How many run winter tires?

Ive been running A/S tires since Ive had the car (bought new). I need new tires and kinda hate to get another set of A/S. Id much rather run summers when its warm and a dedicated winter tire in the cold season.

However, even though snow can be a problem here (MNPLS) its usually plowed in a day of two and then the roads are fairly clear.

So is it bad to run winter tires when the snow is cleaned off and its just cold? Does the road tear them up?

How many of you in the St Paul MNPLS area actually run dedicated winter tires/ snow tires in the winter?

Also, I usually make a trip or two out of state to MO and am thinking the winters wouldnt work that well for traveling to warmer climates.

Thanks for any input-

 

I believe winter tires are usually designed to operate in teh colder climate regardless of snow coverage due to being a softer compound they stiffen up a little more in teh cold!?!?!?

 

Yes, the compound is designed to retain more flexibility and grip below 40 degrees. usually they also have a tread pattern designed to work better with snow and may even inclue studdable holes.
I have a set of Hankook Winter i-Pikes which worked very well last winter for cheap.

Highly recommend winter tires for anyone who lives more than 50 feet from their job.

 

Yep, it's like reverse r-comps in the cold
Winters (they're not snow tires, they're winter tires) are just so much better, you won't want to go back.
They won't get damaged by dry pavement, they're designed for it. What they can't take is excess heat, though they're not that unforgiving. Bad idea to run them after temps get above 60F, though those random warm days in January won't hurt them.

Oh and summers are just so much better than all-seasons in teh summer, that's just a sales pitch in itself.

 

See, the whole dry pavement thing was my concern since we do have a lot of that here after the roads are plowed melted etc.

SO as long as its below 60F or so...

So what about sustained hwy speeds if I drive down to MO? That would be a 5-6 hour drive.

Thanks for the responses-

 

It all depends on the winter tire - some do fine at higher temps on pavement and others wear quickly. I had a set of hankook w404's that I would run on pavement through may with no issues. that same set of tires is now on another members car and he has been daily driving with them for over a month.

 

I drive from rochester to lake city (45mi each way) daily on my winters. I will definately get a second year out of them. so I think they hold up pretty good.

 

Cool thats encouraging.

So Hankooks get the nod then?

 

60 is high, winter tires are for like below 45.

I was using Nokian RSI and drove them couple of times to Chicago over last two winters at 75mph usually. They're fine. Sure, the sidewall is very soft, but you get used to it. If you want stiffer sidewall (sacraficing some snow grip) - get dunlop M3/3d

Any more details? I'm interested in a set, and not sure I want to buy new at this point.

 

The i-Pikes are around $90.00 apiece on discount tire direct.

Any more affordable sources out there?

 

There's a blowout sale for some blizzaks on tirerack

 

Dont get much cheaper than that. Talk to any of the members here who work at a discount tire. they may be able to get you a deal. might have to dig through the hookups thread.

 

My winter tires are awesome!

My boyfriend (SubyNate) lives on a lake that has a racing track plowed in the winter-

Anyway, he had stock WRX tires last winter. He can slide around like crazy and kicking it slideways is no prob on the snow/ice track.

My 02 WRX has winter tires- he got so pissed when he was driving my car because it had way too much control...

 

thats cheap as hell.

 

last winter was my first winter with winter rubber. It was great. I will always have a set of winter rubber and summer rubber.

 

It is, but I am not sure I personally like REVO's, but some members here do. I'd rather get the iPikes primarily because they look soo much like Nokian RSi's I really loved.

 

A decent set of performance winters will do well at any temp. I ran two winter track days on a set of Dunlop WinterSport M3s and they looked little worse for the wear (under 60mph on mostly dry pavement). They also have a much stiffer sidewall compared to a studless tire. Great type of tire to get if you live in areas that get plowed often.

 

I did last year with Hankook iPikes and they didnt wear abnormally fast or anything. And they were awesome in the snow.

 

Any one know of tires-easy.com?
Their ipike price is very cheap...

 

Good god, they even have Gislaved, that's the first time ever I saw them being sold in the US.

 

I will always have winter tires. Nokian RSIs ftw.

 

+1 for the RSIs. I have them for my WRX and love em. On the other hand I use Winterforce tires on my Legacy all year round and have not noticed any extreme tire wear. They are so inexpensive that I carry a full size spare and there is no need to swap tires when I RallyCross.

Amy

 

I have nokians with a few seasons on them, and they are still awesome in the snow.

 

I live in MPLS and I use winter tires. I have Hankooks. As someone else said. 60F is too much. And it's not related if there's snow or not, it's more temperature related. I can tell you that I drove 2000 highway miles, with clear highways and temperatures between 35-50 and they did not deteriorate in any abnormal way. a good set will last you for a good amount of time.

 

I have RSis and they are worth every penny!

I drive daily about 60 miles on 394/94 which is all dry pavement. I have 2 seasons on my tires and I am for sure going to get another 2 out of them before I need to replace them. Hakkas FTW!

 

How many run winter tired?


usually most days I am tired....

 

They make a world of difference!

 

Winterforce question...

I recently purchased a set of Winterforce for my Forester XT. I have not mounted them yet. So, you ran them this past summer? Any long distance trips on them in the summer? I ask becuase I may do a camping trip in Montana (next summer) along a 2-3 day long trail, which these tires look like they would perform quite well in the dirt.

thank you,

Jon

 

Winterforces are great in the dirt. I use them for rallyx and when I volunteer at pro rally's. The have a soft sidewall and require 40psi plus in the dirt if you want to drive aggressively. I don't think I would want to run them all the way to Montana in the summer but bringing them with and swapping is always an option. If you run them on the highway at high temps they will wear rather quickly.

 

I've driven 2 or 3 times from Motley to Cannon Falls for RallyCross, about a 4 hr drive each way, in addition to a number of trips to the cities and haven't noticed any unusual wear traveling 70+ mph.

Amy

 

I try to get as much sleep as possible in the wintertime.

 

how has the title not been changed yet? :dunno:

 

just wanted to emphasize this sentence.


I've had dedicated winter tires for 4 years now (this will be my 5th....). I don't know how I got around before.

and as mentioned, summer tires are just as much better in the summer as winters are in the winter. it's worth EVERY PENNY!!!


my first winter was spent on GoodYear UltraGrip ..... (had a more specific model name then...don't remember it). I liked these, but the particular model was a bit more of an all-season than a dedicated winter tire. sold these with the lifted wagon.

then I ran 2 years on Cooper Weathermaster studless snow tires. which I liked, but will not get again unless they're free again. these were on 13" wheels.....brake upgrade meant I could run them again.

last year I ran a softer compound version of the UltraGrips. I liked these quite a bit (but not the open-spoked alloys....got lots of snow packed in them and then vibration). these are for sale.

this year I got a set of Blizzak revo 1s from the tirerack closeout (paid on tuesday....on my porch on friday!! for about $220). to go on a set of 15" steelies (the coopers were on steelies, never had a snowpack/vibration issue with them).

 

I'll pop my 16" I-Pikes on the Forester some time late next month. My wife's MINI Cooper gets a set of Michelin winters as well.

 

Check Out this Brand

Last winter I mounted a set of Green Diamond Icelander tires on my Legacy wagon. These tires plus Subaru AWD are an unbeatable combination for winter. After the first 1000 miles or so of wear the tire starts exposing tiny carbon granules that are like thousands of tiny studs, the traction is amazing. They are a little noisy on some pavement, but not horrible. I found out about them from my son the VW fanatic. I think they are only available direct from the U.S. distrubutor on line:

http://www.greendiamondtire.com/

Here are some comments from another Subie forum:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-267723.html

Frostie

 

thanks for the 411 Mark. I actually just spoke with the local (MN) distributor for this tire and I'm impressed with information he provided. Additionally, the tire prices were pertty darn good. The Icelander tire in a 205/55/16 was 100 each shipped to my door. Not bad...

 

+1 for separate winter and summer tires. Once you start doing this, you will never go back.

As for which winter tire? Well, that's debatable. Different tires do different things better than others. Some are geared for ice, some for snow, some even for dry/wet roads and performance. It really depends on what you want them to do.

My suggestion is to research...a LOT. There have been tons of tests done over the years comparing a lot of the winter tires made. There's a lot of info if you don't mind searching for and mulling through it all. The idea is to determine a "best fit" tire that suits your own needs best. This will be different from the needs of other people who seek a different blend of properties from their tires.

Some tires to focus in on as some of the "better" choices:
Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 and Blizzak WS-60 and Blizzak Revo 1 and Blizzak LM-25, Continental TS-810/TS-810S, Dunlop Wintersport 3D and Graspic DS-2, Firestone Winterforce, General Altimax Artic, Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice and Ultra Grip GW3, Green Diamond Icelander, Michelin Primacy Alpine PA3 and X-Ice Xi2, Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 and WR G2 and Hakkapeliitta R, Pirelli Winter 210 Sottozero and Winter 240 Sottozero and Winter 270 Sottozero and Winter Carving, Toyo Observe G-02 Plus and Observe Garret KX, Verdestein Snowtrack 2 and Snowtrack 3, Yokohama Ice Guard IG20

Some are friction tires. Some are studable. Some are geared for sport use. Some are geared specific for ice. Some are geared specific for snow. Some are geared for all-weather. Some are cheap. Some are expensive. These are most of the better performers in the winter tire market. However, they still vary A LOT, so it's still a big matter of picking one that has the mix of properties that suit you and your needs best.

What about the Hankooks that many talk about? Well, I haven't really come across specific reviews of the I-Pike nor W400. I've seen info about the W440 Ice Bear, but they simply aren't that outstanding from the test data, not compared to other options. The I-Pike may fair better, no clue.

 

Wow lots of good info everyone thanks!

Ive always run A/S and decided this past summer Im tired of it and want to run dedicated summer tires while its warm.

Which means using winters of when its cold of course.

That will be an experiment I suppose to see what is the best fit for me. Ive been reading the Euros emphasize dry performance a little more while the USA is more about ice and snow performance. Given a choice I would lean a little more towards the dry performance since much of the time our roads are plowed.

But really, just about any decent winter tire will be better than the A/S Ive been running. And they havent done too bad at all probably cuz of the AWD-

 

this is exactly right. any tire designed to operate in the colder temperatures are going to be a massive improvement. like I said before, this will be my 5th year running snow tires, and I still have a hard time telling the difference....only thing I know is I'm not going back to all seasons anytime soon :eek3:

 

Ice will always be the most limiting factor. Awd will get you through a LOT of snow, even on crap tires. Even though it's winter, people do drive on dry, clean road 90% of the time. It seems obvious to emphasize dry stability and grip because of this. At the same time, it is always a compromise to do so. A true, dedicated snow or ice tire will have a LOT more grip on snow or ice then a non-dedicated tire. There are just inherent trade-offs with the designs. It's sort of the jack of all trades or a specialist kind of thing.

Certain tires to a number of things well. Others specialize in one specific task and dominate only that one area.

You do sound like you are leaning towards a performance oriented winter tire, something that still feels like an all-season/performance tire but has better winter traction then a normal all-season.

Tires like the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25, Continental TS-810S, Dunlop Wintersport 3D, Goodyear Ultra Grip GW3, Green Diamond Icelander, Michelin Primacy Alpine PA3 and X-Ice Xi2, Nokian WR G2, Pirelli Winter 210 Sottozero and Winter 240 Sottozero (depending on wheel/tire size), and Toyo Observe Garret KX will be ones you'd be looking at, as well as a few others. These emphasize performance and/or dry/warm weather usability.

 

I'm putting winter tires on my stock rims this year! It will be way more better :biggrin:

 

Right-On

Thanks, that's nice to know.

Jon