Snow Tire Discussion

The new Skiing (Dec 2008), under the "Best Gear of the Year" category, recommends the Hankook Icebear W300's and lists them at $154 per.

Also, Nokian has an ad in the back labeled, "Don't Miss a Powder Day Because You Can't get to the Mountains."

I've been following this thread and some tires are definitely better than others. However the best thing you can do for winter traction is add weight. I have just shy of 3/4 of a million miles driving tractor trailer trucks, with probably about 100,000 miles of snow and ice driving. The heavier the load the better.

Regardless of what rubber you have mounted, throw two or three 60 lb. sandbags right over the rear axle. This helps even with front wheel drive. If you have the room, throw four or five bags in.

Another tip, if the road looks wet but you don't see any spray coming off your tires; you're on black ice.

This is more a review of my experience with TireRack.com than the actual tires and wheels I purchased online.

Yesterday I took the mounted and balanced tires and wheels to Discount Tire in Shoreline to have them installed. Even though I purchased the products from a different retailer, Discount installed them for free (a nice surprise). As I made my way back to Seattle on I5 and got up to about 50 mph, the car started to vibrate badly. Not good. I decided to keep heading south and bring the car into the Northgate Discount Tire where balancing was recommended. Since I needed to drive the car to Olympia a little later in the day and didn't have time to research options with TireRack, I agreed. $32 later...

Discount found that the wheels had been very poorly balanced AND that TireRack sent me the wrong lug nuts, which Discount Shorline installed anyway.

So now I've got the OEM nuts on and a new balance for my drive to Oly, during which I notice a rear vibration at 60+ mph... This sucks. Next stop for adjustments??

Lesson learned: I'll not buy tires online again. There are too many variables and adjustments and it's not worth the hassle if something goes wrong.

Next report, hopefully I'll be able to tell how the tires performed on massive amounts of powder snow. For now, they do feel solid, quiet and smooth on the dry pavement when they're not woking away at rattling loose bolts out of the car at 60+ mph.

As my Vue has 16 inch tires, my options were limited. The Saturn dealership was adamant that I replace my tires with exactly the same specs as the ones that came with the vehicle (as it is still under the 50k warranty) and (whether true or not) they contended that putting different spec tires can negatively impact the breaks, drive train, etc. and they would not be responsible for the consequences.

After fretting, researching,  considering all the options and fretting some more,  I finally decided to buy tires from Schwab and bought the Toyo Open Country H/T's (P235/65R-16 101S). I definitely decided against siping as I could not find research to support the benefit (as neither could Herb Weisbaum ( To Sipe Or Not To Sipe )) and it voids the manufacturers warranty.

It cost me $82 more to get the tires at Schwab rather than purchase over the internet with local install, but I guess the peace of mind is worth it and I've never had a bad experience with Schwab.

Though I have bought them, I have not had them put on yet and will wait until Crystal opens to do so.

Another trip into a Discount Tire shop, another balance and things finally seem solid with the winter tire installation. 70+ mph and all is smooth.

Let the snows fall!!

I know this is way too late to help JibberD, but after four days of driving my VW Passat in the snow I have to say how much I love the Nokkian WR I bought this fall. They have been great. Snow, compact snow, ice, slush, all handled well. They were expensive, but seem worth it to me.