Hey Folks Seattle got dumped on over the weekend. I had purchased a set of Hankook Winter iPike W409 (195/65R15) before Thanksgiving when Discount Tire Direct had a pre-Black Friday sale. Mounted, I paid just under $400, which I felt was a pretty good deal. I decided not to stud them because the mechanic at the tire shop told me studs could produce worse results in the wet. Plus Seattle winters are really not all that bad. I know a lot of you say it's fine to drive on the OEM Yoko's the first winter season. I wanted the peace of mind in case I get stuck at work. I have a 50-60min commute daily and didn't want to risk a slide. On Sunday we drove from Redmond to Downtown (about 30mins) in the middle of the heaviest snow. There was a stretch of road on an incline with a light at the top. I was at the bottom watching others slide side-to-side and getting stuck...one of which was a 3rd Gen Prius. I pulled into the median and followed an SUV up the hill right past them. I was quite impressed with the pull...with very little slippage. The entire day I activated the ABS twice and the traction control maybe once/twice for a split second. There was probably a good 3 inches on the ground by then. I felt super confident in the ability of the Hankook's. The other area where it shines is in the rain/slush. I rolled over most of the half-melted stuff on the freeway with ease. The off-road like tread pattern is a bit louder...but then again our Prii aren't exactly Lexus's. There will be nay sayers to upgrading the tires. However for peace of mind, I felt the investment was worth the price.
the cheapest korean or chinese winter tyre is going to drive circles around the best all season tires from france, germany or japan during winter months, you're comparing apples to oranges. Discount tire has stopped carrying the Hankooks in my area as there are better options at that price point. first, studable tires are not as good as studless winter tires, unless of course you stud them and drive them on an ice rink. In normal winter conditions, Sipes outperform studs, and manufacturer's can't fit nearly as many sipes on a studded tire as they can on a studless tire because they have to leave space for over a hundred studs per tire. The best winter tire for long distance driving is Michelin X-Ice xi2 as it offers 40K mile warranty and I think is even LRR. For normal winter city driving, bridgestone's blizzak ws70 and continental's extremeWINTERcontact are the best. There isn't much info on Goodyear's Ice Grip WRT, but i'm betting that's great as well. If you want the most bang for your buck, tirebuyer.com will sell you 4 Nitto NT-SN2 for $277 shipped to your door tax free!!! That's $325 installed assuming you shop around to find a shop to install and balance them for $12 per tire. The reviews on them are surprisingly great given their incredible price. Stay away from Dunlop, Pirelli and Yokahama winter tyres, these were great a decade ago but they haven't been upgraded the way others have been. If you live in Alaska or northern Canada General's Altimax Artic has the best reviews of studded winter tyres. You have made the right decision to go with a winter tire package, I hope you use all season tires the other 3 seasons to save your winter tires. After 4 or 5 winters when my winter tires are worn down I run them the rest of the year just to get my money's worth and then I get new ones the following November as there is a break in period for them. Because they are not subjected to UV rays winter tires can last much longer than all season tires. People who use all season tires should lower their deductable in the winter, now that you are using the right tire for the season you don't need to lower your deductable. another fun thing to do with winter tires is to take off from a stoplight much faster than all-wheel-drive Acuras, Subarus and Audis. It leaves them perplexed and feeling stupid.
