Tire ?

[Jack MeHoff]

I have 245/60/R18's on the car. I live in the country and we had two ice storms in 3 days, with a snow storm in the middle. A few days later, my car got stuck in the yard in about 3 inches of snow/ice. For five days straight. AWD didn't do a damn thing. Anyway, I know i'll be going against the grain, but can anyone tell me the name of a good, aggressive tire in the above size? I don't care what it looks like or how loud it is when I drive. I cannot deal with these tires where I live. Thank you in advance.....

 

[Wiluride]

I've been very clear about my experience.


@2020Telly do you have experience with AWD? or a quality all weather tire on a AWD KIA in the snow? You seem almost anti-awd, almost like you feel it's not just unhelpful but actually dangerous.

 

[2020Telly]

I've been very clear about my experience.


@2020Telly do you have experience with AWD? or a quality all weather tire on a AWD KIA in the snow? You seem almost anti-awd, almost like you feel it's not just unhelpful but actually dangerous.

Look Bro, I'm, younger than you and my experience in Michigan amounts to layovers in the Detroit airport as compared to your 30 years in Michigan. But in my nearly 30 years of driving, I've lived and traveled throughout the country and driven AWD, RWD, and FWD, manual, automatic, and in numerous countries military and civilian vehicles with various terrains. I've built a street legal car and I'm currently messing with tire tread and sizing for a golf cart to all terrain conversion I'm working on. I put my deposit on my Telluride in Feb 2019 and took delivery in Mar 2019 and I've driven it to Florida and Vermont in all kinds of weather and I'm on my second set of tires. In your 1,500 miles of experience how many times have you had to press the brake while driving in snow or ice? I put that many miles on one of my winter road trips. If I moved to somewhere with large amounts of snow I would gladly keep my FWD and swap with a second set of winter tires as I'm certain I will have better braking than you and given when I purchased I know my total cost to own will be much lower as I probably spent about $7K less than a comparable AWD today and I would be fine buying winter tires several times over. I even drove an AWD Sorento as a loaner while I waited for my Telluride. But did you know that the AWD system on the Telluride is not the same as the AWD system on the Sorento? The Sorento uses Dynamax, while the US spec Telluride has something new called Active On-Demand AWD and the modes are different from the US spec to the Canadian and Middle East spec Telluride.

I'm not anti AWD. I just think that the marketing puts this as a safety feature and it totally isn't. It's a performance feature. I can tell you every time I drive in snow in NC where I live there are AWD vehicles all over the side of the road like a graveyard because a bunch of people bought their AWD car and put regular all seasons on them and assumed they could stop on an untreated ice and snow better because they had an AWD so they accelerated themselves into a ditch. I drive right by at a slower pace in my FWD. When I lived in New England I drove a FWD truck with studded tires and I witnessed the same thing. I also know that my Telluride FWD has ALL the same safety features as a comparable AWD version. So yes in the sense that most buyers are not aware of the dangers of acceleration on an AWD it is more dangerous because of the marketing that makes you think you are are automatically safer because you have an AWD and not putting enough emphasis on the tires. Look at where FWDs are predominately sold vs their availability is snowy areas.

But here's what proves your point and I'll concede. The video below shows Nokian standard all seasons braking at 203ft in snow. Then the all weathers at 148ft which is not bad. And Nokian non-studded winter tires stopping in snow at 118ft. So you are right! All weathers do perform better than regular all seasons. But the caveat is that they are softer than standard all seasons (not quite as soft as winters), so if you drive on the all weathers in spring and summer they will wear out faster and hence perform worse in the winter time on snow and ice as they age and you will have to replace them more often.

The all season Nokian SUV tires come with 50,000 mileage warranty and a UTQG rating of 500, while the all weather SUV Nokians come with a 60,000 mile warranty and a rating of 600 (ref). So if you can get the Nokian all weathers in your part of the country its stands to reason that they will be slightly better than regular all seasons. But depending on how much you spend, swapping with the winters may cost you less over time and give you the best braking performance.

 

[qwikhit]

Oh…..

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[Wiluride]

I've got Nokian eNTYRE 2.0 tires on one of my Cruze(s). I originally bought them because the Michelin Pilots that came on it were unbearably noisy ( they ring like a bell every expansion joint you drive over ) They're great in heavy rain, more grip and handling performance than I personally will ever exceed in the dry conditions, and I ran them all winter this past season on that car without any complaints.

Yes , I'm aware that the 2019 Sorento uses a different AWD system than are on the Telluride. However from what I've experienced so far the appear to be quite similar systems and I've no reason to believe the new Kia designed system is not at least as capable.

It's not typically too hard to find Nokian tires. Their website lists a lot of tire retailers and my experience has been that a few phone calls can pretty easily locate them.

All I know for sure is I've been extremely happy with my experience with Nokian tires for both summer and winter driving. I have no doubt a dedicated snow tire like the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 or Bridgestone Blizzak can perform better on snow and ice... but I also believe they aren't really needed for many people/situations.

Most really bad snow days around me, result in me getting mad at other people driving so slow. Often seeing traffic traveling half the speed I'm comfortable at. Snow tires only exacerbate this problem for me, and tend to make me drive even crazier than I should.

 

[2020Telly]

Most really bad snow days around me, result in me getting mad at other people driving so slow. Often seeing traffic traveling half the speed I'm comfortable at. Snow tires only exacerbate this problem for me, and tend to make me drive even crazier than I should.

You would go crazy driving in NJ or PA in winter. But at least you slow down with the traffic. I shake my head at people passing and insisting that they are entitled to go the speed limit in bad conditions. Last time I drove through the NJ turnpike it was during a snowstorm in January and I counted multiple AWD vehicles that decided to make their own passing lane and went past me while I was keeping a safe distance behind an 18 wheeler clearing the road with their tracks for me. Several exits later 3 of those AWDs were either wrapped in the barrier or stuck in the side waiting for help.

 

[Wiluride]

My daily commute is 35 miles one way. The first 10 are two lane blacktop and is more or less the only road heading east to the highway. The next is 10 miles of interstate highway two lanes each direction. Then 10 miles of 3-lane interstate and lastly a few miles of city driving.

Generally on a snowy morning people drive about 35~40mph on the two-lane road, but occasionally you get someone going 20~25 with a half mile of people stuck behind them with maybe 4 spots to pass. In all but the worst of vehicles 99% of Michigan drivers can stay on the road at 40 mph in 3 inches of snow on this road.

The highway is always a mixed bag... some drive 55, others 45... and an occasional person who wants to drive 70. Most sensible people just go with the flow and get to work safely.

My wife is one of the people who drives slow. She had a police officer pull her over because she was driving so slow. I can't remember the last time she was stuck or in an accident.

I drive faster than I should sometimes, but haven't been stuck or in an accident in since 1988 or so. Mostly in the winter I drive with the flow of traffic, unless there's a lot of open space on the roads.

Many modern vehicles have horrible tires on them for winter driving. My Sorento came with Hancook tires and were absolutely the worst tires I've driven in probably 20 years. I quickly replaced them after one 800 mile trip.

Based on what I've read in this forum I don't have very high expectations of the Pirelli tires, it's a shame because generally I hate replacing a tire that's more or less brand new. But I do love the feeling when driving in a vehicle with good tires.

 

[2020Telly]

My daily commute is 35 miles one way. The first 10 are two lane blacktop and is more or less the only road heading east to the highway. The next is 10 miles of interstate highway two lanes each direction. Then 10 miles of 3-lane interstate and lastly a few miles of city driving.

Generally on a snowy morning people drive about 35~40mph on the two-lane road, but occasionally you get someone going 20~25 with a half mile of people stuck behind them with maybe 4 spots to pass. In all but the worst of vehicles 99% of Michigan drivers can stay on the road at 40 mph in 3 inches of snow on this road.

The highway is always a mixed bag... some drive 55, others 45... and an occasional person who wants to drive 70. Most sensible people just go with the flow and get to work safely.

My wife is one of the people who drives slow. She had a police officer pull her over because she was driving so slow. I can't remember the last time she was stuck or in an accident.

I drive faster than I should sometimes, but haven't been stuck or in an accident in since 1988 or so. Mostly in the winter I drive with the flow of traffic, unless there's a lot of open space on the roads.

Many modern vehicles have horrible tires on them for winter driving. My Sorento came with Hancook tires and were absolutely the worst tires I've driven in probably 20 years. I quickly replaced them after one 800 mile trip.

Based on what I've read in this forum I don't have very high expectations of the Pirelli tires, it's a shame because generally I hate replacing a tire that's more or less brand new. But I do love the feeling when driving in a vehicle with good tires.

I generally try to avoid driving in bad conditions altogether but in the case of surprise storms there is no time to pretreat, plowing is behind, and waiting means being trapped for a couple days, there is no other option. I'm sure that Michigan does a better job than most states in clearing the roads (at least a lane or two). The problem in some states that have no budget for this type of weather is that they have no salt/brine to pretreat and barely have snow plows to clear. On top of it, many of the rural roads where I live don't have sewage drains so the roads are designed with a bow at the center with a drainage ditch and culverts on the sides, so a snow plow wouldn't help very much. A long cold stretch means that the snow and ice just starts to melt before it refreezes and we get school canceled because of black ice after 1" of snow. The only option is to take it slow or just wait until it melts.

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[Wiluride]

In Southern Michigan I'd say 90% of roads are clear by 3pm, unless it continues to snow all day.

Further north they use more sand than salt and only really fully clear the main roads. But people adapt and deal with it.

I've had work trips in the dead of winter, with fwd vans with lousy tires. Traveled across the Mackinaw Bridge with the Bridge authority telling me the could shut it down any minute ( which would keep me stuck in St Ignace for at least the night...

I was near Traverse City in mid December, almost got stuck on this steep side street...

Basically for my job, I sometimes have to travel in almost anywhere I'm Michigan, sometimes into Wisconsin and Minnesota... you either learn to drive with conditions or find another job.

Actually work is very understanding and would rather we stay out in a hotel than drive in horrible weather, but most of us would rather get home than be stuck in some small northern Michigan town for another night.

 

[jaynyc]

Question: For the opposite scenario…. What’s the recommended tire for South Florida usage on a 2020 AWD SX-P?

 

[Bohen]

I have 245/60/R18's on the car. I live in the country and we had two ice storms in 3 days, with a snow storm in the middle. A few days later, my car got stuck in the yard in about 3 inches of snow/ice. For five days straight. AWD didn't do a damn thing. Anyway, I know i'll be going against the grain, but can anyone tell me the name of a good, aggressive tire in the above size? I don't care what it looks like or how loud it is when I drive. I cannot deal with these tires where I live. Thank you in advance.....

The factory tires are good for great weather.
That being said I have two sets of wheels and tires.
1. 245/50/20 Toyo AT3 on TSW Sebring hyper silver with silver mirror cut wheels .
2 .245/50/20 HAKKAPELIITTA r3 suv on
factory SX Prestige wheels .

The Toyo's are quite for an AT Tire and drive very nice with great handling in rain . Plus they are 3 peak rated .
I went with the Toyo's tires because when we go camping or off roads within its limits I didn't want to lose traction like the factory all seasons do .
The HAKKAPLELIITTA R3 SUV are incredible to and the reason for these self explanatory .

Definitely looking forward to some snow to try the HAKKAPLELIITTA'S out . I would try the Toyo's out but with my foot being messed up I won't be able to flip the tires around so that review will have to wait for next year.
Here are some photos of them mounted and the Toyo's on the factory wheels before I put them on the aftermarket TSW Sebring.

 

[2020Telly]

Question: For the opposite scenario…. What’s the recommended tire for South Florida usage on a 2020 AWD SX-P?

These two are pretty readily available anywhere in the country:

• michelin latitude tour 255/50r20
• michelin defender ltx 255/50r20
• bridgestone dueler h/l alenza plus 255/50r20

I have the Bridgestones and they are sold at Firestone, Sam’s Club, Discount Tire to name a few all over the south. The Michelin’s are a bit pricier but very well rated and liked.

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[jaynyc]

@2020Telly Thank you for those 3 recommendations. They all seem to be rated "all season" not Summer. Do you have any experience (or does such a thing exist) as an SUV Summer Tire?

 

[2020Telly]

@2020Telly Thank you for those 3 recommendations. They all seem to be rated "all season" not Summer. Do you have any experience (or does such a thing exist) as an SUV Summer Tire?

I don’t have any experience with summer specific tires and my days of performance tires are done. You can buy summer tires at your local shop it’s what people did before all seasons became a thing.

 

[rjtelluride]

I highly recommend WRG4, I have been using them on all my vehicles since past 6 years in Wisconsin winters. It gives me so much confidence driving during winters, there have been many instances where I would see cars just driving slow, slipping and these Nokians just let’s me drive as if it was summer. The folks at Nokian were able to develop a material that does not harden as a regular tire does during winter without sacrificing any tread life as a normal winter tire.
Here are some highlights after using them over the years.
1) Costs the same as any other good brands.
2) Tread life is really good. The last one I had 65k miles even towards the end winter performance was great.
3) Noticed low rolling resistance right after I used them for the first time.

I regularly rotate these tires every 5k miles as recommended by the tire store. Below is one review I found on YouTube about this. If you live in a area with mild to moderately high winters, these should be tires of choice.