Quote:
Originally Posted by COcyclist
FWIW I have 3 sets of tires on rims. In summer I have LRR, fall and spring "All Weather" and in the dark months of winter I have studded snow tires. I have been impressed with the "All Weather" tires but they are not as good as new studded tires on ice. OTOH the studs wear down quickly and the have less traction on dry or rain wetted roads in my experience.
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I'm jealous that you have three sets! That would be ideal for sure.
I have General Altimax 365 AW tires, and they seem to perform as good, if not better, on ice and snow than the
studded Firestone Winterforce 2's I have on my second set of rims.
There are some studded tires I'd be interested in putting on my other set of rims in place of the Winterforce 2's, also from General, after I've had a set of all-season tires, and now a set of all-weather tires from General and have been impressed by both on snow and ice. So I'd assume that if General makes good all-season and all-weather tires for snow and ice, their dedicated snow tires must be really good. Even with the all-season from General that I had before, I'd easily get by 4WD pickups that couldn't climb a mountain pass in my FWD Toyota Avalon.
I also liked the Bridgestone Blizzak tires back when I had the Mazda 323, except I didn't have a separate set of rims, so they ended up splitting at the bead when changing them out during seasons. When I went to a 1985 VW Golf diesel there was like only one winter tire being made for it and it wasn't the greatest, although probably better than the Firestone Winterforce 2's.
One thing I will say, even with the absolute best winter tires, even with chains on, even with AWD, there are no miraculous tires or otherwise that can make a slick road unslick. I don't care if the tires I have are the abo****e best for the snow, I'm still going to take at least 6 times the distance to stop on snowpack than on pavement according to at least one study. This is why I follow the rule I learned in commercial driving school, go 1/3 slower on snowpack than on pavement. If the limit is 60mph it is 40mph if it's snowpacked.