Hello All,

Winter is fast approaching up here and I'm looking for tires to keep me out of the ditches this winter. I’m new to Juneau, but I have experience driving in snow and packed ice without studs, or snow tires for that matter. I've been told numerous times that Juneau is known for its black ice.

The typical situation is that it will snow, then it warms up and most of it will melt leaving mostly black ice. I’ve been told that studded tires don’t offer the same traction on black ice as they do packed snow because of the fact that black ice is typically too thin to allow the studs to stab in for traction.

I’m looking at two snow and ice tires. What are your preferences?

Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires

-or-

Bridgestone Blizzak tires

My stock tire size is 265/70 R 16 so I’m also wondering if I need to go narrower, say 245/75 R 16’s for better grip (this size was suggested by tirerack.com)

Thanks,

Erich

 

I would run bridgestone winter duellers they're designed for truck/suv unlike the blizzaks are.....excellent snow tires, its a multi-compound cell studless tires. I run them and some of my friends run them on their own vehicles....haven't had a problem! lets us know what you go with

 

i second the vote for winter duelers. i saw a test once where they compared them to studded tires on a frozen lake and they did better than the studs! i've used them for two colorado winters so far and driving in the winter has never been more pleasurable and less stressful.

 

What are the locals running?

 

+1 for the Bridgestones.

Pirelli is Italian for "not round".

 

my mom has blizaaks on her audi and they are awesome in the snow...for trucks i would assume the same if thye redisnged the tire for a truck


as for running a thinner tire i dont see how that would help you in ice?
theres MASSIVE debate on weather its better to have massive aired down tires to "float" on top of the snow or to have narrow pizza cutters to slice through the snow.

as for ice though i would imagine having a thicker tire would give you a better chance of catching a spot with no ice

 

I'll check around and see who to get the Duelers from.

habanero - It looks split 50/50 studs/no stud ice tires. I'll talk to some more folks to see if there is a tie-braker.

Erich

 

I would seriously consider these http://greendiamondtire.com/productswis2.html

 

holy smokes...the ats look A LOT like the REVOS...and the MTs look like the krawlers

 

id say the m/t look more like yoko geolander m/t or I believe pro comp m/t .

These tires are like having studded tires without the studs.

 

Those look awesome!

I found these guys for killer prices so I'm checking out their shipping costs. They are available in Green Diamond tread compound!

http://www.high-tec-retreading.com/sizes.html

Anyone used these retreads before?

Erich

 

1st choice: Nokia Hakkapeliitta 10's...2nd choice would be the winter duelers.

-B

 

Reminds me of the old joke:
Italian Snow Tires
Dago through ice
Dago through snow
And when dago flat, dago Wop Wop Wop...."

my bad...

 

I've run Blizzaks on a 4x4, and Semperits on the car. Both are excellent. Ran Hankook winter tires on a Cherokee up in Canada, they were great too.

 

Well sounds like the Blizzak's have a strong following, but availability up here is very limited.

Here's were it stands right now.

Tire: Bridgestone Blizzak DM-Z3 265/70 R 16 (Duellers don't come in this size)
Source: Tirerack.com
Cost: $123 X 4 = $492
Shipping: $150.20 -or- $135.81 ($83.44 to Seattle + $52.37 from Seattle to Juneau on barge)
Total = $642.20* -or- $627.81*

Tire: Pirelli Scorpion 265/70 R 16
Source: Tirerack.com
Cost: $110 X 4 = $440
Shipping: $153.04 -or- $130.49 ($78.12 to Seattle + $52.37 from Seattle to Juneau on barge)

Total = 593.04* -or- $570.49*

Tire: A/T-D (Dunlap) 265/70 R 16 W/ Green Diamond tread granules
Source: High-Tec Retreading
Cost: $69.99 X 4 = $279.96
Shipping: $119.21 ($66.84 shipping to Seattle + $52.37 from Seattle to Juneau on barge)
Total = $399.17*

* Does not include mounting and balancing costs.

The only hitch on shipping any of the tires up on the barge is that they have to arrive at the loading dock at the same time or they will charge me the min rate for each tire which is over $40 per tire!

I need to make a decision in the next day or so. The snow was sticking on the hills 300' above my office.

Erich

 

I have tried retreads and personally it is a hit or miss type of thing. I had them on my civic for a while and they were not as good as the Michelin Harmonys I had on there (even though the retreads were using michelin casings although the casings were MXV4 which are a lower end). I have also tried them on my truck (I think that set used bridgestone casings) and they tended to vibrate more than what I had on so I took them off too (also had a pretty agressive tread so that didn't help). I didn't loose any money (other than mount and balance) on the deal though because I am involved in that business indirectly so I got all of them at a pretty good rate.

In order for the retreads to be really top notch, they need to have very good equipment (to ensure no out of round condition) and most retread places don't or if they do they charge alot more for the tire......and in that case you might as well just buy the brand name tire you wanted to begin with.

If it were my vehicle I would buy the Bridgestone Blizzaks or Michelin X-ice even though they are the most expensive of all your choices. I am going to be putting a set of those on my civic for this winter but I think I will go with the Revos as snow tires for my 4runner (we have lots of snow but not as much black ice as you seem to have) but the jury is still out on that one. I may also go with a hardcore snow tire on the truck but the problem with that is that most of these snow tires are very soft compounds so if you drive them on any dry pavement, they wear out extremely fast.....you can wear out a new set of blizzaks easily if you drive them well into summer.

 

The best tires that money can buy are Nokian Hakkapeliittas. Second choice would be the Winter duelers. I am a huge fan of studs myself. The people who dis studs are usually people who buy normal A/Ts or M/Ts, stud them, and are then surprised when they aren't as good as real winter tires. Tread pattern is very important too. I made the mistake once of skimping on what I was willing to spend on winter tires. I will never do it again, It is more expensive in the long run.

I would also second the narrow tire selection. The more narrow the tire the more ground pressure per square inch. Very important for ice. Tall and narrow are what we like to run in the winter.

 

I have heard amazing things about Nokians but where the heck can you get them?
I haven't found anyone that carries them (let alone at a reasonable price).

These are the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2 (they are on rev 2 now of that tire):


EDIT: I found the dealer locator on their website:
http://www.nokiantires.com/newsite/map.cfm

Since they are from Finland I don't dare ask what a set costs.

 

try and get your hands on hakka 10's...they are better in deep snow...and they are harder than ice tires...I had mine for 6 winters!!!(and they still had tread)

I had the Hakka 1's on my golf GTI (Hakka 10's better)

and yes they are expensive...but worth every penny!

-B

 

The general consensus in Norway, where you have to drive a lot in winter conditions, is that a studless tire is as good as or better than studded tires on everything except ice. For snow, you don't want a wide tire that floats on top of the snow.