Snow tire help

Thu Oct 22 17:23:18 PDT 2009

I suppose if you had the Nordforst and General side-by-side (assuming both
are new) you could tell by feel (with your hand) whether the material feels
the same or not.  If they feel similar then I would guess they are, although
I realize it's not a rigorous scientific method.  If they feel different
then I think it would be a safe bet they >are< different.
- -
DAve C.
On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Greg Smith <lifeisabirdie at yahoo.com>wrote:

>   From my experience with the Gislaved Nordfrost 3; quite a few of my
> customers drove those year round here in WI. Those were the people that
> wanted great wet and winter function that could not be  found in an all
> seaon tire. The WR had almost as good a wet function, but nowhere near the
> snow or ice traction.  Generally they were not agressive drivers who were
> concerned about ultimiate responsiveness, they just wanted safety.  Just
> took them off a Volvo V70XC AWD that had 79k on the tires running year
> round; lot of highway miles and still had 3 to 4/32 tread left.  Most people
> get at least 40k.
>
> The Nordfrost 3 is the mold that the Generals are made in; but not certain
> if the rubber chemisrty is the same or?  The WR or WR-G2 are not going to be
> as winter friedly; especially if you had the older sharp chevron pattern vs
> the later swoopy curveed NRW tires.  I know they claim it, but my hands on
> has not confirmed it.  Sold Nokian for 30 years and it seems in the past 5
> years they have lost some of their winter function vs the older Hak 2 or Hak
> Q and the pricing has gotten out of control.
>
> I can't think of a year round tire that is acceptable in the northern
> states.  I don't like to moderate my speed to conditions that much; so I use
> full snows and then switch to summer/all-season tires.  Your choice is going
> to have to be based on if you want to feel better driving in worst case
> conditions or if you want an all season tire and tip toe around in poor
> conditions.  no magic answer
>
> Good luck
>
> Greg Galinsky
>
> G & G Service
>
> --- On *Thu, 10/22/09, Dave C <dconner at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Dave C <dconner at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: Snow tire help
> To: "LL - NY" <larrycleung at gmail.com>
> Cc: quattro at audifans.com
> Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 11:08 AM
>
>
> Hi Larry,
> That's what I would expect, but the survey results at TireRack caused me to
> wonder ...
>
> http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=General&tireModel=Altimax+Arctic
> Check out those results.  They show the General Altimax snow tire as being
> an outstanding year round tire.  But maybe I'm mis-interpreting the
> results.  Maybe the "dry handling", cornering, noise, etc, is based on a
> comparison only to other snow tires.
>
> thanks,
> Dave C.
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 11:07 PM, LL - NY <larrycleung at gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=larrycleung@gmail.com>>
> wrote:
>
> > My assumption is that the General Altimax Artics are more of a typical
> full
> > snow, IOW, the compounds (and high tread blocks and siping) would be a
> poor
> > summer season tire. The compounding needed to keep the tires soft and
> grippy
> > at low temps would make them mushy and eraser like at summer temps. The
> > tread design would only make the problem worse.
> >
> > As for Nokians, I'm sure Greg can pipe in, but according to the Nokian
> > website, there are actually two choices of winter biased All Seasons. The
> > "W", which is the old WR, the WR-G2.
> > I've had the WR-G2 which are okay as 3 season tires, but a bit sloppy,
> > which wasn't unexpected.  As snowies, if you were okay with NRW's, they
> are
> > probably (never had them, so I don't know) pretty equivalent. IMHO, the
> > WR-G2's weak points are in the sticky wet stuff (thicker than slush, they
> > were fine in that) and pure powder. In both cases, stability was less
> than
> > it was when I had RSI's. Hydroplane resistance in rain wasn't as good as
> my
> > RSI's either. They were not bad, but again somewhat sloppy in the dry.
> >
> > Try the Nokian website for more info, but Greg could pipe in as to
> > availability in the US. In spite of the price, I'd venture that the the
> > Nokians are the only real snow capable All Season
> > As point of reference, I did try BFG Traction T/A H's on 1st Gen Scoob
> > Legacy beater. For local snow driving, they were adequate, at best. I
> > wouldn't want to depend on them for a longer distance highway run. There
> the
> > WR-G2's were notably better.
> >
> > LL - NY
> >
> >   On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 9:29 PM, Dave C <dconner at gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=dconner@gmail.com>>
> wrote:
> >
> >>  What would the General Arctic Altimax be like as a year-round tire?
> >>  Would
> >> they be acceptable in the summer in a northern clime like Michigan or
> >> Toronto?
> >>
> >> I've been >very< pleased with Nokian NRW as a year-round tire here in
> >> Ohio.
> >> I still have a set on my 89 100, but they are fading and will need to be
> >> replaced someday.
> >>
> >> I know Nokian replaced the NRW with WR awhile back, and now I understand
> >> they've replaced the WR with soimething else.  I never tried the WR's
> but
> >> heard they were also quite good, similar to the NRW.  What does Nokian
> >> have
> >> today as a replacement for the WR?  Is it as good as the NRW for
> >> year-round?  I know the prices are >much< higher now.  But the benefit
> of
> >> not needing to swap tires/wheels with the seasons makes it worth paying
> >> something extra for the tires.  Is there anything else out there
> >> comparable
> >> to the NRW?  Anything even close?
> >> - -
> >> Dave C
> >> Columbus, OH
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