Snow tires - recommendations?

[James]

We have a very steep, west facing road that leads to our sharp cornered driveway. The road frequently has snow on it and also often has refreeze due to the west facing nature. So, I need excellent traction to get up the hill from a turn from the driveway and even better traction to slow down on the steep, sometimes icy toad to turn into the driveway.

Based just on that I’d say a studded snow like the Hakka 9’s or 10’s SUV.
But where else are you driving. Long dry highway etc?
What size?

we do 60-70mph.. and above on studless tires and drive like its summer. a good studless tire on good frozen road of snow has MUCH MORE grip than a bad'ish cheap'ish tire on rain!

Do you change tire pressures from summer values?

 

[Tom K.]

My random thoughts, all based on firsthand, personal experience:

Hakkas and Vikings are both great. Hakkas have a bit better feedback at the limit -- possibly good for an enthusiast like the OP.

Narrower doesn't help?! Well it does if you ever drive in slush.

Run-flat or not is personal. I go without and carry a plugging tool and a couple of cans of Fix A Flat and a little VI compressor.

Studded or not is again personal. I've avoided them for a long time due to the ratio of needing them or not in the PNW. Now that we live in the land of real winter, we Hakka-studded Mrs. K's Honda last year and Holy Hannah do they grip -- and really suck rocks when not needed.

 

[ScotsSkier]

Yokohama. IG75 or 55 whichever is the recommended for sedan

 

[anders_nor]

Based just on that I’d say a studded snow like the Hakka 9’s or 10’s SUV.
But where else are you driving. Long dry highway etc?
What size?


Do you change tire pressures from summer values?

on anything else than 100% ice at near 0c conditions and undercooled ice rain (frozen asfalt, rain falling) the studless are the best. On thooes frozen asfalt, and rain days ,the studs really are awesome though.. but we have like 1-2-3 of thoose a year here, max.

-30c on ice you will have a surpring ammount of grip wtith even the studless

we use same tire pressure as summer, when filling in autumn, you will have to check it, 2,5 bar at 10c is quite a lot less at -20

the "middle european" winter tires, aka not proper ones, doesn't really stand a chance against the proper ones.

 

[scott43]

I say similar things to people... Cold temps on hard snow gives you a remarkable amount of traction. Add salt and slush and all bets are off..

 

[Jerez]

Based just on that I’d say a studded snow like the Hakka 9’s or 10’s SUV.
But where else are you driving. Long dry highway etc?
What size?


Do you change tire pressures from summer values?

Thanks @James

We do commute between NM and CO which sometimes entails a long slog on dry roads, so probably not studded. R20...

 

[bbbradley]

I think studded tires are overkill for my needs.

 

[James]

I think studded tires are overkill for my needs.

No ice racing?

 

[bbbradley]

No ice racing?

Only at West Mountain for Masters Easterns. That was racing on polished marble countertop!

 

[tch]

Not all "snow tire" conditions are similar. I drove in Iceland this March on studded tires, and boy, was I glad for those studs. There was a lot of packed snow/ice surface, and sometimes some deep. Occasionally, there was gravel/sand mixed in, but it was almost never completely down to asphalt.

Meanwhile, I live in southern New England. We almost never drive on packed snow or ice. They get out and pre-treat the roads, which leads immediately to slush, and then they plow. So slush, wet, and even dry conditions far outweigh the occasional mid-storm snow-covered surface. Before buying, consider and research according to most-common local conditions.

Just like skis: buy for the conditions you typically drive, not for the conditions you wish for.

 

[bbbradley]

Not all "snow tire" conditions are similar. I drove in Iceland this March on studded tires, and boy, was I glad for those studs. There was a lot of packed snow/ice surface, and sometimes some deep. Occasionally, there was gravel/sand mixed in, but it was almost never completely down to asphalt.

Meanwhile, I live in southern New England. We almost never drive on packed snow or ice. They get out and pre-treat the roads, which leads immediately to slush, and then they plow. So slush, wet, and even dry conditions far outweigh the occasional mid-storm snow-covered surface. Before buying, consider and research according to most-common local conditions.

Just like skis: buy for the conditions you typically drive, not for the conditions you wish for.

I was originally looking at "Performance Winter Snow" but there has been no support for them. As that seems to deliver decent dry weather but far superior snow performance than stock rubber.

 

[skiJ]

I'm in Michigan, and am sold on Blizzaks.

+1. skiJ

 

[François Pugh]

I get 5 winters out of X-ice. Ditto the unstudded Hakka R2 (the pre-curser to the current design R3). Blizzaks would last me 2 or 3 winters until the wonder rubber compound would be worn off, and I can't bear to drive snow tires in the summer any more (I'm spoiled) to finish them off. So basically Blizzaks are effectively double the price. The R2 was mushier in the dry than the X-ice, but much more amenable to booting along at high speed in the passing lane when everyone else is crawling, not much advantage on ice over the x-ice, but maybe a tad better. Hard to say.

 

[martyg]

The first time that I really tested my studded Nokians: Sub zero night, in a sub-zero week, in Dillon, CO.... Several inches of hard packed snow and ice on the road.... In an SUV that does 0 - 60 in under five seconds... Sitting at a red light and punched it when it turned green... The slightest bit of waver and I rocketed off. Looking in my rear view mirror the other vehicles were a half-mile behind me and barely moving. Very confidence inspiring.

When I first purchased them they were very noisy. After a few hundred miles they quieted down. I've had every major brand of snow tire. These are the best that I have had. Although any snow tire will be better than an all-season tire.

 

[James]

Thanks @James

We do commute between NM and CO which sometimes entails a long slog on dry roads, so probably not studded. R20...

You might want to just put on something like the Falken A/T Trail. Then no switching for winter.

Falken A/T Trail

The Falken AT Trail drives like a high quality highway tire in the dry, improves cornering and rough road performance dramatically, used 1/32” tread over 8K miles at first rotation, and I took them out for fun in the Ascent in our 18” storm over the weekend.

Now quite a bit of that had consolidated since in was in the 80’s the before the storm started, but that means ice underneath. Definitely could have some drift fun under throttle with X-mode engaged. Back off the throttle and it settles right back in line like a good tire should.

Otherwise, as has been the case all season, zero drama, handles everything that is remotely reasonable for a CUV. This is ms nay’s car, I drive it occasionally. There is nothing remotely “AT” about this tire in regards to how a truck tire drives, except it has remarkable traction for a relatively tame tire. Which makes sense given it was designed specifically for the CUV market, which is why it’s showing up as a Toyota OEM tire on the RAV4. 10/10 every day and all day Sunday.

My quest this winter was to see if a Sube needed snow tires in Colorado with this tire on the market. Could not have obtained a more clear “no” answer through mega storm pass driving, urban ice driving, and shoulder season heavy snow and slush. Biggest problem really was driving too fast on plowed highways.

View attachment 169833 View attachment 169834

For some perspective, this was my deck at the same time. Although decks don’t really melt much due to warm ground temps.

View attachment 169835

 

[Jerez]

Interesting. If I still had my old Jeep it would be a consideration for sure. But I have brand new "all season" tires that came with with this computer on wheels so for now looking for a snow tire.

 

[anders_nor]

all season = horrible all season any condition

I tried driving my ram2500 here in norway on all season one season, cooper discoverer m+s, lets just say it got studded tires REAL fast. you could accelerate surprisingy well, just never come to a stop, and you would have to check rearview mirror to see if your bed was in the right lane. imho thoose should never ever be used on snow and ice.

@François Pugh I think you need to try the VC7


living in norway you can end up having 3, or even 4/5 sets of tires for your car on stuff like a 911 or m3, but all normal cars has at least 2 sets
cup2 = trackdays, dry fundays, nurburgring runs
michelin 4s or similar, good for rainy days, and general driving
hakka R3 or VC7, normal winter days, and on cold days on ice, driving to mountains skiing etc
hakka 9 or 10's, studded for ice racing and such where lappi are not allowed, we have to pay to run studded tires on road, so its a bit.. meeeh, and the noise of course
lappi, huuuuuuuuge studs, higly illegal for roads, not that we care much, but on dry asfalt they are pretty shady to drive on, 0 grip and all over the place, insane for ice fun.



the only people who tries to drive on all season or m+s whatever, ooooor, middle european tires, are misc european countries, and danish people, the danish ones will have snow chains on their cars... you can tell not by plate, but by the fact they go 10-20mph, when norwegians do 60-70-100mph... with the RIGHT tires, driving fast on snow is surpringly safe/grippy.

 

[James]

Interesting. If I still had my old Jeep it would be a consideration for sure. But I have brand new "all season" tires that came with with this computer on wheels so for now looking for a snow tire.

Well you can sell the current tires, then you’ll save say $200/year not switching tires…

Doesn’t appear to be a Blizzak that works for you in 265/50R20. Only one is the DM-V2, but that load rating is only 107, and yours seem to be 111.

So far in your size there’s
Nokian R5 SUV (latest)
R3 SUV
Michelin X-Ice Snow SUV
Yokohama Iceguard G075
Vredestein Wintrac Pro

Other option is to get rims. You could downsize to 18’s, 265/60R18. Looks like only the Nokian, Vredestein meet the 111 load, though the Michelin is 110.

Hey @anders_nor , the Nokian Hakka R3/5 is only R speed rated, 106mph/170km/h, others are T or V rated. Thoughts?

 

[anders_nor]

Well you can sell the current tires, then you’ll save say $200/year not switching tires…

Doesn’t appear to be a Blizzak that works for you in 265/50R20. Only one is the DM-V2, but that load rating is only 107, and yours seem to be 111.

So far in your size there’s
Nokian R5 SUV (latest)
R3 SUV
Michelin X-Ice Snow SUV
Yokohama Iceguard G075
Vredestein Wintrac Pro

Other option is to get rims. You could downsize to 18’s, 265/60R18. Looks like only the Nokian, Vredestein meet the 111 load, though the Michelin is 110.

Hey @anders_nor , the Nokian Hakka R3/5 is only R speed rated, 106mph/170km/h, others are T or V rated. Thoughts?

yeah, hakkas are not meant for topspeed runs, but I've had them at 250kmh, buddy at 300+.. sooooo there is that I wouldnt worry
I think its more about people not running them on dry autobahn at 250

 

[Ken_R]

I'm in the market for a set of 4 snows to get my car ready for the winter --> normal, limited commuting + multiple ski trips to ME/NH/VT/NY where the weather can range widely.

Any recommendations for brands/models to consider and avoid?

I've run Blizzaks in the past (they were like marshmallows on dry roads, but gripped well in snow), General Altimax (worked well and last way longer than I would have expected), Arctic Alpin (no real memory of them being good or bad). I'm considering runflats for them as well as my car has no spare and being stuck with a flat, albeit unlikely, it not my idea of a fun way to spend a wintery night.

My recommendation kinda depends on the vehicle but I run Hakkas and Blizzaks and both have been great but I give the edge to the Blizzaks in deeper snow. While the Hakkas have better handling on dry roads while still being secure on ice and snow.