Time for new Tires - Need advice

**hewinutah** · 11-11-2008, 10:27 PM

Well we need tires and don't want to spend a small fortune on replacements as this is for our 06 lease that we are turning in at the end of June 09.

So searching TireRack.com I found these General Tire Altimax HP At $80 a piece they fit the budget, and they are at least H rated

Does anyone have any experience with these in the snow?

**PaperToast** · 11-12-2008, 12:33 AM

ive never tried those tires before. however, judging from the tread design, they look like that would be good in the rain and light, light snow.
but get into the deeper snow/slush and ice, prolly wouldnt be the best for that. dont have a lot of 'chunkyness' to really bite into the snow very well.
seeing how your in utah and get your share of snow maybe a regualr snow tire would be the way to go?

check these out, at or below $80 a piece.
Firestone Winterforce
Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice

ive had both of these snow tires on differnet cars and can vouch for them.
good traction on snow, slush, snow pack, and everything in between.
these will get you almost anywhere in a blizzard.

**gibbons** · 11-12-2008, 07:27 AM

hewinutah... I've got the snowtire bug again, Nokian has a new model. I have a set of Nokian Hakka 2's (real snow tires) with a season on them that I might be able to let go in that price range. They are actually reasonable quite and well mannered on dry roads. If you return the car in June, who cares about summer. They just want to see some tread. The tires have wear indicator digits on the treads so you can see exactly how much they're worn, which is just barely. PM me if this sounds entertaining.

**8pack** · 11-12-2008, 09:20 AM

I have typically run the Nokian WRs on all my cars (all year round) and they absolutely dominate the category but are expensive at around $150/tire. However, as my car has accumulated miles (2000 xc 150k) I switched to continentals which I picked up for around $80 a piece and saw no material impact in ride etc. I go to vermont 10 weekends a season and have a house on a long dirt, frequently unplowed road.... and as you know last year was EPIC for snow. I never had any traction issues nor got stuck even in the deepest of snow....link below, but I highly recommend the Continental Extreme Contacts..

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes....ExtremeContact

**hewinutah** · 11-12-2008, 10:55 AM

All,

Thanks for the replies. The problem with going with dedicated snows is we may, keep the XC. It is very slim chance as the wife is wanting an XC90 instead. Only time and the economy will tell. So spending just as much for snows as all seasons could bite us in the end.

For the most part SLC does not get much snow that hangs around on the valley roads. Sure during a storm it can be bad, but the next day the roads are cleared for the most part. Not like Park City or the Ski Resorts where it can really come down. If we lived in PC I would get dedicated snows.

gibbons - Thanks for the heads up, i will talk it over with the wife. If the price is right we may go for it. Then if we do keep it we can put some other tires on it in the summer.

**gibbons** · 11-12-2008, 01:32 PM

I know snows aren't a constant requirement. In fact, we probably only really, really need them for 10 or 15 seconds a year. The rest of the time, they are peace of mind. And besides, then the summer-only tires last twice as long.

**8pack** · 11-12-2008, 02:19 PM

To Clarify, the Extreme Contacts are ALL SEASON, but kick but in the snow. I am running them all year round with no problems or excessive wear......

**gibbons** · 11-12-2008, 03:37 PM

The Scorpions are all season also. They kick butt, too, until you drive with a set of Nokian winter tires! Or any dedicated winter tire, I have had Gislaveds and others with similar grins.

**Forkster** · 11-12-2008, 09:18 PM

Lets also be clear, All Seasons AKA summer tires, stop working as designed below 45F. How badly? For example, stopping distances are compromised 30% vs winter tires and the list of other performance issues of all season tires in cold/colder weather is fairly long. Every other tire that call themselves All-Seasons M+S (Mud+snow) are NOT winter tires. They're actually summer tires - kind of like a sheep in a wolfs suit - cept you need a wolf in winter, not a fuzzy sheep.

Nokian WR's however are perhaps only true All-Season tire in the world. Nokian WR to real winter tires, like their own Hakka 5's studded -they still perform reasonably well, but not as good as their own true winter Hakka's. A good match-up could have Nokian WR's for all-season driving and Nokian Hakka's for winter (both come in studded and stud-less patterns).

Of course, I went on both ends of the performance spectrum. I use rally winter racing tires and near-slicks for the summer. (Kumho KW-19 studded and General Grabber UHP's for summer).

Also - when buying, be sure to check the date code and ensure you're buying this years tires. It's on the side as a four digit - first two represent the week it was made and the last 2 the year. For example, any tire you buy in 2008 should be in between 0108 and 5208. If they say XX07 - they're last years model - demand a discount - they're a year old. Tires are only good for 7 years.

**hewinutah** · 11-13-2008, 08:18 AM

From everything that i have read about the Nokian WR they are the tires to get. But they cost more than i am willing to spend at this point because of my above reasons.

I called the local Volvo Dealer and he tried selling me some Goodyear Triple Tread tires. Now they look like they can do the job, but they are only a 'T' rated tire where the OEM tires are 'V' rated. I did some searching and the Goodyear's have the same 98 load rating . So is it ok to put a 'T' rated tire on the XC70?