Tumby

Hi Guys,

For those who lives in Canada, I wonder what brand you have got for your snow tires? I had a set of Komho for the past 3 winters, but it starts losing traction in the last winter already. I am sure a new set is required for the upcoming winter, but just don't know which brand I should get that has good quality, but not too expensive like the Nokia does. Any good suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

T

LuvMyTSX

I use Dunlop Winter Sport M3. Will be going on my 3rd winter with these tires and I like them. Good traction in snow, and quiet on dry roads. They don't seem to be wearing out too fast, either.

Audioserf

Well-timed thread. I'll be looking for some good winter tires soon to put on my OEM wheels. Stupid CT.

I'll look into the Winter Sport M3's. Thanks for the reco.

Tumby

I went onto Tire Rack and found the rating from the existing user on this tire is pretty good.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....e1=yes&wTire=1

Worth

I've got some Blizzak REVO-1's that i picked up last winter. i have absolutely no complaints at all. i do a lot of driving and they performed well on dry roads and great in the snow. we got some pretty heavy snow in MA last year so i really put them to the test a few times.

Tumby

Thanks man!!! This is a great suggestion!!!

.::miLan

I had a set of Dunlop Graspics on my previous car, and never had any problems with them.

However, not even the best winter tires can save you if you don't know how to drive properly on snow and ice. I've seen cars spin out, or slide going into turns, even with a great set of winters.

Anyhow - the projection for this winter in Canada is dry but bitterly cold. You may want to hold off on purchasing a new set of winter tires.

Red@8

I tested dozens of winter tires in Saskatoon for the last ~8 years. The nokians really were the best. But as you said they are pricey. The Toyo G02 are also very good and cheaper IIRC.

HoRRo

I use Nokians as well, but I know a couple people that use Viking Snowtechs and they say that they're pretty good considering the price.

curls

Where are you located in Ontario? There's a local place here in Ottawa that's running a great group-buy on winter tires. I think the package price for the TSX was $760.xx including tires, 16" steelies, mounting, balancing, and taxes. That's a GREAT deal. Tires are not a well-known national brand but he's been selling them for 4 years and everyone loves them. If you want info PM me (only in Ottawa area!).

For what its worth, the Nokian's are amazing tires but are very expensive. They're on my wifes' Protege5 and that thing is a tank in the snow. I run Michelin Arctic Alpin's on my TSX and they're OK but I need to replace them next year as they're getting long in the tooth. I've also driven extensively on the toyo Observe G02's and they were very very good winter tires - highly recommended!

And with regards to the dry but bitterly cold winter... this is one reason to get winter tires! Winter tires with the RMA mountain/snowflake symbol on them, use a rubber compound that is different from tires without the RMA designation. This rubber compound means the tires stay soft at lower temperatures, and as such, are much better at gripping snow/ice/dry pavement, than a tire that has turned into nothing more than an oversized hockey puck by means of freezing!

If you don't believe me that softness of rubber makes a difference, then have you ever overinflated bike or car tires by a fair amount and noticed how the ride was? Not only is the ride stiff and jarring (not good as your shocks are now overcompensating and have less contact with the road), but the grip in corners is lessened because the tire cannot flex as much and contour itself to the road.

5o9

There is a Nokian all season that is very well liked. I wanted it, but too much money

Mowgli

There is a group by for the GTA area going at redflagdeals.com

PhiDelt

Dunlop Graspics, by far the best for the price. Goto Walmart ( yes make fun of me) and get the 16's there for about 100 bucks each. I use them on my TSX and my Mazda 6, and my extended family all use them , never had any problems at all with them.

curls

I think the Dunlop Graspic's at WalMart are the DS-1's, which I believe are very old technology, and probably old stock. Using old tires can be dangerous as rubber deteriorates over time, weakening it and leading to cracking and stress. Buyer beware.

PhiDelt

no i got DS-2, i made sure

gdcwatt

Just north of Toronto, we had lots of snow last winter. The 195/55-15 Toyo Garit KX on our Mazda Protege automatic are as wide as the 205/60-16 Dunlop M3's on the TSX, but the Protege was clearly the superior car in the snow: starting, stopping, turning, driving along... I did a few back-to-back comparisons and the results were consistant.

Th Garit KX is not available in a TSX size, but my point is there are better tires than the M3.

TodaSi

I have the Nokian Rsi's and not very happy with them. I had one flatten and ruined...was very hard to tell in the deep snow (at least that is what my wife said) I liked my Dunlops and Pirelli's much better...but they were on different cars. Maybe other Nokians are better than the Rsi's on the TSX. Another snow tire I didn't like were the Bridgestone LM-22's, had them on my "99 Civic Si. I loved my Bridgestone Winter Dueler DM-Z2 on my Expedition!!!

syee99

I got a set of thsese too last winter. Pretty decent and stable in snow. They seem pretty soft (compared to the stock Michelins) so it gives a softer, more comfortable ride as well.

curls

Are the Blizzak REVO-1's the same as the previous Blizzak's, in that they are made of of 1/2 winter (soft) compound, and the rest is regular all-season (hard) compound? That would piss me off as I want my winter tires to perform their best in the colder temperatures, and a hard, all-season rubber compound in the last 1/2 of its life would make me feel as though I was only buying 1/2 of a winter tire.

Nokian RSi's aren't the best winter-specific tires (they're 4-season / all-weather, not dedicated winters). The rest of the Nokian lineup including my wifes' Nokian Hakka 1's (the originals!) are nothing short of phenomenal!

Tumby

At the end, I have picked Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3. It is pretty good so far on dry pavement and it is pretty quiet to compare with other snow tires that I had used. But have to wait and see whether it will be as great in the snow!

chuson

Are you telling me you have already put on those winter tires now????

Toronto weather is still not cold enough for winter tires yet, at least there's no snow on the ground. Wait till a consistent 8c thru day to night, which is the best time to switch. The soft winter tires compound will burn fast under this weather, if you do alot of spirit driving or hard corner.

Tumby

yea... I hear you. It was getting cold so early this yr and this is why I kindda panic a bit and put the tires on earlier than usual. Hell knows the weather in GTA would go all the way up to 20 C for the past weekend..... so it is too late now regardless. Since the tires need time to run in anyways... so just cheat it as a quick run in before the winter comes then.

chuson

I hope the snow doesn't hit us till mid-Dec, but summer rims will be out soon after Nov, as the temp drops the tires doesn't have enough traction.

Tumby

Honestly, I love to have my summer rims on as I am using one of those black steel rim for my winter tires which looks ugly ... I hate snowing and I just hope we are not getting as much like last yr!

syee99

Yes, it's the same as other Blizzaks. Click for Tirerack summary that says this

gdcwatt

My prediction is we won't have as much snow as last year. Our cottage, just north of Orillia, was hit with almost 18FT of total snow precipitation - and we lost our carport and the two small boats in it!

I know I'm right because it's already Oct 17 and, unlike last year, I can still see the grass in my backyard.

Tumby

wow..... crap!!! 18 Ft of snow?!?! That is alot man! I hope your lost are covered by the insurance!

TodaSi

Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi are the one's I have, I believe they are full on studless snow tires....not like the WR's I believe you are thinking of.
Blizzaks are awesome snow tires but like you said, you only get 1/2 a snow tire...what a waste!

curls

You might be right... thanks for the clarification!

tdottsx

i am looking to get the MICHELIN X-Ice or the goodyear nordics, i have been reading about the nordics and apparently they are 1 of the best winter tires you can get for the price, and only Canadian Tire sells them. im putting them on my stock rims. any 1 ever tried either of them?

Chadwick

The X-Ice were my next choice last year when I bought my Blizzak REVO-1's. I certainly trusted both names but the price on the REVO's from tirerack was far too good to pass up.

+10 this morning when I woke up, and not a single snowflake yet! I'm totally diggin' this early november and no snow tire yet. I went with the fugly steel wheel too so I hate putting on the winters, they're just so damn.......FUGLY!

Good luck with the tire hunt man. From what it looks like you'll do well with any of the tires you're looking at.

PhiDelt

Yeah i gotta put my winter tires on now with my ugly steels, i blew a tire tonight on my summer tires going to work, so there is no point getting it repaired and putting back on. Its getting cold enuf to put them on. They say +7 C or colder is the best time to put them on.

johnrh

regarding the goodyear nordics from canadian tire ... I think these may be "older technology" tires ... have you looked at the new michelin xice2's instead? they are new this year. skip the first generation xice if you can, as the new version has an improved / stickier compound . the Tirerack.com did a mini review on them, and they liked them better than the bridgestone ws60's that jyust came out last year.

MrChad

I'm running the same tire, this will be my 2nd winter on them. Prior to these we had some Goodyear Ice Grips (215/55/16), I loved these tires too. But they have been discontinued. I also ran the Goodyears on smaller 16" alloys rims vs. the 17" OEM rims I have the Dunlops (215/50/17) on now thanks to the A-spec rims I now have for summer use.

If I didn't know any better I'd swear the Dunlop Winter Sport M3's use the same tread design as the old Goodyear Ice-grips.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but Goodyear is affiliated with Dunlop somehow right? The warranty card for the Dunlops was a Goodyear/Dunlop card if I recall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunlop_Tyres

chuson

I have no experience in both tires you listed, but the comparison wasn't fair due to 2 facts.

1) Smaller size/width tires perform better in snow than bigger size/width tires.
2) Dunlop M3 is performance winter while the Toyo Garit KX is a studless snow and ice tires. That alone makes a big different.

Like Michelin X-Ice/ Bridgestone WS-60 always perform better than Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3/ Bridgestone LM-25 in snow condition, and in "Dry/high-speed" condition it's vice versa.

0TSX4

Hey everyone,

Need some advice on what kinda winter tires would be good for a MT TSX, where i can buy them from in the Toronto area and the price range. Would be a great deal of help. Thanks!

78transam

I was looking for a cheaper set of snow tires for my '05 TSX 6MT. I bought a set of General Altimax Arctic. They are manufactured by Continental but branded as General. The sidewall says "Made In Germany". They were less than $90 each USD for 205/60-16. They're mounted on 16" '05 Accord alloys. I can't say how good they are as we have yet to have any significant snow. I have noticed that the directional stability on dry pavement is not as good as the original Michelins. I seem to be making more corrections with the steering wheel.

HoRRo

The Altimax Arctic are pretty good tires for the price. I would say they are comparable to the Viking Snowtechs, and maybe close to the Hankook iPike 409's. Your directional stability thing, I suspect may be due to the fact that you are down a size from the original Michelins, coupled with the fact that the tire tread is pretty thick and softer than the originals. I felt the same thing when I was running 16" Hakka2's.

gdcwatt

Think twice about buying used winter rubber. I just took the Dunlop M3's off the car. This would have been their third winter, and individual tread depth is either 8/32 or 9/32 (you'd think you couldn't complain about the wear), but getting the car going in two or three inches of snow was a slow process which made me feel vulnerable, especially if starting up even a slight incline, or turning left at a light, or worse - both! Driving was fine, and braking was great, but it was time for a change.

Unfortunately it's a bit late in the season to be doing this, and there's not much inventory around, but a local tire shop found (and swore by) some 205/60-16 Champiro GT snow tires. They were a bargain at $119Cdn, and have proven themselves repeatedly during the last few days, though deep and not so deep snow, either virgin stuff or packed, dry and wet roads, and cold and colder weather, up hill and down. Starting and stopping is easy, and outclasses the M3's.

I was tempted by some 215/55-16 Toyo Garit KX's, but the set was $400 more, and it would have taken too long for them to travel 3,000km to get here.