Winter tire discussion for grown ups thread.

[bcrdukes]

Very early bump but asking in advance to prepare for the Toronto winters knowing that there will be a supply issue and price increase.

I'm due to replace my 6 year old winter tires with something else and it's boiling down to Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, Michelin X-ICE3, and what I learned to be Continental's answer to the Nokian tires, the IceContact XTRM.

Does anyone have experience with Continental's IceContact XTRM? Open to any feedback on these. Otherwise, my default go-to will be the Michelin's. Thanks in advance!

[68style]

I'm sure they will all be fantastic on your wish.com Corolla

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aka Scion iM

[bcrdukes]

[roastpuff]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Very early bump but asking in advance to prepare for the Toronto winters knowing that there will be a supply issue and price increase.

I'm due to replace my 6 year old winter tires with something else and it's boiling down to Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, Michelin X-ICE3, and what I learned to be Continental's answer to the Nokian tires, the IceContact XTRM.

Does anyone have experience with Continental's IceContact XTRM? Open to any feedback on these. Otherwise, my default go-to will be the Michelin's. Thanks in advance!

The IceContact XTRM is probably too new to have any decent feedback. Michelin also split their line into 2(3?) with the X-Ice Snow and the X-Ice North. Snow is the regular line of X-Ice now but the North is meant to compete with the Nokians in ice grip I think.

I replaced my Pilot Alpin 4s with the newish PZero Winter so looking forward to see how they do on the road and on the frozen lake for Ice-X.

[bcrdukes]

haha our use case could not be any more different!

1. Scion iM (thank you 68style) will be used for daily transportation (i.e. groceries, work etc.)

2. For the most part, the snow gets cleared quite quickly by the City of Toronto and surrounding municipalities. We plan on making a trip to Montreal in late October and expect that it may snow there. Some scary moments along the 401 during a heavy snow storm but with winter tires, it's ok.

3. No ice racing for me.

[roastpuff]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

haha our use case could not be any more different!

1. Scion iM (thank you 68style) will be used for daily transportation (i.e. groceries, work etc.)

2. For the most part, the snow gets cleared quite quickly by the City of Toronto and surrounding municipalities. We plan on making a trip to Montreal in late October and expect that it may snow there. Some scary moments along the 401 during a heavy snow storm but with winter tires, it's ok.

3. No ice racing for me.

I mean, our use cases would be fairly similar I think. Vancouver doesn’t get that much snow, and the Allroad will be doing daily duties on wet roads with possible icing overnight. We’re likely to take road trips up north to the Okanagan or further as well, where we will encounter far more snow.

The only difference is going ice racing

I’m just saying that the IceContact XTRM might not be the best choice unless you’re expecting heavy snow or need outright ice grip. They’re T-rated tires so they’ll be more squishy day to day and especially if it warms up.

I’d find something more akin to a performance winter because for sure it’ll feel better tooling around town on bare pavement.

[Badhobz]

i have michelin cross climate plus on my ES and they seem to work perfectly in all weather conditions. Now given last year wasnt a super heavy winter, when it did snow i ran outside like a giddy school girl testing the shit out of the ES on fresh powder, packed powder, then ice and slush.

Road noise and wear seem to be pretty good as well! arent too expensive and a good alternative to Nokian all weather tires.

https://www.michelin.ca/en/auto/tire...s-climate-plus

[Acura604]

...did someone say winter tires...

i better check mine and get ready for the swaps.

[bcrdukes]

ooof Acura604 you need new wheel bro.

[SSM_DC5]

Lotion your hands too while you are at it. Using too much hand sanitizer?

[320icar]

Legit bump though. Need to look for new winters for the subie. Might as well start watching Craigslist now before the weather starts getting colder

[smoothie.]

viking contact 7 have been very good in vancouver black ice, snow, and mid spring dry roads as well.

[Badhobz]

You work for yuri and jacob? pushing conti's ?

[radeonboy]

Originally Posted by 320icar

Legit bump though. Need to look for new winters for the subie. Might as well start watching Craigslist now before the weather starts getting colder

Vancouver winters are pretty mild, and any of the tier-1 brands will do just fine here. I've owned Viking Contacts, X-ICE Snows, Blizzaks, and Sottozeros along with a few others and they all work fine for our winters. I made it through last winter on my Sottozeros on a RWD car without issue.

Doesn't Costco have 20% off tires over Labor Day weekend? I recall people on RedFlagDeals aim for that weekend to order winter tires.

[smoothie.]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

You work for yuri and jacob? pushing conti's ?

what else would I tell dukes about? tires that aren't on my car?

[320icar]

Originally Posted by radeonboy

Vancouver winters are pretty mild, and any of the tier-1 brands will do just fine here. I've owned Viking Contacts, X-ICE Snows, Blizzaks, and Sottozeros along with a few others and they all work fine for our winters. I made it through last winter on my Sottozeros on a RWD car without issue.

Doesn't Costco have 20% off tires over Labor Day weekend? I recall people on RedFlagDeals aim for that weekend to order winter tires.

Ain’t no way I’m buying name brand winters lol. We do a lot of interior winter driving, and multiple ice racing weekends a year. Ice-x for my wife’s flex. I used to run the alpin pa4’s on the RS, last year swapped to “Sailun ice blazer” which were $114 each and absolutely awesome. Total beast in the snow and ice.

For the sti I run 17’s so wagering paying for new winters again, or just watching CL now. We also had something like general altrax or wtv on the focus SVT which were also awesome.

Point is, ANY winter tire regardless of name brand or b/c list is better than an all season in the snow.

Also unpopular opinion; why do people like continental dws so much, I don’t get it…

[underscore]

^ I used to agree but I had some super cheap Hankooks on my Celica once that were supposedly snow tires but felt like they were barely better than all-seasons. Complete shit compared to any of the top-tier snows.

I've got about 10 months on the XIce Snow on my wifes Rav4 (only 3kish km though) and we've been happy with them. They've been great through snow, ice, rain, dry, heat, without a problem.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by 320icar

Also unpopular opinion; why do people like continental dws so much, I don’t get it…

I am in the minority as well to question why people like the Continental DWS like it's a gift from the heavens above and often touted by a few on forums (not necessarily on RS) that it's some kind of summer performance tire, which it is not.

[68style]

Conti DWS is a good tire to ride on, quiet on road for my Lexus... but it isn't amazing in the rain and the dry grip becomes limited very quickly. I took my Lexus to autocross on them once and they were greasy af

[roastpuff]

The DWS06 was the first performance all season tires to be semi-decent in the snow (when new). Thus the cult following. Nowadays it definitely doesn't stand out amongst the pack (Michelin PS4AS, Pirelli Pzero AS+) except in ride comfort. Squishy sidewalls. As 68Style points out- on any sort of track conditions they get greasy and overheat fast, though the same could be said of any AS tire really.

[trollface]

The new DWS-06 PLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS is pretty nice.

[bcrdukes]

I'm guilty of running the Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ on my Corolla/Scion iM and the Pilot Sport AS4+ on the Cooper S.

My personal experience on Continental tires, both motor vehicle and bicycle is that they are often soft / squishy, which in the right circumstances and environments, offer a great, comfortable ride, but they are not my favourite tire manufacturer and often end up last in any kind of serious consideration.

I think what I'll do is get the Michelin X-Ice for my iM this year.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by trollface

The new DWS-06 PLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS is pretty nice.

Plus means more money which you apparently don't have any of

[trollface]

I have the minuses. Factory rejects.

[68style]

Haha lies... you could only afford the holes in the middle