Winter tires, whos put them on?

frugality · Jan 3, 2012

For such occasional use, I'd get a set of good all-seasons, not bother with snows, and just be careful in the snow when it does snow. After running a set of Dunlop Wintersports for 5 winters, I went 1 winter on a new set of Michelin Primacies and found them to be surprisingly good in the snow.

It sounds to me like you're looking to just mount these snows on an as-needed basis. In that case, the supposed longer life of the Hakkas is kind of moot. If handling is a big deal for you, then I'd just go with my gut and go with the Hakkas. But if it were me, with such rare use, I'd go with the cheaper Altimax's.

jasonTDI · Jan 4, 2012

The Artic's will hold up just as long. For your use buy them, they will be fine.

woofie2 · Jan 4, 2012

Sbeghan said:
Got a question for you guys. We don't get much snow down here so I'll mainly be buying these to go skiing with, in which case I'll probably be hitting the mountains during a snow storm. Or for freak blizzards where I'll be the only guy able to drive.

I can get the Altimax Arctics for $292 shipped or the Hakkapeliitta 5s for $431 shipped. I hear the Hakkas have much better handling and will last longer. Should I spend the money and get them? Or if I'll only be keeping them around for the occasional bit of snow or roadtrip should I get the Arctics?

frugality said:
For such occasional use, I'd get a set of good all-seasons, not bother with snows, and just be careful in the snow when it does snow. After running a set of Dunlop Wintersports for 5 winters, I went 1 winter on a new set of Michelin Primacies and found them to be surprisingly good in the snow.

I was thinking the same thing, spend the money on some good all seasons, you can run most of the rainy season (October through May)
as most of the world shuts down when Memphis gets more than an inch of snow... and snow tires are not much better on ice typically than All-seasons.

as for travel I would go with the altimax

Sbeghan · Jan 4, 2012

Well, last spring break I went to WV and got caught in a snowstorm in the mountains. My GF's family is also from the mountains and we got caught last xmas up there too. So if I'm going to make any more mountain trips I'd like some snow tires (my all seasons do NOT cut it).

I'll go for the altimax. Thanks guys.

RRLAG · Jan 6, 2012

im running 195/65/15 on my mkiv. I try to keep them as thin as possible to prevent floating on top of the snow, which would defeat the purpose of snow tires. I always shop from tirerack and run blizzaks. I run the dark grey rial alloy rims, because steelies seem to trap a little too much snow and the car shakes too much when the tires are thrown off balance. IMO the investment in snow tires is worth it when it can save a life in dangerous winter conditions.

manual_tranny · Jan 6, 2012

I finally got caught in the snow with my winter tires. When dozens of vehicles were lined up in the right lane doing 55mph, I was able to get in the left (snowy) lane and haul butt around them several times. Even though these snows have been used through a couple of seasons, they still have a tremendous advantage over my summer tires. I love snow!

darkhorse · Jan 7, 2012

Blizzak's all the way here. I'd use studs if the law allowed but this winter some all season would do so far.

TornadoRed · Jan 7, 2012

darkhorse said:
Blizzak's all the way here. I'd use studs if the law allowed but this winter some all season would do so far.

If I'd known there wouldn't be any snow, I'd have saved the Altimax Arctics and stayed with my near-slick Michelins.

steffen707 · May 15, 2012

jasonTDI said:
I like the Altimax Arctics.

My Yukon has them and so do a TON of clients. They are about 40% less than the Nokians price wise. They are VERY good in the snow. An EPIC improvement over all-season tires. That said the RIGHT Nokian is 20% better than these. I'm referring to winter use tires. The WRG2 is better than an all season and about 20% less than the Altimax. There has to be some compromise if you use it year round.

Jason, any experience with the michelin xice xi2? They're $83 closeout on tire rack right now and i'm going to need a set of snow tires for next winter in central wisconsin.

How do they compare to the General Altimax Arctics that you like? Tirerack has those for $81 each, normal price.

jasonTDI · May 16, 2012

X ice, the older version is great on ice but not nearly as good in slop and deeper snow. Great on cold dry pavement though. The tread is too tight for good deep (2-3") snow traction.

steffen707 · May 17, 2012

jasonTDI said:
X ice, the older version is great on ice but not nearly as good in slop and deeper snow. Great on cold dry pavement though. The tread is too tight for good deep (2-3") snow traction.

I'm wondering if the same is true for the x ice xi2? I know they have excellent low rolling resistance.

darkhorse · May 17, 2012

Ice traction is my priority & I love my Blizzaks for that reason. I'd get Green Diamond if they ever got their act together on production. In the mean time, the Blizzak is pretty good in snow & slush too. To me that is worth $$

steffen707 · May 17, 2012

darkhorse said:
Ice traction is my priority & I love my Blizzaks for that reason. I'd get Green Diamond if they ever got their act together on production. In the mean time, the Blizzak is pretty good in snow & slush too. To me that is worth $$

What other model tires have you used darkhorse?

I had a set of hakkipillitas on a civic once, they were awesome, and then i've just had generic cheap walmart snow tires which are way better than all seasons, but probably no where near blizzak or those hakk's.

jasonTDI · May 20, 2012

I love the Hakka's. Wifes 03' E46 325 XIT runs them. Unstoppable.

frugality · May 20, 2012

O.K. guys....once it hits 90 degrees, we're DONE with talking snow tires for another season....

isonic · May 20, 2012

How many miles are people getting out of their General Altimax Artics? I have three winters and 24K on mine and I am thinking that I will need a new set. They still have some tread on them but depending on how much snow we get they may not perform very well. This last winter was definitely hard on them. Little snow and lots more power than the previous two years.

TornadoRed · May 20, 2012

I put nearly 30k miles on the used but like-new Altimax Arctics I ran this past winter. I haven't measured the tread depth, but I think they are good for another 30k. At any rate, I will try to stretch them that far, since I doubt I'll want to replace them in February or March.

isonic · May 21, 2012

60K? Yeah that is not happening with mine. I will see if I can get a measurement of the tread.

jasonTDI · May 23, 2012

Driving style, tire pressure, alignment and road make-up all come into effect here. I generally see 50-60K from most customers.

NewYorkBuck · Dec 7, 2012

Just ordered a set of Blizzaks W70s from Tire Rack. We bought a country house in northern Pa, and the 3.5 hour drive from NY/NJ allows for some pretty variable weather conditions in Dec-March.

Will go back to the Conti DWS's in April.

hevster1 · Dec 7, 2012

NewYorkBuck said:
Just ordered a set of Blizzaks W70s from Tire Rack. We bought a country house in northern Pa, and the 3.5 hour drive from NY/NJ allows for some pretty variable weather conditions in Dec-March.

Will go back to the Conti DWS's in April.

And why did you not ask me for a price?????

TornadoRed · Dec 7, 2012

I kind of wished I'd had the winter tires on tonight, but I managed okay. The General Altimax Winter tires go on in the morning, for their second season. Sunday we are supposed to get 6" of wet slushy stuff, which should be a good test -- last winter they were never really put to a test.

darkhorse · Dec 8, 2012

My Blizzaks went on a couple of days ago. This will be their 4th & last season. It doesn't take a lot of snow to appreciate them, just a little ice on the road.

Steve-o · Dec 8, 2012

I'm trying out the Altimax Arctics this year after (apparently) a lifetime on Nokian Hakkas. I thought I'd replaced the Hakkas once on this car, but I guess time got away from me -- some of the tires were 10 years old

We've been running Arctics on my wife's Kia (this will be their third winter); I'm interested to see how they compare with the Hakkas at half the price.

BKmetz · Dec 9, 2012

I just installed a set of Nokian Hakkapelliitta R's. From the few thousand miles I've put on them these are the quietest snow tires I have ever had, so far.

My last set of winter tires were Nokian WRG2's. These too were very good tires but got a little noisy as they wore down.

As Nokian is a niche brand, there is no discount or sales. I had to buy them mail order.

steffen707 · Dec 9, 2012

I threw on a set of barely used general altimax tires a few weeks ago. We're suppose to get 5-7" tonight, and I can't wait to see how the TDI handles. Its been about 7 years since I had a TDI in winter.

Stinkyfingers · Dec 9, 2012

Put my Blizzak's on last weekend. Still waiting for winter to arrive in Michigan.

TornadoRed · Dec 9, 2012

The Altimax Arctics got a good workout today and performed superbly. I was passing everybody today, except for an Audi Quattro that probably had even better tires than mine. But everyone else was spinning tires, getting stuck on freeway ramps, sliding into ditches, and I was having a blast.

Our courier company got a lot of business today from both Firestone and Tires Plus, moving tires from one location to another. I hauled two sets, both Blizzaks. All the tire shops were super-busy.

socks · Dec 10, 2012

BKmetz said:
I just installed a set of Nokian Hakkapelliitta R's. From the few thousand miles I've put on them these are the quietest snow tires I have ever had, so far.

My last set of winter tires were Nokian WRG2's. These too were very good tires but got a little noisy as they wore down.

As Nokian is a niche brand, there is no discount or sales. I had to buy them mail order.

I've noticed the noise on my Nokian WRG2's as well. But so far I love how they handle. And you're right, they aren't cheap...

Only1Z · Dec 10, 2012

Michelin X-Ice 3’s here...

They are really soft so I expect very good traction in the cold/snow. They are very quiet.

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Winter tires, whos put them on?

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