Best low priced all season that's good in the snow

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
11,526
Location
OH
I just got done chatting with a Discount Tire rep who said the best, low priced all season tire for snow traction is the Cooper CS3 (my size is 215/60/16). However, it's not exactly a lower priced tire. Their price is $84. They have some other all season tires that are less expensive (some are priced as low as $58, but he said none of the lower priced tires would be any good in the snow. I have no way of knowing if these tires really are no good for snow and he's just trying to upsell me or not. Do any of you know of a lower priced all season that would be good in the snow?
 
I was going to say the 2 I've had great results with are Pirelli P4's, and P6's, but looking @ your size on TireRack, They come to $102, and $98 each respectively, not exactly Low priced...
 
Yeah I was going to vote RT43s but they are more expensive than the CS3s you mentioned on DTD.

I have P4s as well and they have served well in the winter.
 
My 0.02, is to take the money you'd spend on all seasons and just buy a used set of snows on rims already. Then you can run cheaper all seasons to lower tread depths without worrying about winter performance. The studdable snow tires last quite a while on pavement IME as well.
You seem to do enough miles to wear out tires, so its not much of an extra cost to run a winter set and summer set.
 
$84 per tire is a pretty good price in my opinion for a 215/60R16. Yeah, I'm sure that there are even less expensive tires. The Dunlop Signature II is available in your size, at $80 apiece (from Tire Rack), but it's H-rated (if you're looking for T). This tire seems to be a bit of a "sleeper" in that it's not terribly common, but seems to get decent reviews and decent objective testing as well (Consumer Reports).
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
My 0.02, is to take the money you'd spend on all seasons and just buy a used set of snows on rims already. Then you can run cheaper all seasons to lower tread depths without worrying about winter performance. The studdable snow tires last quite a while on pavement IME as well.
You seem to do enough miles to wear out tires, so its not much of an extra cost to run a winter set and summer set.


This particular vehicle gets so few miles put on it per year the tires generally dry rot before the tread wears out, however, the all seasons on it now need to be replaced (cuz they're dry rotted) and I don't want to buy 2 full sets of tires, hence why I'm wanting good performing all seasons...
 
I bought 4 Michelins Xice last December at discount for $ 100 a piece and mounted on my original alloy rims, also got a $50 rebate card which brought the total price down. They outperform any all season tire I have ever had in snow and below zero temps. I just have to get them mounted next month on a set of black steel rims that I'm shopping for. This will save $ from remounting and rebalancing twice a year. they are super quite as well. Blizzaks are supposed to be just as good.. 40k mile warranty.
 
I really doubt the salesperson is going to "upsell" you into one of the cheapest tires they offer for no good reason. I think he's doing you a favor.

My two cents, if you decide not to go with snows buy decent all seasons. That 85 becomes 100 when you get it mounted. If you can do better for 10 bucks more spend it. If nothing else you'll probably break even on the additional miles you can put on a decent tire.

The CS4's are pretty good in snow. I'm sorry I've not driven the CS3.
 
I've had excellent results with the Arizonian Silver edition tires sold at discount tire. I did pay extra for siping, but I have not tried them without siping to see how they compare. They get along great in the snow and the dry grip is excellent as well.
 
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I've had excellent results with the Arizonian Silver edition tires sold at discount tire. I did pay extra for siping, but I have not tried them without siping to see how they compare. They get along great in the snow and the dry grip is excellent as well.


Those look like they would be decent! Treaddepot sent me on by mistake when I bought 4 lifeliner GLS tires (made on the same assembly line). I wouldn't have minded getting 4 of those!
 
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I've had excellent results with the Arizonian Silver edition tires sold at discount tire. I did pay extra for siping, but I have not tried them without siping to see how they compare. They get along great in the snow and the dry grip is excellent as well.


They're more expensive than the Coopers ($99 vs $84)...
 
Last edited:
So during the summer, tirerack usually discounts their steel wheels and their snow tires.

I ended up buying a set of steel wheels with snow tires mounted on them for like 400 dollars. This was for a saturn.

I used them for three seasons, then sold them to a guy for 200 dollars when I left for Texas.

The difference between snows and all seasons is really night and day. I got along fine in blizzards in my little saturn ion with an open front diff.
 
The Cooper's won't be very good in snow based on ratings and the tread pattern compared to other tires available.

Discounttiredirect has Hankook H727s with $75 in rebates currently which would put each tire at $84. I'd see if your local store could order them and if you could get those rebates. That's a good deal for a tire that used to be rated the number 1 all season tire for snow traction until several newer models came out.
 
Last edited:
I drove a coworker's car on "hi fly" all seasons. In a flat, snowy parking lot, traction control kicked in and would not let it rev above 1500 RPMs, and it didn't move.

Going with all seasons is already a compromise, don't add another layer by going generic.

If you're going to anyway, look at the tread pattern and pick something with lots of sipes. Cheap tires that lack them are guaranteed to be awful.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I drove a coworker's car on "hi fly" all seasons. In a flat, snowy parking lot, traction control kicked in and would not let it rev above 1500 RPMs, and it didn't move.

Going with all seasons is already a compromise, don't add another layer by going generic.

If you're going to anyway, look at the tread pattern and pick something with lots of sipes. Cheap tires that lack them are guaranteed to be awful.


That's why the Discount Tire rep I chatted with recommended the Cooper CS3...he said it had a lot of sipes...not quite sure what those are...I thought sipe was something that's done to a tire, not something that's part of the tire...
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top