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I have a Hyundai Tucson 2007 GLS, manual drive. I live in the Front Range area of Colorado - approx 5000ft up. I don't do much off-roading but I do drive into the mountains a couple of times a month. Currently my tires are 215-65R16. I'd like to get replacements that are great in the ice and snow that we get periodically during the Winter as well as good for our hot and dry Summers. Is that feasible? My choices at the moment are:
If you want great in ice and snow, as well as great in hot and dry you need two sets of tires. Most dedicated winter tires will do great in ice and snow, but wear very fast in hot and dry conditions. Any tire that does great in Hot and dry will suck in ice and snow. A very decent all-season may do well for you, but they will not be great at either extreme; good, but not great. The Blizzak ws-60 are the winter tires I run on my wifes vehicle in the winter and they really are great in snow and ice, but wear very, very fast on hot dry pavement.
If you want great in ice and snow, as well as great in hot and dry you need two sets of tires. Most dedicated winter tires will do great in ice and snow, but wear very fast in hot and dry conditions. Any tire that does great in Hot and dry will suck in ice and snow. A very decent all-season may do well for you, but they will not be great at either extreme; good, but not great. The Blizzak ws-60 are the winter tires I run on my wifes vehicle in the winter and they really are great in snow and ice, but wear very, very fast on hot dry pavement.
If you want great in ice and snow, as well as great in hot and dry you need two sets of tires. Most dedicated winter tires will do great in ice and snow, but wear very fast in hot and dry conditions. Any tire that does great in Hot and dry will suck in ice and snow. A very decent all-season may do well for you, but they will not be great at either extreme; good, but not great. The Blizzak ws-60 are the winter tires I run on my wifes vehicle in the winter and they really are great in snow and ice, but wear very, very fast on hot dry pavement.
Thanks - that's good to know. I agree with the all-season recommendation. We don't get a lot of snow here and it usually melts within a day or two - mostly we have black ice and compacted snow from the traffic. I might have to wait to invest in Winter tires for next year.
You know, if you have a place to store a 2nd set of wheels and tires, you really ought to spring for a dedicated set of snow tires.
Failing that, the Pirelli all-season tire is currently rated very high at Tire Rack's survey site.
All-season tires work OK in snow when they are new or near new, but as the tread depth wears down, the snow performance drops off pretty bad.
It's been said before, but would you wear the same shoes year round there on the Front Range? You could get by with just a set of brogans, but you would be getting by, not enjoying the hike like you would with good summer and then good winter shoes/boots.
My personal opinion on real snow tires is long and examined. I did a boatload of research before buying. The short version is I don't find that much value in real snow tires for a variety of reasons. I have two sets of wheels/tires for my car but the winter set is an all-season, about the best all-season for snow and ice out there (Continental Contiextremecontact, they are M+S rated by the way). My wife's car has one set of all-seasons, equal or better in winter - Nokian WRG2. Another all-season said to be good in snow is Goodyear Tripletread.
Don't buy snows for year round, btw. If you decide to get a second set of snows for winter, cross those Blizzaks off the list. It's a popular but actually mediocre snow tire. They wear fast and they aren't tops for traction either. Look at Michelin Alpin or Nokian Hakkepalita first.
Don't buy snows for year round, btw. If you decide to get a second set of snows for winter, cross those Blizzaks off the list. It's a popular but actually mediocre snow tire. They wear fast and they aren't tops for traction either. Look at Michelin Alpin or Nokian Hakkepalita first.
Actually I have run both the Alpin as well as the Hakkepalita, and the new Blizzak ws-60's are better than both of them. The Nokians are a very close second, but they still come in second place to the new Blizzaks. This is coming from someone who HATED the Blizzaks when they came out and ran the Nokian and studded Winterforce tires in Maine for years. Tried the Blizzak set last year on advice of my tire guy here (West Michigan almost directly across the Lake from you in fact) with the promise that I could exchange them for any other tire if I didn't like them.
The thing you have to keep in mind about the Blizzak, is that the snow compound only goes to about half original tread depth. Once you wear them down to 5/32, or 4/32, I forget which, what you have is an ordinary all-season tire with tread that's legal to use but they won't grab the snow anything like they did when new.
Depends on if you can count on driving on snow pretty much all winter, like in Idaho Falls, in that case the Blizzak works well.
Around here we see some snow in winter, some winters anyway, but most of the time the winter road is either dry or just wet with no snow or ice on it. For me, the old Artic Alpin Michelin worked out best. Consumer Reports has just done a tire comparo and it's in the current or next issue IIRC.
You know, if you have a place to store a 2nd set of wheels and tires, you really ought to spring for a dedicated set of snow tires.
Failing that, the Pirelli all-season tire is currently rated very high at Tire Rack's survey site.
All-season tires work OK in snow when they are new or near new, but as the tread depth wears down, the snow performance drops off pretty bad.
It's been said before, but would you wear the same shoes year round there on the Front Range? You could get by with just a set of brogans, but you would be getting by, not enjoying the hike like you would with good summer and then good winter shoes/boots.
It's not a matter of storage, but a matter of affordability. I can afford (barely) to get four replacement tires but I cannot afford to get two sets of tires at once. Sadly, for some of us, it's a simple matter of economics.
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