School me on snow tires

[My94GT]

The fiancé and I are about to move into a new home that sits on top of a nasty steep mile long road.

I currently drive a 1.5 fusion and she has a small Audi A3. I want to get back into a truck as I previously had a 2010 f150 but I’m waiting for the desil f150 to hit the market and see how it does first.

In the mean time I’ll need to operate in the snow if possible just through this winter. I’ve had people tell me snow tires are life changing but I have zero experience.

Looking for advice, brand or snow tire, do I just buy two for my front tires, should I buy a second set of wheels and put snow tires on them. Also anyone care to share their experience in the snow with them, how bad was the weather, what car were they on and how’d it do?

Thanks

 

[bigmoose]

Bridgestone blizzak. Get all 4 separate set of wheels so you can swap them yourselves, it's cheaper in the long run. You can't do just two. I run them on my explorer and it's a tank in the snow. I ran them on my old FWD Acura TL and it was amazing as well. Major upgrade over no-season tires.

It's not just about traction for going forward. Lateral traction and braking is superior. I'd take a FWD car with snow tires over an AWD with no-season.

 

[HudsonFalcon]

We put Blizzak's on my wife's Jeep Compass the first winter she got it back in 2012 and I highly recommend them. We put them on all four corners and they have enough life left to get one more season out of them.

We live on a private gravel road that is very steep and poorly plowed during the winter and her car has never gotten stuck.

 

[Double"O"]

Bridgestone blizzak. Get all 4 separate set of wheels so you can swap them yourselves, it's cheaper in the long run. You can't do just two. I run them on my explorer and it's a tank in the snow. I ran them on my old FWD Acura TL and it was amazing as well. Major upgrade over no-season tires.

It's not just about traction for going forward. Lateral traction and braking is superior. I'd take a FWD car with snow tires over an AWD with no-season.

Run em on my wife's awd 15 Fusion...they perform great...the hill to my house is steep and shaded. The blizzaks just eat up until the snow gets really deep and the underside drags

 

[M91196]

Narrowest alloys from Tire Rack with Blizzaks I could stuff on the wifes Taurus LTD go on Dec 15 thru March 15. They are a great solution.

 

[Riptide]

General makes a good snow tire for the money if you can't afford the blizzaks.

 

[NY03SonicConv.]

+1 on the Blizzaks, every fwd car my wife has had I ordered 4 winter wheels and tires from Tirerack. They perform very well till the bottom of the car starts to drag in deeper snow.

 

[Balt21]

Another vote for Bridgestone Blizzaks and putting them on all 4 wheels. I had a VW GTI with Blizzaks on cheap steelies from Tire Rack and it did great. I now have Yokohama Iceguards on the stock wheels of my STi and it does really well too. I preferred the Bridgestones though.

As someone else said, spend a few more dollars now and get them put on a second set of wheels so you can swap them in your garage instead of taking it to a shop every spring and fall.

 

[Bronze123]

As far as performance. The juice is worth the squeeze to get winter tires. Get all four replaced. They change the handling, cornering, braking, so much. Not a good idea to just do two.

Not a bad idea on getting separate wheels. Easier to bolt on and off. The newer cars will require sensors, roughly 40-60 dollars more per wheel. And yes, sensors are required.

The good news is that you won’t buy tires for like 4-6 years. Since you be putting splitting miles on each summer and winter set. The bad is pricing and finding time to swap on and off, and getting sensors reset. Which every tire store/dealer is busy as hell when you want to get this done.

A good compromise I found is an all season called Celsius. Made by Toyo. Keep them On year round, and they perform better then a normal all season, and similar to winter tires. Have two cars with them and love them.

 

[LXZ06]

http://www.wisebread.com/the-5-best-winter-tires

My first experience with snow tires was a set of 4 on my wifes civic. We got General artic max. Very impressed. I buried it in a snow drift to see what would happen and it eventually dug itself out. Best tire for price imo.
W then e bought a Rav 4 that came with the blizzaks and they were great as well, but wouldnt buy them over the Generals because of price.

 

[427Windsorman]

If you do not live in an area that has snow / ice on the road all winter, I would go non-studded:

Non-Studded Snow Tires:

1) Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 All-Season Radial Tire
2) Michelin X-Ice Xi3 Winter Radial Tire
3) Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 Winter Radial Tire

If you are in an area like East Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, etc. with ice and snow on the road all winter, then I recommended studded:

1) Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9 Studded Winter Tire
2) Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 Studded Tire

Nokian is the real deal made by folks who live in the one of the harshest winter environments.

Car and Driver recently tested the top 6 brands. You can find it quickly with a google search.

 

[hoamskilet]

Winter tires are a game changer. Never realized it until I got a GTO a couple years ago and had to run it through the winter. Had Blizzaks on that and was blown away how I got around all winter without sliding around. Put my summer wheels/tires back on cus I thought winter was over......got barely a dusting of snow one morning and thought I wasn't going to get out of my daughter's school parking lot after I dropped her off because I couldnt get moving lol. Running General Grabbers on my F250 now and was very pleased with them last winter

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[Weather Man]

The difference on hard pack/icy roads is amazing.

 

[98 svt]

Definitely avoid studded tires at all costs.

 

[awful knawful]

Always had winter tires. Last year got a set of studded, first ever set of studded. Pulled the studs this spring. Hated them!

 

[98 svt]

Always had winter tires. Last year got a set of studded, first ever set of studded. Pulled the studs this spring. Hated them!

I took an offramp (at normal speed) many year ago in my old 81 Mustang on a nice sunny winter day. I tapped the brakes and the car did an immediate 180. I had several cars coming at me head-on. I thought I was going to die.
Drove home, pulled them off, and threw them out to the trash.
Never again.
You are riding around on studs. That's great in the snow/ice, but in dry weather it is very unsafe to stop, turn etc.

 

[CobraBob]

We've used Michelins (two seasons) and Bridgestown Blizzaks. Blizzaks are our favorite. Only one we use now. Costco has a sale a couple of times a year so we always take advantage of that.

 

[V6&V8SHO]

Continental Winter Contact SI. I use them on both my 17 fusion sport and my wife’s edge. Tire has great structure (h rated) and functions very well in the snow and ice well above all season tire capabilities.

I’ve owned blizzaks before but have found that they really take the dry handling capability down. If you want to absolutely crush winter snows but don’t care so much about the dry handling the blizzaks or x ice are hands down the best.

 

[My94GT]

I’m going to look into the blizzaks some more. Another idea I was tossing around was just renting a truck or suv like a Tahoe on the days it snows.

We’re in MD so we don’t see gobs of snow and I run a collision repair shop with Enterprise in location. I priced up wheels and tires and it’s about 800. It may just be more cost effective to rent something on days I need it to get through this winter. The plan is to dump off the fusion at the end of next year anyway.

Also we may consider trading the A3 in for a Q5 and then I could pick up a spare set up wheels and winter tires for that since we’ll be keeping it for a few years and that would be a worthwhile investment

 

[testorossa1989]

Blizzaks on the cars. Fwd cars love them. If the Audi is awd, continentals. For the truck a good mud tire is a bad snow tire and a good snow tire does ok in mud. Remember this when choosing because as appealing as a toyo open country is.... It's garbage in snow. I drive in 6 inches and up hills, down hills ect. I like the Cooper M+S because they're cheap, highway snow tire so you don't hear terrible road noise and do fantastic. Once you get into larger tires, you quickly lose your selection in decent snow tires

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