Firestone winterforce stink big time

[Rand]

Yea they are pretty terrible. They are aggressive enough to be good in deep snow but they are a one trick pony.
Some all-seasons will outperform them on ice if unstudded.
Funny thing is people who havent had better rave about them and keep buying new ones.
The altimax arctic is amazingly better.. even most of the hankook winter tires are far superior to the Firestone Winterfarce.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I have a pair of2 season old Aggressive tread Winterforce mounted on -2 70 series 14's steelies from Tirerack for small Hondas (HONDA FIT APP) if anyone is in NH you can have the mounted par for 25 bucks

PM if interested. NO tpms.

 

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I don't do studs. Cost/benefit analysis. Not the money, the annoyance.

Oh, and these tires have one final trick. They trap snow in their treads, say, from a side street. Then when I accelerate and grab 2nd or 3rd gear on wet pavement, the snow flies off and that wheel loses traction for 1/10 second.


My attitude on the studs thing is this: if the tire accepts studs, it should have them (or run a different tire). The studdable tires aren't designed to have good grip on ice and hardpack without the studs, while a studless tire is. Studdable tires do tend to have an advantage in very deep, fresh snow, as the studs allow them to have a more open tread that can dig better, while the studless tires need the tighter tread to maintain good ice grip.

And funny you mention packing up like that... I have a similar issue with my Nokians. If they're wet and slushy when I park the Jeep and it's cold enough, after sitting for a few hours, they have terrible grip for the first few minutes of driving. They usually grip fine laterally, but it takes basically no throttle to spin them, even on what appears to be dry pavement. After a 1/2 mile or a little more of driving, they're suddenly perfectly fine and grippy again, almost as if they develop a super-thin ice film on the tread that needs to wear off.

 

[Rand]

The problem with studs is it adds 10-15$/per tire

Winterfarce are terrible without studs..

Other winter tires such as the altimax arctic dont fall off nearly as bad on the ice traction.

Of course the best of both worlds is a tire with factory designed studs such as the hakka 8.

 

[Lubener]

Don't be fooled, no tire is totally effective on any ice. Studded, if allowed, is the only way to improve stability on ice.

 

[krzyss]

Supposedly not true if ice is "cold" - 0F or below.
In low temperatures studless tires beat studded as the studs cannot bite hard ice enough.

Around 0C it is different story.

Krzys

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
Don't be fooled, no tire is totally effective on any ice. Studded, if allowed, is the only way to improve stability on ice.


True, but we get ice on asphalt that fills in the nooks between sand grains, but some asphalt still sticks out. Some of it is condensation from car tailpipes waiting at intersections. I don't care where it comes from, these 'stones handle it more poorly than five or so other brands of winter tire I've had.

Studs carry the benefit of smashing ice so it can scatter off the road, helping the guy behind you.

 

[rslifkin]

On very cold, dry, clean ice with nothing else on top of it except maybe a thin dusting of dry, powdery snow, studs vs a good studless tire doesn't really matter (and the studless may have an advantage at times).

But if we're dealing with near-freezing wet ice or a thin layer of ice that can be broken up, studs will do a bit better. So in the real world, they do still hold some advantage, although I don't run them personally, as it's fairly rare that I encounter conditions where it would actually make a noticeable difference and they have downsides for a lot of other conditions.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
Don't be fooled, no tire is totally effective on any ice. Studded, if allowed, is the only way to improve stability on ice.


That is true on "warm ice" around 32F.
but that is also a very general statement. The Winterforce tires we are talking about even studded handle ice poorly.
So much so that a studless ice tire such as the michelin xice xi3 or yokohama ig52c would be superior.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I don't do studs. Cost/benefit analysis. Not the money, the annoyance.

Oh, and these tires have one final trick. They trap snow in their treads, say, from a side street. Then when I accelerate and grab 2nd or 3rd gear on wet pavement, the snow flies off and that wheel loses traction for 1/10 second.


They're supposed to do that. Seriously: snow tires are SUPPOSED to "pack" the tread...because packed snow has better traction on packed snow than rubber! I had a set of Winterforces...they turned my Magnum from totally undriveable to nearly unstoppable short of high-centring. My only complaint was that they were, unsurprisingly, loud.

 

[iluvhonda]

I'm putting my winter forces on my 94 hatch tomorrow cause we are expecting the nor'easter. It makes a 2100 pound car fun because the traction is pretty decent. Still better then any all season.

 

[Jetronic]

I was on a 4x4 forum the other day, and those guys really like Winterforce as a Mud tyre

 

[GScott]

I think they're awesome! Saved me from getting in a fender bender last night. On wet it is impossible to skid on these tires. They are like driving on squeegees.

Good price, half the price of other winter tires like Blizzaks. I bought 215/75R15s for $68. They are well regarded around here, often run as cheap rally tire on subarus. I'm very happy to have them.

I don't know the age of folks commenting here, obviously you don't remember the old winter tires that were bias ply mud tires, hard as stones. Modern tires are so amazing. I don't need the best out there, these are good enough for me. I don't over-drive my tires. I think these are great tires.

 

[VetteElite]

Originally Posted By: GScott
I think they're awesome! Saved me from getting in a fender bender last night. On wet it is impossible to skid on these tires. They are like driving on squeegees.

Good price, half the price of other winter tires like Blizzaks. I bought 215/75R15s for $68. They are well regarded around here, often run as cheap rally tire on subarus. I'm very happy to have them.

I don't know the age of folks commenting here, obviously you don't remember the old winter tires that were bias ply mud tires, hard as stones. Modern tires are so amazing. I don't need the best out there, these are good enough for me. I don't over-drive my tires. I think these are great tires.


I agree here. I got Winterforces on my Saturn this year and I love them. It hasn't been an extreme winter, but in the snow we have had, they've been a very tangible improvement over the all seasons. I don't need the best winter tire, I just wanted an affordable winter tire that would get me more grip than my all seasons (I have Bridgestone Turanza Serenity all-seasons which are an amazing tire in every aspect except driving in lake effect snow), and the Winterforce delivers.

 

[Mr_Joe]

Yeah, about any dedicated Winter tire is better than most any 'all season'. That all said, I use the common Blizzack. There may be choices that match, or even slightly better, but they work for me.

 

[SLCraig]

I have never run those tires, but never had any desire to either.
I did have a set of Hankook iPike RC01 that were garbage though.

 

[Virtuoso]

I have a set on our SSEi. Second season. They are way better than the UHP all-seasons I run during the rest of the year. But I was disappointed in the ice traction as well. These are great on snow, but if they get loose on ice, game over.

When they wear out I'm going to try a different brand. Everyone around here seems to love them, but most people don't run snows. Then they wonder how they ended up in the ditch.

I do regret not having them studded. Maybe next time.

 

[SubLGT]

The Winterforce has been replaced by the Winterforce-2, with a different tread design, and hopefully an improved rubber formulation.

https://www.firestonetire.com/tire/winterforce-2

http://www.tractionnews.com/bridgestone-updates-firestone-all-season-and-four-other-tires/