5/32 enough for Winter?

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So Tire Rack gave me this.

4-naked Kumho Solus TA31 A/Season $466 to door plus whatever the going rates for mount and balance...$25 a tire?

4-naked Continental Pure Contact A/Season $594 to door plus mount balance

4 Steel Rim with TPMS ($51ea) and installed Dunlop WinterMaxx $1,115.96 to door. Then I pay god knows what at dealer every season for reprogramming ugh!

Anybody have any "issues" with these tires their performance or prices?
 
Does WI require tpms? Do you have to have it inspected during winter?

I don't think toyota has issues with toms light on. Some one here has a Fit and if the tpms light is on then trac control can't be turned off. For the rest of us we can easily ignore the light.

Have you looked on CL for rims? Tire rack and other aftermarket rims often have complaints about not fitting, quick to rust, etc.
 
I didn't know about the rims not fitting complaints, I'd first cry and the be [censored].

No requirement in WI to have TPMS but the dealer says the light will blink and blink and blink . It it just stayed solid my wife could deal with it. Oh and no go for 'turning it off'. I asked.

So in order to get the wife to not bother me about a blinking light which WILL drive her crazy, I have to buy $200 of TPMS gear and pay $200 a year to program.

[censored]. Anybody know how to do this right?!
 
I think the rims fit but won't work with hubcaps. Ymmv.

Is tpms on it's own fuse? On a Tundra forum someone had a hack to make it so the light would never come on. Diode installed someplace.

Some people take out the sensors and install into a chunk of PVC pipe that they can then inflate. Toss it under a seat and no more worries.

I think Car Talk has some $19.99+shipping&handling black tape which can also fix the light.
 
Got another quote from another dealer what one charges $100 to do, the other charges $60 to do. That is the seasonal TPMS reprogram. What I don't get is he said ,"Do you have the codes". As if they are on a price of paper. Interesting!!
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Is 5/32nds enough for winter on a 2013 Camry?


Here is something I have previously posted here at BITOG:

In 2011 the Swedish magazine Vi Bilagare tested two sets of the 5 winter tires listed below, one set with full tread depth, and a second set with tread shaved down to a depth of 4.5 mm (slightly less than 6/32").

Nokian HakkaR
Michelin Xi2
Continental ContiVikingContact5 (twin of ExtremeWinterContact?)
Goodyear UltraGrip Ice+
Hankook Icebear W440

What effects does shallow tread depth have on winter performance?

One of the surprising results to me was the minimal degradation of snow traction with shallow tread depth. Two of the tires, the Conti and GY, even had slightly shorter braking distances in the snow with a shallow tread, compared to full tread depth.

Snow braking distances increased by an average of only 2.7%. Snow acceleration times increased by an average of only 1.6%. Performance on the "snow slope" test worsened by only an average of 3.5% (but the Hankook had a loss of 12.2%). The Hankook had the worst overall snow performance losses of the 5 tires tested, but the least wet braking degradation.

Ice braking distances increased by an average of only 3.6% (but 10.3% for the Michelin, only 0.8% for the Nokian). Ice acceleration times increased by an average of only 5.5%.

Hydroplaning resistance decreased by an average of 12.7% Slush-planing resistance decreased by an average of 10.5%

By far the largest performance degradation with the shallow tread was in wet braking. On average, stopping distances were increased by 22.9%, with a low of 6.7% (Hankook) and a high of 36.8% (Nokian).

Here is the ranking of performance degradation that is seen when tread depth decreases to 4.5 mm:
wet braking > hydroplaning > slush planing > ice acceleration > ice braking > snow braking > snow acceleration
 
In my state the minimum tread depth for snow tires is 4/32". You're at 5/32 with not much there to grab the snow. I'd buy some snow tires. The cheapest snow tires you can find will be safer than even new all-seasons.

Check the current thread "Winter tires mounted"

Craigslist: (I don't know if these'll fit)
Cooper 215/60/r16 Snow Tires on Toyota 5-114x16 rims, With Tire presure sensors. 75% tread. $550.00

4 Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 Snow Tires size 205/65R-16 mounted on 16x7.5 Sport Edition F7 Silver Aluminum Wheels. Includes Tire pressure sensors on all, mounted and balanced. Only used one winter (approximately 5000 miles). $800

Newer snow tires + wheels that were on a 2007 Toyota Camry. Firestone Winterforce 215-55-R17 $400
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
So Tire Rack gave me this.

4-naked Kumho Solus TA31 A/Season $466 to door plus whatever the going rates for mount and balance...$25 a tire?

4-naked Continental Pure Contact A/Season $594 to door plus mount balance

4 Steel Rim with TPMS ($51ea) and installed Dunlop WinterMaxx $1,115.96 to door. Then I pay god knows what at dealer every season for reprogramming ugh!

Anybody have any "issues" with these tires their performance or prices?


If you are comfortable spending that much I would think about the Nokian WRG3. Order them online, install locally on the OE wheels, sell the Turanzas on CL, then don't worry about tires apart from routine rotations for 3 years. The WRG3 in 215/55R17 even comes in V-speed rating. It has a 500 AA UTQG and a 55K-mile treadlife warranty. (If I read the fine print correctly, Nokian now includes V-rated tires in its warranty.)

If I ever buy tires not made in the USA again, it will be Nokians with the severe-service emblem.
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Hmm, i suppose this holds true only of winter tires.


If your Turanza AS tires were included in that test, I would expect them to have less loss of wet traction, compared to the winter tires, and more loss of snow and ice traction than the winter tires.
 
Ok here's where things get weird....

Dealer- "you gotta have the special hexidecimal code from each of the tire rack sensors and we then do tire by tire code entry for programming into the car."

Tire Rack- "NOPE, no codes are printed or needed, bolt the combo in the car, drive your 2013 Camry into ANY tire shop an all they do is wake up the TPMS sensors at the wheel and the car will sniff out the codes emulating from the sensors instantly, almost hands free and instant"
 
I'm not sure who is right for the 2013 camry, I would probably side with the dealer on this one though. Some cars do not require programming, many Acura's don't require programming since there is a tpms receiver in each wheel well that talks to that one sensor in the wheel well. The cars that do require reprogramming typically have one tpms receiver in the car that talks to all four sensors, the receiver is located under either the driver or passenger seat in my Subaru. To be safe, I would have tirerack write down the tpms sensor id's if you are going to have them mount and balance the tires onto wheels with the tpms sensors installed.
 
Update:

Called Discount Tire here in WI.

They side with tire rack. They say it's dealer nonsense that it is so complicated. They say that with Schroeder made TPMS valves and a dedicated hand scanner that they do this all darn day trouble free. They do plug into the obdII port. And then go to each sensor. Then the spare to finish. The guarantee NO problems or hiccups. Free reprogramming for life supposedly, free road force balance for life after the initial $25 per tire after install. So in that way the beat tire rack for sure.
They even say they do free relearn I the OEM alloys and Turanzas with OEM TPMS each spring when I out them back on after it hits 40degrees average.

BUT the one thing I am leery of is the steel rims they offer.....Carlisle "unique" it's called. I can't find even a photo of an actual rim for a CAR by that model name let alone reviews. And I don't want warped Chinese junk. At least with tire rack I can SEE a picture. Hmm. Can't be that bad but the Carlisle trailer rims seem like junk to me.

EDIT: I did find a "Unique" steel wheel OEM replacement picture here at this link. A question, is it a bad thing that they have the ten stud hole so it fits almost anything? Weaker?

I like the simple intentional five hole look of the tire rack steel rim. It maybe that has not actual quality significance.
Carlisle-Unique steel wheel OEM "fits all"
 
Actually I just wanted to correct myself quickly since I can't edit my last post. When I suggested having tirerack write down the sensor id's, I was thinking of someone like myself who has an ATEQ quickset to program my own sensor id's into my cars computer. If you're going to take the car somewhere like the dealer to have them program the new sensor id's into the cars computer, they should have a tpms machine that is sophisticated enough to pull the sensor id's from the tpms sensors wirelessly with the wheel/tires mounted and everything. One time tirerack forgot to write down the tpms id's for me, so I took my new wheels and tires to a local modern tire store and had them wirelessly pull each sensor id for $20, which I'm pretty sure tirerack reimbursed me for.
 
Yep, found that series 83, edited post above. They look awfully generic with tons of "fits all holes". But other than looks.....you guys think they are built well enough for service on my new camry?

I care about safety and basic quality. Not fancyness. So if all those hole are just a visual nusance...fine. But I it presents a know torque or durability issue....no way.

Thoughts on the Discount Tire outfit (and questionable rims) ??
 
Great question, OP, since I find myself in the same boat. 70,000+ miles with 5/32-6/32 left on Michelin Primacy MXV4 205/60R16 leading into a NorthEast Winter.

I went to the tire shop last week for what I thought would be my last rotation on these tires, the tech took a look and said, "leave them, the rears are a bit better and you want the best tires on the back for Winter driving." I took his word for it. He made no mention of and expressed zero concern over tread depth, but I made my own measurements, noted above.

I have never run winter tires and have never had an issue with traction, acceleration, or stopping. I plan to replace the MXV4's in the Spring with General Altimax RT43's or Continental Purecontact Ecoplus tires.

If you put any stock in the Farmer's Almanac this Winter is supposed to be very cold, but with modest snow accumulation, at least around here.
 
To be honest with you, when you said 5/32, I figured new tires would be the only choice. Then you posted pics with more like 6 or 7 /32.

What did these tires start with? I'm guessing at 6/32, they are worn, but not that worn. I'd probably give them a go, and if you aren't happy with the results, then buy new.

All that being said, snows are the best option (and I run them on both my pickup and SUV), but a bit of a pain to store and monkey with. The TPMS stuff is one more hassle now..

The snows on my explorer are an inexpensive alloy rim from Discount with the multiple lug not mounting circles. I've had no trouble with them to date.
 
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