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Steve French posted:FWIW that’s not been my experience with the KO2s; these are 4 years old with about 30k miles, though probably closer to 50% highway miles. That's good, I might have just gotten a bad batch. It happens.
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Dec 20, 2023 20:37
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=421HkK4Nqss Another good video on summer, all season, all weather, and winter tires. I can vouch for the X-Ice snow myself. I have them on my Prius and they got it through poo poo it shouldn't have been able to get through. Also basically no noticeable difference in fuel economy between them and the Defender's I have for it. Treadwear is super impressive for a winter too, especially considering I ran them all year for like a year and a half.
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Dec 25, 2023 16:56
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I got a set of X-ice for my new car and now I’m worried the winter is going to be so mild I won’t even get a chance to try them on snow! That all weather tread pattern is pretty cool too
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Dec 25, 2023 16:59
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Costco had a sale on Bridgestone RE71RS, finally time to try a quicker tire after running Toyo RRs and Maxxis RC1s exclusively for the past five years of track days.
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Dec 25, 2023 20:45
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priznat posted:I got a set of X-ice for my new car and now I’m worried the winter is going to be so mild I won’t even get a chance to try them on snow! I've been debating what setups I'll run when I need to replace tires. Missouri winters have gotten mild enough that I can probably just rock the cross climates on the 330i and be fine. Speaking of needing new tires, my step sister's Fit had a low tire. We were looking at them and   That one was the lowest and by far the worst. That one might have been low enough to do that.   Neither of those were anywhere near low enough to cause that kind of damage. AAA towed the car home.
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Dec 25, 2023 22:53
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BlackMK4 posted:Costco had a sale on Bridgestone RE71RS, finally time to try a quicker tire after running Toyo RRs and Maxxis RC1s exclusively for the past five years of track days. My 911’s extra wheel set have RE-71RS’s mounted on them and I can’t wait til spring to run them.
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Dec 26, 2023 02:00
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Imperador do Brasil posted:My 911’s extra wheel set have RE-71RS’s mounted on them and I can’t wait til spring to run them. Yesss, I've heard nothing but good things. I'll see how they do for me in a few weeks.
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Dec 26, 2023 05:53
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Any recommendations for 12R 22.5 tires? These are for a Bluebird Wanderlodge that needs drive, steer, and tag axle tires. If anyone has a recommended shop in or near Wisconsin that would be appreciated as well.
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Dec 28, 2023 20:51
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I'm about to replace the OEM Toyo tires on my current generation Mazda3 (awd). I've been consistent on rotating them but my alignment looks off since I'm getting very uneven outside wear on two of the tires -- I've gotten 30k miles out of them so I'm not too bothered by the age of the medium-at-best Toyos that came with it. I'm thinking that I will go for buy-once, cry-once and put a set of Pilot Sport 4 A/S on there. It seems their dry and wet traction are top notch, with decent enough wear rating. I live in the South so we may get 1 snowfall a year if we're lucky, and very few days between 30F and 40F -- so we're not really a snow tire area, although the light snow performance of the PS4A/S look like a good choice to cover my realistic driving needs. I know that DWS6 are also recommended, but does there look to be a reason to really avoid the PS4A/S? Additionally, regardless of which tires I go with, I need an alignment. My (not at all a mechanic) assumption is that I should get the alignment AFTER I put on the new tires -- the tires are going on at a Discount Tire so it'll be a separate appointment at a real shop to do the alignment. Thoughts on this side of things?
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Dec 28, 2023 21:36
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Colinrobinson posted:I'm about to replace the OEM Toyo tires on my current generation Mazda3 (awd). I've been consistent on rotating them but my alignment looks off since I'm getting very uneven outside wear on two of the tires -- I've gotten 30k miles out of them so I'm not too bothered by the age of the medium-at-best Toyos that came with it. I get my poo poo aligned twice per year. Spring and fall. Probably excessive but whatever. Having gone through it a bunch of times, yeah, I'd get the new tires and then get that poo poo aligned that day if you can swing an appointment that way. I've gone in with tires that weren't worn all hosed up like, just worn out and minimal tread depth and they told me they were too worn to align properly. If you can't get it within a day, then try soonish, like the next week or something. Driving for a few days or a week like that isn't too bad. TL;DR Yeah, get it done after you get the new tires, but try to get it done soonish afterwards. wesleywillis fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Dec 28, 2023 |
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Dec 28, 2023 22:17
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wesleywillis posted:TL;DR Yeah, get it done after you get the new tires, but try to get it done soonish afterwards. Got it, makes sense! Certainly won't want to put more than a few dozen miles on them in between.
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Dec 29, 2023 01:36
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Yeah, I always recommend alignments within a week or two of new tires if the old tires are all hosed due to alignment issues. I get mine done generally every other year, unless I notice anything during the every-6-month tire rotate.
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Dec 29, 2023 20:01
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This is an example of why I have trust issues with tire sizes. I run my car in a series that uses a tire template gauge for tire width legality due to advertised tire sizing being BS. This is a 257mm tire template moved all the way left on a 255/40/17 Maxxis RC1 on a 9.5" wheel, which is a DOT legal competition tire that runs fairly wide compared to most 255 tires. Easily a third or half and inch of clearance on the tire gauge, as to be expected.  Had a set of 255/40/17 Bridgestone RE71RS mounted to another set of the same 17x9.5" wheels today.   It is the exact limit and likely won't clear as the tire wears since it already touches the sidewall when pushed onto the tread, which is convenient since the rule is that you can bring a new tire mounted on the same size wheel if you fail the go-no-go test. Also, the 200tw RE71RS is a faster tire than the 100tw RC1. Guess I get to carry an extra new tire with me to events. BlackMK4 fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Dec 29, 2023 |
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Dec 29, 2023 21:15
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Hello tire thread. I’ve just bought a Kia EV9. It’s an AWD, all electric SUV. I live in the Bay Area of California and I love to ski, so I drive from the Bay to Tahoe multiple times each winter. This involves driving over snowy mountain passes. I want to make informed, safe, and economical decisions with respect to what tires to put on this thing during ski season. I am also aware that my new vehicle is heavy, over 5,000lbs, so I need to equip it in a way in which it will stop in snow in as short a distance as is reasonably possible. What makes this tricky is the fact that in the Bay Area, where I spend the vast majority of my time, we have a Mediterranean climate. It never snows and the temperature is usually between about 45f and 70f during the winter. A proper snow tire is completely wasted here. Yet Tahoe can have heavy winter conditions (steep roads, heavy snow, ice). Obviously, swapping snow tires on and off every single time I go skiing (~10 times per winter) is silly and expensive so how do I balance driving at both ends of the spectrum? (Other than avoiding the roads altogether when it's properly awful out there, which I will do.) I think I have the following options: Buy dedicated snow tires + wheels and have them mounted and removed at the beginning and end of each ski season - Should I get “M+S” tires or “three peak snowflake” tires? - Given that nearly all my driving is in a Mediterranean climate, will I ruin these tires by having them on all winter and mostly driving them on dry pavement in 45-70 degree weather? - Will these tires have poor or unsafe handling on dry, warm pavement? - Will they be loud on dry, warm pavement? Buy “M+S” or "three peak snowflake" tires which are also appropriate for year round use and always use them - Does such a thing even exist? - - I think the Michelin Cross Climate 2 may qualify? It's apparently an all season tire with the "three peak snowflake" designation? Or am I misreading it? - Do these perform well in snow when compared to a dedicated winter tire? I’m sure they’re not as good as dedicated winter only tires, but how much of a difference is there? Don’t buy winter tires - Instead always apply chains when chain controls are active - This is a last resort, I am upgrading from a FWD vehicle and specifically chose AWD to avoid having to always use chains For context, California says any "M+S" tire qualifies when it comes to not having to put on chains. So I want to use at least M+S tires, but are these good enough in conditions beyond light snow? I know little about tires and am not a car person, so would appreciate greatly if you can spell out acronyms or whatever. Chimp_On_Stilts fucked around with this message at 09:47 on Jan 1, 2024 |
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Jan 1, 2024 09:28
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Before committing to chains, check if your rim size allows them. You should be able to find that information online or in the user manual. Otherwise i would suggest assessing how many days per year you go below zero. Cross climates 2 are good but they will make you use more charge compared to summers, so i would either go with summers plus caution if you get less than five days per year or dedicated winters on smaller rims (remember to clone the TPMS or the dash will lit like a christmas tree at every startup) if you get more.
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Jan 1, 2024 10:20
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Depending on the size, just buy any of the touring all-weather tires and call it good. We sell a crap load of the Goodyear Weatherready, Bridgestone Weatherpeak, Firestone Weatherguard, Crossclimate2, and Pirelli Weatheractive even here in MN. I think the Pirelli are rated as one of the best in class at the moment, but any of them would do well. They will likely cost you some range being an EV, but they'll be better than running snows in the Bay area during ski season. Our weather has been weird in MN this year, and there is very much a handling penalty on snows when it gets above 50°F. I've caught myself once or twice pushing mine at that limit inadvertently on a couple extremely warm days. PitViper fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Jan 1, 2024 |
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Jan 1, 2024 17:03
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The CA reg is dumb, M+S are not necessarily any good in snow. But the 3 peak mountain snowflake indicates a decent winter/snow tire. You seem like the perfect candidate for a crossclimate 2
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Jan 1, 2024 17:17
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I have the cross climate on my fat rear end van in Michigan as my only wheel and tire set. It's pretty decent in snow and fine otherwise.
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Jan 1, 2024 17:32
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Also Chimp_On_Stilts come post pics of the EV9 in the EV thread! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3932649 Don’t think anyone in there has one of those yet (I’m on a waitlist)
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Jan 1, 2024 17:45
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Chimp_On_Stilts posted:Hello tire thread. I’ve just bought a Kia EV9. It’s an AWD, all electric SUV. EV stuff aside, I had a really similar decision to make here in Seattle/WA because our state DOT has the same antiquated rules around AWD/chains/tires in the mountains. I am running Michelin CrossClimate 2s. They're not a "real" winter tire so they can be driven year round but they are snowflake-rated and don't turn to mush above 50 degrees. They do pretty well in snow for getting up to ski areas and such, but then are still perfectly normal and decent tires in other conditions too. If it gets truly bad enough out there the roads get closed anyway. And it rarely snows or even freezes in the city, and if it does the city is too hilly and unprepared so everything just shuts down for a day or two and everyone stays home anyway. My only observed downside with the CC2s is that they have a touch more rolling resistance than the the high efficiency hockey pucks that came on the car so my fuel economy takes a small hit but it's a worthwhile trade for the performance/capability and safety. That might be a bigger concern on an EV? Refer to this video from earlier in the thread and how the CC2 is the real Goldilocks choice: fknlo posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=421HkK4Nqss  My SUV is not a sports car so I don't mind giving up that bit of summery performance for consistent all-weather, year-round performance. The current crop of modern all-weather tires are really good and counter the old adage that "all seasons tires are no season tires". Guinness fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Jan 1, 2024 |
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Jan 1, 2024 18:55
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Crossclimates are also going to melt quicker if loaded with a heavy electric suv, check the threads often.
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Jan 1, 2024 20:41
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Thanks for the recommendations, I think I'll get the Cross Climate 2s.SlowBloke posted:Crossclimates are also going to melt quicker if loaded with a heavy electric suv, check the threads often. Are there any studies on how much quicker they'll wear? Even a guesstimate? Are we talkin' 5% faster or 50% faster?
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Jan 1, 2024 21:57
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Chimp_On_Stilts posted:Thanks for the recommendations, I think I'll get the Cross Climate 2s. It depends on load, both weight and acceleration. Drive like a grandpa feathering the throttle and you might notice a slight reduction(say 5-10%), drive as if you lived your life one quarter of a mile at a time and you might go into the 30% or worse. Hankook seems to have a full suite of ev tires which might wear out slower but, when i checked last time, they had ridiculous low load indexes that might not fit the ev9 specs.
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Jan 1, 2024 22:25
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Yeah, EVs are harsher on tires than traditional vehicles, through a combination of weight and the immediate torque of an electric motor. I haven't encountered many mileage claims on them yet, but our shop only has maybe 20-25 customers with electric vehicles that we regularly service. Manufacturers are also starting to launch EV-specific lines as mentioned, but none that meet the 3PMSF certifications that I'm aware of. Pirelli, Goodyear and Michelin are the three I'm most familiar with, but I can't say I've personally sold/installed any yet.
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Jan 2, 2024 02:49
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I have pirelli electric specific winters and summers on my car, in fact with the Porsche specific code as well. Pirelli PZero Winter Elect have the 3 peak sign. Not that that's helpful to OP but the electric model winter tyres do exist.
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Jan 2, 2024 09:03
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You got me there! I haven't seen ANY EV-specific winter tires come through yet, which is surprising. I was thinking more that nobody has a severe snow rated all weather EV tire yet, as compared to dedicated summer/winter tires. We do have a fine gentleman in a Model 3 who runs Pilot Sport 4S tires literally until the first or second snowfall. We had to tell him this fall that due to liability reasons, we will not be dismounting his summers if he insists on bringing them in when it's 20°F. Mostly because dismounting PS4Ss is a bitch when they're that cold, and eating up my only service bay with a big 2 post lift for hours while they warm up isn't acceptable during the busiest time of the year. Plus the added risk of damaging the tire when they're that cold.
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Jan 2, 2024 18:24
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One of the weirdest thing i've found when checking alternative tire picks for my Avenger EV is that the OEM tire (Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2) has better specs (double A for fuel saving and wet handling) than the Michelin e-primacy or Pirelli POWERGY specific for EV.
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Jan 2, 2024 18:44
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Infinotize posted:The CA reg is dumb, M+S are not necessarily any good in snow. But the 3 peak mountain snowflake indicates a decent winter/snow tire. I verified the stock tires on the EV9 are 285/45R21 Hankook Ion EVO AS. It turns out these do have the M+S designation. Your comment makes me concerned that these might not be very good in Tahoe snows, however. Hankook's webpage for these tires says the following: quote:...performs equally well in dry, wet and mild winter driving conditions. quote:This helps to provide outstanding grip performance on dry, wet roads and light snow. So Hankook themselves are saying these aren't meant for driving in heavy winter conditions which do happen in Tahoe, though it sounds like they'll be fine if the road has been plowed but there's still some snow. If I was driving and the California department of transportation had initiated chain controls (mandatory use of chains), they would let me continue driving without chains in R1 and R2 conditions because these tires have the M+S designation and this vehicle is AWD. Is that reasonable / safe? I do not want to be some jackass who is overconfident and ends up in a wreck because I thought I was properly equipped when I was not. (See the caltrans webpage on chain controls here.) Separately, I've been calling around town to try to source some Cross Climate 2 tires. Turns out they're not made in the exact size of this vehicle's stock tires (28545R21), but they are made in 275/40R21. A local tire shop has told me that these tires will fit my existing wheels and that it is safe to do so, though it might result in worse fuel economy. Is it ok to use tires of not exactly the stock size, or is this person just trying to make a sale? They also quoted me $2,302 out the door. I see I can order the tires myself online for about $410 each, which means after parts they're asking roughly $650 for labor, tax, and everything else. Is this a reasonable price to have old tires removed and new tires mounted? Given the expense, and the fact that the Cross Climate 2s aren't available in my vehicle's exact size, I am starting to think I'll use the stock M+S tires and apply chains if conditions are nasty. Thanks for all the help folks. I'm out of my depth here, your input is really valuable. Chimp_On_Stilts fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Jan 2, 2024 |
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Jan 2, 2024 20:48
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Hankook ion icept, that's the winter equivalent to your current tire while ion flex climate is the crossclimate equivalent (but it has been announced just a couple months back so info about it is scarce). Also ion evo and ion evo AS are two entirely different tires, so watch out if you are making fact sheet comparisons.
SlowBloke fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Jan 2, 2024 |
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Jan 2, 2024 21:05
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SlowBloke posted:Hankook ion icept, that's the winter equivalent to your current tire. Also ion evo and ion evo AS are two entirely different tires, so watch out if you are making fact sheet comparisons. Nice catch, it is in fact the Ion EVO AS. I'll edit my post above to reflect that.
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Jan 2, 2024 21:16
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Chimp_On_Stilts posted:Nice catch, it is in fact the Ion EVO AS. I'll edit my post above to reflect that. Also do keep in mind that there are crossclimate 2 and crossclimate 2 suv. Suv variant is designed for bigger rims/heavier vehicles.
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Jan 2, 2024 21:20
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Chimp_On_Stilts posted:I verified the stock tires on the EV9 are 285/45R21 Hankook Ion EVO AS. It turns out these do have the M+S designation. Your comment makes me concerned that these might not be very good in Tahoe snows, however. Hankook's webpage for these tires says the following: You'll be fine in terms of chain requirements with any M+S tires and AWD, yes. Whether you'll be fine in terms of being safe/not getting stuck depends somewhat on your own experience driving in snow, and how much driving off the freeway you are doing up here. For I-80, my experience is that they plow the poo poo out of it and if the conditions get bad enough that AWD with all seasons is not okay with careful, defensive driving, they'll either close the pass pre-emptively or after a big rig jackknifes (they're really good at this and usually happens before conditions get real bad). Off the freeway you might still have problems if you're trying to get somewhere that hasn't had a local plow go through recently with steep hills, etc. Also, good god tires get expensive with larger wheel sizes. What a horrible trend. I just bought a set of snow tires _and_ 18" wheels (sparco dakar) for barely more than that.
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Jan 2, 2024 21:39
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Steve French posted:Whether you'll be fine in terms of being safe/not getting stuck depends somewhat on your own experience driving in snow, and how much driving off the freeway you are doing up here. I've been making these regular trips to Tahoe for a decade now, in a FWD vehicle without M+S or 3 peak snowflake tires (chains only). I feel confident because I know I will drive cautiously and slowly, and avoid driving if the roads are a horror show, as I always have done. So I'm thinking the M+S tires may be fine. And as someone visiting to ski, I am mostly driving on well trafficked and well plowed roads. I do appreciate how good the Tahoe area is about keeping the roads clear -- makes sense, gotta make sure the computer nerds from the Bay can get to the lake and spend some money. I'm just trying to be responsible up front since this new vehicle is heavy (over 5,000 lbs) and I drat sure don't want to bring harm to myself, my family, or anyone else. Better too cautious than not enough. I'll probably take it to Tahoe a couple times on the M+S tires and get a feel for how they're performing while driving extra defensively, then make a decision whether it's worth spending a bunch more money on new tires. Chimp_On_Stilts fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jan 2, 2024 |
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Jan 2, 2024 21:55
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Chimp_On_Stilts posted:They also quoted me $2,302 out the door. I see I can order the tires myself online for about $410 each, which means after parts they're asking roughly $650 for labor, tax, and everything else. Is this a reasonable price to have old tires removed and new tires mounted? sounds like you're not going this route anyway, but i just wanted to point out that the answer to this is "lmao no". i usually pay 18-25 each to have tires mounted, though i bring em in loose rather than on the car. i wouldn't expect labor to be more than like $150 for a mount and balance. probably wherever you're looking is marking the tire price up significantly. since you're looking at michelins, it's worth pointing out that costco does free mount and balance now (i.e. it's baked into the price). they can be weird about only installing the exact oem size, though.
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Jan 2, 2024 22:32
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Chimp_On_Stilts posted:I've been making these regular trips to Tahoe for a decade now, in a FWD vehicle without M+S or 3 peak snowflake tires (chains only). I feel confident because I know I will drive cautiously and slowly, and avoid driving if the roads are a horror show, as I always have done. So I'm thinking the M+S tires may be fine. And as someone visiting to ski, I am mostly driving on well trafficked and well plowed roads. I do appreciate how good the Tahoe area is about keeping the roads clear -- makes sense, gotta make sure the computer nerds from the Bay can get to the lake and spend some money. Yeah, seems like you know what you're doing and are taking an appropriate level of precaution. If I were in your position, I'd do exactly what you're planning to do. Carrying chains if you don't mind spending a bit more money to have them isn't a bad idea (and some other areas require you to carry them even with AWD, like Yosemite). As a side note, how confident are you that your FWD vehicle didn't have M+S? In my experience pretty much anything other than summer performance tires have that designation, but maybe you were in a hot hatch or something.
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Jan 3, 2024 01:38
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SlowBloke posted:Also do keep in mind that there are crossclimate 2 and crossclimate 2 suv. Suv variant is designed for bigger rims/heavier vehicles. This makes sense; I have the SUV version on my V90 and they've disappointingly stiff riding.
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Jan 3, 2024 01:44
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Steve French posted:they'll either close the pass pre-emptively or after a big rig jackknifes (they're really good at this and usually happens before conditions get real bad). Well, tonight is the first half (quarter) decent storm of the season. Chain control went up at 7:30 and 
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Jan 3, 2024 05:16
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Out of a whim, i checked the tires kia uses in Europe for the 21" EV9, PILOT SPORT 4 S AC, which are not sold by michelin here in Italy. Also every tire dealer that has rim/tire data marks the ev9 on 21" as "NO CHAINS" and points to stuff like the KONIG K-SUMMIT XXL K77 composites, so I would suggest to do a double check before getting conventional chains. SlowBloke fucked around with this message at 11:41 on Jan 3, 2024 |
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Jan 3, 2024 11:28
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Chimp_On_Stilts posted:If I was driving and the California department of transportation had initiated chain controls (mandatory use of chains), they would let me continue drivingSeparately, I've been calling around town to try to source some Cross Climate 2 tires. Turns out they're not made in the exact size of this vehicle's stock tires (28545R21), but they are made in 275/40R21. A local tire shop has told me that these tires will fit my existing wheels and that it is safe to do so, though it might result in worse fuel economy. My only concern going narrower/shorter like that would be the load index on the smaller tires being lower than the vehicle requirements. I usually have a hard rule of "bigger, not smaller, verify load" when someone wants to deviate from the placard size. Everything in the 285/45R21 is a 113 load, 275/40R21 Crossclimate2 are a 107 load, so that'd be a hard no they shouldn't for that. I don't see any other size that I'd try to swap to either, both of those are an odd size to start with.
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Jan 3, 2024 20:51
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This is the tire thread, so maybe this is the place to ask about tire chains. Its kind of a dumb question though because I'm not sure what to ask or how to ask the question. What is it about tire chains that makes them work? Do they have little points on them? Obviously they'd wear with excessive use, are they specialized types of chain for the application? Or are they literally just actual pieces of real chain (hoisting, transport etc) that get cut to a length and then attached to each other in such a way to fit around a specific size of tire? Do they work by just jamming something hard in to something less hard and slippery (ice) and gripping that way or is there other sciencey poo poo at play? I don't expect them to be defying laws of physics, I've just never really put much thought in to them.
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Jan 8, 2024 01:21
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