Topic: How did you decide what tires to run in the winter?

[GrantC]

Looking back at my own personal history of:

• running the brand new a/s tires my WRX came on (and being not only fine but better than average on the road because they were new and I had AWD)
• buying Hakka RSi's in a GB on ASC for my WRX (and being far above average thanks to "Hakkas" and AWD)
• running bald, dead, mis-sized A/S on the 1wd civic (and being average, at best.  No ABS, grabby right front brake, no diff, FWD)
• running near dead bridgestone LM60 that came on my STi (in a stupid size 225/40R18, but on an STI with 3 LSD's & good ABS)
• buying Hakka 7's, but not in the GB on WSC.   

I've gone through  "A/S are fine" to "I'll never not run winters" to "Actually, I can get around no-worse than anyone else on A/S tires in a driver aid less car" to "holy itshay STi's are amazing, and so are even dead-ish modern winters" to "Y'know, studded tires don't make _that_ much noise...  But they *do* make that much grip!   >:D "

So I was wondering, how do you choose what tires to run?  How do you know how much better winters are if you never run them?  If everyone else is running A/S tires they'll all be tip-toe'ing along with you when the roads are "bad"^*.

And then there's the specifics of what tires to buy... Do you choose by brand? By price? By word of mouth? By what you ran before?  By what your friends, forum buddys, or family run?

* - not actually bad.  Just snowy or cold, ie. "average for Edmonton in Winter"

[Alex]

I had all seasons on my first car (1998 Pontiac Bonneville  ) and since it was a heavy fwd car they seemed to work okay. I slid into some snowbanks once in a while but never had any major issues issues (I drove very cautiously in marginal conditions though).

Since my STi came with summer tires I thought I might as well get winters since I will be having 2 sets of wheels anyways.
My mechanical adviser (or dad, as I call him) looked up tires on TriCan and suggested Hankook Winter i*cept Evo tires because they came in the same dimensions as my summers and were a decent price ($900 for all 4 tires). I am very happy with them. They provide lots of grip and haven't let me down yet.

I purchased used BBS goldies last spring and ran them all summer. They came with Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires (categorized as extreme all season tires). I drove in the first few snowfalls with them and they were quite slippery. I could lose traction just by tapping my gas during a turn. After putting the winter tires on it was night and day. I don't think I will ever purchase all season tires again (unless they are for strictly summer use, but that's no fun). I am hooked on winter tires now.

And lastly; I have never tried studded tires, but the way my studless winter tires are performing I don't think I will move to studded any time soon.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I ran a/s on my '86 Accord, because I was 17.
I ran winters on my '92 civic, and they were awesome, but I ran my A/S tires when the winters were dead and... I regret it.
STi came with LM60's, and they were good, got 2 years out of them. Running WS60's now, and they're awesome, but based on the reviews I've been reading, my next set of winters will likely be studded Hakka's.

[Tenacious_B]

I'm running Hercules Avalanche's on my FXT because... er, I didn't plan ahead, and it's what I could get it 215/55R17 without destroying my chequing account.

I prefer the studded tires on my wagon but the noise get irritating fast.

[rith]

I've usually bought my winter wheels used.. so.. price determined my purchases for the most part.. hah.

First set were some Blizzaks on BBS 17"'s that I used for 2 years then sold for almost the same price I bought them for.  They werent that great, I think they were a bit older and Blizzaks apparently have 2 compounds.. one is good, the other is not good.. so you wear through the good layer then you're stuck with a ittshay tire..

Then I bought Sleepers Gislaved Nordfrost 5's on stock enkei 18.s. Personally I like the Gislaved because they're studded and I find I have a lot more grip on ice.  The sidewalls are super soft though .. softer than any tire I've ever had to use.. they feel weird sometimes.

My third set is on a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Goodyear WRT.    This one didn't really have any reviews at the time when I bought them new so I basically just ordered them and threw them on. 

The Goodyear WRT's  on the Jeep are acceptable on snow but I think I the next set of tires with have studs.

I typically ignore the reviews from the USA, our winters are much colder and we have way more freeze/thaw cycles than some guy testing winter tires in New York state.

Personally I've wanted to try the "Hakkas" but honestly I think Kal Tire sucks balls, they rank worse than Canadian Tire for uckfaying stuff up "what we're supposed to tighten lug nuts?". If Nokian ever decides to get a different vendor then I may try them out in the future,


uhh.. in summary.... I just buy whatever is available and is from a reputable company.   I also tend to stay away from cheap no-name/Chinese tires. I'm pretty sure ANY mid0-range/price  winters from any major manufacturer will be a good choice over sliding around in all seasons.

[Scrambles]

No hakka 7's in my oem wheel size, got what was rated to be "the next best thing", X-ice i3. If I had to do it again I think I would go studded as an experiment.

[rith]

Everytime I hear about Hakks, people always cite reviews but then they point to some weird ice speed record.. but I'm  rarely going over 120km in winter  ..
I'd like to see more actual practical tests like stopping distance or cornering.. you know.. stuff you actually do and not try to drive 300km/hour on a lake

[Rathburn]

Car came with ContiPro Contacts, first winter there was barely any snow (S. Ontario) so they were pretty new and not too bad. Second winter was snowy, they were terrible. By the next winter, they were replaced due to wear anyways. The Michelin Hydro-Edge's that replaced them were fine the first winter, as there wasn't much snow again. Winter after that, there was a ton of snow, and I found Dunlop Graspic DS3's really cheap. This is my fourth season on them, they'll be done after this one I imagine, and I won't go back to running an A/S in the winter. Definitely way better grip. I really want to try some Nokains, and may get them for next winter. The Dunlops are great compared to an A/S tire, but from what I've read, there are much better tires out there.

Caveat to this: I drive a Jetta at the moment. So no AWD. That being said, I'm aware that AWD doesn't necessarily make your car amazing in the winter, it does nothing for braking. I believe a FWD car on proper winter tires would still be better than an AWD one on A/S tires.

[RockThePylon]

>Be me
>Drive FWD econobox cars without traction control or ABS
>Always A/S tires
>Somehow not die
>Buy '08 Subaru WRX STI.
>Equip with new Hakkapeliitta R.
>Wait two months for snow to come.
>Where is winter?
>Finally snowfall.
>wow. so car. such drift. much grip. so traction.
>3 days later a Chinook comes.
>MFW winter tires were an advantage for that one day before the roads were plowed and salted.

[GrantC]

Everytime I hear about Hakks, people always cite reviews but then they point to some weird ice speed record.. but I'm  rarely going over 120km in winter  ..
I'd like to see more actual practical tests like stopping distance or cornering.. you know.. stuff you actually do and not try to drive 300km/hour on a lake

If we manage to book Namao for Winter AutoX come on out!  We can swap cars for a run or two.

[rith]

If we manage to book Namao for Winter AutoX come on out!  We can swap cars for a run or two.

Yeah for sure, would be nice to be able to get out there again hah.

[Asstuna]

From my motorcycle racing days I like to get my hands on the tire and feel it. I like to dig my nails into the compound and rub my hands over them, communing with them. It gives me a gut feel of what I'm going to get… sounds weird, I know, but it works for me.

• Honestly can't remember what I ran on my previous two WRX's. I suspect I had Michelin X-Ice2's on my last one. These seemed okay, from memory. I had no trouble getting around town and going to/from the mountains for snowboarding trips. But then, I wasn't driving the WRX like an STi and I had no suspension mods on either of those cars.
• First winters on the STi were Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 225/45R18 stretched on to the 8.5" stock rim. I grabbed these because I saved a few hundred bucks over full size performance winter tires (being 245/40R18). I asked too much of these tires and I slid into a curb... partially my fault for the way I was driving, but I also think the stretched tires were a disadvantage. At this stage I held nothing against the Blizzak, they seemed okay and they felt fine under my hands-on grip test. I also had no suspension mods on my car.
• As soon as the car was back on the road I swapped the Blizzaks for Hakka R's (245/40R18) on the stock rims. These were vastly improved over the Blizzaks and they passed the grip test with flying colours. These were a soft and pliable compound and flexible at the sipes. They felt amazing before I even drove on them. Unfortunately for me it took all summer (in fact, 10 months after they were ordered) for my summer rims to arrive from Japan, so I drove my winters well into September. I wasn't nice to them and pretty well caned the itshay out of them, playing with understeer and oversteer at every opportunity. I used the Hakka R's again last winter, but this time on Swift springs on stock struts with no other suspension mods. Again, they performed well but I was starting to worry that they were on their last legs. Before I stored them I took a close look at them and found rounding and chisel shapes on the sipes. This season saw major changes to my suspension (bushings everywhere, coilovers, sways). For my winter prep I backed off the bump and rebound on the coilovers but still found myself skating all over the show… most times this was deliberate, but a couple of occasions were accidental and potentially dangerous. This is just the beginning of the season and, quite frankly, I don't want to have to deal with accidental uncontrolled slides for the next six months.
• I took my wife's BRZ for a spin last weekend, shod with studded Hakka 7's. I was so impressed that I PM'd Steve (yella) to see if he could get me the last pair of studded Hakka 7's in the country and mount them on my STi. As I type this I'm sitting in the waiting room at Kal Tire getting them fitted. I will post my comments later. One of the techs just carried out my old tires for me to check… they have plenty of tread left and I have no concern they will be perfectly capable for someone who doesn't drive like me. I will post these for sale in the near future.

[diamondedge]

For 3 winters I ran Kumho KW22's (non-studded) for my old Matrix (FWD). Before that, I drove to the University on the A/S one snowy day in November and coming down the hill on John Laurie was not fun. The KW22's ate up snow/slush. Sheer ice wasn't as good however, better than A/S though.

Going studded this year on Himalayas. Looking forward to see how it feels, got an appointment booked. My decision was influenced by threads on WSC and beyond forums.

[snakeman]

When I got my WRX it came with Michelin Primacy MXV4 all seasons. How bad could they be? I thought to myself. Well, after almost putting my car into a ditch because I took a corner too fast, I started to research them. They are designed for long life and therefore are as hard as curling stones.

Because of my cheapness, I kept them for another 2 years and drove like a grandma until a friend from Kal Tire said he could get me some studded Hakka 7's for cheap. This was in 2011 when the Hakka 7's first debuted and I was blown away by the difference. My car started to handle like a WRX should in the snow. Life was great...

In 2012 I put a 6 speed in my car with Brembos and all that junk. This meant no more 16 inch Hakka 7's for the WRX (Sold to tweeked). I picked up a set of BBSssses with some Dunlop Winter Sport 3D's on them. They were a little worn and one had bad camber wear but I figured they'd be good for the season. I should've known what to expect when Ryan from Vex, after swapping in the 6MT and test driving the car, offered his own take on the tires. Something to the effect of "these tires suck". And they really did. I missed the studs and was back to driving like a grandma.

Fast forward to a couple months ago when yella throws up the Nokian GB and I get all misty eyed thinking about the one season I rolled the Hakkas. I say uckfay it and order sets of Hakka 7's in 17" for my WRX and 16" for my Forester. Now I'm looking forward to some REAL winter weather!

[Rick]

What about all-weathers?

[jutes]

What about all-weathers?

I've ran on WG3 All Weathers for the past 3 winters without a problem on my 1WD 98 Forester. Still isn't as good as a winter tire, but a itshay tone better than an all season. If you have a POS AWD beater I think its the perfect tire.

[poopeebum]

heh i crashed and totalled my mazda3 on new all season tires, so when i bought the saabaru i knew i needed winters. im on hankook winter ipikes, good on snow, but not good on ice, i'll be looking to get studded winters once i go through these winter tires.

[snakeman]

What about all-weathers?

I hear really good things about the Nokian WRG2. That's probably one of the only ones I'd consider.

[Asstuna]

a itshay tone

Tonne. Strike two.

[jutes]

Tonne. Strike two.

[RallyX]

What's the difference of WRG2 and 3?  Nokian website shows both but not really clear what's the difference.

[jutes]

What's the difference of WRG2 and 3?  Nokian website shows both but not really clear what's the difference.

One is a 2, other is a 3.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

What's the difference of WRG2 and 3?  Nokian website shows both but not really clear what's the difference.

3 replaces the 2

[Rathburn]

What's the difference of WRG2 and 3?  Nokian website shows both but not really clear what's the difference.

They're 1 better.

[THE EDJ]

I went on tire rack and found the best consumer reviewed tires I could find and then picked one that fit my budget.

EDIT: For the record, I settled on studded General Altimax Arctic rubber.