2012/13 Snow tires thread (cars & trucks, merged thread)

Looking for a set of now tires for my mazda3. These new fandangled "all weather" tires have caught my attention due to the fact that we only need actual snow tires down here for a couple days to a week. Canadian Tire carries the Hankook Optimo 4S, anyone here have real world experiance with them?

:heart:

hankook iPike.

All weather tires are NOT snow tires. You have ~1 sq. ft. of rubber holding your life onto the road. Probably worth spending a few hundred bucks on.

The other good thing about winter tires is they are able to keep a good contact patch when its this wet out there.

I was just about to start a thread like this. The 8 year old Nokians on my 97 Civic have the grip of hockey pucks. 185/65/14s.

Does anyone have any insight regarding the relationship between speed rating, vehicle weight, tire wear, and dry/wet/snow handling characteristics?

Something between a Q-rated softie and an H-rated highway snow?

If you want to have a more performance oriented tire, check out the Dunlop Wintersport M3s. Great winter tire, good traction in cooler temperatures, shed water really well. Great tire for Vancouver winters in my opinion.

I'm not getting winter tires…we don't need them in the Lower Mainland and they destroy a car fuel effiency. That being said we do need more than all seasons. The Hankook tire is Winter severe snow rated (it has the mountain snow flake symbol).

Morgan the speed rating has nothing to do with rubber compound. The Snow tires on our work cars are V speed rated.

In my experience, the higher speed rated tires have had less traction, while the lower speed rated tires were less stable and more wallowy.

Probably gonna pull the trigger on a set of Hankook iPikes this week. Fuel economy be damned.

Some guy at Fountain Tire posited that the rubber on a cheap snow tire had a harder durametre so would wear slower than the Blizzacks I had that wore out like gummy bears…………

Blizzaks are notoriously fast-wearing. Use them for a winter, drive them through the summer, and replace.

In my experience, the higher speed rated tires have had less traction, while the lower speed rated tires were less stable and more wallowy.

Probably gonna pull the trigger on a set of Hankook iPikes this week. Fuel economy be damned.

i'm running these currently. not too dissimilar to the nokian hakkapellitas i had previously, but at a better pricepoint. like any other soft grippy snow tire they squirm on dry pavement (and wear quickly), but hook up nicely in their intended environment.

I'm not getting winter tires…we don't need them in the Lower Mainland and they destroy a car fuel effiency. That being said we do need more than all seasons. The Hankook tire is Winter severe snow rated (it has the mountain snow flake symbol).

A friend has Nokian WR G2 on his Jetta wagon which are an all season+ tire. He seems happy enough with them I think.

Personally I will be getting some Nokian Hakkapelitta R's for winter driving. True it doesn't snow much in town, but for the trips to the ski hill I have much more confidence in their ability to get me up and down safely. And on the days it does snow here I can at least get around if I absolutely need to.

We spent 2 days up in Hemlock and it dumped snow for 2 nights. You can just see the side view mirror and license plate of our small wagon (FWD) after the second night of snow. I had cleaned it off the previous day. Yes, they plowed the road, but it was still pretty crazy on the way down. The road was packed and polished snow. Probably should have had chains, but the Hak R's gave me enough grip to get down.

I was just about to start a thread like this. The 8 year old Nokians on my 97 Civic have the grip of hockey pucks. 185/65/14s.

Does anyone have any insight regarding the relationship between speed rating, vehicle weight, tire wear, and dry/wet/snow handling characteristics?

Something between a Q-rated softie and an H-rated highway snow?

My understanding is this:

Speed rating for a tire is the tires top speed before you may experience warping, deformation and or my personal fav, tire failre. Think firestone and ford exploders.

Vehicle weight will be the tires load rating. take your curb weight plus max weight capacity (found on your inside door panel) add that up, divide by four and you get what should be the max load for each tire on your vehicle.

Tire wear is the durometer. Something like 200 300 and 400 is the standard, with the lower (I think) being softer.

Characteristics come down to tread design, intended application, durometer and the vechile itself.

For all your tire needs, read up @ tirerack.com. Such a useful tool for these threads. And for tires in your size, you may not save a lot on shipping them in from the states but you will have plenty of options from both sides of the border.

If you want to have a more performance oriented tire, check out the Dunlop Wintersport M3s. Great winter tire, good traction in cooler temperatures, shed water really well. Great tire for Vancouver winters in my opinion.

Those were my second choice but I ended up going with Pirellis Sottozero 240. Main reason was the M3's from tirerack were about $50 more each. The Pirellis, when new, had phenomenol all around characteristics including equal mileage to the Falkens A/S they replaced, exceptional slush and water handling and sweet snow fun. But thats also AWD.

I'm not getting winter tires…we don't need them in the Lower Mainland and they destroy a car fuel effiency. That being said we do need more than all seasons. The Hankook tire is Winter severe snow rated (it has the mountain snow flake symbol).

Morgan the speed rating has nothing to do with rubber compound. The Snow tires on our work cars are V speed rated.

I think theres a bit of fail in your post. My snow tires get equal mileage to my previous and current summer tires (previous Falken Ziex 912s came with and current Michilen Pilot Super Sports).

That little snow flake could also save your legal ass in the event of an accident. Potential fact: if you dont have that snow flake and get in an accident, say rear ended in however ICBC defines "winter", it will most likely be your fault or 50/50'd. You will also be turned around if theres a roadblock for getting up to Whistler or Interior as you're a newb in the eyes of the poleece and a hazard to yourself and everyone else who is prepared for winter.