Quote:
Originally Posted by OldDutch
I looked around and Costco seems to have the best price. I was looking at the Michelin - X-Ice Xi3 or the Bridgestone - Blizzak WS80. I was looking at the Michelin - Pilot Alpin PA4 but that looks like it is a semi-winter tire, mainly for milder winters?
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Pilot Alpins are performance winter tires as there isn't such thing as a semi-winter tire. Typically you would use these on a performance car that rides on 18"+ wheels and low profile tires. You can argue that they are a pretty good fit in Calgary seeing our roads are dry for the majority of winter as performance winter tires are superior to studless ice/snow tires in the dry. In deep snow they are not as good as studless ice and snow tire so you have to accept that trade off.
I'm running Pirelli Sottozero Serie ii performance winter tires and they work for me in Calgary as due to the cars I drive I'm always stuck having to use performance winter tires (it's hard to get studless ice and snow tires in 40 or 35 series profiles) and I've never had an issue getting around in Calgary. If your car is a Civic or family sedan you are better off going with a studless ice and snow tire as I wouldn't advise running a performance winter tire on a car that doesn't require V, W, or Y rates tires.