Snow Tire Discussion

Snow tires, a topic that has evolved in parallel with my 30 year skiing career.

Phase I, circa 1978-1991: No Snow Tire Era
     
* Part of the skiing adventure includes getting out of the '74 LTD and pushing it the last 1/4 to the Stevens Pass parking lot. The driver spins the mis-matched bald tires on the rear wheels at a constant rate and attempts to keep the beast out of the ditch and the path of oncoming Custom Wagon vans. Sometimes it goes so well the pushers have to jog up the highway behind the fish tailing behemoth, but usually they act as a wedge keeping the rear end at the rear end. No we're not turning around and we're certainly not putting on chains. Almost there!

Phase II, 1992-1995: FWD

*Who needs snow tires when you've got front wheel drive?

Phase III, 1996-1998: FWD + 2 retreaded snow tires

*I am bullet proof. Fond memories of pushing the LTD uphill seem vaguely foolish.

Phase IV, 1999-2002: FWD + 4 no-name walnut shell studded retreads. I had Yokohama, Goodyear and Michelin cores.

*Yep these were nuts, but seemed good at the time. I was assured that the retreads had a miniscule failure rate of only 10%. Mine was 50%.

Phase V, 2002-present: FWD + 4 brand name studded snow tires

*Not bad, but I think I am ready to drop the studs and go for a state-of-the-art premium studless set of four...

SO WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND? What are you driving on and how's it going?

Only talking snow tires here, AWD is just too far down the evolutionary path to consider...

Get a set of Nokian snow tires.  You don't need studs unless you are racing your car on ice.  The studs just chew up the roadway the 99.9 percent of the time you don't need them.  Modern snow tires work very well even on glare ice, because of the modern tread compounds and the multiple edges from the molded in sipes.  Unfortunately the bargain snow tires may have a decent amount of sipes, but the tread compound doesn't work nearly as well as the more expensive stuff.  Nokian, Bridgestone, Yokohama, Dunlop and Michelin all make good snow tires, but I think Nokians are the best.  The Bridgestone tires have a layer of soft rubber on the outside that works well but only last long enough for a magazine type test.  Once that wears off they don't have any advantage over the others. The tire dealer added siping only helps a tire that really wasn't design for use in the snow, real snow tires have molded in siping that works better than that cut in by the tire dealers.

I picked up some Hankook iPike's last year, and they're awesome. I have a subaru, so the advantage of AWD too, but compared to my All season pirelli's before they are WAY better. They're a little louder on the dry pavement as to be expected, but the confidence and stability on snow is awesome. I picked them up in january last year on drove them till April, the day i went to buy summer tires it snowed in seattle and i could totally feel the difference with drifting and slipping and sliding everywhere. They also handle deep water in the ruts on our roads with much more confidence than my A/S. I recommend. My first set of snowtires though so can't compare to other brands. read all the reviews on tirerack and tires.com

I put about 7k on Bridgestone Revo 1's that I got on closeout last year before switching to summer tires. I felt really secure driving on these and probably got too confident with them. Never had to put chains on once even on my hill which is a 25% grade. Blizzaks are a mainstay as well and you'll do well at www.tirerack.com - wow Revo 1's are only $55 in my size now, thats a steal!

I totally agree that studless is the way to go.

Timely subject for me as i've just been researching what to get to replace my Blizzaks that wore out after last season. I was sold on the blizzaks, they track through snow like you're on a rail! I put two seasons on them after I think 4 (perhaps 3) seasons with the original owner, so i would say the conventional wisdom that the soft rubber wears off too quickly is a bunch of BS. The only reason i'm not going to get another set is that they stopped making them for 13" wheels and I don't want to buy 4 more 14" wheels and convert over.

I've settled on Nokians, the Hakkapellitta or some such name. Searching online and speaking with my mechanic, tire dudes, etc.. they seem to be the best with everyone saying if you spend any amount of time in the mountains the Nokians will perform best and longest.  The only drawback seems to be the price, about $105 each!

Whatever you do don't rely on "all season tires" they suck- look for the mountain and snowflake logo on the sidewall that designates a tire designed only for snow and ice.

check out this site for more info;

www.snowtire.info/index1.html

I've had Michelin and Bridgestone, but the Nokian Hakkappellitta 2's I run currently are superior. More grip AND better treadlife than Blizzaks (but more $$$, too).