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Forums
Maintenance & Repair Snow/Ice winter tires
708 messages, Last post on Nov 10, 2009 at 12:57 PM
You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
For the general tire discussion topic, have a look at the Tires, tires, tires topic.
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 11, 2008 6:41 pm) Blizzaks are great, but they very soft and wear fast, half the tire tread is snow tire, when that wears down it becomes an all season tire (at least the one I bought was like that). During the second season I had them they turned back into all seasons and I started sliding again  . The Nokia's I have now are in their 5th season and are still working great, but cost more. But nothing beat the blizzaks the first year I had them, amazing! But as you said only 5 or so days a year I really need them, if that, it snows way more then that where I live but the roads are usually plowed and salted by the time I use them. So sometimes I wonder if they are worth it. The handling is really poor with them (especially the soft blizzaks, feels like I driving on erasers) It may be cheaper just to call in sick on those few days I really need snows, or use vacation!
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| for folks only facing a few days of snow, also consider auto socks as they are cheap (tirerack sells em for around $70 a set), work fine on ice and ok on anything up to moderately deep snow. Easy to put on compared to chains. | |
| Many garages and shops are refusing to install only two snow tires due to legal liability and safety issues. | |
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Replying to: psorter (Nov 11, 2008 8:02 pm) Thank you very much - this is great information. If I go ahead you have convinced me 4 snow tires are better than 2. I might just go with plan C. Another thing I don't like about changing tires is trying to get 4 tires home. Storage is $400 at the dealer. Plan B; is to buy a Suburu for the winter. Plan C: Not drive on snowy days, which will be about 5 times during the winter. Work from home those days which I can do. Use my wife's all wheel drive if we have to go out. Go to Florida in February. Just hope they don't make snow tires compulsory in my province, they just did in Quebec but their winters are much worse.
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 12, 2008 5:40 am) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPE8vL5hlFA last half of video shows a Subaru Outback sliding down the road and piling into another car. If getting a Subaru, be sure Nokians or something decent's on the wheels. The stock Yokohama or Bridgstones are weak on snow and nearly useless on ice.
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Replying to: kurtamaxxxguy (Nov 12, 2008 4:27 pm) very icy conditions That was fascinating. Wonder if snow tires would have hlped that much...looked like real slippery ice and major slope! 
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 11, 2008 2:42 pm) A few other pointers: - Stick with 4 snow tires, as stated by others. - Blizzaks are indeed excellent snow tires, for the first two years. After that, they're indeed no better than all-seasons. I've had excellent luck with Dunlop and Michelin snow tires, each lasting 4-5 years, all offering excellent snow traction throughout. - Even if you don't deal with snowstorms every week, I've found snow tires to work well in cold weather, dry or wet. They're a HUGE improvement over ANY summer tire, and most all-seasons, when the temps drop below freezing. - The peace-of-mind they offer is stunning, especially if you've driven on all-seasons during the winter. Both my cars came with decent all-seasons as standard equipment, but they run snow tires/wheels from Thanksgiving to mid-April, and I can't imagine driving ANY car without snow tires anymore...
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Replying to: mz6greyghost (Nov 12, 2008 6:38 pm) Thanks for the valuable info. 
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Just wanted to let you know what happened; Called 3 tire stores and total packages with rims were about $2000 Cdn or about $1600 U.S. Then I realized they probably weren't giving me prices for Run Flat Tires, so I checked and they weren't. One dealer had tires for $200 each and he said there was no advantage to putting them on rims...in fact it was more costly because of the air pressure sensers, so he could put on snows for under $1000. He said run flats would be $500 each - $400 U.S. Then I thought, maybe the dealer price of $1700 on with rims was better especially if they are talking Run Flats. So, the dealers price includes 4 RFTs, on steel rims, all balanced and ready to go, plus 4 tote bags, they know 2 will fit in the trunk and 2 on the back seat....and thats about $1300 U.S. installed so not bad considering. They are Blizzacks and I just looked up a great article that explained why the Blizzack won't last as long; Michelin claims its new tire will last 75 per cent longer than its main rival. The unnamed rival, I suspect, is the Bridgestone Blizzak. And that vast difference in wear rate would be based on the fact the Blizzak is a multicell compound for only 55 per cent of its tread depth. The remaining 45 per cent of the tire is a standard winter compound. To read more; Snow Tire Info Your comments were a big help. I really thought 2 snow tires would be enough, and I thought I would try to get through the winter without snow tires. But for $1700 the peace of mind is well worth it.
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 13, 2008 7:20 am)
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Maintenance & Repair Snow/Ice winter tires
