[s-cars] Snow tire shopping, blizzak vs Nokian vs? thoughts?

[Erik Addy]

I think that the X-Ice series is designed with different priorities than the Alpins were (or the current Pilot/Primacy series).  They are designed more for winter traction than low noise/dry traction like the Alpins.  This shows in the tread pattern and compound (the X-Ice are Q-rated, the new Xi2's are T rated).

Erik




________________________________
From: LL - NY <larrycleung at gmail.com>
To: Erik Addy <erikaddy at yahoo.com>
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 10:44:11 AM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Snow tire shopping, blizzak vs Nokian vs? thoughts?

Hopefully, Michelin has progressed from their original Artic Alpins (which we had on my parent's Legacy AWD). Very good dry tire, very good wet tire, pretty exceptional on their supposed forte (ice), but boy did they SUCK in fresh, unpacked snow. Car was wickedly squirrly on fresh stuff, and that car had NO Horsepower. They were okay on hardpack (which was good) or post plowed roads, although I'd expect most A/S tires would do just fine on post-plowed roads. 

FWIW, my brother's Artic Alpins on his Mazda 6 seemed to lack traction (although it's FWD and I'm still not sure that he truly understands how to be effective using traction control) on any form of snow, fresh or packed. Me thinks it may be par for the course, as in France gets mostly wetter snow that melts to form ice, so they've biased their tires to meet such conditions. 

LL - NY


On 11/17/08, Erik Addy <erikaddy at yahoo.com> wrote: 
In the past I have always purchased Hakkas, as they are "the stuff"...

Lately, however, cost has become more of an issue for me, and the Nokians have gone up in price a bit, due to the value (or lack thereof) of the dollar.  This year, I bought a set of Michelin X-Ice Xi2's for my wife's Passat 1.8t 4motion (with manual).  I haven't driven them on snow, yet, but I think they are fine on the dry for what they are (and I'm confident they are significantly better than a Blizzak WS-60).  Based on my experience with the last version of this tire (the original X-Ice) and the Tire Rack reviews and info regarding the new model, I think they will do quite well on the ice/snow.  Hard to get, due to the Canadians buying them all up, but the Tire Rack came through for me.

Other good values out there-
Hankook I-Pike 409 (very similar to the Hakka studdables), available at Discount TIre
General Alitimax Artic, which is apparently a rebranded Gislavad (same parent company) sold at a lower price, available at TIre Rack.


Erik





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