Studded snow tire recommendations? Size?

[rwheelz]

Need to get a set of snow tires for my 03 LX. Since there are very limited snow tire choices for the factory 18" rims, I am going to pick up a set of 16" wheels and put the winter tires on them.

Has anyone had good luck with a particular snow tire? I want to get studded as my wife commutes in this thing and I'd like her to be as safe as possible in the event she hits ice, etc

What size is best for 16" wheels?

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Costco has the Mich X-Ice, 275/70R16, $150 a tire and there's a $70 off 4 tires coupon right now. They're not studded, but they're excellent winter tires.

 

[uHu]

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 SUV.
A safe bet if you want studded.
Hakka has been best or second best in tests for the last 30 years.

Currently (season starts soon) I drive the Yokohama Geolandar I/T G072. Best winter tire I ever had on any car.

 

[bwbski26]

I run the dunlop sj5 ice tires. they are amazing.

 

[rwheelz]

Costco has the Mich X-Ice, 275/70R16, $150 a tire and there's a $70 off 4 tires coupon right now. They're not studded, but they're excellent winter tires.

I saw that costco coupon, but figured tirerack would be cheaper. I will definitely look into this.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I thought studded would be smartest since my wife drives the LX most of the time, and we have a very steep paved driveway that apparently can get icey in the winter (we just bought the place a few months ago).

 

[rwheelz]

For anyone else looking, current tirerack deals in 275/70-16 snow tires:

Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 $124 ea with $50 reward card

Dunlop Grandtrek SJ6 $125 with $75 amazon card, $50 rebate or $25 reward card

Michelin Latitude X-ice $142 with $50 reward card

Pirelli Scorpion Ice and snow $141 with $50 reward card

 

[REDrum]

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 SUV.
A safe bet if you want studded.
Hakka has been best or second best in tests for the last 30 years.

Agreed!

Nokian has the best and most extensive selection of snow and all weather tires on teh market.

I have run Nokian Hakka 1s & Hakka 2s on performance rally cars for years. And I've run Nokian RSIs, WRs, WRG2 on my dailly drivers. The WRG2 SUV "all weather" are so good on ice and snow I ran'm all year on my 4rnr, no need swap for dedicated snow tires.

With snipping advancement in the past 5 years, IMO, studs are not really worth the extra trouble. In testing for the NH winter rally last year, where studs were allowed, I chose the Hakka 2s studless instead of studded FS wintergaurds. I found little differnce in grip in the icy corners beteween the two. Infact the only time I stuffed the car was in practice was when I was running studs...false sense of security...

And, the Quebec ice racing guys run tractionized tires not studs for a reason.

Also, if you run studs on a lot of tarmac you will toss the studs out over time and loose braking threshold. That will not happen with highly snipped studless snows.

Cheers

 

[bigreen505]

Need to get a set of snow tires for my 03 LX. Since there are very limited snow tire choices for the factory 18" rims, I am going to pick up a set of 16" wheels and put the winter tires on them.

Has anyone had good luck with a particular snow tire? I want to get studded as my wife commutes in this thing and I'd like her to be as safe as possible in the event she hits ice, etc

What size is best for 16" wheels?

This was covered pretty extensively in the 80 forum a couple years ago. There's a lot of posturing and BS in the thread, but a lot of good info too. You can get a pretty good idea of what tires work in different conditions. I don't think a studded snow tire is any better on ice than a true ice tire, but it will be a lot better in deep snow and other winter conditions. Non-studded ice tires are pretty condition specific IMO and generally don't do as well in deep snow.

I run the Cooper Discoverer M&S studded and overall I am pretty happy with them. They are decent in everything, but not really stellar in anything. I have heard and read excellent reviews of the Nokian Hakkapeliittas, but I have no personal experience with the current tires. Nokians use a similar compound as an ice tire, in a generic winter tread pattern, and then stud them for the best of all worlds. I ran several generations of them on cars and my experience with them is somewhat mixed. They are in general an amazing ice and packed snow tire, and decent in wet snow. Where I found them really lacking was loose dry snow. The tread pattern is designed to pack in snow and use the mechanical cohesion of snow for traction. However, when the qualities of the snow don't support cohesion, the Nokians are worthless.

There is nothing about the studded Coopers that particularly stands out, but they have no real shortcomings either and are pretty cost competitive. Wear is decent for a snow tire, but nothing to write home about.