EKSedAndy

Maybe I'm behind on this technology, as apparently it's been out for a few years now, but I'm just hearing about "all-weather" tires now. I'm not talking about all-seasons, this is a whole separate tire category that's supposed to be some sort of mixture of an all-season and a dedicated winter tire. They have the winter rating on them but also are rated to run at a high enough temperature they perform in the summer too, and are rated at 100,000 km's or so for any weather.

The best example of one is the Nokian WRG3. Reading up on them reviews say they give surprisingly good traction below 0 degrees, on ice, and in slush/light snow, comparable to dedicated winter tires. They admit they aren't as good as dedicated tires, but everything I've read is very ambiguous in their units of comparison. Anyone here have any first hand experience with them? I'm curious how well they work.

A guy I work with was trying to say they perform just as well as all-seasons in the summer, and just as well as winters in the winter. When I questioned how this was possible he just said "I dunno, it's a new rubber compound". Obviously there has to be some trade-offs here, and I'm just wondering what they are - is it moreso a trade-off on traction in winter weather, or tire life in summer weather?

90hatch94dsm

Great,

now the tire can suck in all weather conditions

EKSedAndy

That's what I'm wondering. I can see there being some advancements in technology, but there isn't going to be some magical formula that stays soft in the cold but not too soft in the heat.

They seem to use the cost savings as a selling feature, like the cost of one set vs. having two sets of dedicated tires. But in the long run if you keep the car, the only extra cost you incur with dedicated sets is the extra set of rims for the winters. In theory if you have a set of summers for summer and winters for winter those two sets will last you as long as two sets of "all seasons" or "all weathers". It's also just higher initial cost.

__oversea

don't talk to that guy.

cetcivic

Never heard of 'em

Righteous Fire

If you live somewhere that gets winter weather that's decent, get dedicated winter tires.

Otherwise you could be fine with a good set of all seasons, like Continental DWS.

The car you drive matters a lot as well. I feel much more confident in my Subarus without true winter tires in the event I do encounter some snow.

t0p_sh0tta

I fully agree with the dedicated winter suggestions.

Any tire that's soft enough to work in the snow will be terrible in hot weather.

90hatch94dsm

This is GDD

You need a vehicle for each season

CAN97SH

I think if one doesn't care about any performance and can experience a little of all 4 seasons then all weather tires would be okay.

Personally, because I do care about performance I have summer wheels/tires and winter wheels/tires. We get the the extreme of all 4 seasons here though so winter tires here are pretty much mandatory unless you like hitting curbs, cars and people.

t0p_sh0tta

You drive a Fit, right? What about you 5spd? Those skinny tires make a world of difference in the snow.

The wife is bitching because I just put snows on my GTI, but took my beater so I could leave the GTI in the garage today. I just waxed that bbissssshhhh...

CAN97SH

Have you driven a car with winter tires before?

t0p_sh0tta

I've got 5 sets of wheels in my basement. Something has to go.

njn63

Learn how to drive for the conditions.

My travel speed 99% of the time is dictated by traffic and I can never get going fast enough where all season tires are my limitation.

xtrac1

iTrader: (2)

Not bad.


But there's nothing more fun than destroying a set of all season tires on a race track. That slip angle

CAN97SH

I've been to IL in the middle of winter. The streets there are nothing like they are here. Main roads are mostly snow and ice free but residential streets are mostly horrible.

I've owned all seasons and they are **** compared to winter tires.

I also like to have a little fun in the winter and winter tires allow me to do that

It really doesnt matter what anyone says. The shittiest winter tire is far better than any all season tire. The rubber compounds just dont allow for optimal traction when it's snowy/icy and -40C

Will you survive with all season tires? Sure. Will I stop and/or maneuver around something waaaaaay sooner than you in an emergency situation? Hell yes I will

snobordboy

This.

When ones experiences driving in a city where all the roads except main arteries are covered with a slicked over hardpack of ice and snow for 4-5 months straight, and minimal plowing or snow removal, winter tires become a necessity.

I drove my entire life in Colorado, and a good portion of my time was in the mountains during winter, so I dealt with a LOT of snow. Even with those conditions, I only had all -seasons for winter on my WRX. When I came up here, they just weren't enough, so I had to get dedicated snow/ ice winter tires. This was even with having a dedicated set of wheels and tires for winter and summer.

Maybe it is just financially not feasible to take care of the snow up here the same way that they did in CO, but the roads are much much worse, and for much much longer.

Senses Fail y0!

i wrecked my jetta with stretched summer tyres on a snowy winter night

csb

t0p_sh0tta

LOL it started when you stretched the tires.

Senses Fail y0!

bruh dont matter, i was pulling mad bitches with it. yolo

CAN97SH

People just don't understand how bad it can be when they don't personally experience it.

Even with winter tires one can and will slide around on roads due to ice. No tire will stop like one would think but winter tires vs any other tire will stop sooner.

EKSedAndy

You can drive slower and give more room to try to compensate, but the fact is that stopping distances in snow/ice/sub-zero temps are MUCH better with dedicated winter tires. I believe the stopping distances are generally tested at around 30% less with winter tires on dry pavement alone when the temperature drops below 0 C. That distance only increases with ice, snow, and slush on the road.

I know it's an extreme example and nobody would winter drive with these, but my Civic has Falken Azenis' on it, and the other day it snowed just enough there was barely a layer of fluff covering the ground. I had to move my Civic out of the garage into the driveway for a bit, then pull it back in, and I honestly had zero traction. From a stop in my driveway I had to spin my tires until I got down to the pavement to get enough traction to move. Like I said, an R-comp tire is an extreme example, but it also shows that there is a huge difference in how different rubber compounds react to different temperatures.

I'm not saying you can't drive in the winter with all-seasons, but you also can't say "just learn how to drive doofus!" If I'm driving with my wife and kids in the car and I need to emergency stop I'd like to know that I have the best chance at avoiding an accident, rather than saving a few hundred dollars on tires.

Untouched snow is ideal and you'll get better traction. As a snow covered road is driven on and the snow packs down it basically ends up turning the road into a skating rink, because the snow is so hard packed it turns glossy. For whatever reason in Canada this seems to be the norm in the winter on the non-main roads. They never plow the side roads until late in the day after a snow, and by that time it's packed down hard and unable to plow it down bare.

EKSedAndy

And FWIW I ended up going with a set of Yokohama IceGuard IG51V's, I got a pretty solid deal on them ($510 after mail-in rebate for a set in 225/65R17). They've got a new tread pattern for this year that looks really good. I was going to get the new iteration of the Blizzak's, but they're backordered everywhere here and about $100 more for the set, and I don't think they're any better than the Yoko's necessarily.

I was pretty well always set on dedicated winters for this vehicle since it's mainly my wife's, but I was curious on these all-weathers as a possibility in the future if I ended up getting an all-year-round car. I'd still be interested to hear from anyone that owns the Nokian WRG3's, but it sounds like everyone is backing up my suspicions that there has to be some trade-offs.

UncleD

iTrader: (2)

When I was in the industry, the "all weather" tires you speak of typically had a winter rubber compound for the first ~30% of the tread life. After that, it basically became an all season tire. Bridgestone's Blizzak line were the first to do this if I remember right. They were good for the first winter, but sub par after that. You'll be happy with your dedicated winter rubber compound.

Uncle Ben's

Am using Winterforces this year, will never go back. I did a wot pull to 30 in the dead end street nearby early this week when we got a couple inches of snow. Spun for a second then hooked with no torque steer that usually occurs on snow. Flooring it around a corner = no understeer at all. Gonna be nice to get up long hills with 10 degree incline and not sit at green lights til the light turns red spinning in second gear at 25% throttle this winter.

0AJ@tirerack.com

The all-weather tire idea is pretty misleading, my opinion as a tire geek, of course. As technology advances, there are clear fundamental differences in a tire designed for all-season, and a winter tire. You can't have both, hence the reason the 'big' tire manufactures dumped the idea of 'dual compound' tires long ago. It just simply didn't work.

If you want a winter tire, buy a winter tire. I have put several stickies at the top of this section which displays lots of info regarding differences and what winter tires can do for you.