Winter Tires??

[Jimmy C]

I'm looking at getting 4 Michelin X-Ice... anyone try these out yet?

Hit Tri-city Tire on Victoria. http://www.tri-citytires.ca/
Got me some Hankook Icebears (High Performance Winter tire speed rated to 240 km/hr) there last year for the same as the best price I could find online completly installed, balance and nitrogen filled. Have nothing but good things to say about handling and stopping on snowy/icy surfaces.

 

[calloway]

Thanks JimmyC... and here I thought you only had reviews about women.

 

[Cobster]

WINTER TIRES DO WORK, get them.
I got mine 3 years ago and was a skeptic back then, I needed them desperately that day, and luckily found a place with my size, 1 week before Christmas (by that time it's impossible to find them).
Driving to work was a mess, driving home I was "floored", so to speak.

 

[Cobster]

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Pro's:-
Flexible in winter and will grip when all seasons won't.

Better grip when driving away from a stop light after all the other idiots have been spinning their "all season" tires to hell to get going creating ice.

Con's:- You still have to manoeuvre around the clowns that don't have proper tires and are still trying to get up that hill or out of that ditch.

lol @ the con, isn't that the truth.

 

[sailorsix]

I lived in Ottawa for 22 years. Not once did I install snow tires and that was through winters when our snowbanks beside our driveway were over 7 feet high. When I moved to Toronto in the fall of 2000 my plan was to stick with my all seasons. That winter I ran into the reality that is Toronto snow clearing. And I installed my first ever set of snow tires on the front wheels only.

The key difference is the snow removal. In Ottawa they have snow removal down to a science so you can pretty much get around and within 24 hours the better part of the snowfall has been trucked away. That of course includes pedestrians as all of the sidewalks are plowed. That first winter in Toronto I could not get over the cars parked cockeyed on the sides of residential streets including Forest Hill. The "let's wait until it melts" snow removal policy made me get snows.

I have had both Ice Trac and Winter Trac from Cdn Tire and both of them were great in the snow and good values if you catch the sales. I now put them on all four wheels from MId Nov to end of March.

 

[Hard Idle]

In recent years, in the city we only get 6 or 7 days per winter where Winter Tires trully make a big difference with most cars.

So if you are not going to be straying more than a couple of kilometers away form the 416 during the winter, you might do just as well to stay home during the 3 or 4 workdays when it's really bad and take the lost pay instead of the tire purchase.

On the other hand, if you make trips to the boonies or drive to go skiing, then you can't afford to be caught without winter tires. Also, if your daily driver is a torquey RWD vehicle you will need Winter Tires even in light snow.

Don't forget though, we are now spending a good chunk of our winters in fairly mild and dry weather, and above 0 many Winter Tires will be worse than All-Seasons or Perfomance Tires, so don't push them.

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The Kumho KW 17 are a good looking winter tire that looks like a perfomance tire, I've seen some people keep them all year round on their Mercedes' & Infinitis. They come in H & V ratings and there is a RunFlat version to accomodate luxury vehicles where this is specified.

 

[Never Compromised]

In recent years, in the city we only get 6 or 7 days per winter where Winter Tires trully make a big difference with most cars.

If you are suggesting that there are only 6 o 7 days when the temperature is below 10 C, then you are quite correct.

If however, there are many more days when it is colder than 10 C, snow tires will help because of the difference in the rubber compound.

 

[benstt]

I do a fair bit of driving in rural areas, all year...and in many years have never encountered conditions where winter tires would have made much difference. Most of the time in the winter things are wet...from the salt. So whatever tire works best in wet conditions would be the safest, overall.

If you are in western Canada it is totally different. Roads do not get plowed as quickly or as often, and salt is not used much as it is useless at low temps...so I think a winter tire of some kind would make sense there.

My experience is the opposite -- most of the rural roads I drive on in Ontario are unsalted. They simply cannot afford to salt all the roads. They do clear them, and may put some grit in some areas, but mostly after a snow you're driving on a thin skin of snow and ice. Winter tires help there.

 

[Jimmy C]

Thanks JimmyC... and here I thought you only had reviews about women.

Well, my summer rims are wrapped in some nice Asian Toyo's so I guess I never stray too far from my focus group!