Winter tires 2020 for pass cars what to pick

Joined
Sep 13, 2003
Messages
952
Location
Noblesville, IN
2019 VW GLI Northside of Indianapolis area. So some years snow events, ice, slush, cold, mild etc.

No days off for bad weather for my wife or I who both drive the car

I’m a believer in winter tires even though most people in this area or worse areas think they are silly. I’d rather drop the $ over a few winters than get in accident due to crappy wrong season tires.

the info and reviews of the available tires are not plentiful almost like you have to guess or just go blindly

tires I had in the past. X ice 2. These were on a prius and weren’t bad really. Got around in 14” of unplowed snow. Ws50 had those on a camaro SS back 20 years ago. Those with some sand bags in the back that thing was great. Yokohama w drive. Had those on a WRX and they were not great IMO. Like just an all season tire. Ws80 have those on our Odyssey now and they are great will be the last winter on them this one. winter contact si. Had those on an accord (the car before this GLI) and those were very good.

so where I am at thinking wise is WS90, x ice snow, or VikingContact 7. The WS90 according to tire rack are pretty good in dry and wet non snow driving which lets face it that’s a lot of Midwest winte

the sottozero 3 have ok tire rack rating but no experience with them

anyone with thoughts
 
What is the size?
If you want better dry, wet and slush performance look at performance winter, similar to sottozero 3.

Krzys
 
The caveat here is indeed that you shouldn't jeopardise grip in dry and wet either, so the most hardcore winter tyres are indeed not an option.

Which of the european winter tyres are available to you?
 
What tire size will you be using? And are you keeping the stock OE size, or do you downsize? :)

The Sottozero is a different kind of winter tire than the others, so keep that in mind. It will be better in dry and wet but not as good in snow and ice. Pirelli's standard studless winter tires are the Ice Zero FR and Cinturato Winter.

Out of those choices, I'd probably pick the Viking Contact.

You should also consider the Nokian R3.
 
michspike.jpg

Wet,Dry,Ice,Snow! All season with confidence!
 
I suspect that I may use it legally on the frozen lake and I do not drive on frozen lakes.

Krzys
 
X-ice snow has better handling characteristics on dry pavement, and wears a little better. For Indy I'd look at an all weather tire like the CrossClimate 2. The CC2 is like an excellent all season combined with an average (but not top line) snow tire. Indy gets a lot of slush and rain, and there are weeks where it is 60 one day and 20 on others, which takes you in and out of snow tire temp ranges. Indy roads are cleared fairly quickly too unless you live in a rural location. You wont be driving through 8 in of powder very often. The reduction in handling with snows also may not compensate for the slightly better traction on occasional snow and ice days, especially with a GLI

We did not decide to get dedicated snow tires until we decided to travel to Northern Michigan more frequently, (100+ inches of snow vs 25 in Indy, and much colder) where you really need them. We did (and still have) all seasons with good snow/ice capabilities.
 
I've had Blizzaks and they've been great, but my real recommendation is to find a set of Nokians in your size. A slightly more obscure company, they're based in Finland and make tires for Finnish winters - a slush, snow, ice, mix that happens in their humid, arctic climate. Nokian Hakkapelliitta winter tires are simply awesome in bad winter weather. My son has a set of Nokian Hakkapelliittas on his 2001 Volvo and the car is great in the winter conditions of Northern Vermont.

 
I have a few problems with Nokian.

First, personal, they stopped selling summer tires in the USA and I had two sets of Zlines.

Subsequent ones are not personal as I have never had their winter tires.

Nokian excellent test results (in Europe) disappeared after company was caught providing "special compund tires" for testing. Since then other manufacturers (mostly Continental and Michelin) developed their winter tires and are winning tests, even Scandinavian ones.

If one thinks that Michelin is expensive try Nokian winter tires. They price themselves (in the USA) as super premium.

Krzyś
 
narrower real snow tyres are best, so downsize!! get a set of dedicated smaller wheels for them. sever mail order dealers can help pick a package for you + some ship free wheels + tyres mounted together at purchase for free. shop around the net or deal locally if you prefer at a higher cost but personal transaction that can be better if issues arrive!! i always used mich snows that were ok all around as i ran them off in the summer when thread was less than optimal in bad weather
 
I have a few problems with Nokian............Nokian excellent test results (in Europe) disappeared after company was caught providing "special compound tires" for testing....

Krzyś

About a dozen years ago Continental was caught in the same deception of providing "Special Winter Tires" for testing, as reported by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. And in 2018 Pirelli was caught "playing games" with their studless winter tires submitted for testing to a Russian publication.
 
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About a dozen years ago Continental was caught in the same deception of providing "Special Winter Tires" for testing, as reported by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. And in 2018 Pirelli was caught "playing games" with their studless winter tires submitted for testing to a Russian publication.

One need to admire CR for buying the stuff they test,
If they get it from manufacturer they test it later too.

I guess it leaves me with no options ;-)

Krzys
 
Altimax Arctics do very well in snow and slush and have a decent price point and are easy to find. In fact since our sonata rarely gets outside of Lincoln Ne city limits and we only put on maybe 3-4 k miles per year on it, I run em year round. Out does AWD vehicles that have only all seasons in winter.
31746451_1.jpg
Stepson lives in Fargo ND and has used Altimax in the past as well and ND has about as tough of winters as you can find in the lower 48. When they wore out he went with Vredstein which work well in ND winters also.
 
X-ice snow has better handling characteristics on dry pavement, and wears a little better. For Indy I'd look at an all weather tire like the CrossClimate 2. The CC2 is like an excellent all season combined with an average (but not top line) snow tire. Indy gets a lot of slush and rain, and there are weeks where it is 60 one day and 20 on others, which takes you in and out of snow tire temp ranges. Indy roads are cleared fairly quickly too unless you live in a rural location. You wont be driving through 8 in of powder very often. The reduction in handling with snows also may not compensate for the slightly better traction on occasional snow and ice days, especially with a GLI

We did not decide to get dedicated snow tires until we decided to travel to Northern Michigan more frequently, (100+ inches of snow vs 25 in Indy, and much colder) where you really need them. We did (and still have) all seasons with good snow/ice capabilities.

Yes, choose a tyre with good capabilities in areas you will use a lot. If 3/4 your winter travel is on dry or wet roads, just picking the tyre with the best snow or ice performance is likely not the best choice. Especially since you have to give up a LOT of dry and wet performance to gain a little bit of snow traction.
 
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