Snow tire help

[LL - NY]

I think it's for comparable tires (such as other snows). CU uses a single
standard for all tires tested, and ALL of the snow tires tested there
(including the Michelin Xice and the General) did relatively poorly in dry
and wet tests, as expected.

Also, bear in mind that TireRack surveys are *customer* reviews, not
objective tests.

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:08 PM, Dave C <dconner at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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> 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> 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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>>>
>>
>>
>