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Snow Tires

BrookwoodBrookwood Member, Moderator Posts: 13,768 ******
edited October 2019 in General Discussion
After driving on "all season" radial tires for many years, I have decided to buy a set of Michelin X-ICE X13 snow tires and a compete set of fairly inexpensive (compared to many fancy ones) wheels. Sliding around and down my steep driveway last winter was my inspiration to take this plunge!

I opted to just have all of these sets shipped directly to me and plan to seek a good tire place to mount and balance them. Being able to switch back & forth at home when the weather deems it seems like a fair plan.

Doing a lot of research and shopping around online I found Tire Rack with free shipping seemed best with the tire price at 118.32 ea. set of 4, 501.68 total after taxes. Tire Racks wheels were a bit more pricey and didn't offer any plain jane ones (only fancy), so hit Amazon and found a set of black steel ones for 69 bucks apiece.

Am hoping that these will make a difference to the nasty winter driving around here in northern lower Michigan. Studs were outlawed here many years ago. But I remember them very well! They were the cats meow getting around on icy roads!

Anyone here care to share their experiences with snow tires? I guess I just need to hear from my G\B friends that I did something wise in this crazy world! :roll:

Almost forgot to mention my car is a KIA Sportage V6 4x4.
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Comments

  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,692 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Studded snow tires are legal here in North Carolina, and that is what I run in winter.
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  • SCOUT5SCOUT5 Member Posts: 16,181 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sounds like a plan. Should help a lot. Even in a vehicle like yours it doesn't hurt to add weight. Put something heavy in the floor boards in front of the rear seats, and in the rear. Bar bell weights work, but so do bags of mortar mix, sand etc. You may want to put them in good heavy garbage bags first to prevent a mess.
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  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,244 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Go to a junk yard and get a set of rims it would be cheaper and work just as well.
    RLTW

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  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If the Michelin X-ICE X13 is half the tire that the Michelin LTX M/S is you'll love them. These mud/snow tires on my truck ride quieter than the Michelin tires on my car.

    UfM8I4L.jpg
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  • bustedkneebustedknee Member Posts: 2,001 ✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2019
    Solid logic.

    I lived in Alaska for 35 years and always had a winter set and summer set of tires/wheels that I swapped in my driveway.

    Now retired in Virginia I do the same thing on my main (4WD) vehicle (unstudded but aggressive tires).

    New wheels were fairly easy to locate on that CL web site because a lot of people replace the wheels and tires on new 4Runners.

    My winter tires are a little noiser on the highway and my mph goes down slightly so I haven't put them on yet this winter and will take them off ASAP in the spring.

    Oh, I forgot: Bridgestone Blizzacks.

    I don' know this guy.but you can ride with him.
    https://youtu.be/MlPaCQTJjcI
    I can't believe they misspelled "Pork and Beans!"
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  • MIKE WISKEYMIKE WISKEY Member Posts: 10,046 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    "Anyone here care to share their experiences with snow tires?"............I used to do this, but now I just put the regular tires to the road and head for Arizona for 3 months. ;)
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  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Back when I used to live in a place that had snow I kept a set of wheels and tires in the trunk of my car with a set of chains already mounted during the winter. I found it easier to just change the wheels than it was to wrestle with chains in the snow. I kept a small hydraulic jack in the trunk also that was easier to use than the elcheapo jacks that come with the car.
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  • redhawkk480redhawkk480 Member Posts: 2,532 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    we run Goodyear Ultra Grip Winter, they do a darn good job , this year we're trying set of Toyo Celsius CUV on my Daughters car
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  • BobJudyBobJudy Member Posts: 6,671 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Not to be a downer but no need for the snow tires if the engine fire melts the snow. Seriously have you seen the settlement from hyundai and Kia over the engine fires? If not maybe you should check it out. Bob
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  • Horse Plains DrifterHorse Plains Drifter Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 40,233 ***** Forums Admin
    edited November -1
    Those snow tires are probably just fine, but I prefer the Italian ones. Dago through mud, dago through snow, dago through sand, and when dago flat dago *, *, *.
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  • HessianHessian Member Posts: 248 ✭
    edited November -1
    It is always a compromise between a really soft rubber that works well in cold weather and a harder rubber that lasts. IMO the softer the rubber the better they work, aggressive tread IMO doesn't help as much as a softer rubber. Both an aggressive tread and a softer rubber works best but wears fast.

    I used to like Goodyear MT's, they actually worked really well when they were new. But road heat, time and wear made the rubber harder as they wore and aged.
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  • BrookwoodBrookwood Member, Moderator Posts: 13,768 ******
    edited November -1
    Thanks for all the reply's guys! Sam, I did check out ALL of the local junk yards trying to find a full set of proper wheels, sadly to no avail. A couple places had one or two but not all 4. Looking for a proper used wheel on this foreign car is a bit frustration. There is no way to tell by looking at wheels with 4 bolt patterns and you have to get out the measuring tape. A micrometer better still.

    Even the new wheels coming in from Amazon will get checked out on the car itself before I have the tires mounted. Making sure not only the bolts match but the clearances in the back end fit with the brakes.

    This will be my 1st set of Michelin's and the first snows since the early 80's when you could get away with just 2 tires on your drive wheels. There were several brands of tires that looked adequate and were a tad cheaper, but I have learned through all my years that only the best will do when it comes to safety!
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  • mmppresmmppres Member Posts: 3,195 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I am on the road every weekend attending a gun show. An I run snow tired all the way around my truck, Chevy 1500 crew cab. 4x4. the difference you will notice is very big. In snow an slush is great but on ice nothing works. not even studs. Love to watch the fools with there all season tires which the used all summer slide around not going any were.
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  • asphalt cowboyasphalt cowboy Member Posts: 8,904 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Best snow beast I've ever owned was my Wagoneer.
    The '79 crew cab highboy (Ford crew cab 4x4 w/8' bed) I had was good, but this '79 Quadratrac equipped Wagoneer made that oversize pickup seem like a hog.
    GTPKRXal.jpg
    Let'im go nearly a year ago and already miss him.
    So far the 2000 Ranger has done good. Kenda Klever AT's up front and MT's in back.
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  • KnifecollectorKnifecollector Member Posts: 3,267 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I keep a set of Altimax Arctic winter tires on a set of wheels for snowy weather, and a set of Starfire all season for summer time on another set of wheels. Chevrolet Silverado.
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  • Quick&DeadQuick&Dead Member Posts: 1,466 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    MIKE WISKEY wrote:
    "Anyone here care to share their experiences with snow tires?"............I used to do this, but now I just put the regular tires to the road and head for Arizona for 3 months. ;)

    Before radial tires became popular, everyone here in the north country where it snows alot. bias ply tires were all there was so putting 'snow tires' on the rear of the vehicle was common practice.

    With the advent of radial tires in an all season version, hardly anyone and no one I know changes to a 'snow tire' in the winter. Just run the same radials year round and get along better than with 'snow tires' ... and studding tires went the way of the dodo bird.
    :lol:
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    We have enough gun laws, what we need is IDIOT control.
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    I thought getting old would take longer. :shock:
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  • RobOzRobOz Member Posts: 9,523 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Any old timers here remember sawdust recap winter tires?
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  • Quick&DeadQuick&Dead Member Posts: 1,466 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    RobOz wrote:
    Any old timers here remember sawdust recap winter tires?

    Recap tires used to be a big thing.......cheaper than buying a new tire.

    Lots of snow tires were recaps of regular tires. Local store used to make & sell recaps....thousands of them.

    Not unusual to find a 'tire cap' along the roadside that came off a tire either. ;)
    The government has no rights. Only the people have rights which empowers the government.
    We have enough gun laws, what we need is IDIOT control.
    Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family.

    I thought getting old would take longer. :shock:
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  • hillbillehillbille Member Posts: 14,459 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    had a place local you could take your old tires in, as long as casing was good they would recap them, remember seeing the machine and thinking how could someone work there with that stinking burning rubber smell all day...... but they were about half price of new tire, I ran many of them, they didn't seem to last as long, but in my younger days neither did the car/truck
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  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 51,593 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I run all terrain 10 ply tires year 'round.
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  • babunbabun Member Posts: 11,038 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A gadzillion snow seasons ago, Firestone came out with an Arimide {sp?} ply snow and ice tire called the F32"s.
    They wee the best thing on ice and snow. Sold and installed tons of them.
    Now I think othes are selling the "F32" thread design but with normal ply construction.

    Note the tiny cuts in the lugs of the thread...that makes it a good snow and ice tire.
    goodstudding.jpg
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  • BrookwoodBrookwood Member, Moderator Posts: 13,768 ******
    edited November -1
    babun wrote:
    A gadzillion snow seasons ago, Firestone came out with an Arimide {sp?} ply snow and ice tire called the F32"s.
    They wee the best thing on ice and snow. Sold and installed tons of them.
    Now I think othes are selling the "F32" thread design but with normal ply construction.

    Note the tiny cuts in the lugs of the thread...that makes it a good snow and ice tire.
    goodstudding.jpg

    That tread design looks very close to my new Michelin's.

    My new tires just arrived here yesterday. The wheels should be here first of next week.

    I have a stupid question. Do the tires need to be mounted and installed on the vehicle with the forward direction of the tread going forward? (the center tread has that forward arrow head look) That is what I'm talking about.
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  • RobOzRobOz Member Posts: 9,523 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I put Mastercraft Courser MSR on the better halfs SUV last winter and they seem pretty good for snow. 235 70 16 ran about 110.00 a tire.
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  • babunbabun Member Posts: 11,038 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Brookwood wrote:
    babun wrote:
    A gadzillion snow seasons ago, Firestone came out with an Arimide {sp?} ply snow and ice tire called the F32"s.
    They wee the best thing on ice and snow. Sold and installed tons of them.
    Now I think othes are selling the "F32" thread design but with normal ply construction.

    Note the tiny cuts in the lugs of the thread...that makes it a good snow and ice tire.
    goodstudding.jpg

    That tread design looks very close to my new Michelin's.

    My new tires just arrived here yesterday. The wheels should be here first of next week.

    I have a stupid question. Do the tires need to be mounted and installed on the vehicle with the forward direction of the tread going forward? (the center tread has that forward arrow head look) That is what I'm talking about.

    If the tires are directional, they will have an arrow and a rotation warning on the side wall.

    If no arrow... mount any way you want.
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  • BrookwoodBrookwood Member, Moderator Posts: 13,768 ******
    edited November -1
    Thanks babun
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