If these are available, it bites a big one. My wife and I travel from central Texas to Wisconsin at least twice a year when there are chances to encounter ice and snow. Sometimes the wife makes this trip alone or with our daughter and granddaughters. Not wanting the OEM all seasons on the Pilot for the winter trips, I bought a used set of 18" Ridgeline wheels off Craigslist and a set of VC8 from Discount Tire before Thanksgiving..
DT offers a 30 day trial and Continental offers a 60 day trial. Today is day 66 from the purchase date.
I'm going to call my DT tomorrow morning, check availability, and see if anything can be done to exchange the VC8s for these.
Tough choice. You also experienced some poor roads on that last trip IIRC.
It’s a bummer doing the investment where you don’t feel you’ll get the payback. The caveat based on what you have is that the VC8’s for time should be good for the 6, maybe 7 years. Miles depends on how many trips and wear.
You wanted the best for the safety for your wife/kids and you did that. The new Conti AW may be better (or worse) than other all weather tires. You already had that choice prior to get Michelin CC2, GY WeatherReady2, Nokian WRG5 and others.
All the TR tests, reviews etc. are that they are still a compromise. Better than all season, not as good as winter. Better for those that don’t want to change or get spare rims.
One caveat that I think many still miss/forget/ignore is the physics with tread depth. For snow all the winter tires have separate wear bars at 6/32” then manufactures say replace for best winter traction. Conti has DWS molded in, when S goes away is the you can still use “reliably” in dry and wet. My old Blizzaks got to right at 6/32” at end of winter but still some snow. They went from really good to holy crack these suck to where I almost went back to my deeper tread all seasons.
If I’m going to need to replace my tires at 6/32” before each winter to try and get better winer grip, I might as well go all in. My 3 seasons last longer, my winters last longer. If my family can stop/turn/not slide on road/move out of the way better, that’s my investment in my families safety.
My son is in Virginia with his wife. I bought him new X-ice Snow before winter for his spare rims. He does drive to upstate NY to family cabin. His wife argued about winter tires/rims that I was going to buy. They were home here in NY for Christmas, they took her Tucson with 5-6/32 Michelin Primacy AS. It snowed while here and they drove her car. They came back shortly after and took my wife’s VC8 equipped Pilot. They are back in VA now and the spare rims for Tucson were still available locally for $150 for all 4. They are sitting in the backseat of his Forte for the next 3 weeks until we meet in PA for outdoor show. Probably won’t have winter tires on them for this year but definitely for next year. My expense, not theirs, I’ll travel to him to put on if needed. Someday if he buys a house then he can store them.
Top that with next 3 season tires on the Tucson will probably be something like the Nokian WRG5 or like these Conti SecureContact AW. I prefer for the more highway miles things to be able to cross rotate to even out wear/noise if needed. That just me on my old school as MANY have no issues with CC2 or other just doing front to back. The AW versions will get them through closer to holidays if needed.
