A guy from Texas posting about winter tires may seem weird, but I did live in Alaska 5 winters and Can-eh-duh 2 winters and had winter tires on 4wd trucks in both places. Also, I've even driven on iceroads in the Arctic Circle, and grew up in the Upper Midwest.

Alaska allowed studded snow tires and they're awesome (not legal very many places though), and they actually benefit other drivers by scuffing up the ice. Canada didn't allow studded and Michelin X-Ice were out of stock all 10 places I checked so I ended up with Yokohama Iceguards (rated 2nd at the time) and was very pleased.

University Alaska Fairbanks did quite a bit of research on studded vs studless winter vs all-season. Long story short:

Studded and studless winter kicked the crap out of all-season in all scenarios.

Studded tires' only advantage over studless winter was 25 to 35 F when the ice is softer.

One thing I highly encourage is getting a dedicated set of wheels for the winter tires. It solves 3 issues:

damaging beads on summer or winter tires from the annual mounting/demounting

getting scammed by unscrupulous tire shops saying you need new tires because they weren't safe to mount. Alaska had a real problem with this.

if you live in a place where lots of people getting winter tires, it saves many hours sitting in the lobby of the tire shop. It's much more achievable DIY to jack up the truck, remove off-season wheel and tire, and bolt on current season wheel & tire.

quote:

Originally posted by Jelly:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/RipM4-ouIWM

OK, so I was introduced to 'Tyre Reviews' in the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T Tire thread and now I'm definitely starting to see a pattern...Is it just me, or have others noticed that excluding the actual 'Dry Testing', every other test by this guy, in almost ANY other condition, seems a whole lot more like a Drifting Exhibition?

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

Studded and studless winter tires kicked the crap out of all-season in all scenarios.

BINGO!

And :thumbs up: on dedicated rims for winter tires too!

When the kids were younger I used to buy them winter tires.
My Daughter drove a Mitsubishi Eclipse and my Son a Lincoln Mark VIII, both horrible in the Chicago snow, both showed HUGE signs of improvement with the General Ultimax tires, think Night and Day difference.
The General tires were less expensive than the other brands.
They all had Winter rims that the tires were mounted to.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I think you meant Altimax. I searched and could not find Ultimax, current or discontinued.

As an aside I believe the General Altimax Arctic is made in Germany.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You are correct.

quote:

Originally posted by Jelly:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/RipM4-ouIWM

Very good video, but their SUV winter tire test probably hits the Sigforum demographic better than a BMW 3 series test. Although, I am disappointed they didn't include Yokohama Iceguard's as mine in Canada were excellent.

quote:

Very good video, but their SUV winter tire test probably hits the Sigforum demographic better than a BMW 3 series test.

I agree

For a Rav4 I would also take a look at the Michelin X-ICE SNOW SUV.

Of course, then there's the 'BEST Tires for Snow & Ice' test...



I've had Continental VikingContact 7's on dedicated winter wheels for two different vehicles; a '13 Volvo XC70 and an '09 Volvo S60, both of which are AWD. Winter Snow & Ice performance has been excellent over the past two years of NH winters with them and they've been outstanding in excessively wet conditions as well. They're basically unremarkable in the dry, especially on the XC70, in that I don't really notice anything unusual compared to the tires I run during the rest of the year on that car. The VikingContact 7's tested VERY well in the Tyre Reviews video and I agree with the their assessment! I'd definitely recommend them and would buy them again!

Note: Just noticed per TireRack, Continental has a $110 Rebate (Prepaid Visa Card) on four tires purchased between 11/1/23 - 11/30/23.

Yes, snow/ice rated tires are superior to all seasons in snow and ice conditions.

Yes, four wheel drive (especially true 4x4) is superior to front/rear wheel drive vehicles for accelerating, steering, AND stopping in snow and ice conditions.

Of those mentioned in this thread already I have only had experience with the General Altimax. Not withstanding personal comparison to others, I thought it was an outstanding tire, and made a world of difference on roads that were rarely plowed and prone to having drifts over the road.

We are trying something different this year on the mommy bus. I have Goodyear Assurance tires on it this year, which is an all weather tire (not all season) that has snow/ice ratings. I'll have to report back in spring what I think of them, but they handle wet roads quite well.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Of those mentioned in this thread already I have only had experience with the General Altimax. Not withstanding personal comparison to others, I thought it was an outstanding tire, and made a world of difference on roads that were rarely plowed and prone to having drifts over the road.

FWIW The Altimax Arctic is made by Continental - General Tire Company. Bets are it shares some design features with the Viking Contacts mentioned above by nhracecraft. That said I have not done a comparison.

UTA: found these articles...interesting
https://tirewheelguide.com/tir...l-altimax-arctic-12/
https://tireer.com/best-snow-tires-for-suv/

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
We sell a few Firestone Winterforce here. We also run them ourselves. They are very effective. They are not too noisy. They have a stay soft compound like the Blizzak so you want to get them off asap after winter. They are capable of being studded if you are so inclined.

Yep, glad someone mentioned Winterforce. Unless they changed the formula, they're not so soft that you can't run them year round if on dirt roads primarily or into spring if you're lazy. Been several years, has the price gone up compared to others?

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
FWIW The Altimax Arctic is made by Continental - General Tire Company. Bets are it shares some design features with the Viking Contacts mentioned above by nhracecraft. That said I have not done a comparison.

At minimum (other than the tread pattern) there's at least one major difference: Altimax Artic 12 is 'Studdable' while the VikingContact 7 is 'Studless'.

Both Made in Germany though...

I am way to lazy to change tires in winter. I have the Michelin Cross Climate II on my Subaru Crosstrek and they are awesome. They are winter rated all season. I plan to buy them any time I need tires until I move to Florida.

I’ll second the X ice suggestion. Sloppy wet snow over ice in Michigan is common. I’d peg the stopping distance at half that of an all weather tire. That’s on a Ford escape two wheel drive.
That being said, my dealer was soft pitching a new tire for snow and ice that doesn’t need to come off for summer driving, that would save $80 x 2 every year (I don’t have extra rims). I didn’t look into too far as I was already $1000 into my new truck tires.