Snow tire recommendations

one possibilty is the goodyear winter radial designed for performance on ice and snow...made in Canada the goodyear ultra grip ice/snow Goodyear's Winter Radial Designed For Performance On Ice

What type of winter performance would you expect from tires designed for use in North America, manufactured in Canada and introduced in the Swiss Alps. If your answer is enhanced snow and ice traction, you'd be right and you'd be describing Goodyear's Ultra Grip Ice winter tires which are designed to provide traction during winter's most severe, icy conditions.

The Ultra Grip Ice features deep, heavily siped independent tread blocks formed into a directional tread design to help dig into snow and bite on ice while sweeping away water and slush to enhance wet traction and resist hydroplaning at above freezing temperatures. The Ultra Grip Ice uses multiple tread block sizes which are strategically aligned around the tire to minimize noise and enhance ride comfort. It features Goodyear's patented Ice Over Winter (IOW) tread compound which layers an ice traction tread compound (enhanced with silica and specialized polymers) layered above a more traditional winter tread compound. As the Ultra Grip Ice wears and the ice traction compound wears away, it reveals the winter tread compound for the remainder of the tire's life. Snow platform indicators (additional wear bars which are higher than the wear bars used to indicate the tire is worn out) connect the tire's shoulder and intermediate blocks identify when this compound transition takes place.

Ultra Grip Ice winter radials meet the industry's severe snow service requirements and are branded with the snowflake-on-the-mountain symbol. They feature blackwall styling and are available in 70- through 55-series, Q-speed rated sizes for 14" to 16" wheel diameters.

Winter tires are not UTQG rated.

Use Ultra Grip Ice tires on all wheels. The use of snow tires dramatically affects your car's handling. Goodyear strongly recommends the use of snow tires at all four wheel positions, especially in high-performance applications. Because of this, and our experience with similar tires, The Tire Rack will only sell Ultra Grip Ice tires in sets of four.

 

I have Michelin X-Ice on all 4 for my Prius. These were from my last car and are in their second season.

However, I use Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 on my other cars and these are very good in snow and reasonable on ice. I just bought another set of these for my daughter's Mazda 3 from PriusChat sponsor The Tire Rack. Ask for Walt at extension 372; he'll take good care of you.

 

Well, you won't get any argument from me about the POS Goodyear Integrity. Talk about low bidder! I replaced them with Michelin Harmony all season tires.

I've never believed in using an all season tire in winter. I had quite a few traction problems here in Winnipeg with the all season tires, as the Trac kicks in quite early and you can barely creep away at a green light.

The M+S labeling is dangerous and confusing, there is NO way a "smooth" highway tread could be used in "Mud and Snow" but that's what the crack smoking tire ad execs want you to believe. Good thing we have the RMA "Snowflake" symbol.

My winter tires finally arrived last Friday: Dunlop Graspic DS2. So far I'm very impressed with them, they work very well on slush, snow, and even ice. I can't use studded tires as my condo prohibits them (Underground parking slab is sealed and the studs might damage the coating).

I've used Firestone WinterFire studded tires and they also work well, but I don't think they're made anymore. Have used Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 and they work very well, though expensive (You get what you pay for, right?).

A coworker drives a mid-nineties Chevy Lumina and she just put on new Cooper WeatherMaster ST-2 studded tires. She swears by them and they appear to be very reasonably priced too.

If your jurisdiction and/or condo allows studded tires, try the Cooper WeatherMaster ST2. The Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 is a favorite of many drivers in winter, and my Dunlop Graspic DS2 tires seem to work very well too.

Glad to hear you're using steel wheels for winter. You will quickly destroy an aluminum rim by mounting/dismounting twice a year. Not to mention you can leave the nice factory wheels in your basement during winter to protect them from road salt.

 

Sorry, seanw, I just noticed you're from Ontario. That means you can NOT use a studded winter tire. Though the Ontario MTO is considering allowing residents in North West Ontario (Thunder Bay, Dryden, Kenora, Red Lake, Atikokan, Fort Frances, etc) to run studded tires next winter.

I've frequently driven through that area in winter and the road conditions can be treacherous. Especially Hwy 502 that connects Dryden to Fort Frances.

As far as studless winter tires, I've used the Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 with very good results. I just put on 4 Dunlop Graspic DS-2's and they compare very favorably to the Blizzak and much cheaper. I run the winter tires on steel rims, which makes mounting/removing much easier, and saves the nice factory wheels from road salt.

Ask your Toyota dealer about pricing. Believe it or not, my Toyota dealer was very competitive. Since his price included mounting/balancing and valve stems, he was actually $15/tire cheaper than a large chain that had a bunch of extra charges tacked on.

 

I'm also trying to decide which snows and whether a set of rims makes sense...I live in a hilly area with curvy roads (I live on a fairly steep road and have a steep driveway that ices up in winter.)

(1) I am thinking of Michelin Artic Alpin...discontinued but a local store has 4 and I put a refundable deposit on them...had them on my Subaru, they're great handling on dry pavement, not as good on wet pavement or snow, and EXPENSIVE

(2) The service dept of the dealer I bought my '05 from told me non-factory rims might cause a problem with the regenerative braking system and void the warranty. I don't buy that, and I'll get a second opinion from another dealer's service dept.

(3) Can you tell us which wheels you bought for the snows? Are they Toyota wheels?

wildplaces

 

Ooops, fogot to add one characteristic of the Michelin Artic Alpin that I considered...they last 4 seasons...

wildplaces

 

Hi Wildplaces:

My local Toyota dealer would have love to sold me 4 factory steel wheels, but didn't have any in stock. They went to a large reseller and got generic steel wheels. You know the kind, two different bolt patterns on the same wheel, it makes mounting a bit more tricky as you have to line up the correct bolt pattern.

I've had my steel rims and Dunlop Graspic DS-2's for almost 2 weeks now, and haven't noticed anything unusual about the handling or braking. The regen braking works as it should, I just have way more traction than before.

I think a Corolla or Matrix rim should fit.

As far as tire life, I used to get 3 winter driving seasons out of either Blizzak or Graspic DS-1 tires, so I hope to get at least the same life out of the Graspic DS-2's.

To extend the life of the tire, it's really important to not drive with them in temps over 50 F on dry pavement for any length of time. If you do, the tread will rapidly wear.

 

Thanks for the info, Jayman. I noticed tire Rack had some winter packages including mounting, balancing & rims. Now that you've confirmed that its ok to mount appropriate non-Toyota rims, I'll start looking around with that in mind.

wildplaces

 

I can also recommend the Cooper WeatheMaster ST-2 studded snow tire. My folks have a 2003 Buick LeSabre Celebration Edition, and they had an older set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50's on steel wheels.

Those tires have already worn down to the point of being no better than all-season tires. They also had an old set of Firestone WinterFire studded tires on steel rims from an older Buick, but those were also getting worn.

Early this week I drove their LeSabre to the tire shop and had the Blizzak's replaced with the Cooper tires. So far, so good. They work very well on slushy snow and especially on ice. The noise isn't too bad, but the Buick is a very quiet car.

 

Hey there,

I live in central Vermont.
2004 Prius - 14,000 miles

Just put Nokian Hakkepellita H2 Studded snows on all 4 corners and they are AWESOME.

I live 1 mile up a very steep dirt road that can get really ugly during the wrong type of weather (sleet, freezing rain, ice) and have also used these same tires on previous cars (MBZ 300 sdl, Lexus rx300) with excellent results. Also, I noted that the highway noise seems less noticeable on the Prius than on other vehicles... hmmm.

I have noticed about a 2 mpg penalty (now getting ONLY about 45 mpg!) with the studs on. Am going to experiment with tire pressure and see what happens.

Hope this helps.

 

That's a great choice. The Nokian Hakkepellita H2 is a premium winter tire and worth every penny. Hard to find up my way.

 

I just had Nokian WR's installed on my Prius with EXCELLENT results. We had around 2 inches of snow here (Long Island) and the car handled great. A great plus is that it is H rated and rides very quiet and smoothly on dry roads. Dedicated snows are great but they SUCK in dry weather. The WR is the best of both worlds. They're hard to find but worth every penny. I'll give an update later in the winter.

 

No wonder dedicated snow tires are not all that popular in Minnesota.

Our winters are very dry (thanks to the horrible cold... it's only 3F right now). So high-traction all-season are the popular choice for those desiring increased winter grip. And with ones like mine (HydroEdge), they do absolutely fantastic in wet weather.

 

I have always used Nokian studded snow tires. For the Prius I decided to try non-studded Michelin Xice.

So far I am pretty happy with them.

Much quieter than the tires that came on my Prius.
Super in rain and I would say better than the stock Prius tires.
Good on dry roads.
Seem to match the Nokians on snow.
On ice I still wish I had Nokians with studs, but it is hard to decide:

Nokians with studs for the few days the roads are icy or regular snow tires for the bulk of the winter when I am driving on wet roads or in snow and slush. I'm guessing the Michelin are about 1/4 of the way between summer tires and the studded Nokians on ice at best. All other conditions the Nokian's are equal or lose. Studs are especiallly bad in rain and the noise is far worse.

Definitely have to drive slower up to stop signs without the studs just in case of ice.

 

We got some very slippery snow/sleet/freezing rain a while ago. I took my Prius out in the parking lot after work to see how the nifty ABS, TRAC, and maybe even the VSC features worked. I was not able to make any of them kick in even though I really tried.

I was disappointed, in a way. But I was very impressed with the Blizzak WS-50s I had on. I feel very confident driving with them in the snow and slush.

Every tire has its pros and cons. I would not expect them to have the traction on ice that studded tires have, but studded tires have their own down sides. I also hear that they don't wear as long as some other snow tires because of the specially-formulated rubber they use. But they are quiet and handle very well--maybe better than the all-season OEMs.

 

The Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 is a great winter tire, though like any tire it can have some downside. Perhaps the biggest complaints are the relatively short treadlife and the squirmy handling.

Depending on how far you have to drive in winter, the tire should last 3-4 winters. It's really important not to drive any distance if dry and over 50 F, that causes rapid tire wear.

The "poor" handling is a direct reflection of the special soft and squishy tread the Blizzak and other studless winter tires (Like my Dunlop Graspic DS-2's) use to give good snow and ice grip in colder winter temps. I don't think the handling is that big of an issue, it just feels a bit numb.

If I always had to drive on glare ice, I would absolutely run good studded snow tires, such as the Nokian tires or the new Cooper WeatherMaster ST-2's. For moderate ice and especially slush and snow, the studless tires are better and much easier to live with.

One important note about ice: most ice melt applied by highway departments will stop working at temps colder than -15 F, so if they can't get rid of the ice before that temp, it stays. The worst combination is extreme cold and ice, as most all-season tires the tread compound has become too hard to effectively grip. You'll like studless tires in those conditions.

Having driven on my Dunlop Graspic DS-2's for about 3 weeks now, I no longer fear ice intersections or icy parking ramps. They work very well on snow and are good (Better than any all-season) on that polished ice you find at intersections.

I still worry about getting rear-ended at a stop light, but that's something I have little control over.

 

I had Nokian RSI (non studded) installed a couple of weeks ago. So far they have been great (I've always used Nokian's on previous cars also). No major weather trials yet but only a negligible effect on mileage. Road noise is minimal to my ear. Wishing for snow to give them (and my skiing urges) a real workout!

 

Re: Snow tire recommendations- from a post elewhere

Go to
www.nokiantyres.com for their website. I got P185/65HR15 stock#443434
@ $89.95 each+$8.50 mount &balance. The max pressure is I think 55lb
enough higher than the OEM's so there is no concern re running @ 44/42
or whatever. They are reasonably quiet are spot-on for odometer
readings, do not hydroplane and are great on snow/ice/slush. I will
abandon my previous practice of summer tires on the alloy rims and
winter tires on steel rims and keep these on the alloys all year. If
I can be of any further help let me know. Peace, Ammiel


I just went out ito the bitter cold to look at the tires.Wear 420 tractionA tempA
max load 1235# maxpressure 51# (I think). They are product code
T443432 rated 88H. 'nokiantyres.com' (note sp) to get your local dealer.
I paid $398 before tax out the door. I have tried them in downpours, dry, and ice. They are truly outstanding and quiet. I have not had enough snow to comment. Once I found 8 inches of slush on wet ice and drove onto that uphill and stopped. That was so slick the front tires just turned slowly without engaging the traction control. I had to rock D-R and turn the steering to get out, but get out I did saving me the embarassment of getting stuck in an alley beside the local beer distributor. I think I have solved the 8 wheel 8 tire problem. Will be selling the OEM tire with 1700 gentle 'break in" miles after the next snow.
If you're in the snow belt, I recomment Nokian WR's. It is an H rated tire with VERY GOOD snow traction, EXCELLENT wet handling, EXCELLENT dry handling (MUCH better than stock). You can keep 'em on all year too! Also it is VERY quiet. Another good tire (based on reviews) is the Goodyear triple tread but they don't have it in 185/65/15 yet. You'd have to go to 195/60/15. Last but not least is the Michelin hydroedge (some complain of noise with this tire). Check out

www.nokiantires.com
Agree with Nokian WR's. Put them on alloy wheels leave them on all year (anybody want to buy OEM's with 700 mi?) Had them since 12/03 25k very happy and they *are* LRR. My avg is 48mpg in Northeast.
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You can always go to tirerack.com, go to the winter rim/tire package section and select your model and year. They recommend the Bridgestone Bilzaaks -185/65-15