Winter Tire Thread

[Aqualung]

I'm in the Boston area...I'm not a fan of the Blizzaks...great ice performance when new, but softer rubber wears out fast(er).

I prefer Nokian Hakkepelitas...ran them on my MINI Cooper years ago and have stayed w/ them since.

 

[1ashchuckton]

Nokian Hakkepelitas

^ These are the best snow tires I have ever used. They are hard to fin in the area I live so it's been a few sets of Blizzaks. Blizzaka are very good, but once you wear them down a bit the the traction falls off. Now that Discount Tire is carrying Nokian tires I'll probably replace our Blizzaks with Hakkas after this winter.

 

[hypergti]

Hi Sonny,

Never heard back from you on this post of mine

I have a 2012 GTI with 16 inch rims for winter. I live in the Northeast.
Not too many deep snow storms but definitely snowy and slushy roads throughout the winter. Try to decide between the Blizzak WS80's or the Michelin XI3's?? Your thoughts? Anyone else who has either tire in snowy climates have feedback?

 

[Sonny@TireRack.com]

Hi Sonny,

Never heard back from you on this post of mine

I have a 2012 GTI with 16 inch rims for winter. I live in the Northeast.
Not too many deep snow storms but definitely snowy and slushy roads throughout the winter. Try to decide between the Blizzak WS80's or the Michelin XI3's?? Your thoughts? Anyone else who has either tire in snowy climates have feedback?

My apologies, it gets crazy this time of year. The Bridgestone would have a slight advantage in deep snow and ice, as well as slush. The Michelin however will handle better on dry roads and will last a little bit longer.

 

[Yomillio]

Hi Sonny,

Never heard back from you on this post of mine

I have a 2012 GTI with 16 inch rims for winter. I live in the Northeast.
Not too many deep snow storms but definitely snowy and slushy roads throughout the winter. Try to decide between the Blizzak WS80's or the Michelin XI3's?? Your thoughts? Anyone else who has either tire in snowy climates have feedback?

I use the WS70's in a 205 width over here in CT for the winter. They're fantastic. I've never gotten stuck in deep snow, heavy slush, packed ice, etc. Granted, a lot of it comes down to the driver - but the tires do phenomenally allowing me to get everywhere. I haven't missed work or stayed home once in three years due to snow. One time last year driving hilly country backroads in 6" of fresh powder sticks out particularly in my mind.

As Sonny alluded to, they do wear "quickly" - particularly if you aren't diligent about removing them / keeping them off when the weather is warmer. That said, I do have a surprising amount of tread left after 3 winters. I normally put them on around Thanksgiving (consistently get the first threats of snow around then) and pull them off sometime in March.

 

[Lucky#Slevin]

Long term update for anyone interested in 18" michelin x ice xi-3...

I Had these for 2 winter seasons and several large snow storms... These things are excellent in dry conditions and very good in deep snow.. They are super quiet and feel like an all season tire in the dry.. Not a sharp handler at speed but this is to be expected for a winter/snow tire.. They do handle pretty damn good I might say tho.. Just a lil soft at higher speeds when cornering.. But for winters they are amazing.. In deep snow these tires grip like crazy and offer excellent traction.. I love them in the snow.. In lesser slushy snow they don't seem to perform as great.. Kinda slippery but not terrible.. Fairly good.. But these excel in deeper snow as opposed to slushy stuff..

However I have detected a serious negative with these.. Wet rainy travel can be downright scary.. I have never felt such extreme hydro planing with ANY tire like these.. They just offer zero grip in the wet.. Not just standing water but in the rain they just slide and slip constantly.. Pretty scary to drive in wet conditions at highway speeds... In the ice they seem ok and are prob. much better then an avg. all season tire.. I did skid recently down a hill on some black ice fairly recently and not sure if any tire could have completely eliminated the skid..

Overall I love these winter tires.. They offer amazing everyday dry traction and handling for when it's not snowing and are really grippy in very snowy conditions.. Inspire loads of confidence when driving in awful blizzard conditions.. Just suffer from poor wet rainy traction and you just need to use caution if you drive in those conditions.. If your on the fence I would say buy them.. I kinda love them and I am looking forward to the I impending 3' of snow heading towards NYC!!! :w00t: :w00t: :thumbup:

I too bought the Michelin X-Ice Xi3. I had them mounted to 16x7.5 Monte Titano MT1 wheels. All done by TireRack.

As a side note, although I checked the box to have the wheels Hunter Road Forced Balanced they arrived at my doorstep slightly unbalanced. Three of the wheels were 0.5 ounce off balance. I had them re-balanced at Discount Tire at a cost of $15/wheel. I spoke with customer service at TireRack about the incident and they reimbursed my PLUS added another $15 for my inconvenience. Nice job TR :thumbsup:

However, I do still have a slight shaking/vibration between 70-80 mph causing me to scratch my head since they are balanced. Thoughts anyone?

I don't think that these are quiet tires - at least not on wet pavement. Although these are my first ever winter tires so I don't have another winter tire to compare them too. They are fairly quiet on dry roads though. Handling is ok, but I didn't buy these for that reason. I agree with others in that they aren't awesome in slushy conditions, but they are still good. We just got the biggest snow storm of the season so I really got to test them out today in deep snow. The performed very well. I even went up some hills that had 7 inches of snow. Definitely not bulletproof though. I did spin some, and got pulled left and right in deep rutted snow, but I think that has more to do with how low our cars are and the suspension setup. Bottom line, they are miles above any all season tire I've owned in winter conditions.

Hi Sonny,

Never heard back from you on this post of mine

I have a 2012 GTI with 16 inch rims for winter. I live in the Northeast.
Not too many deep snow storms but definitely snowy and slushy roads throughout the winter. Try to decide between the Blizzak WS80's or the Michelin XI3's?? Your thoughts? Anyone else who has either tire in snowy climates have feedback?

Here you go budd.. I have em.. I recommend them..

 

[titogtimkv1]

Got the general artic really good tires [emoji1320]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[loosecannon]

Winter tire package for 2013 Golf R

Just purchased a 2013 2 door Golf R, and the previous owner had summer tires, so I'm looking for a set of dedicated winter wheels/tires.

I live in the Seattle area, and the winters in the city are rarely snowy, mostly just cold and wet. But I do want to be able to go up over to the mountain passes, to go skiing, winter recreation etc, occasionally driving up some sketchier packed snow back-country roads and such, though I was able to make it up those in all seasons on a Honda element, so it's nothing outrageous.

I was thinking about a performance winter tire, specifically the LM-001 with the 17" Anzio Turn wheels. Do you think that would be a good set up? Is there anything in particular you would recommend otherwise. I hesitate to go for the WS-80 or a full winter/studless just cause the dry/wet bare pavement is more the norm.

Is it possible to get steelies or otherwise cheaper wheels for the R, or will they just not clear the brakes?

I have this sitting in my cart on TireRack but am just kinda hesitating before spending that much without being sure it's the right call.

 

[SpikeyNachos]

Will a performance winter tire have better cold, dry weather grip from a dig than high performance all seasons? Given that tire size, car, conditions are all the same? I do not drive the car in inclement weather. I do however notice a slight decline in my all seasons when the temp. really drops. Curious to hear from those running performance winters how they compare to your all seasons (or whatever else you run) in the cold, dry weather grip department. Specifically from a dig but other categories as well.

Thank you all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brobst]

All seasons trade summer performance for temp range of operation.
Winter tires trade tire compound for temperature.
It might be splitting hairs, but for no weather but colder, i would think the all season would be better.
Any weather and I choose the winter tire

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Blakcard]

All seasons trade summer performance for temp range of operation.
Winter tires trade tire compound for temperature.
It might be splitting hairs, but for no weather but colder, i would think the all season would be better.
Any weather and I choose the winter tire

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

This... if you have dedicated summers and are looking for an "all weather" tire for the winter season due to snow or ice or sub zero temps, nothing better than a dedicated winter tire if you have the budget. Cheaper in the long run than insurance deductible

 

[SpikeyNachos]

Thanks Brobst.

Blackcard, no inclement weather.

I'm just curious as to how the performance winter tires stack up against what else others run in regards to cold, dry weather traction only.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brobst]

For cold dry weather, performance all seasons and call it a day. For example, my summers give me full traction in second. My all performance all seasons did not. But I trade that for the temperature range ability of the all season tire.
Idk a performance winter tire just sounds strange. Because what makes it a winter tire, detracts from high performance driving.
At the end of the day, you are just going to lose some performance in the winter. There isn't a winter tire that is going to give you that warm weather performance you are looking for.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[SpikeyNachos]

Thank you. That's what I'm trying to determine before spending the $ on tires and wheels. Done enough of that. I'm curious as to what summer tire you are running?
My experience has me favoring my 17" bfg's a/s over my 18" pss & re71. A lot of research and good chunk of $ to figure that out.

Apologies for going off topic.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brobst]

Thank you. That's what I'm trying to determine before spending the $ on tires and wheels. Done enough of that. I'm curious as to what summer tire you are running?
My experience has me favoring my 17" bfg's a/s over my 18" pss & re71. A lot of research and good chunk of $ to figure that out.

Apologies for going off topic.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am using hankook ventus v12 evo for summers since they are budget price.
I was using continental Dws06 for all seasons, so one of the better all season tires. Second or third to Michelin a/s3

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk