The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[burn_this_city]

Its ultimately a trade off, but with the Contis and Michelins I've never not been able to get going and drive the speed limit in almost all conditions. This is on a RWD coupe with quite a bit of power.

Same goes for folks who get studs, the sound of driving on a gravel road for 6 months, isn't worth the trade for superior grip during the 3 weeks a year it makes a difference.

[Sliver]

All fair points. Guys like you and me will notice the differences, but I bet my teen daughter wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Blizzaks and Contis so I'd rather her have the better grip hah.

[81MC]

Long shot - anyone try the new Hercules Avalanche TT (replacement for the Extreme)? I used to run the Avs on one of my sedans and I actually quite liked the tire in the snow and slush.

Beater truck, probably rust out before I wear through a set of tires and I don’t really drive it enough to justify Hakkas and X Ices aren’t my favourite either.

[chemgear]

Time to start thinking about it again.

Something, something jinxing the weather forecast.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Time to start thinking about it again.

Something, something jinxing the weather forecast.

Winter Tires are for the weak and fraudulent.

Let it begin...

[Madman]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Time to start thinking about it again.

Something, something jinxing the weather forecast.

[jayswin]

Could easily be November for my tire change this year. Hoping for that anyways.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Could easily be November for my tire change this year. Hoping for that anyways.

Jayswin I generally consider you to be a good poster. With that being said, what good could come of posting something like that? Now I’m expecting a foot of snow by the end of the week

[Slava]

I haven't read all this thread, so sorry if it's been discussed and decided here, but I'm wondering about two tire-related things:

1) All weather tires vs pure winters or all seasons?

2) I've got a bulge in a tire and know I need to get in and get it replaced. Do I need to just bite the bullet and buy 4 tires (the car has AWD, but that kicks in when it senses slippage). I know they're going to make me buy two!

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Slava

I haven't read all this thread, so sorry if it's been discussed and decided here, but I'm wondering about two tire-related things:

1) All weather tires vs pure winters or all seasons?

2) I've got a bulge in a tire and know I need to get in and get it replaced. Do I need to just bite the bullet and buy 4 tires (the car has AWD, but that kicks in when it senses slippage). I know they're going to make me buy two!

1) I had some Nokian all-weather tires years ago and they were very good in the snow. All seasons are garbage in winter conditions as has been mentioned many times in this thread. Pure winter tires will give you the best grip, but if you're mostly just doing regular city driving and don't want the hassle of swapping tires then good all-weather should be fine

2) Are those your winter or summer tires? If they're summer or all season then there shouldn't be an issue swapping just one. If they're winter, try calling some tire shops to see if they have anything in stock close enough to match your existing 3

[Erick Estrada]

My main issue with Nokian all-weather tires (WRG4) is that once you get below 50% tread they are unbearably noisy on the highway. So much that I wouldn't recommend them to people that travel on the highway.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Slava

I haven't read all this thread, so sorry if it's been discussed and decided here, but I'm wondering about two tire-related things:

1) All weather tires vs pure winters or all seasons?

2) I've got a bulge in a tire and know I need to get in and get it replaced. Do I need to just bite the bullet and buy 4 tires (the car has AWD, but that kicks in when it senses slippage). I know they're going to make me buy two!

1) I'm a firm believer in having the right tool for the job and in Calgary, that means having a proper set of dedicated winter tires. The performance will be far superior to all weather or all season tires, and the gap in performance is particularly noticeable when you really need it, i.e. when it counts.

As an aside, and not saying this is you Slava, but it always strikes me as odd when some people try to justify cutting corners when it comes to their vehicles. I'm not saying to be reckless with money, but we're talking about something that is most people's second most expensive purchase / asset and they try to justify not spending a relatively minor proportion of its value for something (proper winter tires) that can literally make the difference between not crashing and crashing... your second most valuable asset, with a risk of danger to the occupants, cost of damage, diminished value in the case of an accident, increased insurance rates, etc.


2) it really depends on the wear of the other 3 tires, but assuming they've got lots of tread left, you should not have to buy in pairs, and certainly not all four.

[DoubleF]

EDIT: Double post.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Slava

I haven't read all this thread, so sorry if it's been discussed and decided here, but I'm wondering about two tire-related things:

1) All weather tires vs pure winters or all seasons?

2) I've got a bulge in a tire and know I need to get in and get it replaced. Do I need to just bite the bullet and buy 4 tires (the car has AWD, but that kicks in when it senses slippage). I know they're going to make me buy two!

1. All weather + winters if possible, especially if you do relatively little driving. It allows you to delay putting on and taking off tires. When that snow dump comes down, you're still sitting nicely with a set of All weather tires on (assuming they're not bald or a decade old). All seasons only if you do a ton of driving in the summer, but preferably that's just the OEM all seasons you got with the car. All weathers are basically higher durability winter tires. Meh in winter vs true winter tires, but not as bleh as All seasons in the winter. In certain scenarios, I think I'd consider swapping my 5+ year winters as the "all weather tire" and get new ones for winter. Again though, this is for situations where the vehicle does relatively little highway driving throughout the year (ie: Mainly less than an hour drive on a highway in 25C+ temps without stopping on a regular basis, less than one drive to Banff on a monthly basis sort of thing).

2. Depends how old and amount of tread. If all other 3 tires are still relatively new and have a lot of tread left, I think just replacing 1 should even be OK. However, if they're all older and have lower tread, I think you're better off biting the bullet and replacing all 4 slightly earlier (I guess you can try and keep some of the undamaged ones for a back up spare in the future or something?).

I don't get why some people refuse to change tires until absolutely necessary, especially in Calgary. Good tires can kinda be considered their own insurance vs avoidable fender benders when the dump comes down. But that's also why I like all weather or old winters as the non-winter tire because I still get that benefit for delaying my tire change without the worry of poor performance/swapping too early and burning off tread on the dedicated winters too early.

[Sliver]

I'm in the middle of an all-weather tire experiment with one of my vehicles. Two season in (this'll be the third) and I really like it and am not going back to all seasons/winters for this vehicle (F-150).

My wife and daughter will continue on with winters just for maximum safety.

I have a little shop van I just ordered all weathers for, so I'm taking this to another vehicle.

My personal car I still go with winters, but that's because I couldn't find any all weathers to fit it.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

1. All weather + winters if possible, especially if you do relatively little driving. It allows you to delay putting on and taking off tires. When that snow dump comes down, you're still sitting nicely with a set of All weather tires on (assuming they're not bald or a decade old). All seasons only if you do a ton of driving in the summer, but preferably that's just the OEM all seasons you got with the car. All weathers are basically higher durability winter tires. Meh in winter vs true winter tires, but not as bleh as All seasons in the winter. In certain scenarios, I think I'd consider swapping my 5+ year winters as the "all weather tire" and get new ones for winter. Again though, this is for situations where the vehicle does relatively little highway driving throughout the year (ie: Mainly less than an hour drive on a highway in 25C+ temps without stopping on a regular basis, less than one drive to Banff on a monthly basis sort of thing).

2. Depends how old and amount of tread. If all other 3 tires are still relatively new and have a lot of tread left, I think just replacing 1 should even be OK. However, if they're all older and have lower tread, I think you're better off biting the bullet and replacing all 4 slightly earlier (I guess you can try and keep some of the undamaged ones for a back up spare in the future or something?).

I don't get why some people refuse to change tires until absolutely necessary, especially in Calgary. Good tires can kinda be considered their own insurance vs avoidable fender benders when the dump comes down. But that's also why I like all weather or old winters as the non-winter tire because I still get that benefit for delaying my tire change without the worry of poor performance/swapping too early and burning off tread on the dedicated winters too early.

Yeah, these tires are overall completely fine. I basically need to do something here because of the bulge, and not due to tread at all (they have roughly 30,000 kms on them, so they should have lots of life, although I didn't measure).

I guess my issue with the winters comes down to laziness and the annoyance of the semi-annual tire swap. All-weather would be awesome in that regard, unless there's basically no gain in the winter.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I'm in the middle of an all-weather tire experiment with one of my vehicles. Two season in (this'll be the third) and I really like it and am not going back to all seasons/winters for this vehicle (F-150).

My wife and daughter will continue on with winters just for maximum safety.

I have a little shop van I just ordered all weathers for, so I'm taking this to another vehicle.

My personal car I still go with winters, but that's because I couldn't find any all weathers to fit it.

All weathers with good tread and less than 5 years old are great for almost all city driving and a bit of highway driving if left on vehicle year round. After that they're still decent in the city, but IMO they get a bit sketchy on highway due to age, lower tread and the fact they're not as grippy as regular winters in the first place.

They only thing I'm aware of they're not as good as All seasons for are 1. Price and 2. Durability. But honestly speaking, I've never hated some of the OEM all seasons as much as I hated the All seasons I had on vehicles about a decade ago. They seem far more terrible than any tire I've ever owned. They're ####e even in the summer. They seem to hydroplane easier, they're noisy, grip sucks... blah. I've been in half a dozen new vehicles and always the OEM all seasons feel like junk. Brand new all seasons (I have purchased in the last few years) do not feel as junky as the all seasons straight from the car dealership.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by you&me

1) I'm a firm believer in having the right tool for the job and in Calgary, that means having a proper set of dedicated winter tires. The performance will be far superior to all weather or all season tires, and the gap in performance is particularly noticeable when you really need it, i.e. when it counts.

As an aside, and not saying this is you Slava, but it always strikes me as odd when some people try to justify cutting corners when it comes to their vehicles.

Yeah, I definitely agree. To me, it's like trying to play ice hockey with sneakers. Sure, sneakers are better than playing on ice with bare feet but what are you really doing?

I was once sitting at a red light on 14th Street with winter tires and literally watched a dozen cars and a bus slide down the entire length of the decline smash up like a cartoon. My biggest worry was having to try to dodge them and was able to easily get away and turn off to a side street and actually go back up the hill because the pile up had blocked off access.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I don't get why some people refuse to change tires until absolutely necessary, especially in Calgary. Good tires can kinda be considered their own insurance vs avoidable fender benders when the dump comes down. But that's also why I like all weather or old winters as the non-winter tire because I still get that benefit for delaying my tire change without the worry of poor performance/swapping too early and burning off tread on the dedicated winters too early.

Unless you are drag racing, I cannot imagine that anybody is burning off that much extra tread off of the softer rubber on winter tires that much at all. Given that you're either wearing down one set or another, swapping over at a reasonable time to avoid eating an accident via an early snowfall seems to be a sensible path.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Slava

Yeah, these tires are overall completely fine. I basically need to do something here because of the bulge, and not due to tread at all (they have roughly 30,000 kms on them, so they should have lots of life, although I didn't measure).

I guess my issue with the winters comes down to laziness and the annoyance of the semi-annual tire swap. All-weather would be awesome in that regard, unless there's basically no gain in the winter.

If you want to avoid the annual tire swap, All weather will be good for that for city driving. There's definitely a noticeable gain with all weathers vs all seasons in the -20C to 0C range. I'd say there's another noticeable gain in the -20C+ range from all weathers to dedicated winters, but you'd need ice rink and lots of snow on the ground (ie: Uncleared snow storm) to notice it.

However, it also depends how much mileage you're putting on your vehicle. I'd be monitoring the tires after the 3rd year and I'd hesitate before driving out in the mountains on 5+ year old all weathers that have been on the vehicle for the full 5 years. If you're going to do a drive through the mountains for instance... evaluate the tires before you go or have another set/another vehicle with a good set ready to go for swapping before making such a trip. Any drive up to Louise should be OK. But if going to Golden... I've done it before with 4 year old All seasons mid snow storm/lots of accumulation on the road and it was a rare white knuckle drive for me trying to stay 10 over the speed limit. I think I felt like I was occasionally skidding around 1-3 inches on curves, but that's enough to be kinda scary, especially in the dark. I think it would have been perfectly fine and less stressful going speed limit or 10 under, but it was dark and we were still over an hour away from the air Bnb. I did change to driving 10 over on straights and then dropping my speed down to speed limit/10 under for those curves to make it in one piece.

Another option is a high durability winter tire and just leaving that on year round. It's a similar concept to an All weather, but slightly higher premium.

Originally Posted by chemgear

Unless you are drag racing, I cannot imagine that anybody is burning off that much extra tread off of the softer rubber on winter tires that much at all. Given that you're either wearing down one set or another, swapping over at a reasonable time to avoid eating an accident via an early snowfall seems to be a sensible path.

Sure. That's why I'm saying the All weathers are nice. Highway speeds + 20C+ temp over a few seasons can wear off probably half a season worth of tread. I occasionally drive to Regina to visit the inlaws, so a 20C day on winters + doing 120 kmph ish to get the drive over with for Thanksgiving is probably 4X the normal wear than the KM driving to and from Regina. Do this every year and by the 3rd to 4th year, there's some extra burning down of the tread where it's obviously not as good as it was a few seasons prior. That's why I got some high durability winters.

I don't think you need drag racing to burn down the tread. It's several seasons of stuff like this where you might burn down the tread enough that at the 5th year or so, you have to evaluate it vs others waiting till the 8th to 10th year to evaluate due to how little they drive in general.