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snow tires

herm0016

herm0016

Diamond Member
I think we need a thread for snow tire reviews/ recommendations.

I see too many reviews that have nothing to do with the use of a snow tire. things like too noisy and does not look good on my XXX.

Snow and ice traction and driving manners are what matters.

I am looking for snows for my 1/2 ton pickup. somewhere around a 265-70-17, or a 275-65-17 ... or similar size. Are narrower tires better in snow and ice?

I am picking up a set of 17" escalade wheels (big pimp'n) for super cheap this week. These will be run for winter only.

tires being considered:

blizzak dm v1
blizzak w965 (load E only)
general altamax arctic

I would like something that is able in fairly deep snow and on icy highways.

what are your opinions and thoughts? any more suggestions?
 
Narrower tires are better for snow, it concentrates the weight to push through the snow to the road. If you are carrying stuff in the back though, just make sure you check the load rating (e.g. 94, 96, whatever). Also, weight in the back end will help you. I've watched empty pickups try to corner fast and send the back out into snow banks.

Define "deep" snow for you. To me, that's about 8", at which point my undercarriage looks like Tony Montana's face. Ice is generally a bitch for everybody, and don't underestimate the noise, a lot of snow tires sound like they want to kill you at highway speeds.

Generally, any decent snow tire with plenty of tread will do wonders for you over all seasons or whatever your truck wears during nice weather. Personally, I'm fond of Blizzaks, a set of WS-50's turned my Grand Prix GTP from a menace into well behaved. This year, I got a set of lightly used Hakkas, and am looking forwards to a blizzard.
 
not a fan of my michelin x-ice xi2's...was on my way to work, light rain, turned in and felt a little loss of traction. wtf? am i doing something wrong? 😕

225/45/R18 up front
245/45/R18 in back

remember, that was just a wet road.
 
The main reason i am doing this is a 1300 mile trip towing a grand wagoneer from my home in Wyoming to my parents in Michigan over the Christmas holiday. I will have plenty of weight. I would say 8 in on a road is fairly deep snow, we rarely get more than a few inches at a time in the high desert.

my oem tires are also getting wore down with 27000 mi and are not too great in the winter. We get a ton of ice build up over the winter here and the roads are not too well taken care of. I also make frequent trips to Laramie, over one of the worst winter parts of I-80.
 
@ herm0016 - I hope someone else comes in to help you, I don't know tires for trucks.

@ Fenixgoon - You're driving a RWD turbocharged sports coupe with snow tires? Um. I don't know the exact numbers, but I suspect you'll find snow tires have lower wet traction than whatever you use for performance summer tires. That's my best guess.
 
If you want snow traction, don't buy an ice tire like the Michelin's or Blizzak's.
I have had all of them, and the Altimax is bar none the best tire I've ever used in snow.

I would, without hesitation, get the Altimax Arctic.
 
CraigRT said:
If you want snow traction, don't buy an ice tire like the Michelin's or Blizzak's.
I have had all of them, and the Altimax is bar none the best tire I've ever used in snow.

I would, without hesitation, get the Altimax Arctic.
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Blizzaks and Michelin X-Ice are all I have used. I've never had issue in deep snow with either.
 
i am sort of steering away from them as i do not think they come in anything but 4 ply. I would like to stick to 6 at least.
 
Any mud tire will be great in fresh snow, for ice though you are going to want to get some that can be studded and run them studded if driving in ice not fresh snow or bring chains.

I've got Hankook Dynapro Mud Terrains on my truck and so far they have been fine in the snow, hasnt really snowed enough here to get to the driving on ice stage yet though. But they are studable and i will put studs on them if i find 4wd isnt enough with the ice.
 
I ran Firestone Winterforce tires on my Forester and loved them.

Rifterut said:
Any mud tire will be great in fresh snow, for ice though you are going to want to get some that can be studded and run them studded if driving in ice not fresh snow or bring chains.

I've got Hankook Dynapro Mud Terrains on my truck and so far they have been fine in the snow, hasnt really snowed enough here to get to the driving on ice stage yet though. But they are studable and i will put studs on them if i find 4wd isnt enough with the ice.
Click to expand...

Are they siped?
 
May as well have bald tires on ice as M/T tires. I will not sacrifice the ride, road handling and poor ice performance for mud tires on my pickup that sees mostly highway miles. For the life of me, i can not figure out why there are so many lifted trucks with giant mud tires that see less off road than my stock truck with a slide in can handle. also, studded tires are illegal many places. If i was driving in 12 in + of snow everywhere I would consider some aggressive off road tires, but not for highway driving.

jlee: the winter force are also on my radar, I like the higher void ratio of them compared to the dmv1 pattern.
 
Fenixgoon said:
not a fan of my michelin x-ice xi2's...was on my way to work, light rain, turned in and felt a little loss of traction. wtf? am i doing something wrong? 😕

225/45/R18 up front
245/45/R18 in back

remember, that was just a wet road.
Click to expand...

You're scaring me dude. I just got a set of xi2's for my 2001 ES300. I haven't put them on yet, will do in prolly next week. Hopefully they won't performan that poorly!
 
DVad3r said:
You're scaring me dude. I just got a set of xi2's for my 2001 ES300. I haven't put them on yet, will do in prolly next week. Hopefully they won't performan that poorly!
Click to expand...

Snow tires are not going to have the wet road performance that a good summer tire will have. They'll typically feel squirmy too, since they have soft / deep tread blocks.
 
jlee said:
Snow tires are not going to have the wet road performance that a good summer tire will have. They'll typically feel squirmy too, since they have soft / deep tread blocks.
Click to expand...

I never had summer tires, and probably won't, I've driven through 8 Canadian winters on all seasons so far.
 
My brother, who researches everything, swears by the Blizzak's.

I've used both the BFGoodrich All Terrain TA's and Goodyear SilentArmor and they work very well.
The Goodyears surprised me last year in Montana. They worked very well in the snow.
 
jlee said:
Snow tires are not going to have the wet road performance that a good summer tire will have. They'll typically feel squirmy too, since they have soft / deep tread blocks.
Click to expand...

why wouldn't they?

they have way more area/volume to channel water/snow/mud away.

and the rubber compound is meant to operate at a lower temperature.
 
I live in a very severe winter climate and drive a RWD car all year (I have a BMW E90 330i and E46 M3 - my 330i is my winter car). I use Blizzak LM-25s and they serve me very well indeed. Obviously my car is quite different from a truck but I have found very little to complain about with the Blizzaks - they provide such good traction on snow and ice that the only situations which cause any concern are those in which I simply run out of ground clearance (my E90 has a sport suspension and is relatively low to the ground).
 
jlee said:
Are they siped?
Click to expand...

No, which is why i got some that i could stud if we get snow on the ground long enough for it to be packed down to a layer of ice. They do great in fresh snow but i have a feeling they are going to be lacking on the ice.
 
herm0016 said:
May as well have bald tires on ice as M/T tires. I will not sacrifice the ride, road handling and poor ice performance for mud tires on my pickup that sees mostly highway miles. For the life of me, i can not figure out why there are so many lifted trucks with giant mud tires that see less off road than my stock truck with a slide in can handle. also, studded tires are illegal many places. If i was driving in 12 in + of snow everywhere I would consider some aggressive off road tires, but not for highway driving.

jlee: the winter force are also on my radar, I like the higher void ratio of them compared to the dmv1 pattern.
Click to expand...

Obvioulsy your diving habits will come into play, my truck see's as much offroad as onroad use(why else buy a 4x4). If anything it gets more miles put on it offroad. Also untill you get into full out mud boggers most mud tires perform well on the road, my hankooks have very little hum at highways speeds and down at 25 Psi are very soft and good at softening out the bumps on the road offering better ride quality than the no name touring tires the truck came with from the previous owner who only used it on the highways in the summer to pull a trailer and pack a camper.
 
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Fenixgoon said:
why wouldn't they?

they have way more area/volume to channel water/snow/mud away.

and the rubber compound is meant to operate at a lower temperature.
Click to expand...

http://www.insideline.com/features/tire-test-all-season-vs-snow-vs-summer.html
Wet Test Results
As with the snow test, it takes a purpose-built test surface to get meaningful and accurate wet test results. What's needed is a large flat VDA with a special asphalt formulation and a water-delivery system that can maintain a uniform depth of water (the approximate thickness of a quarter), so there's a consistent coefficient of friction across the entire surface.

We find it at Arizona Proving Ground (APG) near Phoenix, formerly a Volvo facility and now branded as Ford. Its pristine micro-pool looks gorgeous on this May afternoon as the surrounding mountain peaks, little fluffy clouds and spring sunlight reflect in the glassy surface.

It turns out we can test everything to and from 60 mph here, so for brevity's sake we'll stick to a discussion of those results. Those who want to can find the 40-mph results on the accompanying charts.


Acceleration testing provides the first surprise, as the all-season tire trails the pack with a 15.4-second 0-60 run. The snow tire's 12.7-second effort for 2nd place is significantly better, but the summer tire tops them all with an 11.9-second performance, over 20 percent quicker than the all-season tire. In fact, the all-season tire began encountering trouble near 40 mph, where it had been only 0.4 second behind the summer tire's performance when hydroplaning and wheelspin paid a visit.

Things are much the same when braking from 60 mph. The summer tire's 157-foot stop is the shortest, the snow tires come up 2nd at 181 feet and the all-season tires lag further behind in a flurry of ABS activity on the way to a distance of 215 feet, some 58 feet longer than the summer tire.

On the wet skid pad the summer tire smokes them once more, even delivering a little tire squeal as it churns out 0.81g — a figure many car-tire combinations can't match on dry pavement. The winter tire trails with a 0.71g run characterized by noticeable squirm, presumably from the side loads acting on the numerous sipes in its snow-biased tread pattern. That said, it still bests our all-season tire, which once again brings up the rear with a disappointing 0.65g showing.
Click to expand...
 
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