Winter tire discussion for grown ups thread.

[Razor Ramon HG]

The Kal Tire in Burnaby on Grimmer St is pretty good. I've went there twice in the past for basic things, no issues at all.

My brother likes the Kal Tire on Boundary, so that one is probably good too.

[twitchyzero]

the one on grimmer was quite conservative saying a puncture was too close to sidewall

took it to marine/ontario branch and they got it done lol

it's nice the grimmer one checks your brake pads, im used to the costco-style of in-out efficiency

[Hondaracer]

Hah.. so turns out the two fucking tires my dad picked up from Kal werent even fixed! Nothing had been done to them! The pressure wasn’t even checked ffs.. valve stems the same TPMS not checked. The ducking PSI on one of them was 15 psi off

And then I drag the two in and they offer to make me a ducking appointment down the road to repair the other two what the fuck..

I say so you guys charged me $200 for work thay wasn’t done, you gave me tires you didn’t even check, and now you didn’t even replace the two I left with you I specifically asked to be replaced!!! lol this is CRAZY

I’m sorry sir, our computer system was down the hand written note wasn’t clear, and she only works one day a week

Couldn’t believe their response like it wasn’t a big deal you gave me back tires I specifically asked to he repaired and you didn’t even check the pressure?

Edit* and I get the two home they “fixed” and the pressure on those obviously wasn’t checked either!

[GLOW]

did they hire grade 10 kids?

[underscore]

Did they at least give you your money back?

[radeonboy]

This is worth escalating to the head office - they're scamming you at this point. Their computer systems being down and the employee having poor handwriting are irrelevant to them charging you for work they supposedly performed.

Kal Tire corporate needs to know what's happening so they can lay the hammer down on that store.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by underscore

Did they at least give you your money back?

Yea so I walked out not paying anything after the refund, which I kind of had to still ask for. but I lugged the tires there twice to have them only repair the nail and nothing else..



What’s crazy is like.. in my mind the absolute best case scenario was that the two tires they had would be completely fixed and they would take the two I had brought back and fix them on the spot for me, but that was -totally- out of the question like without pushing as I did they hadn’t even really realized what they had done wrong.

[GIZZ]

Local Kal Tires are generally pretty good. So many times I've had my customers tell me they went on there on a Sunday, or off hours and had a tire fixed for free. I figure basic plugs, not inside plug patches. But still amazing this day to get something for free from a shop you've never visited before.

[SSM_DC5]

Been to the kal tire on boundary maybe 3 times. Pretty sure it's inside patch that they did on mine and didn't charge for it. I took the wheel off at home and brought just the wheel to them. Had to leave it there for the day, I guess they do it when there's time to squeeze the repair in. One time, I dropped it off early and it was done before end of day. Didn't charge me anything and loaded it up into my car for me. Another time, dropped it off early, but it was almost end of the day, so I called to say I'm picking it up and taking it else where. When I went to pick it up, I suspect they did it on the spot because it took a long time for them to bring me back my wheel. Didn't charge me, but I had to load up myself this time. The 3rd time was to mount and balance winter tires. During the bagging process, they worker dropped the wheel and it was going to land on its face. I partially caught it with my foot, but the tire is narrower than the rim, so part of the lip hit the concrete.

[AzNightmare]

I stay away from these kind big franchise type shops. They're the ones that would most likely hire inexperienced techs. I didn't have a good experience shopping at Kal Tire before. I just go to smaller private shops like TSS now.

[Traum]

I recently had a tire patched at the Richmond No 3 Road / Vulcan Way KalTire, and after tax, it came out to $65 after tax! I do not ever remember it being that $$$$.

In the past, I've had them fix the puncture for me for free as well a small handful of times, and I honestly wasn't expecting them to do that. But $65 is a bit steep. And knowing what I know now, it also means if a tire is more worn down when it has a puncture, I might be better off buying a new tire.

[SSM_DC5]

But if the one tire is so worn down, you're buying a whole set to have equal tread all around? DIY plug may be the cheapest option

[supafamous]

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a1...-winter-tires/

The article has nothing new in it but it does have a list of all currently available all weather tires in North America:

Michelin CrossClimate2
Bridgestone WeatherPeak
Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady
Firestone WeatherGrip
Nokian WRG4
Yokohama Geolander CV4S
General Altimax 365AW
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
Falcon Aklimate
Toyo Celsius II
Kenda Vezda Touring 4S
Pirelli WeatherActive Line
Vredestein Quatrac

This instagram post showing the new Bridgestone all weather tire next to the CrossClimate is pretty neat too - basically looks identical: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4JmI1p...RlODBiNWFlZA==

[trollface]

How can that list not include the DWS06

[roastpuff]

Originally Posted by trollface

How can that list not include the DWS06

DWS06 is not 3PMSF certified. It's all-season not all-weather.

[Hondaracer]

To add to my Kal tire saga, OF COURSE the TPMS sensor is not detected in the tires they “fixed” so now I’m back to where I started with the TPMS light permanently on with my winters..

Would have bet my life this was going to happen

[AstulzerRZD]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Michelin CrossClimate2
etc.

Per TireRack, a LOT of these tires suck in the wet. Seems to have been the tradeoff.

For point of comparison: DWS06 gets 7.6 wet, 5.04 snow.

Good in Wet: (7 or higher wet rating)
0) WRG4 - per Kaltire, different measuring scale
1) Crossclimate 2 - 7.72 wet, 8.08 snow
2) Vredestin Quatrac - 7.38 wet, 7.55 snow rating
3) Toyo Celsius Sport - 7.28 wet, 7.25 snow
4) Pirelli Cinturato WeatherActive - 7.00 wet, ?? snow

OK in Wet: (6.5 or higher wet rating, 85% of tier 1)
1) Bridgestone Weatherpeak
2) Nokian WRG4
3) Falken Aklimate

Bad in Wet: (below 6.6 wet rating)
1) Firestone Weathergrip - 5.66 wet, 8.4 snow
2) General AltimMax 365 AW - 5.78 wet, 8.04 snow
3) Toyo Celsius II
4) Nokian Encompass AW01

Not yet tested:
Hankook 4S2
Geolander CV4S
Falken Aklimate
Nokian Seasonproof
Bridgetsone Turzanza AS 6

Source(s):
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...287&viewPage=y
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=289
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=321
https://www.kaltire.com/en/tires/cro...ml#testResults
https://www.kaltire.com/en/tires/cro...010390050.html

[supafamous]

I'm not totally sure if that's how to read that, for example the consumer ratings for wet weather performance of most of these fall under "excellent": https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surve....jsp?type=GTAS

But that's very subjective (though very high volume of data). OTOH, is a 7 good or bad?

When I read the Tyre Reviews review I can't tell per se if the results are good/bad for wet but the comments seem to say that they're fine/good: https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/...-Tyre-Test.htm

Originally Posted by AstulzerRZD

Per TireRack, a LOT of these tires suck in the wet. Seems to have been the tradeoff.

For point of comparison: DWS06 gets 7.6 wet, 5.04 snow.

Good in Wet: (7 or higher wet rating)
0) WRG4 - per Kaltire, different measuring scale
1) Crossclimate 2 - 7.72 wet, 8.08 snow
2) Vredestin Quatrac - 7.38 wet, 7.55 snow rating
3) Toyo Celsius Sport - 7.28 wet, 7.25 snow
4) Pirelli Cinturato WeatherActive - 7.00 wet, ?? snow

OK in Wet: (6.5 or higher wet rating, 85% of tier 1)
1) Bridgestone Weatherpeak
2) Nokian WRG4
3) Falken Aklimate

Bad in Wet: (below 6.6 wet rating)
1) Firestone Weathergrip - 5.66 wet, 8.4 snow
2) General AltimMax 365 AW - 5.78 wet, 8.04 snow
3) Toyo Celsius II
4) Nokian Encompass AW01

Not yet tested:
Hankook 4S2
Geolander CV4S
Falken Aklimate
Nokian Seasonproof
Bridgetsone Turzanza AS 6

Source(s):
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...287&viewPage=y
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=289
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=321
https://www.kaltire.com/en/tires/cro...ml#testResults
https://www.kaltire.com/en/tires/cro...010390050.html

[AstulzerRZD]

Originally Posted by supafamous

I'm not totally sure if that's how to read that, for example the consumer ratings for wet weather performance of most of these fall under "excellent":

But that's very subjective (though very high volume of data). OTOH, is a 7 good or bad?

When I read the Tyre Reviews review I can't tell per se if the results are good/bad for wet but the comments seem to say that they're fine/good: https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/...-Tyre-Test.htm

Yeah, the consumer ratings are "subjective" whereas the TireRack tested ones are objective.

The way I think about it, given that Vancouver is always wet, if I'm not sacrificing any wet traction to a top tier A/S tier and getting bonus snow traction, it's a win.

I've had way too much damp wheelspin on my mom's RAV4 on WRG2 to the point that I'm immediately suspicious of all weather tires that don't have good wet traction.

[EvoFire]

I find that tires that provide good snow traction typically are poor on wet roads.

I had Hankook iCeptEvo, Dunlop 3D winters, and I'm not Xice3 now and none of them are particularly good in rainy weather. The Xice3 seems to be the best but I also have to pussyfoot it around town.

I suggested to a friend to just run a good A/S tire for winter. It was great but the large dropoff in terms of snow and ice traction was too much for him on a high HP RWD car, so he went to performance winters this year. We'll see how he does but we might not see much snow this year.

My car stored away right now because my parents are using my garage to store things, still on AD09, so it probably won't snow until I retrieve it in the new years. The day I plan to go get the car will probably be the day it snows and I won't be able to bring it home.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by AstulzerRZD

I've had way too much damp wheelspin on my mom's RAV4 on WRG2 to the point that I'm immediately suspicious of all weather tires that don't have good wet traction.

I got that tire for my FIL in the Nordman brand version and it was a shit tire. Very slippery in wet conditions and not a great snow tire either. I think, as an all-weather tire, it came to market before it was really ready to go. It was really the first of its kind though, the state of the art has really moved a lot since that tire came out (10 years+ ago).

[AstulzerRZD]

Originally Posted by supafamous

I got that tire for my FIL in the Nordman brand version and it was a shit tire. Very slippery in wet conditions and not a great snow tire either. I think, as an all-weather tire, it came to market before it was really ready to go. It was really the first of its kind though, the state of the art has really moved a lot since that tire came out (10 years+ ago).

TBF when I have the Nordman WR on my Ontario company car, it did amazing in the dry snow over there. Almost useless in the BC wet snow.

Even the Michelin XIce 3 IMO really struggles in the slush we get.

[whitev70r]

No Continental Viking 7? Didn't make it on list?

[mb_]

Originally Posted by whitev70r

No Continental Viking 7? Didn't make it on list?

They're winter tires, not all-weather tires

[trollface]

Is big tire keeping tread patterns from us? No one figured out the CrossClaimate patten was pretty good for the last 100 years?

We sent a Tesla to space and some how every 3 years they magically find a slightly better tire pattern to sell us?