Winter vs. All Season - Opinions

[mvinsable]

Hello,

So, I recently order a set of "MichelinLatitude X-Ice Xi" winter tires. I currently am running Les Schwab's Dean SXT Mud Terrains (which they claim work great in the winter, but I have had bad experiences with them). I am down in Klamath Falls, Oregon and we tend to have a 50/50 winter. Meaning some weeks we'll have alot of snow and ice, and others will be warm. I dont know if I should go ahead and use these winter tires? or if I would be better off putting my money toward a good set of all-terrain tires and run them year around. Mainly, I am trying to be cost effective and not run out a set of winter tires if I don't need them...

any input?

 

[ndcent]

I may never understand running winter tires on a 4x4 truck, especially one with all terrains.

It's a truck, and a 4x4 at that. Even with casual street tires you'd be good in the snow around here.

Maybe if you lived in Alaska this would make sense to me.

My wife's RWD BMW on the other hand definitely runs winter tires, putting them on this week.

 

[the great him]

up here in vancouver/portland area, i swap out to winter studless snow tires(bridgestone blizzak dm-v1) form just about now till the end of feb and for me its totally worth it, even with 4wd(and yes i know how to drive in the snow, i grew up in lake tahoe). i would only assume down in kfalls, that your roads would not be plowed as often as up here, not would you get all the "de-icing" put on the roads like we do(wish they wouldnt put that crap on the roads) so snow/winter tires would be a big help down there.

4wd may help you get going with what ever tires you have, but stopping and making corners is another thing. go on to youtube and check out some of tirerack's videos on winter tires.... id say run them.

 

[Blanco]

Winter tires are not just useful in snow and ice but the compound provides better traction in temps under 7c (that's 45 degrees for my American cousins!) so they tend to grip and handle better on cold pavement. I used to run winters all the time from about November to March but you can totally run on AT's with the mountain and snowflake symbol or an M&S designation as I am now. I've got some s****y Dunlop RVXTs on my Runner now - they wear terribly but they're great in the cold and bite well in snow and ice. From my past experience and from much of what I've read, mud tires are not the best in winter as they don't have the siping required to dissipate water though I've heard some people cut siping into them to improve the performance, as well, they are usually a harder compound than a winter tire.

 

[awdjunkies]

Because when you want to stop and your A/S compound is hard and not soft(Winter tires), you'll wish you had winters...Remember that some of these rigs have AWD which also helps in the long run.

 

[NathanOfSeattle]

I'm in the Seattle area and feel totally comfortable driving around with just all weather tires both in the hilly Seattle streets and up to the mountains for skiing.
I get around just fine on the occasional snowy days we have up here in the NW. In fact, I even look forward to it!

In my opinion, just put your money towards a set of all weather tires. I have the General HTS Grabber tires and have been totally happy with them. I got them for $95/tire at my local discount tire. The overall good reviews off Tirerack is justified as I've found them to maintain their traction in both rainy and snowy conditions:
General Grabber HTS

 

[MTDewX8]

I would say it depends on your driving style and ability. usually most of us have to worry about the "other guy/girl but as you know in the North-wet the snow is heavy and full of moisture. I hate going home to visit (cause of the road nazi's). Montana has a dryer snow and I do just fine with AT tires. (duractacs currently) but most of the OR/WA drivers are RE****S so they make you put chains on most passes.

I bought tires that have the silly symbol that has the snowflake so they can't make put on chains when I drive over passes.

run what you can afford, I cant afford snow tires and fun tires. Mud's are the best in snow. Canada dont even let you use them in the winter i hear.
happy shopping.

K-falls I dotn think is that bad, but then again its Kfalls. lol
close to Ashland and medford so you never know. hahaha.
sorry not to bash K falls, my bro inlaw is from there and sis went to school there.

just my .02


I say get a tires with that snowflake and run them year round.

 

[Stick Figure]

If you already have them why wouldn't you run them? Living in "so cal" where I only occasionally drive to the snow, I'm okay with all terrains. If I lived where there was regular snow fall during winter I wouldn't hesitate to have a set of tires dedicated for snow use. Be cheaper than the winter beater cars I used to buy.

 

[4ganger]

Grew up in Tahoe, still drive there often. I run all season tires year round. As long as they are mud & snow rated you are goid to go. I've never understood winter or studded tires unless you live back east.

I've driven all over OR NV CA CO and UT. Never needed chains. All seasons work just fine on my 4runner no matter how bad it gets.

 

[mvinsable]

Thanks for the input.. on most winters I would like to try these studless winter tires.... I can't seem to tell if my 4runner just sucks on packed snow/ice or if it's these SXT Mud Terrains.... I think I would like to got with Goodyear's DuraTracs. They seem to have good reviews for an all-terrain tire... snow, ice, and dry.

 

[4ganger]

Check the reviews online at tire tack or other sites. I'm guessing it's the tires. My 4runner is great when in 4wd. In 2wd not so much.

 

[gbc]

I may never understand running winter tires on a 4x4 truck, especially one with all terrains.

It's a truck, and a 4x4 at that. Even with casual street tires you'd be good in the snow around here.

Maybe if you lived in Alaska this would make sense to me.

My wife's RWD BMW on the other hand definitely runs winter tires, putting them on this week.

Lookup adhesion and look at what temperature 4season tires start degrading and you will realize that people who value their life when living in cold temperatures including snow and ice will have no problem dishing out 1k on snow tires.

Cheers

 

[4ganger]

Lookup adhesion and look at what temperature 4season tires start degrading and you will realize that people who value their life when living in cold temperatures including snow and ice will have no problem dishing out 1k on snow tires.

Cheers

Got a link for that? Around here it doesn't get that cold. We get a lot of snow and my all season radials have never let me down. I don't think I've used chains on a 4x4 and have never had a problem with not getting where I am going. My 4Runners have always made it when I asked them to. Drop it in 4wd and go....

 

[Mudtallica]

I switched from GY Wranglers to General Grabbers HTS.. Love 'em.. I've learned that tires act different on different vehicles.. These helped my '99 rnr hold the road alot better than the Wranglers or Trackers in rain & snow..

 

[Blanco]

Your 4Runner shouldn't suck on packed snow and ice, it's definitely down to the right tire and how you drive. I'm definitely no tire expert but I've spent 25 winters driving in Canada and on a lot of rural roads and I'm starting to figure it out : )

I mentioned in my earlier post that winter tire compounds become more effective than "all-season" (a bit of a misnomer right there) tires at around the 7c or 45 degree farenheit mark.

Check this link out.

Manufacturers claim that you can gain up to a 50% increase in traction with winter tires over all-seasons and depending on the tire that may indeed be possible and arguably a lot of it maybe hype - however, a tire is only as good as the person operating the vehicle - same goes for 4WD or AWD - driving in the snow, ice and slush requires a whole different kind of skill set with the number one skill being to simply slow down. I see so many vehicles in snow banks on the side of the highway because their winter tires or 4WD/AWD gave them a false sense of security - as I reminded my friend last year as I pulled his Rubicon out of a drift - "4WD is great but your brakes are still what's going to be stopping you on an icy road".

 

[the great him]

those SXT tires suck to begin with, so yeah they are not going to do good at all in snow and ice.

and you dont need shell out $1000 for a good or even great set of snow tires. i paid $600 for my blizzaks and they are by far the best snow tire i have ever run(havent run the Michelin Latitude X-Ice Xi(or any michelin tire for that matter) so i can not compare the two, but i know michelin makes a great tire so i dont think you will be disappointed.

yes all season tires do not grip well in cold temps. a friend of mine used to have an Audi s4(1994) and he had a two set of tires for it, one was a nice good performance all season tire, that sure with the quattro system worked ok in snow and ice, and then he had a set of snow tires(studless) for it on the stock wheels, and it was night and day difference with those tires. we would take his car up to northstar and alpine meadows to go skiing almost every weekend back when i lived in cali, and there where several times when we would be pulling 4x4 trucks, and suvs out of snow banks and ditches along 80, and 89 people and the CHP would think we were crazy to even think we could pull out some of the vehicles we pulled out in the snow. yes a lot of it has to do with how you drive, but i dont care how good of a driver you are or what vehicle you are driving, if you can not put the power to the ground or get traction you will go no where fast and have a miserable time getting there.

 

[mvinsable]

I second that... these dumb SXT haven't done much for me in the winter..

I know I will be happy with these winter tires. The only thing is that we usually drive my girlfriends car with winter studded tires during the winter - since it gets better gas mileage. And the 4runner does mainly in town driving and lately it's been nothing but dry pavement and sun. So, I almost wonder if a set of Duratracs would be my best bet.

 

[the great him]

dura tracks are nice tires, and have great reviews up front and at first, but ive seen more than one person who is, and has not been happy with them after 20k miles or so, they wear bad, become hard to balance, and get noisy ect. i think your best bet would be the BFG all terrains or the good year silent armor tires for your hwy tires if you want to go with a tire that carries the severe weather rating(meaning you dont have to have chains when when they say chains or traction tires).

Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor

BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO

and for what its worth, i am not a fan of the BFG tire, although it is a great tire, i dont like it cause i to a fair amount of off roading and AT tires simply suck in the mud... but i have run them before and they where great in the snow, i have pushed snow with the bumper of my old 85 toyota 4x4 pick up with these tires over the siskiyou pass both on old hwy 99 and on i5 when they had closed it a back in 05 or 04 -i dont remember, but back when we had all that crazy snow... they do amazing for a all terrain. the mileage was ok that i got out of them, but again that was cause i was doing a lot of wheeling with them so that didnt help.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

Duratracs getting hard to balance,wear bad,noisy,etc.??

Are you sure you aren't referring to BFGs since those seem like a lot of problems including ones being out of round that I commonly read about those tires.
I've yet to read about balancing problems and bad wear on Duratracs and have only seema few similar complaints but alot of that was installer error and not the tire itself.
I've got 2 years and near 20k on mine and they are wearing fine,no balancing issues since installed and no more noisy than when they were new and have been one of the best A/T tires I've driven on in 25 years. I had more complaints with the BFGs I've driven on then even my Nittos or Goodyears.

 

[the great him]

just going by two sets ive seen, and what a friend at america tire has told me about them. overall i think they are a good tire, i just dont think they are the "gold bar" every one says they are...