What's a good snow tire?

[turbofiat124]

We got hit by the "Finger of God" here in the southeast. On average we get one good 6 inch snowstorm per year. Last significant snow we got before Christmas was back in 2009 and like this storm, it was one big slushy wet mess. This one measures 1 foot at my house. Power knocked out in places. Cedar trees split down the middle out in the field. Half of a Magnolia tree in my yard is broken off. I've got my work cut out for me once this stuff melts. This morning after I got home, I could hear tree branches breaking off in the distance.

By this morning we had about 6 inches. By the time I woke out after 3:00 pm, we had one foot. About an hour before heading off to work,  I wanted to make sure I could pull away from my garage. I couldn't see the driveway and backed off the pavement and into the grass. I made it up my driveway that morning without issues but the roads were a bit dodgy.

I tried digging myself out to no avail and gave up after 45 minutes. I think I wore about 2000 miles off the tires spinning out! I think one issue was the snow was packed underneath the car.

I called my co-worker who is also my neighbor and he was kind enough to give me a ride to work.

This is the ONLY time I have ever gotten stuck in my Subaru. Back in the winter of 2009 when he got that snowstorm, I was out behind my garage doing doughnuts and never got stuck. But the difference is that snow was dry and frozen. Incidentally those tires are the same tires I replaced in 2007. So they are now 11 years old but still have plenty of tread left on them. The rubber does not feel hard.

I felt like my Subaru had let me down then then seen two Bajas abandoned within 1 mile of my house, so after seeing that I didn't feel so bad.

So here is the question. Can you run snow tires year round? I only drive my Subaru from November to April. The rest of the time it sits in the garage and I'm out driving one of my classic cars.

Also what's a good snow tire since there are tons of brands on the market.

What about these Yokohamas?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/YOK-02076?seid=srese1&cm_mmc=pla-google-_-shopping-_-srese1-_-Yokohama-Tires&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImeri-NKU3wIV1sDICh39gAHnEAkYAiABEgL2WvD_BwE

They are a "brand" tire name. Despite being $49 a set. Are they any good?

Also since I probably need to replace my tires more often, I could care less if I get 10,000 miles out of set. It would take me about 10 years to wear a set of tires out, at that rate.

 

 

 

 

 

[idosubaru]

Buy a good quality all season tire.  Or maybe try a cheap snow tire.

snow tires are soft and will wear and degrade quickly in heat. But maybe that’s a good thing for your odd mileage needs. If you replace them more often than 11 years they might be a good fit.  No way I’d want a cheap tire on my car for 10 years without researching RV maintenance and how to prolong tire life  

with your current usage I would get Michelin all seasons or the year round Nokians. They’ll probably barely underperform a cheap snow tire for two years but then shine for the remaining years you run them after that.

ive seen cheap snow tires, even touted blizzacks, not grip as good after 2-3 years. If you actually need snow tires buy good ones, if the cost isn’t worth it to you then you don’t need them, get decent all seasons 

11 year old tires is well beyond recommended tire life. Besides that old tires suck shat in the snow, particularly if they’re not good tires to begin with. tread depth is inconsequential.  All tire recomendatiins say tires are no good after 6-7 years and while that number is somewhat arbitrary, they do blow out.

A member here who only drives one of his Subarus a few thousand miles a year had two blow out within miles of each other on the interstate on his way to my house not long ago.  Another friend totaled his Subaru last year with “new tires” - they were two year old cheap tires, terrible in the snow  

 

 

 

Anither 

Edited December 10, 2018 by idosubaru

[idosubaru]

Correct - wet snow is enormously different and will stick, pack and high Center a vehicle very easily.  Dry snow is no big deal.  

comments like “Subarus are good for up to 12” of snow” and “I drive through 18”” are anecdotal. It’s a differential equation, not black and white.

[uniberp1]

I like the Yoko Avid Ascents on my 08 Forester. Apparently they are made with "orange oil" which is supposedly more temp stable. 

I have a Discount all season "Arizonan" all season house brand on the 99 Forester. They are ok, but a little louder on the pavement.

[Numbchux]

You don't want to run dedicated snow tires year round. The soft tread compound will not hold up in the warmer temperatures.

There are a couple aggressive all-seasons, with the tread pattern more like a snow tire, and the rubber is a bit softer than the typical freeway touring all-season, but still stable enough to run in warmer temperatures. Nokian WRG (just released the WRG4), and the Toyo Celsius. 

[CNY_Dave]

6 hours ago, idosubaru said:

Correct - wet snow is enormously different and will stick, pack and high Center a vehicle very easily.  Dry snow is no big deal.  

comments like “Subarus are good for up to 12” of snow” and “I drive through 18”” are anecdotal. It’s a differential equation, not black and white.

True- I can plow through 18 inches of powder no sweat, if it's wet snow I can drag the belly just a little bit before I'm high centered, especially since the car 'planes up' on the snow, the snow under the car takes some of the weight, the tires ride up packing the snow under them, then they 'break through'. Time to shovel!

Here we get lake snow from the great lakes, often the only term for it is 'greasy'- it's like driving on whipped butter, no matter how much or how little. Subaru with good snows, extreme care required. Lesser tires, fergetabboutit.

[matt167]

Nokian WRG3 ( directional ) and WRG4 ( Asymetrical ) are both all weather tires that will do what you want. There is also a Veredestine Quadrac 5 that will do what you want as it's another all weather tire.

Yokohama Ice guard isn't bad, but it isn't good. they are not 3 point flake rated that I'm aware of which is the gold standard.  That price is related to the size though. 175/60/15 isn't very expensive

[carfreak85]

I bought a set of RS six-spoke wheels last year that came with a good set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 snow tires.  I'll be running those on my WRX this winter.

[Numbchux]

On 12/11/2018 at 5:05 AM, matt167 said:

Nokian WRG3 ( directional ) and WRG4 ( Asymetrical ) are both all weather tires that will do what you want. There is also a Veredestine Quadrac 5 that will do what you want as it's another all weather tire.

Yokohama Ice guard isn't bad, but it isn't good. they are not 3 point flake rated that I'm aware of which is the gold standard.  That price is related to the size though. 175/60/15 isn't very expensive

FYI, the WRG3s were asymmetrical, and the WRG3 SUVs (larger sizes) were directional. I assume the WRG4 is the same, although I haven't seen any yet (I no longer work where they're sold...).

[matt167]

Yeah, your right. regular G3 and G4 are asymmetrical. The G3 SUV is still in regular production which is where I got mixed up. I work at a Vianor partner

[wtdash]

Just a little different option...Michelin recently released more versions / sizes of their Crossclimate  - avl. thru TireRack - in the US. Top-rated by CR.

They are $$ as in $$$. Wanted to put them on our '18 CR-V, but couldn't justify the $1K when I could buy  a set of dedicated snow tires AND Wheels for <$400 off CL.

But run 'em year-round and get 75K tread life.

 

Quote

The Michelin Cross Climate + is an all weather tire with a severe winter traction symbol. 75,000 miles of tread life is estimated 

 

[matt167]

Interesting. They are a copy of the Nokian Weatherproof tires ( European market only sadly ). Nokian's at same price are probably a better idea. They have had the WRG tires out for about a decade. I have HAK R2's on my mini truck and they are amazing, but they were only really affordable because they are 155/65/14. Larger sizes will run over $200 each

[Numbchux]

21 hours ago, matt167 said:

Interesting. They are a copy of the Nokian Weatherproof tires ( European market only sadly ). Nokian's at same price are probably a better idea. They have had the WRG tires out for about a decade. I have HAK R2's on my mini truck and they are amazing, but they were only really affordable because they are 155/65/14. Larger sizes will run over $200 each

Depending on the source. Nokian is weird about working with distributors, so the price can vary wildly between one source to the next, so it's worth shopping around. The tire supplier we primarily used when I was at the Subaru dealership (US Auto Force) regularly had Hakkas as some of the cheapest snow tires available. The 215/65r16 R2s I bought on closeout last summer were like $70 ea.

[matt167]

Nokian requires training in Finland to become a Vianor partner to sell the tires. Nokian does set an MSRP but a dealer can set whatever markup they want. Dealers can also get volume breaks and if a dealer chooses to close out the older tires, that's on them.

[tycruise84]

Toyo Observe G3-Ice Tires helped me survive the winter season.

[heartless]

just gonna leave this here...

http://mastercrafttires.com/Tires/Winter.aspx

Mastercraft is made by Cooper Tires... it is their "budget" line.

Have purchased them myself - both the all season and the snow tires - they are quite good for the prices.

[matt167]

12 hours ago, heartless said:

just gonna leave this here...

http://mastercrafttires.com/Tires/Winter.aspx

Mastercraft is made by Cooper Tires... it is their "budget" line.

Have purchased them myself - both the all season and the snow tires - they are quite good for the prices.

Were also a Mastercraft/ Cooper dealer.. What they are producing now for snow is pretty much garbage. The Glacier Grip II ( Weathermaster ST/2 ) is replaced by the Glacier Trek ( Copper Evolution Winter ). The MSR/ Discover M+S has no replacement as of right now although the MSR is pretty much out of production and the Discover M+S is getting hard to get. Half the MSR's have a noticeable wobble and we have sent back more than a few of them that were not usable .. At this point just don't buy it.  The Glacier Trek/ Evo looks ok but it's just meh really. There not too much cheaper than better brands.. The summer/ All seasons like the LSR's really are not that bad, for now.

[heartless]

11 hours ago, matt167 said:

Were also a Mastercraft/ Cooper dealer.. What they are producing now for snow is pretty much garbage. The Glacier Grip II ( Weathermaster ST/2 ) is replaced by the Glacier Trek ( Copper Evolution Winter ). The MSR/ Discover M+S has no replacement as of right now although the MSR is pretty much out of production and the Discover M+S is getting hard to get. Half the MSR's have a noticeable wobble and we have sent back more than a few of them that were not usable .. At this point just don't buy it.  The Glacier Trek/ Evo looks ok but it's just meh really. There not too much cheaper than better brands.. The summer/ All seasons like the LSR's really are not that bad, for now.

i am really sorry to hear that. I had a set of the Glacier Grip II for my 95 wagon and loved them.

[NV Zeno]

Yeah, I ran a couple sets of Glacier Grips on my old '83 years ago, they were wonderful..did what I needed at a good price.  Currently on my '96 OB "winter only" car, I've got Firestone WinterForce on.  They're a bit noisy on dry pavement.  Got about 18K on them now, plenty of meat left.   Got them for a decent price from Tire Rack. 

[matt167]

Winterforce is another discontinued tire. Old stock is drying up. The Winterforce 2 looks about like the Glacier Grip/ Cooper Evo although they are all new for this year