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The Tire Question. . .
#11
M A V I C wrote:

Is Mass. snow wet or dry?

Both. You name it, we got it, at one time or another.


/Mr Lynn
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#12
A coworker got the predecessor of these for her subie at work

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?...e=Yokohama&tireModel=AVID+ENVigor+(H%26V)&partnum=255HR7ENV&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Subaru&autoYear=2007&autoModel=Outback%20Wagon%202.5%20XT%20Limited&autoModClar=

And they have been excellent to say the least. Cheap enough too at $123 a tire from TireRack.
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#13
IIRC, the snow tires with tight grooves are best for only hard dry snow or ice. They did well tested on a car driving on an ice rink.
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#14
mrlynn wrote:
Good comments, all.

Cooper makes off-brand tires, but their own Cooper brand seems to be well-regarded, judging from forum posts, particularly the CS4s, which when they came out were the subject of a substantial Motor Trend review:

http://www.motortrend.com/features/112_0...index.html

I've read some pretty bad reviews of them from car geeks.

Reading reviews at places like TireRack can be frustrating, as there are as many opinions as there are users.

Stick with the official reviews.

OWC Jamie wrote:
A coworker got the predecessor of these for her subie at work

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?...e=Yokohama&tireModel=AVID+ENVigor+(H%26V)&partnum=255HR7ENV&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Subaru&autoYear=2007&autoModel=Outback%20Wagon%202.5%20XT%20Limited&autoModClar=

And they have been excellent to say the least. Cheap enough too at $123 a tire from TireRack.

I expect their snow traction rating to go down as their survey sample set increases. They have a couple other tires with nearly identical tread patterns and their snow ratings are much lower.

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
IIRC, the snow tires with tight grooves are best for only hard dry snow or ice. They did well tested on a car driving on an ice rink.

Siping is for ice. More open tread patterns are for snow. Good snow tires have both.

FWIW, I've had blizzaks, dunlop winter sport 3d's, dunlop graspics and Michelin aplin arctics for snow tires. Other than the graspics, the others I all had on subies.
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#15
mrlynn wrote: ...were the subject of a substantial Motor Trend review:

I personally think that Motor Trend is by far the worst of the car magazines...not much more than an advertising rag. I definitely would have a very low trust level for any review they did.

Reading reviews at places like TireRack can be frustrating, as there are as many opinions as there are users.

/Mr Lynn

I think it is more informative to look at the aggregate ratings of all the reviewers (i.e. the page I linked to). I've found that those ratings track pretty much with the findings of the professional tire comparison tests. Also note that Tire Rack does professional tire comparison road + track tests which are also on their website for a wide variety of tires. They are generally very specific in their praise/criticism of the tires. I doubt if you'll find a more reliable set of data anywhere else for judging tire performance.
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#16
davester wrote:
[quote=mrlynn]...were the subject of a substantial Motor Trend review:

I personally think that Motor Trend is by far the worst of the car magazines...not much more than an advertising rag. I definitely would have a very low trust level for any review they did.

Reading reviews at places like TireRack can be frustrating, as there are as many opinions as there are users.

/Mr Lynn

Their car of the year award is a joke. Didn't they once pick the Pacer?
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#17
FWIW Hankook Icebears are a good winter tire at a great price. A big drawback though is treadwear which is relatively poor.

Based on the tread pattern, I would not buy the eNTYRE.
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#18
I put Michelein Hydro Edge on my '04 Toyota Sienna minivan last year just before we got a big snowfall. The Sienna has a curb weight of over 4600 lbs. My XLE Limited has 17" rims. Handled fine in the snow last year and, does great on wet & dry roads too. Last year, the Hydro Edge was highly rated by Consumer Reports.
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#19
DRR wrote:
FWIW Hankook Icebears are a good winter tire at a great price. A big drawback though is treadwear which is relatively poor.

Keep in mind they made some big changes within the last year (I think.) Most people I know who used to like them no longer do. IIRC, that's because treadwear got a lot worse and they were running them year round.
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#20
FWIW, I'm a research NUT when it comes to most items, and definitely anything over $100.

I looked into Cooper CS4s pretty heavily. Not an easy task since there's not a lot out there on them...so I relied mostly on web forums. I concluded that like many tires, they are initially promising but over time, the traction does not hold. To the point of owners being sadly disappointed.

I have found my favorite tire thus far to be the Bridgestone H/L Alenza. I bought these for my old Element and noticed an incredible improvement in rain and snow traction (and quiet) -- the AWD system came to life with these tires. Chirping was also gone. I liked them so much that I replaced the questionable Michelin MXV4s (one cooked and all worn at 30k miles of mostly easy driving and all rotations) on my current ride, an Acura RDX, with the Alenzas. Again, immediate improvement in the wet and quiet, and I have complete confidence in the worst winter will be throwing my way. They are also a great buy at Costco, they're now running their $70 off Bridgestones special.

Unfortunately the Alenzas don't come in my wife's tire size. So I recently got the tires Jamie mentioned above (Yoko Avid Envigor) for the wife's Zuki XL-7 4wd from TR. They are excellent in rain thus far and a monumental improvement overall vs. the BFG Touring T/As that were on it previously (don't ever buy those pos tires!). I expect the snow traction to be nearly as good as the Envigor's rain traction. And we get our share of snow here in KC.

I had a hard time deciding between Envigor and the Geolandar AT-S which gets terrific long-term reviews for snow and rain. The tradeoff for the Geo seems to be a little more road noise. I decided with 4wd, the Envigor was a good if not very good buy for our needs.

I think the key to reading tire reviews is a mix of separating wheat from chaff...I have pretty good faith in TR editorial reviews (and yes I'd largely ignore car mag reviews). And I also have pretty good confidence in tire reviews of those driven 35,000-40,000 miles and up. A lot of tires are great in the first 10k miles and everyone is so excited to post their great review, reinforcing the fact they made the right decision with their money. The rubber truly meets the road in long-term performance/endurance.
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