Tires for Dolly Parton roads

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Jul 27, 2006
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Southwest Virginia
I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern VA where the roads are full of curves and hills. A quarter mile stretch of a straight and flat road is virtually unheard of here. Are there any considerations I should take into account in tire selection for these roads? I can see the curves perhaps reducing tread life, but otherwise I can't think of any other tire considerations specific to these roads. The roads we drive are 95+% paved.

I currently have the OEM tires installed (Continental ProContact TX) 215/55/17 94V, with 30,500 miles and 3-4/32nds or remaining tread. I have never had any hydroplaning, fishtailing, or other indications of traction loss with these tires. I am considering Continental PureContact LS tires for the next set.

The vehicle is a 2019 Nissan Altima 2.5 SL and my driving style is very non-aggressive (95% cruise control). We get about 45" of rain per year, and while we do get snow we generally use the 4WD truck if there is snow on the roads.

Thanks!
 
Have you considered the Continental Terrain Contact A/T? It is a mild off road tire, with pretty good on road characteristics. They would do pretty good with the amount of rain you get, handling the dirt road, and aren't noticeably more noisy than a good road tire.
 
I've put about 4000 miles on a set of Michelin CrossClimate 2. So far, they have been a great tire. Handle amazing in wet and dry. Excellent braking and traction in wet, very quiet and ride very smooth. The real test will be when the snow comes. I purposely purchased these and had them installed on the Highlander before we picked it up. My main objective is to skip having to put on dedicated winter tires on the Highlander and run the CrossClimate year round. They are Three Peak Mountain Snowflake rated.

There is an ongoing thread here;

 
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I grew up in WNC. IMO long treadwear is most important. The constant curves will grind down tires at a faster rate. Especially if asphalt has crushed granite mixed in. Obviously vehicle speed will also have a big influence the wear rate.
 
Have you considered the Continental Terrain Contact A/T? It is a mild off road tire, with pretty good on road characteristics. They would do pretty good with the amount of rain you get, handling the dirt road, and aren't noticeably more noisy than a good road tire.
I have those tires on our Tacoma which we use for rough gravel roads and in snow. The Altima is our cruising vehicle so my emphasis is on a smooth and quiet ride with fuel economy, wet traction, and tread life secondary.
 
I bought a new set of CrossClimate 2's last fall. Seem to be great tires in all of the ever-changing Iowa weather. Good in show, ice, rain, braking, etc.

My only whine it the fuel mileage dropped about 4 MPG. But then again, I retired and do less highway driving. Probably a large factor.

No more miles than I drive these days, they can charge $10 per gallon of gas, I'll still be Okay!;)
 
I just put some Toyo Extensa A/S ll on my Buick and couldn't be happier, smooth and quiet. Like you not worried about snow, have my Sierra for that and I am no a spirited driver.

The tread starts out at 11.5/32 which is better than a lot I seen when researching
 
CR's rankings are in the following order:

Michelin CrossClimate 2, Continental PureContact LS, Hankook Kinergy 4s2, General Altimax 365AW
 
I’m not sure where the Michelin CC2 will end up in the “quiet” category. Mine don’t sing but the previous bridgestone potenzas were a smidge quieter. I would consider adding the continental DWS06 plus to the list. It has a highly regarded history.
 
I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern VA where the roads are full of curves and hills. A quarter mile stretch of a straight and flat road is virtually unheard of here. Are there any considerations I should take into account in tire selection for these roads? I can see the curves perhaps reducing tread life, but otherwise I can't think of any other tire considerations specific to these roads. The roads we drive are 95+% paved.

I currently have the OEM tires installed (Continental ProContact TX) 215/55/17 94V, with 30,500 miles and 3-4/32nds or remaining tread. I have never had any hydroplaning, fishtailing, or other indications of traction loss with these tires. I am considering Continental PureContact LS tires for the next set.

The vehicle is a 2019 Nissan Altima 2.5 SL and my driving style is very non-aggressive (95% cruise control). We get about 45" of rain per year, and while we do get snow we generally use the 4WD truck if there is snow on the roads.

Thanks!

Excellent grip on wet tarmac would be on top of my list. I don't live near the Blue ridge mountains but we too have no straight and flat roads here. Good thing about that is there's not really much standing water, except in the lowest places were roads can get flooded. Aquaplaning resistance is not important then, but not extending the brake distance or lowering the cornering speeds significantly is.

I'd go with a premium summer tire, or an all-season with very good wet traction. All tyres have enough dry traction for a non-agressive driver.

I lived in West-virginia for a year, could see the blue ridge mountains occasionally from there when driving. Were I live now is topographically close to W-virginia, hills, not extremely high but one after the other.... 10% grades on public roads are not unheard of but not really common, steepest I know of locally is 17%. 3-5% is the norm it seems
 
I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern VA where the roads are full of curves and hills. A quarter mile stretch of a straight and flat road is virtually unheard of here. Are there any considerations I should take into account in tire selection for these roads? I can see the curves perhaps reducing tread life, but otherwise I can't think of any other tire considerations specific to these roads. The roads we drive are 95+% paved.

I currently have the OEM tires installed (Continental ProContact TX) 215/55/17 94V, with 30,500 miles and 3-4/32nds or remaining tread. I have never had any hydroplaning, fishtailing, or other indications of traction loss with these tires. I am considering Continental PureContact LS tires for the next set.

The vehicle is a 2019 Nissan Altima 2.5 SL and my driving style is very non-aggressive (95% cruise control). We get about 45" of rain per year, and while we do get snow we generally use the 4WD truck if there is snow on the roads.

Thanks!
Hercules Raptis R-T5. Excellent wet handling, smooth and quiet.
 
I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern VA where the roads are full of curves and hills. A quarter mile stretch of a straight and flat road is virtually unheard of here... my driving style is very non-aggressive (95% cruise control).
??? My non-aggressive driving here, which is also mostly hills and curves, means slowing down for curves, and uphill, then faster on straight away and downhill. I only use cruise control on the interstate, on trips long enough to get out of the city traffic.

Regardless you can use a tire selector at various online sites like this one:
 
How do you reconcile "very non-aggressive (95% cruise control)" and "the roads are full of curves and hills"?
I too would expect driving faster on straight parts of the road and slowing down for the turns.

Krzyś
 
Have you considered the Continental Terrain Contact A/T? It is a mild off road tire, with pretty good on road characteristics. They would do pretty good with the amount of rain you get, handling the dirt road, and aren't noticeably more noisy than a good road tire.
I don’t think Continental makes an AT tire for a Nissan Altima

Rogue/Pathfinder? yes. But not a Altima
 
That would be my guess and it would explain this:
"I have never had any hydroplaning, fishtailing, or other indications of traction loss with these tires."

But then it would be very aggressive blocking others.

Krzyś
 
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