Who uses snow tires? What about "high performance" snow tires?

[matthewdesigns]

I searched and found a few useful posts, but most of them are older. I thought I'd throw this back out for more timely info.

Just like everyone else here, I'd guess, I want the most out of my car year round. I've driven for years on high performance all season tires, right now Kumho Ecsta ASX. I like them, they have decent tread life and dry grip, but I know I give up a little warm weather performance in the summer and a lot of cold/snow/ice performance in the winter by doing this. I now have 2 sets of rims, and I think I would like to go to dedicated summer and winter sets. This will of course allow me to swap over if the weather is good, but I don't see myself doing that every other week to keep up with the forecast. However, I don't want to give away the farm handling-wise with the winter set, and would probably not run them at all if handling goes totally in the crapper.

It's a given that snow tires will make a difference in snow/ice driving. That's all well and good, but during the other 95% of the time when it's dry, is it annoying to have winter tires on?

Does anyone have experience with a "performance winter" tire that's actually good? Or are those terms mutually exclusive? Is spending $$ for anything other than a utilitarian winter tire a waste?

Any input is appreciated!

[jking29]

I have a set of Pirelli Snowsports that have been used the last 2 years on my better halfs MKII Jetta. They were recommended to me by a friend that drives his Miata year round. I have to say that I have been very happy with them. Her summer tires are Hankook Ventus in a 215/40-16 and the Pirelli's are 195/55-15. The Pirelli's have 90% of the dry grip of the summer tires, don't howl like crazy, have gotten her everywhere she needed to be without getting stuck, and wear very well.

[vinnio]

I have a set of blizzaks for my 2g awd. I love these tires. The tread compound is really soft, which has many advantages. I can’t even describe how well they perform in the snow and ice. I have never had a problem with stopping or sliding in a corner (unless I want to) I live in Minnesota, so I see all the nasty weather. Don’t get me wrong, if your on solid ice there’s no tire in the world that can stop as good as on dry pavement. That’s where studded tires come in!! But the blizzaks hold their own, for sure.

On dry pavement, they aren’t that bad either. You don’t have to swap them out every time the weather changes though... I put mine on after the first snow, and leave them on until frosty becomes a big puddle in my back yard.

The soft compound makes the ride very quiet! There is hardly any tire noise when they are on my car. Plus they stick. I have mad traction on the pavement. It’s very hard to under steer and I’ve never been able to kick the back end out (on dry or wet pavement).

I guess my biggest drawback from the winter tires is the amount of crap they kick up! You can wash your car and not make it a block without getting some road debris all over your fenders and doors. It’s not terribly bad, but if you’re picky about having a perfectly clean car, you’ll be investing in a set of mud flaps very soon!!

Also, if you drive them in the summer, they will wear out about 3x as fast. (haha, my old set of blizzaks are bald because of that!)

But to make up your mind, winter tires are WAY worth it. Especially if you live somewhere that snows a lot.

[BleedingSilver]

my personal xperiance I had kumho asx's an loved them in sumer and rain and they did fairly well for me in the winter but once the tread got low snow driving was almost for playing around on level parking lots only and I wound up getting another set of mastercraft all seasons for winter and had no problems. My new summer tires are sumitomo htr+ and they pretty damn gripy but have absolutly no rating for snow use so im looking into blizzaks. a friend of mine had them on his sti and they made a little road noise but very very grippy and well... with awd it was unstoppable. Making a long story short snow tires are worth it. If size is your next question I would say 215/55/16 or 225/50/16. Fyi factory should be 205/55/16.

[ryanman]

For an all out winter tire...you can't beat a Hankook Weather Master.

[totaleclipse_05]

Originally Posted by vinnio

I have a set of blizzaks for my 2g awd. I love these tires. The tread compound is really soft, which has many advantages. I can’t even describe how well they perform in the snow and ice. I have never had a problem with stopping or sliding in a corner (unless I want to) I live in Minnesota, so I see all the nasty weather. Don’t get me wrong, if your on solid ice there’s no tire in the world that can stop as good as on dry pavement. That’s where studded tires come in!! But the blizzaks hold their own, for sure.

On dry pavement, they aren’t that bad either. You don’t have to swap them out every time the weather changes though... I put mine on after the first snow, and leave them on until frosty becomes a big puddle in my back yard.

The soft compound makes the ride very quiet! There is hardly any tire noise when they are on my car. Plus they stick. I have mad traction on the pavement. It’s very hard to under steer and I’ve never been able to kick the back end out (on dry or wet pavement).

I guess my biggest drawback from the winter tires is the amount of crap they kick up! You can wash your car and not make it a block without getting some road debris all over your fenders and doors. It’s not terribly bad, but if you’re picky about having a perfectly clean car, you’ll be investing in a set of mud flaps very soon!!

Also, if you drive them in the summer, they will wear out about 3x as fast. (haha, my old set of blizzaks are bald because of that!)

But to make up your mind, winter tires are WAY worth it. Especially if you live somewhere that snows a lot.

This is going to be my first winter in MN with some dedicated snow tires (Blizzaks) so I am pumped. All other years I have driven on bald summer tires and it has sucked, but I am looking forward to AWD+Snow tires!

[JrCRXHF]

I run 2 different sets on both my DSM and my EVO

Falkin 615's in the summer

and

Master craft glacier grip 2's in the winter.





and with the dsm i pulled this.




the best part about both sets of tires is that they are almost the best out there at 50% of the cost.

[2FoX2]

I have 2 sets of tires, my summer tires are Falken's (215/50 R17) and I have a set of goodyear winter tires with studs (205/60 R15). They can get me to the ski hill with no problem, actually the studded tires on an AWD are like cat paws, they give an incredible sense of security.

[matthewdesigns]

Hey thanks for the info so far guys. Especially the heads-up on the Glacier Grips...I've found some good reviews of them.

How much snow are you guys seeing in the winter? Is it 50% of the time that your streets are snowy/snowpacked? More? Less?

[vinnio]

Usually, in Duluth, the snow will stay on the road for a few days. The pavement always has some heat, so it almost never stays packed. Excluding side streets, which aren’t used as much, will sometimes have packed snow until the next warm day. PLUS they always dump massive loads of salt and sand up here to keep everything nice and melted. I hate salt!!

Originally Posted by totaleclipse_05

This is going to be my first winter in MN with some dedicated snow tires (Blizzaks) so I am pumped. All other years I have driven on bald summer tires and it has sucked, but I am looking forward to AWD+Snow tires!

You will love it! My buddy *had* an AWD Talon (like mine) with summer tires he used year round. Every time we would use my car, he would freak out when I would go into a fast corner. "You’re going to spin, Bla bla, holy crap!!" etc etc... Same with stop signs and stuff. He always thought I would slide right through, but never did! You can really push the limits with these tires and they will perform.

[matthewdesigns]

Anybody ever siped tires for better snow/ice grip?

I'm starting the think that with as little snow as I see here that I may just add some sipes to my Ecsta ASX all season's, and try them out this winter. I'm hoping I can get a little more snow and ice grip by doing that, but not give up anything when it's dry. Then I'll buy some all-out summer tires next year when it warms up.

[Ajax]

Just remember and learn from my mistake! I have a GS so it FWD so I figured only get two tires for the front since they are so expensive (Blizzaks). Well first time we got some good snow I was approaching a stop sign and tried to stop well my front tires stopped great. (Blizzaks) but since my rear tires werent Blizzaks the rear end ended up coming around doing a complete 180 over the stop sign!! So get four snow tires no matter what brand.

[JrCRXHF]

i have pushed snow over the hood of both my evo and DSM they work great. umm as for cutting the tires more i don't think it will help much but maybe on ice. They are well siped from the factory.

Just put a skinny tire on for the winter and then wider for the summer.

depending on your state laws you might be able to order the tires studded i know we can not here in Michigan but if u can i would.


u can get both types of tires from here.

Vulcan Tire Sales - Tires, Tire Chains, Tire Pressure Monitoring (TPMS), and More... Falken - Goodyear - Yokohama - Pirelli - Kumho - Dean - RV Tires and more...

[BleedingSilver]

Why not run a wide tire in the winter too? Wouldn't you want a wide pattern to help get through it. I know in ice racing I have seen skinny tires used but I believe it was for high speed cornering in the snow/ice. I also remember learning that the 1g hummers in the desert would use less tire pressure to help the tire flatten over the sand to keep from sinking and would increase the pressure once on pavement or harder surfaces.

[vinnio]

^^ exact opposite. The wide tire flattens the snow and will roll over it (for the most part) where as the narrow tire will cut right through the snow!

I have 205/55/16's and they are bomb in the snow. I’m sure the factory spends a lot of time deciding tire size.

[JrCRXHF]

skinny tires in the winter. The dsm will go through more snow then my evo for that reason hands now.

[eclipsh]

A little more info regarding snow tire handling traits: you will notice a big difference between snow tires and summer tires and it does take getting used to every time you switch them out. I run 245/40/17 Kumho SPT tires in the summer and 205/55/16 Nitto SN1 tires in the winter. They are both awesome at what they are designed to do. I can stop dead in a foot of snow with my snow tires and get moving again with almost no fuss. They are a studless design.

However the dry handling is very noticeably different from my summer tires. No surprise of course but you have to be ready for it. My snow tires can handle high speeds just fine but they do wiggle a lot more when I try to turn sharp. This is due to the tread depth, design and of course the siping. It isn't unbearable once you are used to it but they aren't what I'd call sporty on the dry. On the other hand, I think you'd have to be nuts to drive sporty on Colorado mountain roads in the winter anyway. You never know when you might hit that patch of black ice on a north facing slope and go flying off a cliff.

I tried my old ASX tires in a little snow and they are worthless compared to snow tires. I don't know any tire shops that will sipe used tires either and I suspect it is for a good reason.

[twicks69]

I only swear by Nokian Hakkapellitta RSi tires. Nokian Tires They are THE BEST on the public market. A cheaper version would be the Dunlop Graspics, but they can not compare to the Hakka's whatsoever.

I have had Hakka Q's and RSi's on both of my DSM's with absolutely no issues. I use the RSi's year-round on my GVR4 with excellent results, and excellent traction all year round. It makes driving in a whiteout blizzard fun -- seriously, I went out for a 5-hour jaunt in my GVR4 this winter when we had the 100+" and had an absolute blast -- I put on well over 200 miles in a whiteout when people were told to STAY OFF THE ROADS due to their conditions. Absolutely the most stable and longest lasting snow/ice tire on the market, while keeping a very aggressive tread pattern for increased handling and a ton of sipes for all weather conditions.

The Eclipse used Nokian Hakkapellitta Q's -- 215/55/R16
The GVR4 uses Nokian Hakkapellitta RSi's -- 205/55/R16

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Winter Prepping

Originally Posted by matthewdesigns

I searched and found a few useful posts, but most of them are older. I thought I'd throw this back out for more timely info.

Just like everyone else here, I'd guess, I want the most out of my car year round. I've driven for years on high performance all season tires, right now Kumho Ecsta ASX. I like them, they have decent tread life and dry grip, but I know I give up a little warm weather performance in the summer and a lot of cold/snow/ice performance in the winter by doing this. I now have 2 sets of rims, and I think I would like to go to dedicated summer and winter sets. This will of course allow me to swap over if the weather is good, but I don't see myself doing that every other week to keep up with the forecast. However, I don't want to give away the farm handling-wise with the winter set, and would probably not run them at all if handling goes totally in the crapper.

It's a given that snow tires will make a difference in snow/ice driving. That's all well and good, but during the other 95% of the time when it's dry, is it annoying to have winter tires on?

Does anyone have experience with a "performance winter" tire that's actually good? Or are those terms mutually exclusive? Is spending $$ for anything other than a utilitarian winter tire a waste?

Any input is appreciated!