The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[OldDutch]

Looking at Michalin X-Ice or Bridgestone Blizzak for my A3 quattro. I was leaning Michalin, but it seems Blizzaks have a loyal following.

Any preferences here? Seems like they are the best bets in my car category 225/40R18.

[codynw]

I'd never even consider taking my car into a shop just to switch my tires. It takes me like 20-30 minutes at the most, and it costs me nothing. Even if I wait too long and the weather gets bad, I can just do it in my garage.

[Jimmy Stang]

Between Thanksgiving and Halloween for me as well, free time and weather permitting.

Despite my best laid plans, I have occasionally found myself out in the garage as the first significant blast of winter arrives. But that's the beauty of it. Put the heaters on, tune into the Flames game on the radio, and get 'er done. It is nice to have the option to procrastinate and still not get caught off guard.

[mrkajz44]

It always seems people pick between the X-Ice and the Blizzaks. I've probably posted this two or three years running, but I did some research and concluded that General Tire Altimax Artics performed essentially just as well, with a much smaller price tag.

http://www.generaltire.ca/productdet...d=altimaxartic

I have these for both my cars. The wear on them is awesome too, 5 years on my first car and still lots of tread left - at least 2 or 3 more seasons if not more.

[btimbit]

^I had a set of studded Altimax Arctic's on one of my cars a few years ago. Great tire

OldDutch, what Blizzak are you looking at? There's a few different models

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by btimbit

^I had a set of studded Altimax Arctic's on one of my cars a few years ago. Great tire

Are the studs loud on dry pavement?

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Are the studs loud on dry pavement?

Sounded like each wheel had a hornets nest in it. Very noticeable buzz. I didn't mind that, and shooting sparks if doing a burnout was cool. :P You do lose a bit of traction and braking distance on dry pavement though vs a studless winter.

With tire technology where it is today your only benefit is on ice. A good studless tire will perform slightly worse on ice, but just as good, if not better, on snow. Much better on pavement. I still love studs with the amount of out of town driving I do but if I rarely left the city I wouldn't bother anymore

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Looking at Michalin X-Ice or Bridgestone Blizzak for my A3 quattro. I was leaning Michalin, but it seems Blizzaks have a loyal following.

Any preferences here? Seems like they are the best bets in my car category 225/40R18.

I plan to personally get to the bottom of this debate this winter, but I can't help you much right now.

I put Blizzak WS80s on my Passat last year. I still have that car.

I just bought some used Michelin X-Ices for my Sienna with about 5000 kms on them. I know they're different cars, but I really want to see if I have a preference. Been a Blizzak guy forever, so wanted to try something new. I'll report back in this thread once I've done a bit of a comparo between the two.

[lazypucker]

I have a question that has probably asked here before - Does AWD help compensate the lack of winter tires?

[puffnstuff]

Im not reading thru all the pages here (im way too lazy for that), any recommended places to buy steel wheels? What kind of price per am I looking at?

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

I have a question that has probably asked here before - Does AWD help compensate the lack of winter tires?

As somebody with AWD, I'd say it helps a little. But it is still a night and day difference having the proper tires.

I have waited too long in years past to do the swap over and am shocked at the difference every time. Easily worth the money imo.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

I have a question that has probably asked here before - Does AWD help compensate the lack of winter tires?

AWD doesn't help you stop any faster. Probably compensates a little on take-off, but on a super slick corner a FWD or even RWD with winters will do better than your AWD with all seasons. Winter tires are a great investment.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by btimbit

^I had a set of studded Altimax Arctic's on one of my cars a few years ago. Great tire

OldDutch, what Blizzak are you looking at? There's a few different models

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?

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Sliver

AWD doesn't help you stop any faster. Probably compensates a little on take-off, but on a super slick corner a FWD or even RWD with winters will do better than your AWD with all seasons. Winter tires are a great investment.

Yes, if you don't have AWD, the worse that could happen to you is you keep getting stuck in snow. But if you cannot stop when you needed to, a lot worse can happen.

[jeffporfirio]

+2 for Costco.
I looked around for some run flat Blizzaks, and could not find a better price.
Ordered online, tires arrived 4 days later, and they called me to book.
Nice thing is they are open late, getting them mounted at 7:30 pm.

[btimbit]

1010tires.com has free shipping on winter tires right now. Their prices aren't as great as they used to be with the dollar being how it is, but with the free shipping it's about on par with local shops. Costco will be cheaper if you're just getting rubber, but a wheel + tire combo would likely be cheaper at 1010. Again, with the dollar being how it is, it's not going to be a big difference. But if you're like me and would rather not get off your ass for things, it's a good option

Originally Posted by lazypucker

I have a question that has probably asked here before - Does AWD help compensate the lack of winter tires?

AWD will help you get moving, might even help slightly in the corners, but crucially it doesn't make a difference at all when it comes to stopping.

That's a classic debate, "I don't need winter tires, I have all seasons and 4WD/AWD." To prove a friend wrong years ago, we did a stop test in an empty parking lot that hadn't yet been plowed. Him in a '04 Jeep Wrangler with 4WD on. Me in the '03 FWD Jetta I had at the time. He had a good set of all season tires (can't remember specifically what kind) I had budget Canadian Tire Goodyear Nordic winter tires. We did a stopping test from 50km/hr. The results? The front wheel drive car with the cheapest winter tires on the market at the time, stopped 12 feet shorter than the 4WD jeep.

Think of tires like they're exactly what they are. Round things made of different kinds of rubber. The compounds that all season tires are made from freeze and harden up, it's literally like driving around on hockey pucks.

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?

You can't go wrong with either of those tires, both are top of their class.

Here's the results of a consumer survey

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...=true&filter=y

And a professional test

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=193

[chedder]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Looking at Michalin X-Ice or Bridgestone Blizzak for my A3 quattro. I was leaning Michalin, but it seems Blizzaks have a loyal following.

Any preferences here? Seems like they are the best bets in my car category 225/40R18.

Have x-ice on wife's and really like them. They seem to be wearing pretty well too. As for the don't need winter tire people, I even have them on my 4x4 truck and wouldn't go without on any vehicle driven in winter. Like everyone says, its the stopping ability that you need.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Are the studs loud on dry pavement?

No need to get studded ones. I had them for the Sienna and they were great.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Looking at Michalin X-Ice or Bridgestone Blizzak for my A3 quattro. I was leaning Michalin, but it seems Blizzaks have a loyal following.

Any preferences here? Seems like they are the best bets in my car category 225/40R18.

Disclaimer: I've only ever purchased one set of winter tires. But they are they Blizzak WS70's I think? SOLID tires. Put them on my Mazda 3 and winter hasn't been an issue yet. They have let me go down residential roads that had an insane amount snow on top and ice underneath.

They've worked well for me but I did notice 2 tires (likely the front ones the first season) wore down noticeable more than the back. So the past 2 yrs I made sure they were on the back and the better tires on the front. Should be able to get one more season out of them. I think they wore so quickly due to not having much snow the past 3 yrs so they have been on pavement more than expected.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again. They were a bit pricey ($900 I think) so I'd be interested in hearing options that work as well but for a better price.

I think someone mentioned the Continental DWS tires were quite good? I've been quite impressed with their summer D/W tires.

[worth]

I have Blizzak WS70's on my car now and I think they are a real downgrade as opposed to the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R's I used to have. Really disappointed in the WS70's.