The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[GoinAllTheWay]

For the past 5 or 6 winters, I've been using Blizzak WS70's. They've been absolutely amazing but they need to be replaced this winter. I see WS80's are the latest offerings. Anyone have experience with these tires, any compelling reason to look at something else? These new Blizzaks are around $220 each.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

For the past 5 or 6 winters, I've been using Blizzak WS70's. They've been absolutely amazing but they need to be replaced this winter. I see WS80's are the latest offerings. Anyone have experience with these tires, any compelling reason to look at something else? These new Blizzaks are around $220 each.

What kind of vehicle?

I went with the DM-V2 over the WS80 as they are supposedly designed for SUV/CUVs, and they worked great.

Got them from Costco when there was a sale, bought online, and booked online, was great.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Sorry, that would have been helpful to include.

It's an 05 Mazda 3.

[Erick Estrada]

Blizzaks are overrated. There are better winter tires out there and most not as expensive not to mention Blizzaks get very noisy as they wear.

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...old-war-page-2

[GoinAllTheWay]

double post

[Frequitude]

Looking for dumb question winter tire advice for my 2016 Tahoe LT. I’ve never bothered getting winter tires but will this year.

Can you, in theory, put any size rim tire combo on your car or is there a certain spec you’re limited to? (Other than of course bolt patterns must match and the tire has to fit on the rim)

I’ve got 22” rims with all seasons. All winter tires that fit on that rim seem ridiculously expensive. Is there any performance downside to low profile winter tires on large rims? Would I be better off just buying smaller rims and tires?

[Frequitude]

Looking for dumb question winter tire advice for my 2016 Tahoe LT. I’ve never bothered getting winter tires but will this year.

Can you, in theory, put any size rim tire combo on your car or is there a certain spec you’re limited to? (Other than of course bolt patterns must match and the tire has to fit on the rim)

I’ve got 22” rims with all seasons. All winter tires that fit on that rim seem ridiculously expensive. Is there any performance downside to low profile winter tires on large rims? Would I be better off just buying smaller rims and tires?

[ken0042]

The big thing is making sure the circumference of the tire is the same, or at least within 1-2%. Otherwise there can be some mechanical issues, and also your speedometer will be off.
A tool like this might help:
https://tiresize.com/comparison/

What size are your current tires?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

How much clearance in the wheel well would people say is the absolute minimum you'd accept during winter? I just swapped my winters onto my car, and unfortunately I wasn't able to adjust the coilovers enough to get the height I wanted. There's plenty of ground clearance but the wheels themselves aren't too far from the fender. I'm wondering whether I'll be able to get by once there's ice in the wheel wells or snow on the tires, or if I have to do a wholesale suspension job ($$$).

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Blizzaks are overrated. There are better winter tires out there and most not as expensive not to mention Blizzaks get very noisy as they wear.

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...old-war-page-2

I've always wanted to try a set of the Nokian Hakka Rs, but they're just so expensive! I find Bridgestones still the best deal when they're on sale at Costco, but I'm biased towards Bridgestones.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

How much clearance in the wheel well would people say is the absolute minimum you'd accept during winter? I just swapped my winters onto my car, and unfortunately I wasn't able to adjust the coilovers enough to get the height I wanted. There's plenty of ground clearance but the wheels themselves aren't too far from the fender. I'm wondering whether I'll be able to get by once there's ice in the wheel wells or snow on the tires, or if I have to do a wholesale suspension job ($$$).

I only have an inch or so from the fender to tires. It’s been fine.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I've always wanted to try a set of the Nokian Hakka Rs, but they're just so expensive! I find Bridgestones still the best deal when they're on sale at Costco, but I'm biased towards Bridgestones.

Blizzaks are a very good value when on sale at costco.

When they cost $220 a tire (as I was recently quoted, I live 6 hours from a Costco) they aren't such a great value.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by ken0042

The big thing is making sure the circumference of the tire is the same, or at least within 1-2%. Otherwise there can be some mechanical issues, and also your speedometer will be off.
A tool like this might help:
https://tiresize.com/comparison/

What size are your current tires?

That makes sense. My current ones are Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alena P285/45R22 110H M+S. Some online calculator tells me that means 32.1” tire height, which is 100.8” circumference.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I've always wanted to try a set of the Nokian Hakka Rs, but they're just so expensive! I find Bridgestones still the best deal when they're on sale at Costco, but I'm biased towards Bridgestones.

I love my Hakka R2's. But then, I've also never tried anything else, so have no comparison point. But the Hakka's have me sold on the benefits of winter tires.

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by Madman

Got them from Costco when there was a sale, bought online, and booked online, was great.

Need new tires and Kal-Tire will no longer honour lifetime seasonal tire swaps, so I'm going to go elsewhere. Does Costco do free changes if you buy from them?

If not, what places offer it for free if you buy from them?

[Jimmy Stang]

Can anyone recommend a place for a dirt cheap wheel alignment? My old rust bucket could use one, but the winter tires are probably worth more than the car at this point, so I'm not keen on spending a whole lot on this POS.

Preferably NW or SW (north of Glenmore).

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

Need new tires and Kal-Tire will no longer honour lifetime seasonal tire swaps, so I'm going to go elsewhere. Does Costco do free changes if you buy from them?

If not, what places offer it for free if you buy from them?

Costco does, but as discussed many times in this thread, it is such a pain to get in (some locations are 1st come 1st served) to do it this "benefit" is almost guaranteed to not be used.

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

Need new tires and Kal-Tire will no longer honour lifetime seasonal tire swaps, so I'm going to go elsewhere. Does Costco do free changes if you buy from them?

If not, what places offer it for free if you buy from them?

Just got a set of Michellin X-Ice from Country Tire on Edm. trail.
They were $40 more than Costco, but swaps are $10/tire if you buy from them.
It beats lining up at 7 am at Costco, plus if you work DT since its close, you can drop off and pickup after work.

[Ducay]

I don't believe Costco offers free seasonal swaps (either on rims or just rubbers), but they do free tire rotations.

Since they added appointments and ability to book online, it is a lot easier. The old "line up at ungodly hours" was so inefficient I would never buy using that process.

Ordering online and then booking online has been quite painless. I had one new set installed last week onto rims, and then another appointment in October for new winters on our van.

[Jimmy Stang]

It looks like tonight is the night to do my changeovers in the garage. At least for the car with performance tires/pucks, but probably both.

I think that this is the first time I’ve done it before Thanksgiving.