What are some good quality, but affordable winter tires?
I was thinking about studded tires but I searched the forum and it didn't sound like a good idea.
The word "skating" came up and I didn't like the way that sounded.
Is it ok to just get the fronts for snow tires or do I need to get all four?
THANKS!

blizzaks good tire, and of course any snow tire will out perform an all season tire

Consumer Reports 11/05 United States ratings, in order...

Michelin X-Ice
Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice
Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50
Mastercraft Glacier Grip II
Gislaved Nordfrost 3
Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2
Cooper Weathermaster S/T 2
Kelly Wintermark Magna Grip HT
Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSI
Hankook W404
Dayton Winterforce

Studded winter tires are great, unless the roads are dry. On that, they are noisy, and like to wander around.

It is ideal to run four snow tires. I have ran just two since 1991. Back then, because I was tight on cash. Now, I still run two just because I am used to it. With just two, the rear will loose grip before the front ones, so the rear has a tendency to slide out. That is one of the hazards of running just two.

Consumer Reports 11/06...Performance Winter Tires

Goodyear Eagle Ultra Grip GW3 H
Nitto Winter SN1 H (cheapest in the top 10)
Continental ContiWinterContact TS810 H
Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 H
Nokian WR All Weather Plus H
Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3 V

Never get studded unless you live somewhere that is always ice. Winter tires can be bad enough on dry pavement....studs would just make it worse. I had some Khumo Ice/Snow tires for a while and they were amazing in the snow and ice. However they were dangerous on the dry pavement. Braking distances probably doubled. Cornering was scary. I ended up selling them for $30 and putting nice all-season tires on my factory 16" rims for the winter.

Thanks Guys!

Jackass wrote: Winter tires can be bad enough on dry pavement....studs would just make it worse. I had some Khumo Ice/Snow tires for a while and they were amazing in the snow and ice. However they were dangerous on the dry pavement. Braking distances probably doubled. Cornering was scary. I ended up selling them for $30 and putting nice all-season tires on my factory 16" rims for the winter.

Are all/most winter tires bad on dry pavement?
Are they that much better on ice and snow than all-seasons?
What does everyone prefer?

Bad on dry pavement? Not exactly, they will never be as good as your regular tires on dry pavement. Better on ice and snow? Good winter tires should always be better on ice and snow than all seasons. It all depends on where you live and how good your road crews are. I live in Kansas City. We get about 3-4 good snows per season and those usually include ice under the snow. Our road crews are pretty much worthless though so the roads stay nasty for a full day or two after the storm. I used to live in downtown KC and we had an ice storm that took 5 days before they ever even came down my street with a salt/sand truck let alone a plow. That is why I had dedicated snow/ice tires. Now I live in the burbs and they do a better job of clearing the roads so I now just use regular all-season tires (not performance all-season). If you lived somewhere that was always getting snow, I'd say get dedicated snow/ice tires. If your area is like KC, regular all-season tires would probably be just fine since 75% of the time you would be driving on dry pavement. Your profile states Lincoln, NE so I assume you get more snow than KC.

Also remember the Khumo snow/ice tires I had were $45 each and were actually Ice tires more than they were snow tires. I imagine their target audience was not Kansas City....it was probably more for people further North that get ice and snow steady through the winter like up in the mountains. I would love to have a set of blizzaks or any of the other top rated snow tires, but I just don't want to pay $500 for tires that I am only going to have on for 3 months out of the year and only really get "used" once or twice a year when it snows.

So I have another question. What size do I want? I read the forums with some saying wider is better because of more surface area making contact with the road, while others said that the narrow tires cut through the snow and have more weight per unit of measure. And I keep hearing about 14" steelies as winter tires. Why are they the best for winter tires?

So do I want wide or narrow?
Big or small?
Steelie or not steelie?

I know your (insert: wife, girlfriend, mom) prefers my big, wide, woody, but we're not talking about her right now. Let's focus on the snow tires!

Thanks Guys!

My 2¢...

Narrow to cut through.
14" since they should be cheaper.
Steelies or some cheapo alloys.

Everything I have read states that narrow is better. The reason steelies are popular is strength and cost. 14" tires are generally cheaper than 15" or 16". They also have a taller sidewall which helps avoid rim damage if you happen to bump a curb. My winter wheels happen to be my 16" factory rims. Already had them so no additional cost. Also I am not punished as bad in the handling department by usnig 16" instead of 14" since 75% of the time I will be on dry pavement anyways.

Tirerack usually offers up winter rim/tire combo deals that are priced pretty nice. All depends on what you want.

IF you don't want to have to worry about changing your tires... get Goodyear Tripletreads, the center tread is designed with volcanic sand so it actually adheres to snow. I know it sounds weird, but if you've ever heard about using ash from your fireplace on your driveway, it's the same principle.

I've seen the Goodyear Ultragrips work in DEEP snow, it was next to impossible to get stuck. I purchased a set just last week, highly recommend. Of course if your area has more ice than snow or lots of ice, spend the extra cash and go with the X-ICE Ultra Grips. But my area doesn't get much ice so I didn't see it as a huge need for the price gap.

don't go with goodyear goodyear went on strike n now thier wearhouses are running out of tires i work at a cooper wearhouse n we carry goodyrs the weather master st2's arn't badd but my suggestion the best snow tire ever made is the bridgestone blizzak it's a studless snow tire and have heard nothing badd about them

sickfire95 wrote:don't go with goodyear goodyear went on strike n now thier wearhouses are running out of tires i work at a cooper wearhouse n we carry goodyrs the weather master st2's arn't badd but my suggestion the best snow tire ever made is the bridgestone blizzak it's a studless snow tire and have heard nothing badd about them

Just because they're on strike doesn't mean they have crappy tires man ...

i didn't say they were crappy tires read b4 u make a comment

Nokian > All others. THe Fin's KNOW how to make a good tire.



My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"

Cooper Weathermaster S/T 2

They were the cheapest studded snow tires I could find. All I'm gonna say is this....

Drive one winter with studded snow tires all the way around and you will NEVER drive another winter without them.

I had Sears snow tires on my Cutlass and they made a huge difference. Before I got them I had a horrible time getting up hills but after I put them on I would go up a lot easier.

I just picked up a set of 185/70/14's from discounttiredirect.com for 45/ea. Gonna mount them on extra steelies I have. A little shorter than stock, but were cheaper than the winterforces at tirerack (free shipping at discount)


87GT.com