Denver has always had crazy weather!Now it seems there are 65º "Winter" days down here
Winter will come, and we will be fine.
OK. Full disclosure: I admit be being more than a little worried about where all of this is heading.
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17/18 Season Snow Tire thread
Winter will come, and we will be fine.
OK. Full disclosure: I admit be being more than a little worried about where all of this is heading.
I haven't tried the Hakka 7 without studs, but it's pretty good with studs (drove a Jeep Patriot with them for work).
I have one winter and a couple of weeks with the Hakkapeliitta R2 on my Mazda 3, and a few years with X-ice III on two other vehicles (Toyota Corrola and Pontiac Wave). Even allowing for vehicle differences I would rate the Hakkapeliitta easily a better performer than the X-ice in every thing but longevity; the X-ice seem to wear better than the Hakka R2, but the Hakka R2 does much better in snow and slush and a bit better on ice.
I have one winter and a couple of weeks with the Hakkapeliitta R2 on my Mazda 3, and a few years with X-ice III on two other vehicles (Toyota Corrola and Pontiac Wave). Even allowing for vehicle differences I would rate the Hakkapeliitta easily a better performer than the X-ice in every thing but longevity; the X-ice seem to wear better than the Hakka R2, but the Hakka R2 does much better in snow and slush and a bit better on ice.
Hmmm.
That was the other tire I had considered. And it doesn't hurt that it is speed rated to 130.
Just curious: why is there no mention of Continental WinterContact SI's in this thread? They're cheap relative to the Michelins and Hakka's, and they are ranked very high by TireRack. I've got them on two VW's and they perform well in my New England conditions -- dry a lot of the time interspersed with periods of lots of snow turning to slush or ice if it's freezing.
Anyone else have experience?
Anyone else have experience?
How do they perform on I-70 when the snow comes down hard and the big rigs compress the snow into ice in a hurry. (Thinking eastbound Vail Pass).
The manager at the Ralston Road store suggested that the Hakka 7 would be a better fit for the Outback, opining that the R2 was better suited to light trucks or full size SUVs.
And the Hakkas had $130 in rebates, Michelin $50. Not material, but a consideration.
Something is going on tomorrow!
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Latest CR winter tire ratings:
And winter truck tire ratings:
Those are just the top bunch that fit on my screen.
And winter truck tire ratings:
Those are just the top bunch that fit on my screen.
On anything packed or icy the X-ice is absolutely fantastic. As @nay would point out, slushy conditions are where they would benefit from a more open tread. That's the performance trade-off. They still do great in slush, just not as good as the more open treads on my Hakka 7 SUV. Very different vehicles, of course.
Ralston road! That's where my dad bought his tires (and where I went to HS!). I had many a lunch at that DQ. Can't believe Tams gone :-(
I ordered a set of Nokian WR-G3 for my Chevy Cruze at the end of October, thinking that they would arrive in time for me to leave for a Thanksgiving trip to Oregon on November 17. On November 13, the tires still hadn't arrived and the forecast for my travels included snow for all the usual routes between Denver and Portland. I told the store I'd have to go buy some cheap snow tires somewhere else and run them until they wore out, and then get the Nokians at another dealer, since they couldn't get them for me in a timely fashion.
They made a deal for me to keep my business. They offered to put a set of cheap snow tires on for the trip to Oregon and when the Nokians came in, they'd swap them out, all for the price of the Nokians. I took them up on it. They were Champiro IcePros. They installed them Tuesday. I got an alignment Wednesday. I left Friday at about 1:00. I drove through Wyoming because it looked better than trying Vail Pass that day, which ended up getting closed anyway, I'm told. There was a lot of snowpack, ice and blowing snow through most of Wyoming, but I made it just fine. Never more than an inch or two of accumulation. I put about 3000 miles on the cheap tires during the week. I came home last Sunday evening. Monday the store called and had the Nokians, so I got them installed that afternoon, so now I'm good to go.
They made a deal for me to keep my business. They offered to put a set of cheap snow tires on for the trip to Oregon and when the Nokians came in, they'd swap them out, all for the price of the Nokians. I took them up on it. They were Champiro IcePros. They installed them Tuesday. I got an alignment Wednesday. I left Friday at about 1:00. I drove through Wyoming because it looked better than trying Vail Pass that day, which ended up getting closed anyway, I'm told. There was a lot of snowpack, ice and blowing snow through most of Wyoming, but I made it just fine. Never more than an inch or two of accumulation. I put about 3000 miles on the cheap tires during the week. I came home last Sunday evening. Monday the store called and had the Nokians, so I got them installed that afternoon, so now I'm good to go.
Can you tell me where Perilli Winter Sottozero 3 is on the list? I'm between those and the Continental WinterContact tire. Perilli is about $100 more from my dealer in the Run Flats.
Why not just buy five snow tires and forgetabout the run flats?
He didn't have trunk space for tire number 5. Apparently since the car comes with run flats, they take the spare tire compartment out. Which sucks.
Thanks for the input. It really sounds like the Michelin would be a great choice for the Outback. Most of the miles will be weekly round trips from Golden to Vail - often leaving late in the afternoon or early morning, when the roads can quickly turn icy. Vail Pass is nothing to mess with.
Thanks Sibhusky, this is correct. Well
unless I wanted to roll around with a spare tire in my normal trunk space or cargo box. Which I don’t want to do!
Run Flats it is. The good news is my dealer is throwing in a free alignment and there are some small tire rebates on the Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 and the Conti Wintercontact. They work out to about the same price so I just need to decide which one to buy.
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Recently bought some Hakka R2's for my wife's FWD XC70. My 4x4 RAM 1500 was shodded with Nolkian Rotiiva AT's, not winter tires but snow rated all seasons. I thought the Rotiiva's were ok winter tires until we had 5-6 inches of wet snow the other day. Her car plowed through that crap and braked like driving on dry roads they were AMAZING. My truck in 4 wheel drive was sliding all over the place. I immediately went out and bought dedicated snow tires (Bridgestone Bilzzak DM V2) for the truck. I haven't driven those in the snow yet, but am confident the Volvo with the Hakka's on will drive circles around the pickup.
CR didn't test that tire. Below is the only Perilli tested (didn't do great) vs. the tested Michelin, Nokian, and Bridgestones.
I'm assuming you've seen this and have considered the Bridgestone run flats?
https://blog.tirerack.com/blog/make-driving-fun/what-are-the-best-run-flat-winter-tires
Or, maybe an option is to forgo the run-flats and get an AAA membership that gives you 100 miles of towing:
http://www.aaa.com/aaa/006/membership_Types_Join.html
AAA is only good if your cellphone works.
Yep. IIRC, he said he was driving to the I-70 resorts and in Denver where his cell phone will work fine. But, you don't have to get far off I-70 before losing cell service in Colorado. Even the Interstate highways in Utah and Wyoming will have huge sections with no cell service.
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They are rated 4th on Tire Rack "best in category" at 98%. Not bad. We typically buy our tires straight from Schomp. They have great pricing and in the past they have participated in pass deals with Steamboat. This season I purchased my winter Pirelli's from Discount Tire. They beat Schomp by $200 installed and out the door. We have no complaints with our Pirelli's and can tell you that they stop very well, have great traction in the snow and ice, and reasonably ok on warm dry pavement.
Thanks for checking.
I have Liberty Mutual's BMW policy, it covers me for a tow to the closest BMW dealership.