Winter Tires

[lily]

Shopping around to buy some winter tires.

I am eyeing the:

Firestone Winterforce from Tirerack.com

General Altimax Arctic also from Tirerack.com

and the:

Hankook Winter iPike W409 from Discount Tire Direct.

They all range to be about $264-$266 delivered from both sites.

I got some 14" steelies and looking at size 175/65/14 for the winter tires. My stocko size is the Potenza RE92 @ 185/60/15.

Anyone tired these three tires and have comments on them?

Would the 175/65/14 size tires fit my ride?

Also, any other suggestions on the tire size? >>> Like a 70 series or an even thinner (165) width tire???

Thank you all!!!

[lily]

did another search at this size:

185/70/14 and they were cheaper!!!

now...

would the 185/70/14 size fit my ride without problems of rubbing and whatever???

*note* I have stock everything so no lowering springs or whatever.

thank you.

[thebarber]

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

[schleppy]

I've run the Firestone Winterforce on my 2WD pickup (New England winters...) and I loved them. So much so that I ordered up a set for my Yaris for this winter. I've run Blizzaks in the past and I'd say the Winterforce work just as well, if not better. They are pretty loud though.

I got a set of 185/60/15's shipped to MA for $260ish. That is before the $25 Amex gift card they send too.

[lily]

thanks schleppy,

any other comments on the sizes or tire choices???

[awdblazer]

nokian hakka 5's

[silver_echo]

i myself run the hankook set... went with the 409 because i had a set of the 404 and they never let me down... the 409's are quiet at least for studded tires and have good traction... the only time i got stuck last winter was when the car was pushing snow with my hood so not the tires fault

[lily]

thanks for all the replies so far.

any recommendations on the size??? >>> would the 185/70/14s be OK on my ride??? >>> anyone actually run these same size tires???

just need to know before i dump alot on money and finding out they don't fit or rub like going on a train track.

[WolfWings]

The 175's will work better than the 185's. You want the first number (the width of the tread) as small as possible for winter tires.

And 14's will fit fine, they're what most everyone that gets a seperate set of winter tires for the Yaris runs if they can afford to, from what I've seen. Myself included. I went with Blizzak's since I lack ABS or traction control nd the Blizzak's seem to rate the best for braking and cornering for older non-ABS vehicles.

[kimona]

would the 185/70/14s be OK on my ride???

Yes. They will fit without worries.

[SIPNGAS]

I need snow tires...soon.

[SpaceShot]

I run the Hankook, but in the 185/60/15 size. No problems last winter except for 1 nasty ice storm. I skidded but was able to steer enough to change lanes and not cause any damage. (to my ride or anyone else's)

Since you have your rims already, you are better off. The problem I had last year was that the steel rims in the packages from Direct or Tirerack kept going out of stock.

~ 10.5K miles on the Hankook with no apparent wear or handling issues

[lily]

these are all great info y'alls!!!

i do understand that the skinnier (175s) are better for the snow but then the 185/70/14s costs less...weird.

i guess i'm going with the said size above. i'll post back when they are installed and see how i like them. thanks!!!

[MUSKOKA800]

My stock sedan size is 185/60/15.
I bought some used 14" steelies with 175/65/14 winter tires from an Echo owner. These 14's are at least 1" shorter (1/2" drop) which isn't working well with my lowered sedan. Snowplow berms where a particular challenge last winter.
I plan replace the 175/65/14 winters with 185/70/14 which according to the spec. charts at TireRack.com will be just slightly taller (23.9") than my stock 15" summers (23.7"). This should work well providing added snow clearance to compensate for the TRD suspension.

[lily]

cool, thanks musk. those are the same size tires i was opting for.

[WolfWings]

I plan replace the 175/65/14 winters with 185/70/14 which according to the spec. charts at TireRack.com will be just slightly taller (23.9") than my stock 15" summers (23.7"). This should work well providing added snow clearance to compensate for the TRD suspension.

And less clearance on your car's wheel wells than the stock tires have, due to the height.

Your car doesn't need to clear the snowdrift, your tires need to stick enough for you to push through. Less than a half-inch won't help, I'd worry more about clearance on your wheel wells for your snow tires, especially with lowered suspension.

[toad]

And less clearance on your car's wheel wells than the stock tires have, due to the height.

Your car doesn't need to clear the snowdrift, your tires need to stick enough for you to push through. Less than a half-inch won't help, I'd worry more about clearance on your wheel wells for your snow tires, especially with lowered suspension.

will the extra .1" in radius make a difference on lowered vehicles? i only ask because i think i found the snow tire i want - 175/65/15 michelin x-ice x2 - and the tire calculator puts it at .2" diameter more than stock(185/60/15), but i'm lowered on df's. i don't have any rubbing issues right now because i'm just on stock rims, but you've got me worried now about snow piling-up in the wheelwells! i'm mostly concerned about ice/slush traction because where i live we rarely get snow more than a few inches at a time - although we did get almost a foot in a 24hr period once last season(i wasn't lowered then)! i've read great things about the michelins online and yes - they're pricey, but there's a $70 rebate right now on them.

[silver_echo]

hey toad where was that? we had similar snow drop last winter where i am

[toad]

indianapolis, indiana. it's been YEARS since we've had anything close to that, though. normally just gets very cold sometimes icy.

[WolfWings]

will the extra .1" in radius make a difference on lowered vehicles? i only ask because i think i found the snow tire i want - 175/65/15 michelin x-ice x2 - and the tire calculator puts it at .2" diameter more than stock(185/60/15), but i'm lowered on df's. i don't have any rubbing issues right now because i'm just on stock rims, but you've got me worried now about snow piling-up in the wheelwells! i'm mostly concerned about ice/slush traction because where i live we rarely get snow more than a few inches at a time - although we did get almost a foot in a 24hr period once last season(i wasn't lowered then)! i've read great things about the michelins online and yes - they're pricey, but there's a $70 rebate right now on them.

With stock ride height I can sneak away with 0.25" extra radius to run Goodyear TripleTred tires, but that scraped on the inside wheelwell at full lock even then. Lowered I'd be extra paranoid about scraping tires on your wheelwell sheetmetal then.

Get a seperate set of 14" steel rims, mount some 175/65-14's on them to be safe if you can afford it. Remember, winter tires should only go on once you get first snowfall/slush, and go away if there's no snow/ice on the ground for more than a day or two. Yes, you might put them on and off if winter has a month of nasty, two weeks of nice, and another month of nasty. If you do that those winter tires will last 2 or 3 years before even starting to really wear out. Otherwise they'll only last 1, or maybe 2 if you're lucky.

[silver_echo]

With stock ride height I can sneak away with 0.25" extra radius to run Goodyear TripleTred tires, but that scraped on the inside wheelwell at full lock even then. Lowered I'd be extra paranoid about scraping tires on your wheelwell sheetmetal then.

Get a seperate set of 14" steel rims, mount some 175/65-14's on them to be safe if you can afford it. Remember, winter tires should only go on once you get first snowfall/slush, and go away if there's no snow/ice on the ground for more than a day or two. Yes, you might put them on and off if winter has a month of nasty, two weeks of nice, and another month of nasty. If you do that those winter tires will last 2 or 3 years before even starting to really wear out. Otherwise they'll only last 1, or maybe 2 if you're lucky.

i ran one set of snow tires for almost 5 seasons on nov 1st off march 31st with no problems, so i am arguing the point... also, i would not recommend taking them off again until you are sure that no more snow should fall, because you never know if you are gonna have a big drop on the next snowfall...

[WolfWings]

i ran one set of snow tires for almost 5 seasons on nov 1st off march 31st with no problems, so i am arguing the point... also, i would not recommend taking them off again until you are sure that no more snow should fall, because you never know if you are gonna have a big drop on the next snowfall...

Well, also note I'm referring to using multi-compound snow/ice tires that actually get better traction than studded tires here, the tires as a whole will last 5 or more seasons, but the ice-sticky compound and bad-weather tread only goes down about half the tread depth before they're just normal all-season tires again.

So when I say 'just starting to wear out' I actually mean the tires are down to half their original tread, which is still plenty for mild winters. And those same tires peel away rubber like R-compounds when driven on dry asphalt. Note I'm not saying pull em' off every time it goes dry, but if no snow is expected for two weeks, yank em' off and put em' back on in two weeks. It's not like 14" steelies with winter tires for our car are heavy at all, they'll be sub-40lbs each.