Winter tire choices - tread pattern

[LotI]

As noted already, you can't tell by tread design. CR ranks the Xi3 at the top, the Goodyear isn't even recommended. The WS80 hasn't been tested but they liked the 70. They did not test the Cooper but I can't imagine it could be better than Bridgestone or Michelin. Plus, why would you pay more for a Cooper?

Here's my thought process when I bought snows(sorry--winter):
Ice traction is #1 because there are a lot of slippery intersections or shoulders of the road.
I drive over 40k miles a year so quiet is important. LRR would be a plus
I would love them to last but will not compromise traction for life.
Quality is important. I will pay more if the value is there.

My conclusion? Xi3 because it's LRR, has a 40k mile warranty(seasonal use only, read the fine print). Michelin has the best quality in the business. 2nd choice was Bridgestone, they are still great quality.

I put them on the MINI last year and never felt I was under tired after 7,298 miles last season. I have them on the Accord now but are untested. They are quieter than the SP Sport 7000AS that came off.

The Latitude version was on my Trailblazer for a year and the 2wd Rainier for 4 more and still were above the snow wear bars of 6/32". My wife got stuck in her parking lot when we had a 17" snowfall on these 5th season tires. I drove my ZX-2 then equipped with new Xi2's to rescue her. No drama. She insisted on new tires for the next season

I don't work for MAST but have been a tire geek since I managed a tire store in the 90's. You can't judge a tire by tread alone.

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: Quest
Good luck on your endeavours. Even cheaper, squirmy sounding winter tires can get you around nicely for most of the time, including most recent NY/Buffalo snow dumps I bet.


With over 51" of snow in one dump, 48" in 24 hours, another 36" coming soon, I don't think any Buffalo Winter tire is going anywhere soon.

Originally Posted By: pbm
Originally Posted By: Tar_Rat29
My vote is for General Arctic. I have them on my Honda now and love them.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=General&tireModel=Altimax+Arctic


I have a set of these ready to put on my Corolla...What treadlife can I expect from these tires?


My Corolla is getting Altimax Arctic's this coming Monday. I ordered a set from tirerack.com, the rims got back-ordered, so I canceled that and now I'm getting them from my favorite local tire shop for a few bucks more. I like supporting the local guy when I can, and they would have still gotten my alignment business. Now they get both.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: krzyss
Originally Posted By: carman594
How does the treadlife of the Continental EWC compare to say, Xi3 and R2s?


Nobody knows.
Xi3 is the only winter tire with treadwear warranty, if it means anything.
Both Xi3 and R2 are the best currently available, excluding WS80 as it is too new to be tested in winter. I bet Bridgestone knows exactly how it stacks against competition but I know they will never release the data, nobody does.
Continental EWC is good design 1 or 2 generations older than current top tires.

Krzys

PS In short: There are better winter tires than EWC but for more money.

Why Xi3 is the best? In Europe where winter tires are much more complex Mchelin was never first choice. I know bunch of skiers here that do not want to touch them with remote control not to mention put them on a car. Xi3 is god if you live i Kansas City, if you live in Colorado, upper State NY, etc, Blizzaks, Continental EWC, Dunlop are MUCH, MUCH better choice. Just by looking at Xi3 if you have any knowledge about tires you can figure out they will have poor performance in slush, deep snow and 40K warranty? No thanx on ice!

 

[weebl]

Originally Posted By: pbm


I have a set of these ready to put on my Corolla...What treadlife can I expect from these tires?


One of my Arctic Altimax had irreparable damage halfway through its 4th winter, and not being able to source a used one with similar wear to the rest of the set, I ditched them, as the tread would only be good for that winter. The average I put on each winter on that vehicle, a 2006 Toyota Sienna with 215/65R16, as 12,000km. Based on that, my set would have lasted me 48,000km, or 30,000mi.

You have a different tire size and different vehicle, so those will also affect what you experience, but I find with this van, I tend to get in the better half of the combined averages of tire life for any tire reported by all other users. (Eg. if users of a tire were reporting from 20,000 to 50,000 miles, I would probably hit around 40,000).

 

[HWEaton]

I sell tires to the tire shops. We get to try out a lot of these tires. For myself and my family, I put nothing but studded Alti-Max Arctics on my wife's 2wd Suburban during the winter. On my Jeep Commander Sport AWD I put the Continental EWC's on since I didn't want studs on it. Bridgestone makes some very nice stuff. So does Nitto and Toyo along with Dunlop. But my biggest selling line is Cooper/Mastercraft.

 

[krzyss]

Tirerack ice traction test:

Tire 60' Acceleration (seconds) 12 - 0 mph Stopping Distance (feet)
Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 4.554 30.9
Dunlop Winter Maxx 4.682 35.4
Michelin X-Ice Xi3 4.644 30.3
Yokohama iceGUARD iG52c 4.727 33.6

Xi3 has the shortest stopping distance and 2nd best acceleration. WS80 is much better accelerating on ice but I would rather have the best stopping.

CR rates Xi3 very high too. Russians did rate them high too. Scandinavians and Finns put Xi3 at 4th place.

Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice2 – 8,2 poeng
Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 – 8,2 poeng
Continental ContiVikingContact 6 – 7,8 poeng
Michelin X-Ice XI3 – 7,8 poeng
Maxxis Arctictrekker – 7,7 poeng
Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 – 7,3 poeng
Sailun Ice Blazer WSL2 – 7,2 poeng
Pirelli Icecontrol Winter – 7,2 poeng
Dunlop SP Ice Sport – 6,8 poeng
Vredestein Nord-Trac 2 – 6,7 poeng
KumhoI´Zen KW31 – 6,6 poeng
Sunny Snowmaster SN3830 – 6,1 poeng

Considering tires available in the USA it has second place behind R2.


Krzys

PS
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=193
http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/winter-tires-norwegian-test-results

If I were buying studless winter tires this year I would pick cheaper from the two: Xi3 or R2.

PS2 German tests that I follow (reprinted in Polish sister publications) and ADAC usually test winter performance tires. Xi3 is not one of them.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: krzyss

If I were buying studless winter tires this year I would pick cheaper from the two: Xi3 or R2.

That was my plan as well. Alas, the Xi3 was not available in the size I needed, so R2 won by default.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: krzyss
Tirerack ice traction test:

Tire 60' Acceleration (seconds) 12 - 0 mph Stopping Distance (feet)
Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 4.554 30.9
Dunlop Winter Maxx 4.682 35.4
Michelin X-Ice Xi3 4.644 30.3
Yokohama iceGUARD iG52c 4.727 33.6

Xi3 has the shortest stopping distance and 2nd best acceleration. WS80 is much better accelerating on ice but I would rather have the best stopping.

CR rates Xi3 very high too. Russians did rate them high too. Scandinavians and Finns put Xi3 at 4th place.

Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice2 – 8,2 poeng
Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 – 8,2 poeng
Continental ContiVikingContact 6 – 7,8 poeng
Michelin X-Ice XI3 – 7,8 poeng
Maxxis Arctictrekker – 7,7 poeng
Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 – 7,3 poeng
Sailun Ice Blazer WSL2 – 7,2 poeng
Pirelli Icecontrol Winter – 7,2 poeng
Dunlop SP Ice Sport – 6,8 poeng
Vredestein Nord-Trac 2 – 6,7 poeng
KumhoI´Zen KW31 – 6,6 poeng
Sunny Snowmaster SN3830 – 6,1 poeng

Considering tires available in the USA it has second place behind R2.


Krzys

PS
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=193
http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/winter-tires-norwegian-test-results

If I were buying studless winter tires this year I would pick cheaper from the two: Xi3 or R2.

PS2 German tests that I follow (reprinted in Polish sister publications) and ADAC usually test winter performance tires. Xi3 is not one of them.

Hi3 is not available in many markets nor it would performs good against Michelin Alpin A5, GY UG 9, COnti TS850.
Good for them, I can tell you from experience, slush, deep snow etc, forget Xi3.

 

[faramir9]

I have new Cooper Weathermaster ST2's and so far am quite happy; granted we have had but one mini-storm so far here. If you worry more about deep snow than ice the Coopers are a good choice. Not a cutting-edge design, as others noted. That is true.

But for the price you give I would likely take the Michelins. Are the XiCE really cheaper than the Coopers? Strange---but I would say grab it unless you are all about deep snow handling to the extent it trumps all else.

P.S. My Coopers were made in USA. It varies by size. If you email Cooper customer care they will tell you where your size is produced.

 

[cp3]

I'll throw in a vote for a snow style winter tire as well.

I drove a small front drive car last winter on the Goodyear and it seemed pretty good around town, it was a pretty nasty day too.

My thoughts are ice is ice, you need to tread lightly regardless of your tire choice. That said, I've never driven on a Blizzak. I have the Yokohama iG51v, which seem more of an ice tire and they do not handle slush and snow anywhere close to how the Hankook W409 does (on previous car and still on wife's), which is a more snow oriented design. If I had it to do over, I would stick with a snow style.

 

[geeman789]

Originally Posted By: cp3
I'll throw in a vote for a snow style winter tire as well.

I drove a small front drive car last winter on the Goodyear and it seemed pretty good around town, it was a pretty nasty day too.

My thoughts are ice is ice, you need to tread lightly regardless of your tire choice. That said, I've never driven on a Blizzak. I have the Yokohama iG51v, which seem more of an ice tire and they do not handle slush and snow anywhere close to how the Hankook W409 does (on previous car and still on wife's), which is a more snow oriented design. If I had it to do over, I would stick with a snow style.


Agree... ice is ice, and no studless tire will work good... the best winter studless tires offer much better grip than older models, but the ice grip is not "good...". There are no miracle tires out there, I have driven on a variety of studless winters, and NOTHING has ever had what could be described as GOOD grip on pure ice.... more like SOME grip compared to NO grip...

As for snow, the best tire I have used was the Nokian Hakka RSI... POWERED thru deep snow, and had decent grip on ice. Ultra aggressive tread pattern, full depth sipes... Sadly, now discontinued.

 

[weebl]

Originally Posted By: geeman789
Agree... ice is ice, and no studless tire will work good... the best winter studless tires offer much better grip than older models, but the ice grip is not "good...". There are no miracle tires out there, I have driven on a variety of studless winters, and NOTHING has ever had what could be described as GOOD grip on pure ice.... more like SOME grip compared to NO grip...


Very true. But sometimes that "some" grip versus no grip could be the difference between stopping in time versus not.

 

[GMFan]

I ordered the Goodyear Ultra Grip Winter and steel wheels. Too bad they won't be installed in time for the snow tomorrow...