Consumer reports tire ratings out

[sip]

Consumer reports released the winter and A/S tire rating today. Micheline scored top rating in A/S (Michelin HydroEdge) , Performance A/S (Michelin Primacy MXV4) and Winter (Michelin X-Ice XI 2). Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 H was the top performer in Performance winter.


Winter tire rating from top to bottom :

Michelin X-Ice XI 2

General Altimax Arctic

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5

Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R

Continental ExtremeWinterContact

Bridgestone Blizzak WS60

Pirelli Sottozero 210 Series II

Dunlop Graspic DS-2

Hankook Winter I*Pike

Gislaved Nordfrost 5

Toyo Observe G-02 Plus

Yokohama ice Guard iG20

Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice *

Firestone Winterforce

Cooper Weather-master S/T 2

Hankook icebear W300

What do you think about cheap General Altimax Arctic rated higher than popular winter tires such as Bridgestone Blizzak WS60.

[Chimera]

thanks for the info! i was just starting thinking of starting a thread to inquire about the best winter tires atm

[kramr]

Yeah, found a place in London, Kal Tire, where I can get a set of Cooper Tires and steel rims, mounted and balanced for $190 each. I just wanted some mid range tires as most of my driving is in the city and I don't usually put a whole lot of K's on my car to begin with. I get a discout at Kal Tire because of work, we get our tires for buses through Kal Tire.

[midnightfxgt]

Consumer Reports is pretty solid, but I dont find them to be right very often. If you look through a lot of things, the general public ratings on their site can be vastly different.

[MajesticBlueNTO]

What do you think about cheap General Altimax Arctic rated higher than popular winter tires such as Bridgestone Blizzak WS60.

the General Altimax Arctic is the exact same tire as the old Gislaved NordFrost 3, right down to the tread pattern and the compound.

Continental owns both Gislaved and General and is getting rid of their budget "ContiViking" brand in favour of General being their budget brand.

The NordFrost 3 got its fair share of kudos so I'm not surprised the General rated higher.

What would make more sense out of the rankings is to know the criteria as to why the tires are ranked as they are.

[Harbour Rat]

What do you think about cheap General Altimax Arctic rated higher than popular winter tires such as Bridgestone Blizzak WS60.

I'm pretty sure any one of the tires on the list would work just fine for most of us 99% of the time. Maybe a couple are slightly better on ice or some are better in deep snow or whatever, but if any of us drove 5 identical cars back to back with any 5 of those tires I'm pretty sure we'd have a hard time honestly saying one tire is genuinely bad or one makes all the rest look bad.

[5_Alive]

Meh, to be honest with everyone, my Wanli Winter Challenger tires were great last winter. Very quite as well compared to other sets of snow I used to run. Grip was awesome as well. My only gripe with them is they are a little on the soft side which isn't fun when cornering and braking is slightly worse. But again, for the price, you cannot go wrong any which way you look at it.
Moe

[sip]

the General Altimax Arctic is the exact same tire as the old Gislaved NordFrost 3, right down to the tread pattern and the compound.

Continental owns both Gislaved and General and is getting rid of their budget "ContiViking" brand in favour of General being their budget brand.

The NordFrost 3 got its fair share of kudos so I'm not surprised the General rated higher.

What would make more sense out of the rankings is to know the criteria as to why the tires are ranked as they are.

The consumer reports shows the criteria but I don't know how to post the web page.

[ArcticMZ3]

Consumer reports released the winter and A/S tire rating today. Micheline scored top rating in A/S (Michelin HydroEdge) , Performance A/S (Michelin Primacy MXV4) and Winter (Michelin X-Ice XI 2). Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 H was the top performer in Performance winter.


Winter tire rating from top to bottom :

Michelin X-Ice XI 2

General Altimax Arctic

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5

Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R

Continental ExtremeWinterContact

Bridgestone Blizzak WS60

Pirelli Sottozero 210 Series II

Dunlop Graspic DS-2

Hankook Winter I*Pike

Gislaved Nordfrost 5

Toyo Observe G-02 Plus

Yokohama ice Guard iG20

Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice *

Firestone Winterforce

Cooper Weather-master S/T 2

Hankook icebear W300

What do you think about cheap General Altimax Arctic rated higher than popular winter tires such as Bridgestone Blizzak WS60.

Michelin X-Ice Xi2 prevailed! Good stuff! (Not that I am in agreement with their methodology in ranking the tires...which is obviously overly simplistic....but, regardless, it's still nice to see my tire come out on top ) .

[undftd]

I found this place that quoted me the following prices for these tires (includes installation, mount, balance and tax but not the tire tax):
- Dunlop Graspic DS2 $583
- Bridgestone Blizzak WS60 $642
- Michelin Xi2 $723
Now, I know the Xi2 should have great tread life, I've heard the Blizzaks don't have that great treadlife and don't know about the Graspic, since its only $60 more for the blizzaks compared to the graspic, I have narrowed down my choices to the Xi2 and the Blizzak's, just wondering if its worth the extra $80 to go with the Michelin. The most I'm looking to get out of these tires are about 5 winters (don't think I'll have this car for more than 5 years)

[sip]

I found this place that quoted me the following prices for these tires (includes installation, mount, balance and tax but not the tire tax):
- Dunlop Graspic DS2 $583
- Bridgestone Blizzak WS60 $642
- Michelin Xi2 $723
Now, I know the Xi2 should have great tread life, I've heard the Blizzaks don't have that great treadlife and don't know about the Graspic, since its only $60 more for the blizzaks compared to the graspic, I have narrowed down my choices to the Xi2 and the Blizzak's, just wondering if its worth the extra $80 to go with the Michelin. The most I'm looking to get out of these tires are about 5 winters (don't think I'll have this car for more than 5 years)

What is your rim size? Check with the sponsors such as tires23.com.

[undftd]

^ I've checked out their prices, these are much cheaper, I'm just deciding between which tire to go with...

[mazdadealers]

the General Altimax Arctic is the exact same tire as the old Gislaved NordFrost 3, right down to the tread pattern and the compound.

Continental owns both Gislaved and General and is getting rid of their budget "ContiViking" brand in favour of General being their budget brand.

The NordFrost 3 got its fair share of kudos so I'm not surprised the General rated higher.

What would make more sense out of the rankings is to know the criteria as to why the tires are ranked as they are.

Is that mean Gislaved Nordfrost 5 is not as good as NordFrost 3, where they put more focus on General Altimax

[dhlwtu]

Consumer Reports is pretty solid, but I dont find them to be right very often. If you look through a lot of things, the general public ratings on their site can be vastly different.

I agree 100% John! I don't by the hype of CR or other big companies too often. Don't get me wrong they can be pretty informative....... but I prefer to hear from everyday people who use these tires day in and day out. I find user opinions much more informative! Check out these 2 sites and look at user reviews. You can go nuts if you listen to everyone's opinion. You'll change your mind 50 times and you still won't know what to buy. I personally use Blizzaks on both my vehicles (Minivan and Mazda3) and absolutely LOVE them. My brother also uses them on his 2008 TL and swears by them too!

Do your research and bite the bullet.

http://www.tirerack.com/index.jsp
http://www.1010tires.com/

[zoso]

Is that mean Gislaved Nordfrost 5 is not as good as NordFrost 3, where they put more focus on General Altimax

would like to know the answer to this as well

[Chester_Lampwick]

I think these reviews are kind of useless for us Canadians. They really should review Goodyear Nordic, formerly branded as just Nordic or Motomaster. I'm sure they outsell any other model by a huge margin. I had the Icetrack model on my old Corolla and they were quite good...

[Egor...ka]

Pirelli Sottozero 240 Series II Not cheap but the best so far..........

[mEtH]

W300 seems to be falling down that list, I guess because of all the new tires coming out they cannot withhold. I love my W300 and would buy again thats for sure, great winter tire for the conditions that I am use to driving on.

[doughboyr6]

W300 seems to be falling down that list, I guess because of all the new tires coming out they cannot withhold. I love my W300 and would buy again thats for sure, great winter tire for the conditions that I am use to driving on.

i was thinking the same thing...but it seems like the ipike is the new better improve Hankook winter tire.

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

W300 seems to be falling down that list, I guess because of all the new tires coming out they cannot withhold. I love my W300 and would buy again thats for sure, great winter tire for the conditions that I am use to driving on.

i was thinking the same thing...but it seems like the ipike is the new better improve Hankook winter tire.

The W300 is a performance rated and oriented winter tire. It really isn't designed for the same applications and deep snow and ice like the iPike, Blizzaks, Ghislaveds and some other winter tires. It is simply too hard in compound for that and the tread pattern is also not really geared for it. It is a perfect winter tire for cars with a fair bit of power that don't want to melt their winter tires on the dry road days in winter while also allowing those same cars less road noise and a much more precise steering feel that is closer to an all-season tire than a winter tire. The trade-off is total actual traction in snow and ice.

I've run the W300's on my MS3 for 2 seasons now and love them for what they are. However, I have the iPike409's on the wife's GT Hatch and the grip levels in snow and ice between these two tires is nowhere close. The W300 is capable enough, but if your prime focus is winter grip in snow and ice, there are many better tires to choose. If your prime focus is on dry handling, tread life and having a capable winter tire that is better than an all-season, but still rides close to one, than the W300 is a good choice.

[Olestra]

The W300 is a performance rated and oriented winter tire. It really isn't designed for the same applications and deep snow and ice like the iPike, Blizzaks, Ghislaveds and some other winter tires. It is simply too hard in compound for that and the tread pattern is also not really geared for it. It is a perfect winter tire for cars with a fair bit of power that don't want to melt their winter tires on the dry road days in winter while also allowing those same cars less road noise and a much more precise steering feel that is closer to an all-season tire than a winter tire. The trade-off is total actual traction in snow and ice.

I've run the W300's on my MS3 for 2 seasons now and love them for what they are. However, I have the iPike409's on the wife's GT Hatch and the grip levels in snow and ice between these two tires is nowhere close. The W300 is capable enough, but if your prime focus is winter grip in snow and ice, there are many better tires to choose. If your prime focus is on dry handling, tread life and having a capable winter tire that is better than an all-season, but still rides close to one, than the W300 is a good choice.

Excellent summary. Going with a more serious ice/snow tire like Xi2, Blizzaks or iPike would yield better results than a performance winter tire like the W300. Knowing that, I have the W300 really enjoy how they ride. They have great road feel and light snow feels like dry pavement. Anything more than that and you have to be careful.

[raghtal]

Anyone know if the Conti brands listed here are comparable or identical to the Semperit SpeedGrips? I got a set of those for the TL last winter and they were amazing. I had always used Hankooks on the Pro and had good experience with them, but I'd like to give the Semperit's a go on the 3SGT.

[Jackal]

Already have my X-ice Xi2 tires. Glad about my purchase based on the ratings. They should last a while. Wonder if we will get more snow this winter.

[arcs3]

I love my Winter General Tires! Best bang for the buck!

[Hives]

All those of those tires are too expensive. My cheap Viking winter tires perform well (for the last 2 years). I can drive at 100 during winter without any problem on the 401. Can't go wrong