Finally a disappointment

You'll love the WRs. Great in rain too! Just check out the aggressive siping. And they work well on dry roads. Oh, and dry roads don't wear them out. They come with a 100,000 km treadwear warranty (pro-rated).

The biggest problem on the west coast is the snow is very WET and although uncommon, it comes deep when it does come! It's slippery as heck too because of the higher temp.
Second problem is the roads become blocked with other cars, as snow tires are not as common as they should be and the drivers never get any practise driving in snow.

But it's funny here in Edmonton, where we have snow 6 months of the year. First snowfall of the season you'd think nobody had ever seen it before and continue to try to drive like the roads were bare!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 5 2006, 12:21 AM) [snapback]357821[/snapback]</div>

Jon

Yes, as David mentioned, a conventional studless winter tire, or to a lesser extent a studded winter tire, will wear quite rapidly in temps over +15 C or so.

In your situation, for as often as it really snows there, even a good "all-season" should be sufficient. I'm not sure if it's worth a long-term fuel economy loss - slight as that may be - to have better traction on a few snowy days a year.

If you live where I do, where bitter cold can last a long time, they you'll either do the "right thing" and get four steel wheels with "real" winter tires (Studded), or put up with lower traction on the icy stretches.

Although I'm currently singing the praises for my new Goodyear Nordic aka Goodyear UltraGrip 500 on snow and ice, trust me on this: on dry warm roads they were AWFUL. You're too young to have experienced bias ply mud tires on trucks, so you'll just have to believe me that without exception these are the noisest tires I have used in about 25 years.

However when I had them on during our heavy rains about 2.5 weeks ago, they performed quite well on water-soaked roads. The Nordic is a directional tire and does a good job of expelling water and slush.

jay

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(David Beale @ Dec 5 2006, 03:27 PM) [snapback]358103[/snapback]</div>

David

Feh! You should have been driving around Winnipeg last week after the blizzard. Bunch of morons ... "Friendy Manitoba" my a**!

jay

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 5 2006, 05:26 PM) [snapback]358150[/snapback]</div>

I've seen them on display at the tire shop. They sure look directional to me.

 

Yes, the WRs are directional. Rotate front to rear, never cross (unless you remove from the wheel and remount). They are reported to be LRRs to some extent. So far the reports I've read from Prius owners says no mileage hit. Well, maybe a hit when they're brand new. They are "performance all season tires", and wear like iron - and that's on my anti-Prius and a friends RX-8. Both vehicles should be harder on tires than a Prius. I use mine all year round, he uses them in winter only, as the summer tires the car came with have better warm bare road grip (sticky summer performance tires = rapid wear).

I've even been considering them for the RX-7, so I don't have to be so nervous driving it in the mountains in spring and fall. It has summer performance tires on it and they are ball bearings in snow!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 5 2006, 08:13 PM) [snapback]358223[/snapback]</div>

Well, for the Vancouver area, winter tires may be nice to have but unless you frequently drive the Coqa. Connector or drive up to Whistler to go skiing, you could probably get by with decent "all season" tires. Youre recent snowfall was unusual.

Edmonton - although currently warming up - was bitterly cold last week. It actually has a lot in common with Winnipeg as far as "real" winter driving conditions. I would think for maximum safety a "real" winter tire would be best.

Especially the drive up the Coqa. Connector.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tomdeimos @ Dec 3 2006, 03:09 PM) [snapback]357083[/snapback]</div>

Ditto. In fact just a few days ago I was going up an icy hill where a rear wheel drive car was fishtailing and barely managing to make it up. (Clearly part of their problem was stupid driver syndrome though.) Where as my Prius didn't even flinch as I slowed down, changed lanes to get around them, and accelerated away smoothly. It was as if the snow and ice wasn't even there for me.

But even more impressive is my ability to stop in slippery conditions. My last car (a '98 Mercury Sable) was like an unstoppable tank ... and not in a good way. Where as with the Prius most of the braking power isn't even from the actual brakes, so you don't play slip and slide nearly as much, especially if you use the engine brake too. Which I do when on ice with mine. I love it! It's a much safer winter drive for me this year.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Silver Phoenix @ Dec 7 2006, 04:12 PM) [snapback]359030[/snapback]</div>

My 2004 clearly will not do that. Indeed, with "all season" tires stopped at an intersection and one side on dry pavement, the other side on glare ice, it was completely helpless.

I've driven cars with a "real" traction control system, so I understand how much it can improve winter traction. It sounds like Toyota improved the system for later model Prius cars.

 

I live in the mountains west of Boulder, and I've had no problems on snowpack on hills. I put Michellin X-Ice tires on when I bought the car and have VSC. This hasn't proved to be a problem yet. X-ice tires feel better on dry roads and sand too.

 

I bought the Nokian WR to use in the winter. So far they´re really good. But what suprises me most is that my fuel consumption hasn´t barely changed despite the fact that the WR´s are 205s and the summer tires are 195s.