Winter tires for MY03 Impreza wagon

[jf]

Hi!

I'm trying to be an early bird for once and buy my winter tires early
this year. This winter will be the first for my Subaru (and first
winter for me in a Subie, so I'm looking forward to it...) and I'm not
sure what are good winter tires to put on my car. My dealer suggestd
me Blizzak's and said they would last me about 3 winters. But I'd like
some other opinions.

I live in Montreal, so for people that know this city, the winter can
sometimes be nasty here.

thanks !

JF

 

[Ed Rachner]

Try http://www.nokiantires.com/. Best winter tires in the world.

 

[Rory]

You can't go wrong with Blizzaks.

However, I bought Goodyear Ultragrip Ice tires last winter (Ottawa), and
they were fantastic. Excellent traction, barely worn after 1 season, not
loud, sidewalls not too squishy (for a winter tire)...

I would recommend the UltraGrip Ice to anyone... Just make sure you get the
Ice version. I believe there is a non Ice version that is not quite as
good...

R.

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

[posted and mailed]

(e-mail address removed) (jf) wrote in @posting.google.com:

I'm trying to be an early bird for once and buy my winter tires early
this year. This winter will be the first for my Subaru (and first
winter for me in a Subie, so I'm looking forward to it...) and I'm not
sure what are good winter tires to put on my car. My dealer suggestd
me Blizzak's and said they would last me about 3 winters. But I'd like
some other opinions.

I live in Montreal, so for people that know this city, the winter can
sometimes be nasty here.

These tires look interesting and made it through Winnipeg's winter:

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/hl/nokian.htm

 

[Nicolas Dore]

Hello JF

I am in the same situation (Montreal, first winter...) and looked at
Kuhmo L'Zen Stud (rated as best by Consumer Reports and cheap...) and
Nokian WR (Nokian has a great reputation and they are said to be good
for all seasons...).

I'll give the Nokian a try in a few weeks (not changing tires every
season sounds very, very nice) and see how it goes.

Nicolas

 

[hbarta]

I live in Montreal, so for people that know this city, the winter can
sometimes be nasty here.

How soon are the roads you drive going to be plowed and how much
of your driving will really be on snow and ice? I drive the Chicago
suburbs and only infrequently drive on snow and ice. For that reason
I steered away (pun intended from blizzaks since they are really
hard core snow/ice tires. From what I've heard, they are probably
the best for those conditions, but they can be a little squishy on
dry pavement and tend to wear fast. I chose Yokohama Guardex 600 for
our GTI and was pretty happy with those. They still felt squishy on
dry pavement, but our was unstoppable in the snow that we got here
(up to about 8" at a time.) For the few times we actually needed them,
they did the job. (I usually wait for the first smow to put them on
and on the factory tires, the GTI likes to ski!)

 

[ct]

I'm trying to be an early bird for once and buy my winter tires early

this year. This winter will be the first for my Subaru (and first
winter for me in a Subie, so I'm looking forward to it...) and I'm not
sure what are good winter tires to put on my car. My dealer suggestd
me Blizzak's and said they would last me about 3 winters. But I'd like
some other opinions.

My Blizzaks lasted for three winters. I think there are various models for
various conditions (snow, ice, etc.). If you drive them hard on the
pavement, they will wear pretty quick...but I was happy with them. They'd
be very appropriate if you're in a climate where the snow sticks around.

C

 

[Michael P. Smith]

Re: Re: Winter tires for MY03 Impreza wagon

 

[Brian McCloskey]

JF,
I put Michelin Arctic Alpins on my Legacy last winter. OK on ice, not the
best for snow, so maybe not a great choice for Montreal. My son had Blizzaks
on his Jetta. Good tires, but with his driving, the front ones were only
good for 1 winter!
When I buy new snows, I'm just going to put Canadian Tire Nordic Ice Tracs
on them. Less money and were pretty good tires on my van.
Brian

 

[CWu]

I have Michelin Arctic Alpins too.

They are not a serious snow tire as their performance has also been
balanced for dry winter pavement.

CW

 

[J999w]

Cooper also makes very nice _snow_ tires. Here in Wisconsin, I don't worry so
much about ice, the DPW uses about a 2:1 ratio of salt:snow depth, but I
regularly get out before the plows (on purpose ! )

Anything with nice square lugs will claw the snow pack like nobody's business.
Cooper Wintermaster, Hakkepellitta 10, and others with a similar tread.

For just general riding in melting slop ... any all season tire will do.

jw
milwaukee

 

[Andy Mason]

The problem with Blizzaks is that they grip on ice really well for the first
while, mostly due to about 2% of the tread being air bubbles, but that only
goes down about half of the tread depth, or the tires would be too squirmy.

For something longer lasting, good options are Yokohama Guardex, Nokian
Hakka Q, Nokian WR (which they call an all-weather tire).

However, those are all expensive, so I bought some Nordic Icetrac's from
Canadian Tire (made by Michelin) for $75 in 16" for my WRX. If you can wait
until January, they always go on sale 25% off. I've done 1.5 winters on
them now, they'll probably need replacing in another 1.5. While my original
plan was to get cheap tires because I was buying rims at the same time, but
replace them with one of the tires above, I've pretty much decided that I'll
buy the same ones again.

Keep in mind that the roads around here (Ottawa, Montreal, pretty much all
of eastern NA) are plowed pretty quickly, and salted, so you end up spending
most of your time driving on dry or wet pavement, and relatively little in
deep snow, so real snow tires, like Hakka 1's, Vredestein's, or CT
Wintertracs are probably not the ideal tire.

Andy.