What Winter Tires are Best Bang for Buck ?

[Naonak]

One thing to note is that the Michelin's X-Ice3s come with a 70,000 km (45-50,000 miles) warranty. Depending upon how far you drive, that might be a factor to consider.

They are also LRR tires, so there's that, if that kind of things matters to you (It was why I chose the XICE3s over other tires).

Tesla service will install the XICE3s as well, since it is/was a tire they sold, so that's a bonus if you want Tesla themselves to do it.

 

[green1]

Here in Texas I run a full set of Nokian WR-g3 severe service all-seasons on a second set of wheels.

Why?
How much snow do you get in Texas?

Look, I'm a huge proponent of winter tires, but anyone living anywhere that doesn't see snow is just throwing their money away. Get a good set of all season tires (you do NOT need all weather tires for the same reason you don't need winter tires) and run them year-round. They'll be far cheaper, and last much longer, than wasting your money on two sets of tires.

If you drive places that actually experience real winter and snow conditions, then get winter tires. (To all the Canadians or people in the northern states who think that all-wheel drive and/or all season tires are adequate, you're wrong) but for everyone who lives further south. Save your money.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Why?
How much snow do you get in Texas?

Look, I'm a huge proponent of winter tires, but anyone living anywhere that doesn't see snow is just throwing their money away. Get a good set of all season tires (you do NOT need all weather tires for the same reason you don't need winter tires) and run them year-round. They'll be far cheaper, and last much longer, than wasting your money on two sets of tires.

If you drive places that actually experience real winter and snow conditions, then get winter tires. (To all the Canadians or people in the northern states who think that all-wheel drive and/or all season tires are adequate, you're wrong) but for everyone who lives further south. Save your money.

You're missing the point of having two sets of tires.

If I were to run one set of tires year-round, then sure, I'd use all-seasons. But I don't. I run Michelin Pilot Super Sports for most of spring, summer, and fall because of their performance and handling, and they still have excellent ride comfort and noise qualities.

But you can't use them in low temperatures, snow or not. So I have to have a 2nd set of tires for winter if I want to run the Michelin PSS in the summer.

Given that 1) This 2nd set of tires will be used only in the colder months, and 2) Nokian WRG3 tires are virtually the same price ($264) as the Michelin Primary MXM4 ($288.35) or Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ ($244.20), why shouldn't I use the Nokians?

There is no waste of money here.

 

[green1]

Given that 1) This 2nd set of tires will be used only in the colder months, and 2) Nokian WRG3 tires are virtually the same price ($264) as the Michelin Primary MXM4 ($288.35) or Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ ($244.20), why shouldn't I use the Nokians?

Several reasons, the first being tread life, as the all seasons will outlast the all-weathers every time.
The second is because you can get great all-season tires that you can run year round without losing your comfort and performance, saving yourself the cost of a second set of rims, TPMS sensors, and the hassle of change-overs twice a year.

Winter tires are great, everyone who gets winter should use them, if you don't get winter, save your money.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Several reasons, the first being tread life, as the all seasons will outlast the all-weathers every time.
The second is because you can get great all-season tires that you can run year round without losing your comfort and performance, saving yourself the cost of a second set of rims, TPMS sensors, and the hassle of change-overs twice a year.

Winter tires are great, everyone who gets winter should use them, if you don't get winter, save your money.

1) Tread Life. This is only the 2nd winter season for my Nokians, so I'm not sure of the tread life yet. However, I have about 5000 miles on them, and my tire spreadsheet is predicting a tread life of about 28,000 miles. This is longer than the Pilot Super Sports will last. Not quite as long as the Primacys (spreadsheet predicted about 35,000 on those before I removed them). Yes, a long-life set of all seasons might go 45K or 50K, but see #2:

2) You're making the argument that a good set of all-seasons will perform identically to the Michelin PSS in the summer and the Nokians in the winter. I'm going to say that is up for a lot of debate.

Potential candidates would be an ultra-high performance all-season tire, including:

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+
BF Goodrich G-Force Comp-2 A/S
Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06
Pirelli P Zero Nero
Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position

I will make the argument that none of these tires will deliver the equivalent summer performance to the Michelin Pilot Super Sport and the equivalent winter performance to the Nokian WRG3.

If such a tire were actually made, no one would buy anything else.

And none of those tires will go 45K-50K miles on the Tesla, either. To get that kind of tread life, I would have to go to a grand touring all-season, such as:

Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus
Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus
Michelin Primacy MXM4
Continental ProContact TX
GoodYear Eagle Touring T0

Those tires won't even come close the the PSS/Nokian combination for performance.

 

[green1]

I didn't say they'd have identical performance, but they will have "good enough" performance for anyone who isn't both on a race track in the summer, and ice covered roads in the winter. Likely neither of which you do.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I didn't say they'd have identical performance, but they will have "good enough" performance for anyone who isn't both on a race track in the summer, and ice covered roads in the winter. Likely neither of which you do.

Not frequently, no. But I actually am planning to take the car to the drag strip at some point, although that will likely wait until spring. I do also occasionally do road trips out west, and as of now, still have to go through Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff, all of which can have snow on occasion.

You pay for performance. In my case, I am paying for 2 sets of tires where, yes, I could get by with only 1.

But then again, I could also have gotten by with a Toyota Camry. I bought a Tesla instead because it's awesome.

 

[jerry33]

Why?
How much snow do you get in Texas?

We get ice days where everything is covered with 2-3 mm of ice. You don't want summer or regular all-seasons then. Also, two weeks ago I drove to Thunder Bay. Now if I lived where there was a real winter, I'd use R2s, but the WR-3g are better than anything other than R2, X-Ice, and maybe a couple of others.

 

[CRASHER]

I got quoted for Replika R187 with Nokian for $2100(cad) with TPMS and installation in GTA

 

[Gen3]

I have had Nokian Hakka r2 for a few years now on my SUV and I think they are amazing.

 

[bhzmark]

Tesla service will install the XICE3s as well, since it is/was a tire they sold, so that's a bonus if you want Tesla themselves to do it.

can anyone confirm this?

 

[jerry33]

can anyone confirm this [Tesla service will install the XICE3s as well]?

This seems to vary with Service Centre (although this isn't supposed to be the case, and it may be that the policy changes so the reports are only good for a limited time). The SC I go to seems to be more concerned about whether the wheels are from Tesla or not. However, I've only ever taken the wheels to Discount Tire to have the tires replaced, and I have two sets of wheels, so the only thing the SC is concerned with is alignment and rotation.

 

[clostridium]

Why?
How much snow do you get in Texas?

Look, I'm a huge proponent of winter tires, but anyone living anywhere that doesn't see snow is just throwing their money away. Get a good set of all season tires (you do NOT need all weather tires for the same reason you don't need winter tires) and run them year-round. They'll be far cheaper, and last much longer, than wasting your money on two sets of tires.

If you drive places that actually experience real winter and snow conditions, then get winter tires. (To all the Canadians or people in the northern states who think that all-wheel drive and/or all season tires are adequate, you're wrong) but for everyone who lives further south. Save your money.

Winter tires have significant traction advantages even on roads free of snow or ice when temperatures are below 45-50 degrees. The rubber compound is designed for colder temperatures and stopping distances are ~25-35% shorter than with all seasons based on multiple tests found in a web search. Chemistry hasn't yet perfected a rubber compound that has just the right characteristics all the way from 100+ F down to low temperatures. Maybe one day they will though.

Anyway, as long as our friend in Texas is seeing time with those lower temps he benefits from winter tires. It's not just about snow and ice.

 

[jerry33]

Winter tires have significant traction advantages even on roads free of snow or ice when temperatures are below 45-50 degrees. The rubber compound is designed for colder temperatures and stopping distances are ~25-35% shorter than with all seasons based on multiple tests found in a web search. Chemistry hasn't yet perfected a rubber compound that has just the right characteristics all the way from 100+ F down to low temperatures. Maybe one day they will though.

That's certainly correct for regular all-seasons. On the Nokian site they had a video (don't know if it's still there) where the poured liquid nitrogen on the WR-g3 tread and showed the tread compound still flexed. I haven't run the WR-g3 through a Texas summer, but I have run the previous WR generations--not on the Tesla--through the summer and they did fine. (Be sure not to use them or any winter tire in winter once they are past the winter wear bars. Of course, I didn't run them in the summer when new--that would be a waste--but I didn't swap them for summers either.) My thought is that they wouldn't do that well in an Arizona or New Mexico summer where it gets much hotter for more days during the year, and if I lived in an area that had a real winter, I would run R2 or X-Ice, but where there are only a few days of real winter weather, the WR-g3 tires, and similar severe service all seasons, are still far better than regular all-seasons.

 

[jddssc121]

Nokian makes an all season that is also winter rated. I had them on my Subaru and they were pretty great.

 

[Felix_I]

Hey Crusher, where did you get that deal in GTA? Thanks

 

[Felix_I]

I got quoted for Replika R187 with Nokian for $2100(cad) with TPMS and installation in GTA

Hey Crusher, where did you get that deal in GTA? Thanks

 

[CRASHER]

Hey Crusher, where did you get that deal in GTA? Thanks

Jam rimz mississauga, it was last year 2017 though.