The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[Madman]

Originally Posted by CarlLester

There are some old posts about guys picking up the Federal Himalayas. Can anyone comment on how they were? Are they good enough to save the money and bypass Blizzak or X-Ice, etc?

I can't give you a side by side comparison, but we have run the Himalayas on my wife's car for the past 2 winters and have had no problems with them at all.

I really like the winter snow and ice performance we get from them and actually don't find them too bad when it's dry out either - not too marshmallow-y actually.

[terminator]

I have a set of Winters for sale, they've been used for one winter so 3000-4000 Km of use...2 years old mounted on 15" rimes that would've fit a dodge avenger. I'll throw em for sale on the BUY/SELL after I figure out the brand etc.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by chalms04

Tread at 4/32 vs new, courtesy beyond.ca

Blizzak WS70:




Nokian WR:


Michelin Xi3:

Curious that as the tire tread wears down on the Michelin, it somehow reverses its direction as well.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

Curious that as the tire tread wears down on the Michelin, it somehow reverses its direction as well.

MAGICKS!

Actually, likely just a mistake they didn't catch while taking the picture then didn't care enough to fix. You can look at it and still see the info you are looking for.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

Curious that as the tire tread wears down on the Michelin, it somehow reverses its direction as well.

One picture was taken while going the other taken while coming back.

[rd_aaron]

This might have been covered earlier, but do you guys do the minus sizing for winter tires? Essentially smaller diameter wheels combined with narrower, larger profile tires. I did this on my car, and it seems to work fine, but I don't have anything to compare it to. I guess it saves money with smaller rims & tires.

Also, any experience with Blizzak DM-V1? They are the top rated winter tire on tirerack.com for our new vehicle.

[burn_this_city]

Just ordered some Continental ExtremeWinter Contacts, anyone used these before? They were highly recommended online.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

This might have been covered earlier, but do you guys do the minus sizing for winter tires? Essentially smaller diameter wheels combined with narrower, larger profile tires.

The biggest benefit I've noticed doing this is bending less wheels in the winter which is good enough for me.

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Just ordered some Continental ExtremeWinter Contacts, anyone used these before? They were highly recommended online.

I had the performance version of these a couple sets back and they were fantastic.

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

The biggest benefit I've noticed doing this is bending less wheels in the winter which is good enough for me.

What do you mean by "bending less wheels"?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

What do you mean by "bending less wheels"?

If you have to ask what wheel bending is, you probably can't do it.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by Ducay

If you have to ask what wheel bending is, you probably can't do it.

And therefore you are unworthy to receive any knowledge on the topic...

[TheGrimm]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

What do you mean by "bending less wheels"?

Smaller wheel size means an increasing tire sidewall size to offset the smaller rim. This means when you decide to smash into a curb your donked Impala won't bend a rim.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Just ordered some Continental ExtremeWinter Contacts, anyone used these before? They were highly recommended online.

I have these and they are awesome.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by rd_aaron

This might have been covered earlier, but do you guys do the minus sizing for winter tires? Essentially smaller diameter wheels combined with narrower, larger profile tires. I did this on my car, and it seems to work fine, but I don't have anything to compare it to. I guess it saves money with smaller rims & tires.

FWIW: I go from 19" rims to 17" rims with a corresponding increase in sidewall and my car rides a lot smoother with less road noise.

[Max Cow Disease]

Originally Posted by CarlLester

There are some old posts about guys picking up the Federal Himalayas. Can anyone comment on how they were? Are they good enough to save the money and bypass Blizzak or X-Ice, etc?

I went with Himalayas this year. My girlfriend's had them on a small car for a couple years and they seem to get the job done. In the case of my truck, it was a difference of almost 50 dollars per tire to go with the Blizzak. The guy at my all faithful and well trusted tire shop said that with a Federal Himalaya, you're getting about 10 percent less ice traction for around 20 percent less cost, and that they recommend them to plenty of customers.

If getting the absolute best tire is the goal it sounds like there's better, but the Federals seem to hit that sweet spot of cost vs capability for me. They're on the "top rung" of the mid-tier choices.

[TheGrimm]

I picked up some Xi3's and rims this week (well, a buddy is bringing them up from WA). I used the General Altimax's for a couple of seasons and was pretty happy with them, will be nice to have a comparison.

The Altimax were a tad bit "squishy" when dry though.

[Robo]

I decided to go with goodyear ultra grip ice wrt hoping it is the right decision!

[TheyCallMeBruce]

So I had a full season with the Xi3. It is definitely one of the best winter tires I have ever had. stopping power was beyond awesome, on black ice no less. The area I used to live in has a hill that ices over in the winter, and of course, it was particularly bad this year as the entire hill was iced over. Only the most brave and best equip would challenge the hill. I would say out of 10 cars, you will get 1 that will attempt it. With the Xi3, I had no issues going up the hill and coming down. No issues stopping on the hill going down at 40km/h either (had to avoid cars that spun out).

Definitely recommend the Xi3.

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

Smaller wheel size means an increasing tire sidewall size to offset the smaller rim. This means when you decide to smash into a curb your donked Impala won't bend a rim.

Haha fair enough. Although a downside of bigger sidewalls on the minus size would be more roll/worse handling.

[Jimmy Stang]

My reason for going down an inch on rim size for winters is simply because the tires are usually cheaper for smaller rims. With my current lineup of fairly average vehicles, the savings will trump performance every time for me.