Hey guys, This may get a little long. ive been reading the posts, doing searches, reading reviews on 1010, tirerack and such to see what tire best suits me.
About my car and driving style.
1. I live in Mass so something that can handle snow is a definate.
2. I have the Bridge el42 on now. They had never been changed so i dont know the "feel" of another tire. With its wear right now it spun in the snow. So anything is prob better than these.
3. Looking for a tire with a good looking tread pattern. (not the most important but ya know)
4. Will be on stock 17 inch 03 GLE rims.
5. Price looking between 100-150 a tire. If cheaper great.
6. The bridgestone EL-42 have 55000 miles on them and the tread is almost to the wear bar. Since they are on the way out they hydro and are very un-nerving in the rain.
7. Like the Bridgestones, looking for something with good treadwear that will last 2-3 years.
8. I dont auto-x, drag or anything. I drive sprited like most and like to take on ramps quicker than most. No hard hard corning so i dont need a slalom tire.
9. tires will be in the size of 225/50/17

The tires i have looked at are
-Toyo Proxes 4- ...I do like the tread look on these.
-Yoko avid W4S, H4S, V4S.. they all look the same whats the difference..somewhat like the read pattern
-Avon Tech M550 a/s
-General Exclaim UHP--- Love, love love the tread pattern. I read ppl liked these in snow. Your thoughts?
-Fuzion ZRi doesnt look like it handles snow but anyone try it?
Hankook Ventus V4 ES H105
Hankook Ventus ST RH06
Nexen or is it Lexani N3000- Very nice tread and read these do ok in the snow.

Any input or additional tire recomendations very welcome. Thanks guys. My head is spinning from all the choices and i need guidance.

 

Bump, no one has any answers to this question. There are a ton of Org members and they have no expeience with at least one of these tires?
Give me something.....

 

Sorry Jeff. I'm in CT. We get snow too. I put snows on a separate set of rims so I don't have to worry about A/S tire performance in the snow and ice.

 

I wouldn't rely on these for A/S, but my Fuzion ZRi's did ok on 1-2 inches of snow/slush one mid April storm we had a couple years ago, tough the tires felt hard as a rock. The thread was fairly new then.

 

I just got some Bridgestone Potenza 960 a/s and will be putting them on Saturday. As far as tread looks, there is nothing special about the 960 a/s. Sometimes aggressive looking treads make for a noisy tire. Like the Nitto 450 I am replacing which are horrible. I've learned that cheap tires are not the way to go. I didn't go with the Proxes 4 cause I heard the sidewalls are mushy and I don't want soft sidewall. The 450's sidewalls are like jello and I wouldn't recommend anyone buy those....

 

If you don't mind going to a 225/45/17, there are some great choices such as the Continental ContiExtreme for $94 and Bridgestone G009 for $137 at TireRack.

rt

 

Michelin pilot sport a/s. Probably one of the best all season tires, only downfall being the price, and a few people have complained about tread life. Even though my pilot sport a/s have are just about on the wear bar, they still have way better traction in especially in wet, and even still more in dry then my traction t/a's with 75% tread life.

On that note, i read somewhere that once you drive an a/s tire in the snow it kinda loses its all season properties, something about the cold weather and the compound? I have no clue if its true or not, im wondering if someone could chime in on this, because when i drove my traction t/a's in the snow theyve become absolutely awful in the rain, i cant even floor it in 2nd because they will break loose..first gear is useless, i can barely take off without spin.

 

Well I can't comment on snow traction on 960 a/s cause I am in Florida right now, but the grip and cornering of these tires are awesome. The ride is firm without being harsh and I don't hear them at all. No noise. When I get back to Boston in a few months I'll see how they perform in the white stuff.

 

thnaks guys for all the advice. Yea i heard to contiextreme and the pilot sports were good but really pricey. Hhahahah now im looking into steelies with snow tires so i can get the summer tires. If that plan fails then ill get some type of all season. i guess just searching reading and hearing from you guys will give the ideas and right type of tire i should get. So anyone have the steelies let me know

 

Just my experience but I ended up going with an A/S (Kumho ASX) and shows for the winter. I know summers will give me better performance but with the weather in Nova Scotia I'd have to take the summers off in October and not put them back until May to be safe. Summers are deadly (IMO) if you get any surprise snow or low temperatures. This way I can probably get an extra 2 months out of the A/S before I have to sacrifice pretty much all my handling for snow straction (going from 215/50 17 UHP A/S to a 205/65/15 snow will do that).

I'm a big believer in snows. Also I prefer a longer wearing tire which necessitates some traction sacrifices anyways.

The look of the tread pattern has little importance to me personally. You can only really see it front or back on and then only when the car is standing still. unless its a show car its almost invisible.