and she could not keep up with our minivan (wich had all-season tires) while driving the Integra with Alpins. She said the car just wanted to go sideways. I had been in wind before but never noticed this. Maybe the snow/ice was just the wrong temp It was just a little below freezing. Last year I bought a tire by Yokohama called the Gaurdex 720 (for the minivan) and it seems to have much better dry handling than the Blizzak, and winter traction that is just as good. It uses micropores like the blizzak, and tons of sipes like the Alpin. The tread blocks are large to help with handling, and the micropores go all the way through - unlike the Bridgestone which is only 55%. I highly reccomend this tire. I will put this tire on my Integra when the Alpins wear out, or I might experiment with a pair of Hakka's.
#60 of 708 2 or 4 winters? by hpulley4 Oct 15, 2001 (3:40 am)
I have never run with winter tires before and I've been OK with all seasons but this year I'm asking myself, why suffer with all seasons in the snow? But being a cheapskate, I'd like to ask, with FWD, is it OK to just get two rims and snow tires for the front? Is that dangerous? Is it much better to have snows on the rear too?