I took the IcePro tires off today. Seems like winter is over. Or almost over.
These were bought from Discount Tire Direct for ~$38.00 a piece (including shipping) after labor day discounts and the rebates. Size 195/60-15 for my 2011 Ford Focus Being a cheap set of snow tires, I had very low expectations.
I bought these because I was tired of the studded winterforce (1) never balancing up right - I have 2 with bad belts that I ended up giving to a friend after selling the 4 good once and (2) studded tires tearing up the road and parking lots.
I put about 4200 miles on the tires this winter. It's a bit less than usual winters; installed them late and taking them off a bit early combined with trying to drive the Jeep on the warmer days kept me from getting too many miles on the tires.
These tires left me extremely impressed.
The first thing I noticed was the rolling resistance of these tires. Or lack thereof. Immediately after putting these tires on, my gas mileage shot up to high 30s, low 40s. The first trip I took with these tires returned mid 40s for MPG - all hand calculated. That is what in line with the original Hankook Optimo H725 tires. Definitely better mileage than the all seasons that are on the car now (Lifeliner GLS).
Treadwear is also quite impressive. There is only about 1/32'' of wear in 4200 miles on three of the tires. This was a warm winter, so they would have worn more this winter than a normal winter. The 4th tire is a bit more worn on the outside edges thanks to a leaky valve stem that would often drain the tire in anywhere from a to a week. Sporadic.
These tires are also quieter than the Cooper Lifeliner GLS that I run the rest of the year. Noise is comparable to various Blizzak snow tires I have run. They do not sound like mini mudders like studded and un-studded Winterforce tires!
Hard packed snow and ice I would put between 7 and 8 /10. For a stud-able tire without studs, it did quite well. Definitely better than the Studded Winterforce they replaced, oddly enough. They did real well in an ice storm we had this winter. Stopping distances could have been a bit better, I thought. Who knows if an X-Ice or a Blizzak would have performed much better. I did have to back down one hill. If I had them studded I may have made it up - but what matters is that I did make it farther than an AWD RAV-4!
These tires did real well in deep snow! We had one storm in particular that dropped 8'' of heavy snow. Per usual, the city didn't plow anything. I had to stop before going up a hill because a Grand Cherokee AWD couldn't get up the hill. I managed to make it up with the GT Radials, from a dead stop without problem. Little bit of wheel speed and these tires do an excellent job of digging! I would rate these a 9/10.
They even made it up a similar unplowed hill in the city just as far as my Jeep did on skilly studded all terrains did last year.
The spot where I was most impressed with these tires, and where they shine the most is in how they handle slush. They should be called the IcePro SlushMaster. With other tires (WS-60, Winterforce), changing lanes or hitting slush was a bit scary at times.
The first time driving with these in the slush I was super cautious - I don't want to end up in a situation where I over drive my tires - but I never once came close to the limit in the slush. I never once felt the car attempting to pull or lift when driving through standing slush or slush between lanes. That's definitely an effect of the tread pattern of these.
Compared to better snow tires - Nokian, Blizzak ... these are an excellent alternative. I wouldn't buy these just because they are cheap(er than Winterforces), I would buy them because they are a legitimately good snow tires.
Performance wise, These are an 8 or 9 out of 10 ... Value wise? Well over 10/10 if you can catch a discount.
These were bought from Discount Tire Direct for ~$38.00 a piece (including shipping) after labor day discounts and the rebates. Size 195/60-15 for my 2011 Ford Focus Being a cheap set of snow tires, I had very low expectations.
I bought these because I was tired of the studded winterforce (1) never balancing up right - I have 2 with bad belts that I ended up giving to a friend after selling the 4 good once and (2) studded tires tearing up the road and parking lots.
I put about 4200 miles on the tires this winter. It's a bit less than usual winters; installed them late and taking them off a bit early combined with trying to drive the Jeep on the warmer days kept me from getting too many miles on the tires.
These tires left me extremely impressed.
The first thing I noticed was the rolling resistance of these tires. Or lack thereof. Immediately after putting these tires on, my gas mileage shot up to high 30s, low 40s. The first trip I took with these tires returned mid 40s for MPG - all hand calculated. That is what in line with the original Hankook Optimo H725 tires. Definitely better mileage than the all seasons that are on the car now (Lifeliner GLS).
Treadwear is also quite impressive. There is only about 1/32'' of wear in 4200 miles on three of the tires. This was a warm winter, so they would have worn more this winter than a normal winter. The 4th tire is a bit more worn on the outside edges thanks to a leaky valve stem that would often drain the tire in anywhere from a to a week. Sporadic.
These tires are also quieter than the Cooper Lifeliner GLS that I run the rest of the year. Noise is comparable to various Blizzak snow tires I have run. They do not sound like mini mudders like studded and un-studded Winterforce tires!
Hard packed snow and ice I would put between 7 and 8 /10. For a stud-able tire without studs, it did quite well. Definitely better than the Studded Winterforce they replaced, oddly enough. They did real well in an ice storm we had this winter. Stopping distances could have been a bit better, I thought. Who knows if an X-Ice or a Blizzak would have performed much better. I did have to back down one hill. If I had them studded I may have made it up - but what matters is that I did make it farther than an AWD RAV-4!
These tires did real well in deep snow! We had one storm in particular that dropped 8'' of heavy snow. Per usual, the city didn't plow anything. I had to stop before going up a hill because a Grand Cherokee AWD couldn't get up the hill. I managed to make it up with the GT Radials, from a dead stop without problem. Little bit of wheel speed and these tires do an excellent job of digging! I would rate these a 9/10.
They even made it up a similar unplowed hill in the city just as far as my Jeep did on skilly studded all terrains did last year.
The spot where I was most impressed with these tires, and where they shine the most is in how they handle slush. They should be called the IcePro SlushMaster. With other tires (WS-60, Winterforce), changing lanes or hitting slush was a bit scary at times.
The first time driving with these in the slush I was super cautious - I don't want to end up in a situation where I over drive my tires - but I never once came close to the limit in the slush. I never once felt the car attempting to pull or lift when driving through standing slush or slush between lanes. That's definitely an effect of the tread pattern of these.
Compared to better snow tires - Nokian, Blizzak ... these are an excellent alternative. I wouldn't buy these just because they are cheap(er than Winterforces), I would buy them because they are a legitimately good snow tires.
Performance wise, These are an 8 or 9 out of 10 ... Value wise? Well over 10/10 if you can catch a discount.
