Originally Posted By: tpitcher
My Wife's 97 Camry could use 4 tires before the snow.
I want:
- Comfortable & quiet.
- Excellent snow traction
- Does NOT need to be a long wearing tire
So, which tire? 
Some Tires I've Owned...
- Thread starter jjcom
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Nokian WR G2's were excellent on our Legacy turbo wagon and even long wearing in 215/45/17 V-rated.(45k and raised manhole flattened it. I believe they are one of the few all-seasons that are rated as a winter tire.
Looks like the Starfires mentioned earlier are made by Cooper.
Best: Michelin LTX (will be buying a second set), Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring (1st generation - two sets), Firestone FR480 (two sets), Michelin Harmony (will be buying a second set).
Worst: Goodyear Tracker 2 ("exclusively" at Wal-Mart), Michelin LX1.
All others were nothing more or nothing less than what I expected them to be.
Good thread on tread.
My '07 Grand Prix came with Michelins, 225-55-17. Lasted 50,000 miles.
Replaced those with Sumitomo A/S po1, something like that, and they have lasted 39,500. (Sumi's were new car take-offs, $45/tire plus m+b.) They are now at 2/32s.
Getting Continental ProContacts tomorrow. Best bang for the buck at $117/tire at a real tire store for my size and H rating.
Originally Posted By: Indydriver
Originally Posted By: tpitcher
My Wife's 97 Camry could use 4 tires before the snow.
I want:
- Comfortable & quiet.
- Excellent snow traction
- Does NOT need to be a long wearing tire
So, which tire?
This just popped into my head...I completely forgot about another set of tires I had. My 01 Monte Carlo SS had Toyo Versado LX II tires on it. They're nice and smooth, quiet, and great in the rain...once warm. When they're cold though...thump thump thump down the road I would go. Somehow they're called an all season, but as soon as the temps got lower (below 40 degrees) they were complete garbage. They would develop flat spots over night, and if it sat for a week, it'd take a good drive before they'd even out again. They were about as useful as slicks in the snow...I didn't drive it in winter at all. My 96 with General Altimax HP made it through no problem though.
As a side note...My Monte was kind of a lemon...struts went bad, rack went bad, tie rod ends loose, leaky transmission, AC compressor ate itself, wheel bearings loose, leaking lower intake, HVAC control head died...and I know there was more. I bought it to save miles on my "baby", my 96 Grand Prix...ended up putting more miles on the old one since it didn't break down every other second...
I had a set of General Altimax RTs on a 2006 Chevy Impala. They lasted roughly 25K miles and were shot (the OEM Goodyear Integritys only lasted 24K miles.) The Altimax RTs were some of the worst tires I ever purchased. Winter traction was virtually non-existent, even when new. I even went so far as to complain to General, and they simply replied that the tire should not be used in temperatures below 45 degrees, and I should purchase General Altimax Arctic tires for use in temperatures below 45 degrees. When I went back and asked why they market the Altimax RT as all-season, they stopped responding to me. I wasn't asking the tires to cut through heavy snow...just a couple of inches of snow to get home.
Replaced the Generals with Goodyear Assurance Touring from Sam's Club. Worlds better than the Generals for about the same price. Put 10K miles on the Sam's Club Goodyears before trading the car. The Goodyears still looked like new.
Absolute worst tire I ever purchased was for a Ford Explorer I owned over 12+ years ago. Costco house-brand "Kirkland" tires. They were supposedly made by BFGoodrich, and BFGoodrich pretty much confirmed they were manufactured by them, but they were horribly noisy and hard riding.
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