House brand/little known tires with reasonably OK winter performance

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MoneyJohn

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Asking for a friend, 2015 Corolla, S trim, up for tires change. Location - little north of NYC, a region with slopes in the neighborhood. Looking for something that will perform OK in a little bit of snow, about an inch max.

This vehicle doesn't get driven much, local errands for his wife. She is careful with driving (almost always 4 YO in the car). He is not doing great financially at the moment so considering putting Nexen Aria AH7 at Walmart. I don't know how good these tires are with respect to winter performance. I recommended Altimax RT43 but that adds another 100 or so to the budget of $350.

I wonder if there are any house branded all-season tires or little known brands that are in a similar price range.

Thanks in advance.

Edit- The tire size is 205/55/16
 
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Gets a good write up here:

https://tirereviewsandmore.com/nexen-aria-ah7-reviews/

And yes that site does list negatives for each tire so I do them credit for that. I remember another Nexen tire from WM, I think the N5000 that had horrible winter traction. A guy on CL was selling some nearly new ones because he couldn't get up a small hill by his house during winter.
 
I don't know the price difference versus the AH7 but I have a set of Nexen N'Priz AH8 that I've been very happy with and these are touted as being one of the better all-season snow tires by that same Discount Tire review site.

There seems to be a noticeable difference between the OEM version of the AH8 and the aftermarket version that DT sells. It seems that the lettering, tread, and I don't doubt tread compound are different on the tire you get at DT/AT versus the OEM version they put on new Optimas and Jettas. I like the AH8 a lot better than the Sumitomos I had on there previously and my impression is that newer Nexen models are much improved over what they were selling 5-7 years ago.
 
Not sure if they're still around or in your area, but Fleet Farm's Roadrunner tires were great in the snow when I used them, comparable to dedicated snow tires. Made by Cooper if I remember right.
 
Used, 16" should be dirt cheap. She could probably run snows year round.

I assume that would offend someone's sensibilities, though. One set of the cheapest, worst performing, new AS tires, please.
 
Milestar WeatherGuard. I am keeping an eye on these for winter. They are the cheapest all-weather tire I have seen: https://www.ebay.com/p/2%2DMilestar%2DAw365%2D205%2D55r16%2D94h%2DXL%2DA%2Ds%2DPerformance%2DAll%2DSeason%2DTires/10025878983?iid=202451205007&rt=nc
 
Originally Posted by cjolson140
Not sure if they're still around or in your area, but Fleet Farm's Roadrunner tires were great in the snow when I used them, comparable to dedicated snow tires. Made by Cooper if I remember right.

Fleet Fram Roadrunners are not available in the size he is looking for

Originally Posted by maxdustington
Used, 16" should be dirt cheap. She could probably run snows year round.

I assume that would offend someone's sensibilities, though. One set of the cheapest, worst performing, new AS tires, please.

We don't know anybody in the neighborhood selling used tires, nor do I think he would be comfortable. Never used it (neither of us). So maybe just the stigma of using a used tire. I will let him know though of such an option.

Originally Posted by faramir9
Milestar WeatherGuard. I am keeping an eye on these for winter. They are the cheapest all-weather tire I have seen: https://www.ebay.com/p/2%2DMilestar%2DAw365%2D205%2D55r16%2D94h%2DXL%2DA%2Ds%2DPerformance%2DAll%2DSeason%2DTires/10025878983?iid=202451205007&rt=nc

These do look good. I will let him know. Thanks for the suggestion.
I will start another thread seeking personal experiences if any.
 
The good news is that 205/55-16 is a very common size
smile.gif


Walmart's Douglas tires aren't bad at all for a cheap tire! They are made by Goodyear and usually American-made, too.

The Nokian WRG4 is about $100 each and perfect for your conditions
 
Originally Posted by cjolson140
..... Fleet Farm's Roadrunner tires..... Made by Cooper......
Man, another affiliate of Cooper...... including Mastercraft, Dean, Ironman, Hercules, Mickey Thompson, Roadmaster, Starfire, Avon, **** Cepik & Cooper produced the old Sears Guardsman tires. Guess they're running out of names, as indicated by Roadrunner & Roadmaster. Alright, Cooper!!! Keep..... "made in America" real!
 
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Well, compared to how many rebadged lubes Mobil has (includes CAT etc) and how many oils have their base stock … that's how business gets done these days ...
 
Look for the rebates and hit them on the holiday sales.

I had 215/60-16 cooper cs5 ultras installed for $297 net last Thanksgiving (discount tire). $100 of rebates off list, from using dt credit card and Cooper. Will handle that snow acceptably; I drove them in more this winter. Lots of other tire choices fan on rebate they can get the price for a quality tire that size down around 300 bucks with careful shopping.
 
At walmart your best two choices under 70 bucks in that size is going to be the Goodyear Viva 3 and the Cooper Evolution tires. Both solid all seasons. 12 bucks to put on also keeps the total price down as well.......
 
Originally Posted by daves87rs
At walmart your best two choices under 70 bucks in that size is going to be the Goodyear Viva 3 and the Cooper Evolution tires. Both solid all seasons. 12 bucks to put on also keeps the total price down as well.......

I'd get the Cooper Evolutions anytime over the Goodyears.
 
Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
Originally Posted by daves87rs
At walmart your best two choices under 70 bucks in that size is going to be the Goodyear Viva 3 and the Cooper Evolution tires. Both solid all seasons. 12 bucks to put on also keeps the total price down as well.......

I'd get the Cooper Evolutions anytime over the Goodyears.


And you ran both how many times for how long ?
 
Originally Posted by daves87rs
At walmart your best two choices under 70 bucks in that size is going to be the Goodyear Viva 3 and the Cooper Evolution tires. Both solid all seasons. 12 bucks to put on also keeps the total price down as well.......

Have you (or anybody you know) have tried them in MI? What he is worried about snow traction on slopes in our neighborhood. Agreed that all-season tires are a compromise and should not expect to work as good as the winter tires. That said, he is looking for something that will not be an absolute disaster.
Viva 3 don't look to be great for our neighborhood. I searched these for myself a while ago.

I don't think Cooper Evolution Tour that Walmart sells as same as say Tirerack sells, right?
 
Originally Posted by MoneyJohn
Originally Posted by daves87rs
At walmart your best two choices under 70 bucks in that size is going to be the Goodyear Viva 3 and the Cooper Evolution tires. Both solid all seasons. 12 bucks to put on also keeps the total price down as well.......

Have you (or anybody you know) have tried them in MI? What he is worried about snow traction on slopes in our neighborhood. Agreed that all-season tires are a compromise and should not expect to work as good as the winter tires. That said, he is looking for something that will not be an absolute disaster.
Viva 3 don't look to be great for our neighborhood. I searched these for myself a while ago.

I don't think Cooper Evolution Tour that Walmart sells as same as say Tirerack sells, right?


As far as I know the Cooper Evolution Tour at Wal-Mart should be the same as everywhere else. There are always conspiracy theories about WM, but not sure how they would pull that off with name-brand tires.

The Evolution Tour replaced the CS3. I had a set of those on a Saturn SL a few years ago. Above-average winter performance for an all-season, but I only had them one winter. If you and your friend don't want to order online, that might be a good choice.
 
I'd stretch for RT43 but that's me.

Just north of NYC? Aren't the roads well taken care of there? I'm wondering if you really "need" good snow traction. Yes black ice is always a concern. But I don't know the area, and I don't know how well they salt it. But as a wild guess I'm thinking all seasons of most any stripe are going to be just fine. Cheap ones maybe even, as I'm not sure how many miles are being put onto this car (tires being something that can age out). Dense suburbs? Also I wonder if tire life is going to be short due to urban life.

Upshot of Douglas tires is that any Walmart tire shop should be able to take care of any issues that a set might have. But I have no experience with them nor do I know how they work in snow. One downside of cheap rubber is that they generally suck at something, and I'm thinking that something is apt to be ice traction regardless of what tire it is.
 
Originally Posted by supton
.....Upshot of Douglas tires is that any Walmart tire shop should be able to take care of any issues that a set might have..
I got used Douglas tires(little wear) lined up to use on my cars. Any issues I probably WON'T have (they have already been tested which IS the definition of "used"). I'll deal with any issues by replacing with another used tire. No hassle with a truculent new tire dealer. However, I've gone thru 10 to 15 used tires so far..... & ALL of them have been wonderful....& that includes alloy wheels on which some of the tires were mounted AND WELL BALANCED. cheap cheap cheap..... fine, fine, fine performance.
 
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Originally Posted by MoneyJohn

We don't know anybody in the neighborhood selling used tires, nor do I think he would be comfortable. Never used it (neither of us). So maybe just the stigma of using a used tire. I will let him know though of such an option.



So is he broke or just cheap? Keep an eye on craigslist-- should be able to find either that size or 195/65/15s on appropriate 5x100 rims real cheap. Then by owning snows he can run his summer tires down further and not only save money but have safer rubber in the winter when it counts.

A 2015 is still nearly new and it's too soon to be getting cheap with the car-- in other words, investments now will pay off. If this guy doesn't have a budget for car maintenance it may be a more worthwhile endeavor getting him more mechanically aware. It's more expensive to be reactionary than to plan ahead.
 
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