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Best tires for Minnesota Weather

14K views 32 replies 12 participants last post by  reinnie 
#1 ·
Hello,

I have the Z rated Pirellis on my 2007 V8 AWD S80 right now for the summer, but want to switch to a good tire for Minnesota weather when it gets cold, snowy, and icy. What do you guys recommend? Should I invest in strictly snow tires or go with an All Season? If snow tires are the way to go, when should I put them on? I live in the Twin Cities Metro area. I really don't like the Pirellis as they are very loud on our roads here. I wouldn't mind getting rid of the Pirellis all together if there is a really good year round tire out there that works great for my car.

Thanks!
 
#27 ·
Re: (Freeworld)

Quote, originally posted by Freeworld »

The real world differences are quite small.

Let's see. I drove my S60 T5 for it's first winter on all-seasons. The second winter I had it on snow tires (the same Blizzaks I now run on the R). The differences are in no way small, in fact they are staggering. I would say stopping distances are on overage HALVED with snow tires, any time there is a non-trivial amount of frozen precipitation on the road surface. And around here, we get snow often enough that you can't just "stay home until the roads are cleared" unless you are unemployed.
 
#28 ·
Re: (Warpedcow)

Quote, originally posted by Warpedcow »


Let's see. I drove my S60 T5 for it's first winter on all-seasons. The second winter I had it on snow tires (the same Blizzaks I now run on the R). The differences are in no way small, in fact they are staggering. I would say stopping distances are on overage HALVED with snow tires, any time there is a non-trivial amount of frozen precipitation on the road surface. And around here, we get snow often enough that you can't just "stay home until the roads are cleared" unless you are unemployed.

You still can't act like a stupid SUV driver just because you have snows on. It's still slippery and still requires lots of caution.
 
#29 ·
Re: (Freeworld)

Quote, originally posted by Freeworld »


You still can't act like a stupid SUV driver just because you have snows on. It's still slippery and still requires lots of caution.

I never said you could act that way.


But since you obviously want to talk about "stupid SUV drivers", let's say one of them pulls out in front of you on the highway when it's snowing. You have 300 feet to stop. Your all season tires need 400 feet to stop. My snow tires need 200 feet. Who is going to go home happy?

And don't bother answering with "I'd drive slower so I only need 200 feet to stop". Unless you're going to drive everywhere at 2MPH, there's always the possibility that someone could pull out in front of you in such a way that you don't have enough time to stop, no matter what tires you have. But snow tires will either let you stop in time, or will make a severe crash much less worse, when compared to all season tires.
 
#30 ·
Re: (Warpedcow)

Quote, originally posted by Warpedcow »


I never said you could act that way.


But since you obviously want to talk about "stupid SUV drivers", let's say one of them pulls out in front of you on the highway when it's snowing. You have 300 feet to stop. Your all season tires need 400 feet to stop. My snow tires need 200 feet. Who is going to go home happy?

And don't bother answering with "I'd drive slower so I only need 200 feet to stop". Unless you're going to drive everywhere at 2MPH, there's always the possibility that someone could pull out in front of you in such a way that you don't have enough time to stop, no matter what tires you have. But snow tires will either let you stop in time, or will make a severe crash much less worse, when compared to all season tires.

No worry at all. The SUV driver will wind up in the ditch and neither of us will hit him
 
#31 ·
Re: (Freeworld)

Quote, originally posted by Freeworld »


No worry at all. The SUV driver will wind up in the ditch and neither of us will hit him

So true. Just having an elementary grasp of the laws of physics makes you a much safer driver in the snow. I wish more people had such knowledge.
 
#32 ·
Re: (Warpedcow)

Nokian makes a "all-weather" not all-season that is great. Nokian WR or the newer WRG2. Both fantastic in the snow. Much better then any other all season I've used and just behind a full dedicated snow tire.
 
#33 ·
Re: (Blurry)

Quote, originally posted by Blurry »
Nokian makes a "all-weather" not all-season that is great. Nokian WR or the newer WRG2. Both fantastic in the snow. Much better then any other all season I've used and just behind a full dedicated snow tire.

Do you leave your Nokian ON all year round?
 
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