I used to use Blizzaks for my winter tires, but last year bought Yokohama IceGuards. I loved the Blizzaks, but cost made us switch to the IceGuards (they were on sale for a fantastic price). I haven’t really noticed a difference in performance between the two, but I do mostly city driving in a Toyota Tercel and I’m just not that observant!
ETA: As of last year, winter-rated tires are mandatory in Quebec- all-season tires from Dec 15-Mar 15 will get you a ticket!
I would love it if New Brunswick adopted the same law.
Why? You want to be forced to use them? I live in a snowy climate “Ottawa” but seem to be a bit of a contrarian regarding snow tires. I don’t use them, all-season radials are fine to me. Sure you get less traction, but my view is when driving in snowy conditions you need to drive defensively and be prepared for poor traction. I suspect Snow tires may in-fact increase the risk of accidents because it gives some drivers over-confidence in poor conditions.
If I drove a rear wheel vehicle, then sure every bit helps, but for a modern front wheel drive, I am sure modern all-season radials give acceptable traction in snowy conditions. Not a popular view, but there it is.
That’s completely ridiculous. Snow tires aren’t just about being able to get going, they’re about being able to turn and stop. And you’re just completely delusional if you think some vague psychological effect is going to outweigh vastly improved traction.
‘Accptable’ often means stuck on the pass blocking traffic when things go from bad to worse.
It only takes one car with the wrong equipment to foul up hundreds of peoples day.
I would have to disagree with you.
I’m already using them. I want the guy in the lane opposite to me to be forced to use them.
I have some supposed all weather’s on my Mazda Protege5, and they’re shite. Fine in rain and warm weather, wretched in snow. Wretched in snow when they were brand new, which is saying something (to me, anyway). I bought them late last season, and am hoping that I can limp through until either a) I can afford new ones, at least on the front or b) winter’s over. Luckily, I heard that the last half of the month should warm up some here.
I am driving more carefully, that is true. Largely because I’m forced to - these tires suck in snow. So there is that. They’re Falkens, a fine tire as long as you live where it doesn’t snow. I certainly wish I woulda gone for the Dunlops when I bought them. And for even more fun tirey goodness, my Mazda has a weird tire size, so there’s only a very few manufacturers. Fun.
Forced to use them would piss a bunch of people off. Me, for one, and I’m sold on the superior traction of snows. To buy a set of snow tires and separate wheels (changing tires onto the same wheels every spring/fall is $60 pop around here, and I did do that for a few years, but later I opted for a separate set of wheels with the snows mounted) was not chump change.
What really got me though, was the short life of the snow tires. I’d have my snows on Nov. - mid April. I don’t live in the mountains and don’t live out in the unplowed rural areas. I live in a town that is really good about snow removal. 98% of the time I was driving on dry, plowed roads. This shortened the life of my snow tires to two seasons because I used them mainly on dry roads. The 2% of the time I did need them to make it through snow was nice, but I don’t know if it was worth the $750 I had to spend on dedicated snow tires and wheels.
All weather tires are not really designed for snow and ice, no matter what the naming would have you believe.
So True. Thats why I took them off my brand new car. They are crappy in the summer and worse in the winter. If you can find TRUE all season like Nokians you will be fine, amazing snow traction and good summers. The only thing I dont like is they are a lot noiser than good summers. But I dont have to swap them out.
Ja, I heard that from my brother (after I bought the tires, of course). The next set will be different.
Odd that the Dunlops I had on before this set worked like champs (even without any sort of designation other than “tires”) while these “all weather” Falkens pretty much suck. Great tire in warm weather, worthless on snow.
Last year finding snow tires here in NS was like looking for hens teeth because of the new law in Quebec, they sucked up all the supply.
There are Dunlop all-season tires that suck in snow, and Falken all-seasons that aren’t bad. Each line has a fairly wide variety of tires but all may not be available in your tire size.
What are ‘true’ all seasons?
I chose my current tires via Tire Rack’s rating system. They were second highest in their class (at the time I bought them), but $50 cheaper per tire than the #1 rated tire (again, when I bought them). Mine are all season, not snow tires, but they had a decent snow rating for both light and deep snow.
It appears the Nokian WR “all-weather” tires are rated with the Mountain and Snowflake symbol, which is the approval rating required for winter tires in Québec, so I suppose they are “true” all-weathers! I’ve found message board commentary elsewhere though that say that they are still less good in deep snow than the other Nokian winter tires and other winter tires from other brands, but I don’t know if that’s really true.
Thanks!
You can easily notice the difference between “All season” tires and snows. There is a real and significant difference when driving on snowy/icy roads. Any tire listed as All season, even the best Nokians, will be inferior to dedicated snows. Which isn’t to say there aren’t better and worse tires in each category, but if you are going to spend a lot of time on snowy roads, and you need to be able to travel in those conditions, get a set of cheap rims and snow tires.
I know the difference between snows and all seasons. I was wondering about the difference between all seasons and ‘true’ all seasons. I never knew that all all seasons weren’t the same.
I will have to dispute the “real and significant difference” statement. The Nokians WR have been reviewed to have almost the same traction as the best snows. See this site http://tinyurl.com/yfce65t which says “Likewise on ice and hard, frozen surfaces: traction was at least as good as the average winter tire, and notably better than the Dunlop Graspics I tested the winter before.” I have no doubt that the best snows will win out but they seem as good as Blizzaks to me. Working as well as any snow tire I have had and not having to change them won me over. FWIW I used to use studded snows.
OK, I’d say that except for these particular Nokians, no other all season tire will have the grip of a snow tire on snow and ice. I don’t think that there are “true all seasons” because to get the grip you need on snow and ice the tire compound needs to be soft and thus will wear out fairly quickly on dry roads. If “true all seasons” exist, this is the only one, IMO.
If Nokian managed to overcome this problem then they have truly made a major improvement in tires. That review is impressive, and Nokian has always been the standard in snow tires that others aspire to. So maybe they’ve made a breakthrough here.