Winter Tire Choice

[madbrown]

I've been running Yoko Geolanders all year on my 98' XLT, but this winter want to go with a designated "winter" tire. I have a 60 mi. roundtrip commute to work along a rural highway in MT. So I can encounter deep powder, slush, extreme cold, and ice (a lot of times black). So I'm looking for some recommendations. Initially was thinking of Blizzaks as we have some on my wife's Subaru Forester, and seem to handle well for the varied conditions on the long commute. Any thoughts?

 

[corkey]

Cooper Discoverer the best i found so far,,
and i live in Canada, we get snow,,,

 

[2TimingTom]

I'd go with these (the pics are linked to Tire Rack's site):

I had a set of Hankook iPikes on my Protege (same tread pattern- which is basically stolen from the Nokian design (LINK) which is considered to be the best winter tire in the world) and they worked great. The Denver area got about 35" of snow (granted it was too warm the days prior to the snow so only about 12-18" were on residential streets and 6-10" were on the main roads) in 2009 and I was going in to work early and was driving on unplowed roads most of the way. Never a problem. And that car was even slightly lowered. They seemed to wear well too.

Or:


Those Coopers pictured above should be good too.

Basically any tire with the snowflake symbol and a bunch of sipes in the tread blocks should be a good tire. The popular BFG A/T tires (on my Ex) have the snowflake symbol but the tread blocks just don't have the sipes to make them great in the snow.

 

[yavapaires]

My personal choice is Uniroyal Liberator.

 

[rdw59565]

Been running Michelin Lattitude X-Ice for years. Love 'em. My driveway is a double black diamond.

 

[BigRondo]

I'm running the Goodyear ArmorTrac and love 'em. Very quite with exceptional winter performance.

Image Courtesy: www.samsclub.com

 

[drdoom]

I just mounted a set of General Grabber AT2 tires. Being an LT, the tread is a bit deeper, and is quite aggressive. Guess we'll find out in a few weeks, how the traction is in the snow.

 

[celly]

Been running Michelin Lattitude X-Ice for years. Love 'em. My driveway is a double black diamond.

That's what I run too. Good stuff.

 

[MNgopher]

Happy with the Hankook Winter IPikes I'm running on my rig in the winter. Not studded (illegal here). Picked them up two winters ago for very cheap from Discount Tire Direct, and they are wearing very, very well. Drives like it on rails in the winter!

 

[techieman33]

The snow flake doesn't mean much IMO, my toyo's have it, and you can tell they suck in snow by just looking at them.

 

[madbrown]

Thanks for all the responses. looks like it's between Hankook ipikes, Cooper Discoverers, or Yoko 'winter" Geolanders. Looks like these are a new tread pattern for them. Thanks again

 

[RomeovilleIL]

In MT you can run studs Oct 1 through end of May giving you a LOT better performance if you anticipate much ice. Of the group you listed, the IPikes are the best option. Tire shop can pull the studs out for summer use.

 

[Turdle]

This is a very nice looking tire. Cooper's new discoverer at

 

[Androwow]

just gotta set of kumho road ventures. they look sweet and provide excellent snow traction. alrady tested them in ice and snow and i love em!

http://www.hubcap-tire-wheel.com/images/2008/tires/Kumho-roadventure-at.jpg

 

[madbrown]

Those do look sweet! I think I'm leaning toward the Winter Geolanders though. The price is good on them as well.

 

[toypaseo]

Look into Kumho SAT KL61. They have the mountain/snowflake symbol. Top rated in the On-/Off-Road All-Terrain Tirerack category...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireModel=Road+Venture+SAT+KL61&tireMake=Kumho

 

[madbrown]

Those look sweet as well. However, they seem to be more of a burly AT "good in light snow" as quoted. Where the Geo "winters" not just meet severe weather/winter standard but exceed it. Thanks though for the input. I do appreciate it.

 

[drdoom]

OK here are some photos of the General Grabber AT2 in LT235/75R15.