Tell me about snow tires...

I'm looking at purchasing snow tires for the '89 Probe GT I picked up as a DD/Winter Beater... Recommendations or Input please, I live in WV and after last winter I'm gonne be prepared!

I'm a fan of Michelin X-Ice myself. There are other snow tires with greater snow traction, but these are really, really good - and they don't succumb to dry/warm pavement abuse like Blizzaks and Hakkas do. In fact, I run them year round on the Accent and have 3-full years, or about 20,000-miles on them. I'll probably replace them before this winter, but they still have useable life left in them. They're also really good on gravel.

Their only real downside is in slush. They're not much better than the Continental DWS we use on SWMBO's Fit in those conditions.

Edit: Oh, and for a real-world example - a few weeks after I got my first set of these(presently on my 2nd set), I had to get my wife & step-daughter to the airport 70-miles away for a 5:30am flight in early December. It happened to snow that night...about 5"-7". Given the time of day and rural area we're in, I only saw a couple plows out on the way there/back. No problems though, in fact I detoured down a rural 2-lane road I knew would not be plowed by then just to avoid the morning traffic on my way home - and I was able to comfortably run 55-60mph through unplowed snow, with the car's bottoming dragging across the deeper parts.

General Altimax Arctic

I would say follow the advice of that guy above me... buttttt :p

Snow, ice, or both?

Different conditions require different tires. The altimax unstudded is a decent all around tire, the altimax studded is essentially the best ice and snow tire period.

If I was running strictly ice, there are better unstudded tires then the unstudded altimax.

HiTempguy wrote: I would say follow the advice of that guy above me... buttttt :p Snow, ice, or both? Different conditions require different tires. The altimax unstudded is a decent all around tire, the altimax studded is essentially the best ice and snow tire period. If I was running strictly ice, there are better unstudded tires then the unstudded altimax.

I normally say buy for the conditions you drive in too but its late here and I am tired.

Snow, Ice, and Slush... I drive 40 miles each way to work at 5am, mostly interstate miles. Though sometimes I get caught on the road before the snow plows are out.

Altimax Artic unless you want to spend a ton of money on better Nordic tires.

Ive been real happy with Firestone Winterforces. Reasonable price and I have liked their performance. I am going to order a new set for the wife's Civic soon.

I liked my Firestones, I thought they were great...then I bought General ArticMax.
Wow, the Generals are soooo much better.

I just bought my third set of x-ices.

snow tracker's

they're not ice tires, but are a great tire for the money when it comes to snow

dansxr2 wrote: Snow, Ice, and Slush... I drive 40 miles each way to work at 5am, mostly interstate miles. Though sometimes I get caught on the road before the snow plows are out.

Then get the Altimax's. Best all-rounder for the $$$'s

(Following this thread due to having discovered some chewed up tread on Subarust last weekend.)

wbjones wrote: snow tracker's they're not ice tires, but are a great tire for the money when it comes to snow

This, but the older version with studs is what I used to run, on every car in the family fleet for over a decade.

Then I found the generals.

In reply to petegossett:

Which Hakkas? The R2s are supposed to last significantly longer than the Rs and be better on dry pavement.

Here is 3 pages of chatter on the same topic from last month that you might find helpful.

In reply to dansxr2:

Couple thoughts

• Unless rallycrossing then any winter tire will do. More money usually = more durability.
• Some tires are biased towards ice others towards snow. Choose based on your thoughts of what you have run into most in your area. In WV I experienced both 10cm of snow and a smooth sheet of 2cm of ice across the whole freeway for miles. So drive accordingly based on the targeted grip performance of the tire.
• All of the winter tires will provide improved acceleration and turning but NOT as much improvement in braking. You will adapt to it if you take the time to respect it.
• You can still get stuck. So continue to carry your normal get out of jail card. I had a set of old magazines and a rubber floormat to toss under the drive wheels when the hot tires melted a smooth bowl shape into the snow when parked and I had a hard time getting out.
• Respect the speed limit of the tires. Get up around 50MPH and some tires start to balloon out and the car will have a floating handling feel. I have had to drive at 55MPH on a 70MPH freeway and just have to chill otherwise you tear up the center of the tire and also have a high risk of just sliding off the road due to the tire deformation.

What kind of crappy snow tire doesnt let you do at least 80mph? Driving 55mph on the highway on a dry day is a sure fire way to cause an accident in these parts.

And snow tires certainly improve braking over all seasons, thats kind of the whole point of running them. If you just wanted improved acceleration and turning over a normal car on all seasons then you could actually trust subaru and audi's marketing.

I ran my Altimax Artics on the highway all the time up to 75mph or so, in temps as high as 65*(and low as -15), they wear like they're made of iron, I expect to get several more winters out of the set. It can be a bit unnerving to some though, they make the car feel like an old full size Buick. You get used to it and completely forget when you go out in a blizzard and the car just kinda spins the tires a little to clear them out and then goes like a bulldozer.

Based on the recommendations here and the other thread mentioned, I just ordered a set of Altimax Artics for my Golf TDi.

+1 on the Altimax Arctic. I have them on my 330 ZHP and they get a low, RWD car through winters in North Dakota. Like Kenny_McCormic said, they wear loke iron and clean out awesome with just a little tire spin. But they are floppy sidewall tires with no sporting intentions, even in the 45 series that I use. But they are winter tires, so who cares?

I've had Goodyears and Dunlops on my Malibu, Blizzaks and Snowtrakkers on my Cavalier, and Michelins on the Fiat. I felt the Dunlops and Michelins did the best in deep snow. They all did well on dry roads up to about 80 mph at which point the Snowtrakkers would feel like they were made of Jello. I just picked up a set of like new Winterforces off Craigslist for $25 to put on the Malibu this year. They look very aggressive like they should do well

The last set I had before just staying home were the predecessor to the Dunlop WinterMaxx. It was great in deep snow, great on solid ice, and pretty good on dry roads. Still got 23k out of them, and they were softer than my current bike tires.

Canadian Tire had a sale on Michelin X-Ice as well as General Altimax Arctic for about the same price. I had previously scoured the internet on tires, and found both of these very highly rated. I bought the Michelin X-Ice, and will see how they go this winter on the '77 Silverado.

I had Firestone Winterforce on both the Hideous Hardbody (both studded and not) as well as the Stupid Sunfire, and hated them. They could churn through snow, but they sucked on ice, of which I have more where I live.

WAY BACK I had a set of Toyo G02's and thought they were the cat's meow.

The fastest I have had my old WS60 Blizzaks was 92mph.

On ice.

checked by radar.