Winter tire report

I just bought a set of wheels and General ALTIMAX ARCTIC 12. I had them on my wife’s last car and they were great. She got a new SUV this summer and it came with continental crosscontact lx sport tires on it. These tires are the biggest pile of crap I have seen in my life. Drove her vehicle to the airport last weekend and hit several patches of ice. Any time I hit ice it started fishtailing. This is an AWD. I had the alignment checked just in case something was knocked out of whack with 8k miles, because it was so bad. That was not the case. If anyone is shopping for a new car look to make sure it does not have continental crosscontact lx sport tires on it. They are borderline dangerous. This is the second time I had bought a new car with continental tires on it, and the first were junk too. I just heard yesterday about a class action lawsuit about the continentals on VW CC’s like we had, so it must have been a problem for a lot of people and not just me.

Missed this thread.

I put a set of Michelin X-Ice tires on my FWD commuter car last year. Prior to that, I would just drive my pickup to work when it snowed. The Michelin X-Ice tires did a better job at stopping and had way better moving traction than even my favorite truck tires (dynapro ATM) in 4wd. I ended up driving my car in all but 1 snow storm and it was incredible. If my car had better ground clearance, I wouldn’t ever need my truck for anything but towing.

Snow tires are incredible, it’s a serious night and day difference. I had a set of Firestone Winterforce tires on my old Monte Carlo and they were also incredible. If you have the scratch, buy a set of snow tires…

greig john wrote:

Four wheel drive helps you accelerate.
Snow tires help you stop and turn.

I learned this the hard way at 16, no major injuries but wrecked my Bronco II plus the other driver’s sedan all the same.

milemark_714 wrote:

It’s best if you have them mounted on dedicated wheels with TPMS if required.They take up the same space as just tires alone,and will save from the headaches of having them taken off every spring/fall.I bought an ATEQ Quick set for changing TPMS values when swapping

X2 on this statement, just get a extra set of steelies or unfancy aluminums dedicated for your snow tires. I’m a big believer as well but don’t have the $$ or garage space for them right now so good all weather shoes have to do.

Wife’s snow tires are on and ready for more of this crap.

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mojogunter wrote:

I just bought a set of wheels and General ALTIMAX ARCTIC 12. I had them on my wife’s last car and they were great. She got a new SUV this summer and it came with continental crosscontact lx sport tires on it. These tires are the biggest pile of crap I have seen in my life. Drove her vehicle to the airport last weekend and hit several patches of ice. Any time I hit ice it started fishtailing. This is an AWD. I had the alignment checked just in case something was knocked out of whack with 8k miles, because it was so bad. That was not the case. If anyone is shopping for a new car look to make sure it does not have continental crosscontact lx sport tires on it. They are borderline dangerous. This is the second time I had bought a new car with continental tires on it, and the first were junk too. I just heard yesterday about a class action lawsuit about the continentals on VW CC’s like we had, so it must have been a problem for a lot of people and not just me.

My ma just bought a Jeep Renegade(I know,Fix It Again Tony),and it has those tires on it.I will let her know about them.They probably fall into the same category as Goodyear Wrangler SR-A(Slippery Roads-Always)or Dunlop AT20.

The one thing about winter tires is that you can stop in a shorter distance,but what about the guy in back of you that thinks the same?I stopped fairly quickly driving the GF’s Sunfire with Winterforce tires,and got rear-ended.Lucky it was at a low speed and just cracked the bumper cover.

I had a great time riding yesterday. The new winter tires were a blast.

Now you guys make me want a set.

We drove from Duluth to the Maple Grove yesterday morning is some nasty road conditions. My Dynapro AT2s did well, but winter tires sound awesome.

How long do they typically last? I know they are a much softer compound which makes them grip ice much better, but if they only last a couple seasons that wouldnt interest me at all.

I had a set on the wife’s last car and they had 3 winters on them and they still were in good shape. I would guess they had about 30k on them. I would put them on in late November and take them off in March at some point depending on the year.

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I got a feeling I may only see two winters out of mine but I really dont know. Figuring this one out myself. Ill share my findings.

Bunch of years back I bought Continental tires and they had a $50 or $100 rebate. Sent in the proper documentation and never saw a penny. Called and of course they said the rebates were farmed out and there was nothing they could do….

CaptainMusky wrote:

How long do they typically last? I know they are a much softer compound which makes them grip ice much better, but if they only last a couple seasons that wouldnt interest me at all.

Most I know have gotten at least 3 seasons, 4 is common but it depends on mileage/conditions.

zooks wrote:

Most I know have gotten at least 3 seasons, 4 is common but it depends on mileage/conditions.

That’s not too bad especially if you spend a ton of time on the road. My commute is only 15 minutes in all the years I have been driving to work I havent had a time I couldnt make it in. If I had to deal with heavy traffic or a longer commute I would definitely do it though.

I’ve thought about doing the two set of tire route, but Goodyear Duratrac’s have been treating me so darn well, I can’t justify it yet. They are 3PMS (three peak mountain snowflake) rated. I previously had BFG KO’s on a danger ranger and those made a huge difference as well.

I just replaced a set of Duratrac’s on my Silverado last week. I had 54,000 miles from my truck and there were 9,000 miles on a two-door Wrangler ( bought them used for a song). I’m in SE MI and saw plenty of varying conditions. Can’t speak more highly of them. Absolutely beast-mode in slick conditions on my truck.

If somebody doesn’t like the idea of two sets of tires, Duratrac’s and BFG KO2’s are 3PMS rated tires.

fishinguns wrote:

Goodyear Duratrac’s have been treating me so darn well, I can’t justify it yet

Good to know, got my set last year and very happy as well

I put about 25,000 miles on my X-Ice tires and sold them with over half usable tread. My round trip commute is 62 miles, almost 100% highway.