edyvw
$50 site donor 2026
Oh man, my kids are 9, 6 and 9mos. When they start driving I will need 600sq ft shed.
Post your Winter wheel/tire setup
- Thread starter GenSan
- Start date
We do all the rotations at home – it would take way too much time to run to a shop every 3-5k. I keep a log with the date, mileage, and photos for every rotation.
To complicate it a bit more, the snow tires are only on the cars for about half the year. I asked Discount Tire about this, and they said there’s no problem with an EV and the X-Ice treadlife warranty, and no issue with DIY rotations as long as I have documentation.
I guess we’ll find out how it plays out when these wear out and I show up with my log.
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The wear gage says I lost 1/32 on the front and 2/32 on the back. This is a Suburban with lots of weight on the back. That is the wear for 1 summer and 1 winter. .
FIFY
Installed just in time for the snow this year, Toyo WLT1 LT245/75R17 on OE steel wheels.
Ram 1500 4WD Falken Wildpeak AT4w year round
Durango RWD Blizzak DM-V2 winter on OEM rims, Falken all seasons on SRT repro rims
Accord Michelin X-Ice on OEMs, Michelin Defender 2 on TBD rims after winter
Durango RWD Blizzak DM-V2 winter on OEM rims, Falken all seasons on SRT repro rims
Accord Michelin X-Ice on OEMs, Michelin Defender 2 on TBD rims after winter
Pirelli Scorpion Winter 2 tires on the wifes X6 M Competition
The 4Runner and Ram Dually get by on 3PMSF A/T's
The cars and bikes hibernate until the temperatures warm up, and the Salt is off the roads.
The 4Runner and Ram Dually get by on 3PMSF A/T's
The cars and bikes hibernate until the temperatures warm up, and the Salt is off the roads.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2026
Swtiched tires today on Tiguan:
Winter break: Michelin Pilot A/S 3+. Excellent tires. Still 6/32 on them.
On winter duty:
Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, 10/32:
Michelin: 235/50 R18
Bridgestone: 215/65 R16
Winter break: Michelin Pilot A/S 3+. Excellent tires. Still 6/32 on them.
On winter duty:
Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, 10/32:
Michelin: 235/50 R18
Bridgestone: 215/65 R16
We cheat: tractor bucket. Still took me 30 minutes for one car.
.Replacing my old DeWalt DW059 18V impact wrench as it won’t even break loose our cars, which are only 81-88 ft lbs.
No tractor, only have a 1/2 acre property and a couple sheds (10x10 vinyl, 10x14 metal). Tires are "strategically" placed all the way in back corner behind all the rest of the stuff since I only need to access 2x per year. That gives me a chance to move the generator, snow blower, rototiller, holiday decorations, shovels and SO many other things that just need to go to curb.
That's what I have on my Honda Fit. And some sexy plastic chrome hubcaps from Autozone!
Michelin is one of the few snow tires with a mileage guarantee, and their previous versions of the Xice and Xice2 have lasted for us, even as summer tires for a couple years as well. Our cars are on the lighter side for the tire size though.
I don't like them a lot as actual snow tires, I find in near freezing temps as they seem to be pretty bad at clearing slush, or biting in to hard packed warmer snow. At 9/32 or so, they just feel like a new-ish AS tire in those conditions. In -10C or lower, when snow squeaks, then they do work on actual ice or nearly ice hard packed snow, quite well, at any tread depth.
No pictures of the sexy plastic hubcaps?
when I lived in Wyoming, everyone has the Blizzak. The local tire guy stocked nothing but.....on the cars.....on the trucks were Duratracs
Feedback - The VC8's on the Pilot are very quiet on highway. Did 2 hours to moms and 2 hours back, dry roads. No extreme tests needed, 6 people in Pilot not tossing it trough the turns. Defender LTX M/S is 3 season with lots of tread left.
X-ice Snow - My son said nice ride and quiet on the highway, raining for all 8 hours from NY to VA, full car, wife, dog, no extreme handling braking tests. He's going to Adirondacks later today with it to go hunting at his in-laws place. They got about 8" fresh snow and will be COLD. Stay tuned. Conti TrueContact Tour is 3 season with a lot of tread
VC7's on CRV - still quiet, ride nice. Slow traffic, rain, nothing to report. Pirelli Scorpion AS+2 is 3 season, down to 4-5/32" but no issues
WinterCommand Ultra on Accord, 205-65-16. The tread width is narrow from how sidewall tapers. Same size X-ice Snow on another Accord is about 1/2" more tread width at contact point. Raining past 2 days in the 30's. They spin much easier than my 3 season starting out especially on lane marking stuff. Manual transmission. Braking seems OK but I haven't really pushed it. They have always had a VERY slight vibration, not shake, multiple balance and Road Force didn't fix that. Not putting $$ at it, last season for them anyway. 3 season is Pirelli P7 AS+2 215-55-17 but down to 4-5/32". Maybe they'll make next 3 season. Definitely more grip for dry/wet over the winter set. With the size/contact patch they have about 1" more contact on the road on each tire.
The Blizzaks are an excellent choice. Like all winter tires, the steering response suffers a bit, as the tall tread blocks are a bit squishy, but the traction is excellent, and they do very well in mixed precipitation and ice.
I’ve got Blizzaks (or more correctly, my kids and I have Blizzaks) on three of Volvo wagons.
The 2004 XC90has the Continental Viking 7.
The Nokia Hakapelliitta line are also excellent and got me through many Vermont winters.
A bit of Volvo trivia - the only wheels that clear the Brembo 4 piston calipers on the R are the OEM Pegasus wheels. Even other Volvo wheels, with the proper offset and bolt pattern, don’t clear those calipers. So, to mount the snows, I bought a new set of 17” “Pegs” and put the new Michelin Pilots AS4+ on them, and then mounted the Blizzaks on the original set of Pegs, that have a bit of curb rash and age on them.
I did the same with the 2004 XC90 - took the original wheels, with curb rash and age, and put the Viking Contacts on them, and got a refurbished set of identical wheels for the summer Nokian WR G4 on that car.
On my son’s 2001 V70, I got new 17” wheels for the Michelin AS4s, and kept the older 16” wheels that were original to the car for the Hakapelliittas. That car now has Blizzaks.
All that to say that it took considerable effort, not to mention some expense, to get the winter tires properly mounted.
They are that important.
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