Winter Tires

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HWEaton

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I'm looking for opinions on winter tires. As many of you know, I own an oil/lube/tire shop in Eastern Wyoming that I have recently opened. However, I am originally from Southern Arizona, thus I am not all that familiar with winter, snow, whatever they call them, tires. Most all customers coming in wanting snow tires know exactly what they are looking for, so all I got to do is order them, which makes it easy.

So I'm looking for opinions from you all. Here are the candidates from one of my tire distributors where I have a substantial credit with them. These are going on my wifes vehicle, a 2000 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 2wd running a 265/70/R16 stock size.

Come on, give me your opinions. I need to have them ordered by November 10th so I can put them on by Friday, November 12th. My sons football team is going to Laramie to play in War Memorial Stadium at the University of Wyoming for the 1A 11 Man State Championship, so I want to have them on and get a good run out of them.

Here are the options.

Mastercraft Courser MSR
General Alti-Arctic
Firestone Winterforce UV
Kelly Pacemark SnowTrak
Continental Extreme Contact Winter
Goodyear Ultra Ice WRTP
Dunlop SJ6 GrandTrek
Bridgestone DM-V1 Blizzak
Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow

Unfortunately the Michelin is out of the pic as there are only two available, and if I'm gonna do this, I am gonna do all 4.
 
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If absolute traction is a necessity, I'd go with studded General Altimax Arctics. I have a set for my Corolla, although I haven't tried them yet. These would be a good option since your wife's Suburban is 2wd.

If you don't want to deal with the downfalls of studded tires, then the next best option would be the Bridgestone Blizzak's; they're the top rated studless SUV winter tire on Tire Rack.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=W&VT=LT
 
Winterforce is a good 1st snow tire.

Can you get cooper arctic claws? I've run these
 
I think any modern (non-studded) winter tire will work well.
The 4 Blizzaks give my Accord great snow traction. I'm a fan of Blizzaks but I've heard good things about others (ie: Firestone) too.
Studded tires make a lot of noise and aren't needed IMO.
 
Bang for the buck the General Arctic and the Winterforce are about impossible to beat. Both are fairly cheap. The Winterforce is a more "old school" tread design and will more likely sacrifice comfort for traction, I think the General will give a more comfortable ride. Couldn't go wrong with either.
 
Originally Posted By: pbm
I think any modern (non-studded) winter tire will work well.
Studded tires make a lot of noise and aren't needed IMO.
I live in a mountain area, NOBODY here uses non-studded winter tires. Any sliding on hills without the studs and you are toast. (Caltrans hates studs,CHP love them)
 
I drove through Wyoming many of times. You can get snow 10 months out of the year. It seems it's always blowing snow also. I would go with the Blizzark DM-V1's. They are a R speed rated snow tire, most of the others are Q speed rated.

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20081029-IMG_0888s.jpg


The Blizzak DM-V1 is Bridgestone’s Light Truck/SUV Studless Ice and Snow winter tire developed for the drivers of pickup, crossover and sport utility vehicles looking to combine grip in snow and on ice with reassuring handling on wet roads and in slush. The Blizzak DM-V1 is designed with a focus on ice traction and braking, as well as wet road handling and hydroplaning resistance to provide wintertime driving competence. 


The Blizzak DM-V1 uses Bridgestone''s Multicell Z compound featuring microscopic bubbles and tubes to absorb the thin film of water that forms as tires run over packed snow and ice, while micro bite particles contribute to the edge effect that improves grip on packed snow and icy surfaces. Other compound improvements include the addition of a special polymer that improves silica dispersion to increase wet grip in chilly temperatures by suppressing the influence temperatures have on rubber hardness.

The Blizzak DM-V1 directional tread pattern features low void to increase contact area on the road. Groove distribution has been optimized with four straight grooves to assure efficient water evacuation while two center grooves criss-cross to improve drainage and offer strong edge effect at all angles, giving higher snow and wet performance with better grip in all directions. The Blizzak DM-V1 also incorporates advanced 3D Wash Board Z Sipe technology that increases both block stiffness for handling in the dry and increases the biting edge effect on frozen surfaces.

The Blizzak DM-V1 radial meets the industry's severe snow service requirements and is branded with the mountain/snowflake symbol.

NOTE: The first 55% of the Blizzak DM-V1 tread depth features the Multicell Z Compound while the remaining 45% features a standard winter tire compound. When the Blizzak DM-V1 is approximately 50 percent worn, a depth indicator molded into the tread design lets the driver know that the remaining tread is reaching the end of its ability to provide beneficial snow traction.


 
Agreed, given the terrain you're dealing with (mountainous), I would recommend studded. I have the Altimax Arctics on my vehicle (non-studded), haven't really had much winter weather experience with them yet, but they are a tire everyone seems to rave about. Studs are in my mind good for areas with heavy ice, or lots of mountainous terrain, and primarly non-urban or smaller urban areas (due to less snow clearing on the roads). If roads are reasonably cleared within a short time after a storm and you don't have icy hills to deal with, then non-studded would be better as studs have a disadvantage on bare pavement.
 
I'm a big fan of studs on trucks, especially 2WD, IMHO studless winter tires are better on cars, especially FWD ones because studs have a tendency to slide on dry turns on FWD (at least the one set I had did). The downside to studless is they wear EXTREMELY quickly in the dry, and studs have better ice & deep snow traction-the studs will dig through & get you out when studless can't.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Actually, Tire Rack has done some testing that shows the latest generation of studless tires actually outperform older style studded snow tires, because of the latest technology in tread compounds, of which Bridgestone is the leader with the Blizzak.


According to an extensive European winter tire test, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Continental, Michelin, Nokian, and Yokohama all offer competitive studless tread compounds. Michelin actually performed the best on ice in their test, with Nokian and Goodyear also beating the Blizzak by a small margin. All those makes of studless tires outperformed the studded Tone Road Winguard on ice - sold at Walmart as the Nexen Winguard in North America - but none of the other 13 studded tires. Tires were tested on a Ford Focus in 205/55R16.

European Winter Tire Test

Note: due to translation issues, you have to click 'Studded Tires' under test results to see the results for the studless tires. I contributed a better translation ('Studless'), so maybe they'll update it at some point.
 
Either the Mastercraft, Winterforce, or general would be my choice. I've seen people run the three with no issues...
 
I don't know yet. Read the General thread on here, those seem like some good tires. I'm definitely going studded, so it really is coming down to either the Generals or the Mastercrafts.

Since they are going on the wife's Sub, I had her look at them and she chose the Generals. Still, that doesn't mean it is a done deal yet. I still haven't made up my mind.
 
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Originally Posted By: rpn453
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Actually, Tire Rack has done some testing that shows the latest generation of studless tires actually outperform older style studded snow tires, because of the latest technology in tread compounds, of which Bridgestone is the leader with the Blizzak.


According to an extensive European winter tire test, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Continental, Michelin, Nokian, and Yokohama all offer competitive studless tread compounds. Michelin actually performed the best on ice in their test, with Nokian and Goodyear also beating the Blizzak by a small margin. All those makes of studless tires outperformed the studded Tone Road Winguard on ice - sold at Walmart as the Nexen Winguard in North America - but none of the other 13 studded tires. Tires were tested on a Ford Focus in 205/55R16.

European Winter Tire Test

Note: due to translation issues, you have to click 'Studded Tires' under test results to see the results for the studless tires. I contributed a better translation ('Studless'), so maybe they'll update it at some point.



Good info. Thanks.
 
Originally Posted By: HWEaton

General Alti-Arctic
Firestone Winterforce UV



I have ran both the Winterforce & Altimax-Arctic. They are close in pricing, both studdable.

But for my money, I would go with the Altimax-Arctic mainly due to noise.

The winterforce, like the Altimax-Arctic is a tried & true snow tire. However, the knobby tread pattern causes it to generate a lot of noise when rolling down the road.

The Altimax-Arctic is an older European snow tire (Gislaved Nord Frost 3)
 
I just put on a set of brand new General Altimax-Arctics on my 2000 Jeep Cherokee, So far so good (no snow here yet).

I did not stud mine, I actually did OK last year with the Nokian Vativa's so Im gonna see how the Generals do without studs.

I know the Nokian's I used for a while were really good for an "all season tire" (really they are a winter tire IMHO), but man did my Jeep chew them up fast.

I believe my driving habits and the fact that I do live on a Mountain top and have a serpentine road to get off it has a lot to do with how my tires wear as well.

If these Generals do well, I might consider them for my Saab 9-3 Aero as well for next winter, but so far the Saab has done well with the unstudded Hakkapeliitas.
 
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