Winter Tire questions and advice

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Jan 28, 2018
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Missouri
So I live south of the STL and while we typically have just a few snows a year, although recently we’ve had multiple snows with 8+ inches of accumulation, the town I live in is very bad At managing the road ways, they typically don’t even plow our coulda sac they just bombard it with cinder, and to top it off the entire town is basically on a hill so Main Street is at the bottom and the then it’s all up hill to the house which is then met by my obnoxiously steep driveway. I’m tired of being stranded at the bottom of town or even more the bottom of my driveway because we’ve had incidents of the plow truck missing the road and plowing my yard instead or cinder all over the cars because why not I guess, all that aside I’m looking into a winter tire, Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, for my 2010 Ford Crown Victoria the car has a limited slip rear end and I feel these tires would do well for me, my plan is to just simply purchase a set and have them installed in November or possibly December depending on temp and weather and just run them until spring next year I’ve never owned a pair of winter tires and so I guess I’m asking if this would be ok, I commute maybe 36 miles one way to work and it’s all 60-65mph high way. Not entirely worried about the ride or road noise but just want to make sure I’m not making a big mistake with my current plan thanks
 
Your plan sounds good to me. Even if you don't get a lot of snow winter tires are more pliable in cold temperatures than your regular tires so you'll get better grip on roads even if there's no snow. I run blizzaks on my two wheel drive Silverado with no limited slip and get around fine, we get 40 to 50 inches of snow and lots of hills.
 
So I live south of the STL and while we typically have just a few snows a year, although recently we’ve had multiple snows with 8+ inches of accumulation, the town I live in is very bad At managing the road ways, they typically don’t even plow our coulda sac they just bombard it with cinder, and to top it off the entire town is basically on a hill so Main Street is at the bottom and the then it’s all up hill to the house which is then met by my obnoxiously steep driveway. I’m tired of being stranded at the bottom of town or even more the bottom of my driveway because we’ve had incidents of the plow truck missing the road and plowing my yard instead or cinder all over the cars because why not I guess, all that aside I’m looking into a winter tire, Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, for my 2010 Ford Crown Victoria the car has a limited slip rear end and I feel these tires would do well for me, my plan is to just simply purchase a set and have them installed in November or possibly December depending on temp and weather and just run them until spring next year I’ve never owned a pair of winter tires and so I guess I’m asking if this would be ok, I commute maybe 36 miles one way to work and it’s all 60-65mph high way. Not entirely worried about the ride or road noise but just want to make sure I’m not making a big mistake with my current plan thanks
If you have the budget and room get a whole seperate set of wheels for the winter set. When temps fall at freezing, winters on. Once you start seeing above freezing temps, unmount. Prepare for the NVH which boths most folk.
 
If you have the budget and room get a whole seperate set of wheels for the winter set. When temps fall at freezing, winters on. Once you start seeing above freezing temps, unmount. Prepare for the NVH which boths most folk.
The plan is actually to use the current wheels as winter wheels and purchase a new set of factory steels for the rest of the year, NVH? Not sure I follow what that means and also will I sacrifice any sort of on road manners at all again first time owning winter tires
 
The plan is actually to use the current wheels as winter wheels and purchase a new set of factory steels for the rest of the year, NVH? Not sure I follow what that means and also will I sacrifice any sort of on road manners at all again first time owning winter tires
NVH: Noise-Vibration-Harshness.

Blizzak WS90 is a good tire, a top-tier snow tire. They behave well in wet and dry. I have it on Tiguan. On BMW, I have Continental VikingContact 7, and I would give them preference any time over Bridgestone. They are good in everything, wet, dry, snow, ice etc. I would not say they are the best in anything, just really good in all disciplines, which is what you want. So, check them too.
Michelin X-Ice SNow is another option. Michelin will probably be the best handling of all in dry and wet and really good in snow and ice. I had Michelin X-Ice 2 on two vehicles. It was a model before the current ones and I would give them preference over Bridgestone, although Bridgestone was a bit better in the deep stuff.

Of these three, I would say go with the cheaper one. But take into consideration that Michelin will last the longest.
 
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The plan is actually to use the current wheels as winter wheels and purchase a new set of factory steels for the rest of the year, NVH? Not sure I follow what that means and also will I sacrifice any sort of on road manners at all again first time owning winter tires
Winter tires, Altimax Artic was my experience, introduced a lot of NVH into the cabin at all speeds. That being said a little rougher sounding tire with impressive winter traction is better then a quieter cabin and a racing heart while sliding down snow and ice covered hill.
 
winter-snow tires are a smart choice IMO, but being softer in colder temps they wear faster!!! i always used mich pilot alpin as they worked good with decent wear while blizzaks are prolly one of the best they are shorter lived! i ran older RWD cars for years + beside snow tires a few lbs in the trunk helps too. cheep steel shot aka shotgun pellets in compact 25 lb bags worked great for me!! when the alpins were pretty worn they got used up + stayed on + their dry traction + rain use was pretty decent + using a small diameter wheel if it fits is also a savings!! just keep the outside diameter very close to the OE setup!!
 
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You're gonna love the blizzaks.

Get some "tube sand" from home depot, it's like a 50 lb sand sausage. Throw half a dozen of these in your trunk for more weight on the drive wheels. And if things really get sideways you can break into one and scatter it for more traction.

You're getting cinders as grit because the power company would otherwise have to pay to get rid of them.
 
Any winter tire on all 4 is a great idea. I ran 4 Blizzaks on a 2WD Silverado in Buffalo. Yes, that Buffalo, NY. Never added weight. I had locking differential and traction control and I know that helped.
 
Any winter tire on all 4 is a great idea. I ran 4 Blizzaks on a 2WD Silverado in Buffalo. Yes, that Buffalo, NY. Never added weight. I had locking differential and traction control and I know that helped.
Like mentioned, make sure you get 4 if possible. The 2 on rear will get you going but a large traction difference from all seasons. The front wheels will be needed to stop and turn once you get going.

Practice some braking on first couple snows ad some turns at a slower speed in a parking lot. The downfall to getting the snows, You'll prefer to have them every winter from now on. You'll wonder why you never got them before and will start having conversations with friends and at online forums.........
 
I'll add my Blizzak experience. They worked very well for me until the multicell wore out which it does at about 1/2 tread. There is a large performance difference once that goes. To be fair all winter tires recommend replacement at about 6/32" because of the reduced snow traction. The Blizzaks for me were just a large noticeable drastic difference where others were a more gradual reduced grip as they got to 6/32". I had WS80's but found them very "squishy" in the more mild temperatures that I experience around me. They were not much noisier than others except on wet ground. They had a noticeable hissing under acceleration and braking as the water was getting wicked away.

My kids cars have the Continental VikingContact 7, Wife's Pilot has older Continental WinterContact Si. I prefer both Conti versions over the Blizzaks for my use and highway drives. Same experience with General Altimax Arctic and Arctic 12 as well as many Nokian versions. I had gotten the Blizzaks as they were a deal I couldn't pass up. My next set might be the Michelin X-ice Snow pending test results and sales at that time. I wanted to try them on my daughters CRV but with black Friday sales I was able to get the Conti VC7 installed with 4 new TPMS sensors for the winter rims installed for less than the X-ice without installation. Both tires get top reviews. It was the same scenario for the Conti vs. Nokian R2 when I wanted them.

My Accord is on Goodyear WinterCommand Ultra. Not what I wanted but they were a 4 tire warranty replacement upgrade I couldn't pass up. They got me through some good snows with no issues but don't thrill me for ride and noise. Too much hassle trying to get balanced and rebalanced 2 more times and still not totally smooth. The tread width is also noticeably narrower than other tires of same size, maybe part of design for contact pressure. I don't dislike them enough yet to pay for something else but we'll see come this winter.

Look at the sales at Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club as well as Tire Rack and Discount Tire and don't forget to include mounting/balance especially if you mail order. Some places like Mavis throw in fees like "overhead stocking fee" of many $$ per tire. Some include road hazard warranties, some you have to buy separately so factor all accordingly.

The Tire Rack test for WinterCommand Ultra compares against the WS90, VC7 and X-ice Snow. Each has their strengths and weakness so might be good for you to watch each video of those. Then work the $$ for what you think might me better.
 
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I'm going to be 60 soon and never bought winter tires. I've always lived in Chicago and one doesn't need winter tires in an urban environment unless youre in the mountains in Denver lol. Chicago averages about 6 snow days a year so it's a waste to mess with winter tires for just 6 days it's actually snowing while one drives to or from work. All arterial streets and highways get plowed within 24 hours after a major snowstorm. Most side streets get plowed within the week. The biggest obstacle is getting over the pile of snow into a parking spot without shoveling and which snow tires are impotent anyways. The only time snow tires may be of any benefit are in strip mall parking lots the owners are too cheap to plow and wait for the snow to melt otherwise snow tires are pretty much worthless in big cities in the snow belt like Chicago
 
I'm going to be 60 soon and never bought winter tires. I've always lived in Chicago and one doesn't need winter tires in an urban environment unless youre in the mountains in Denver lol. Chicago averages about 6 snow days a year so it's a waste to mess with winter tires for just 6 days it's actually snowing while one drives to or from work. All arterial streets and highways get plowed within 24 hours after a major snowstorm. Most side streets get plowed within the week. The biggest obstacle is getting over the pile of snow into a parking spot without shoveling and which snow tires are impotent anyways. The only time snow tires may be of any benefit are in strip mall parking lots the owners are too cheap to plow and wait for the snow to melt otherwise snow tires are pretty much worthless in big cities in the snow belt like Chicago
You do know that point of snow tire is to stop better? There are people who drive drunk and never been caught or had accident.
And Chicago has worse winter than Colorado does.
 
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You do know that point of snow tire is to stop better? There are people who drive drunk and never been caught or had accident.
And Chicago has worse winter than Colorado does.
I think many people misunderstand snow tires, or simply have too much pride in their driving to consider them.

For most they really aren't a need. But they are absolutely better in every way when it comes to real winter conditions. The confidence and safety factor added is more than most people realize who have never had them. I'll just wave when I fly by in the snow!
 
I think many people misunderstand snow tires, or simply have too much pride in their driving to consider them.

For most they really aren't a need. But they are absolutely better in every way when it comes to real winter conditions. The confidence and safety factor added is more than most people realize who have never had them. I'll just wave when I fly by in the snow!
It is human psychology. They are afraid of “being stuck.” But, no one died from being stuck at corner of Piggly Willy. However, people did die bcs. they couldn’t stop at red light or they lost control on the road.
 
And Chicago has worse winter than Colorado does.
Colder, subjective. Amount of snow, no and ice is nearly unheard of on our streets. Last winter was the only winter in the past 7 years where it snowed more than a couple of inches. It's pretty rare to find an arterial or collector street that hasn't been plowed by the morning. The lack of snow has actually been rather surprising since we got dumped on in 2011 and again in 2014 but never more than a few inches of snow per season since then.
 
Isn't Chicago a little flat too? Add a few hills to the mix of snow and ice and it becomes a little more "winter tire" place.

Krzyś
 
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