Snows for a RWD in NJ?

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: old farmer
All season tires usually do have the M&S rating. It's an old system that went wrong. I mean tires came out with the M&S rating and weren't really as good as they should have been for winter use.
The new system used now is the "snowflake on the mountain" symbol with stricter specs used on real winter tires. Winter tires with that symbol on them really do work better in snow, ice, and slush.
Here's an article about that.
http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=125&currentpage=123

California's chain control requirements have restrictions that include categories where cars with "snow tread tires" on the drive wheels don't require chains. Any tire that carries the M+S designation meets that requirement, and I personally tried out an M+S tire that was abysmal in the snow. They haven't modified the regs to account for the newer Severe Snow Conditions rating.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/chcontrl.htm

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: wantin150
FWIW, I think that the RSA evaluations are bunk and only reflect OEM tires. We used RSA tires exclusively and I have personally put several hundred thousand miles on sets. I never had any issues, including use in light snow.


They also seem to be totally different tires from one vehicle to another.

My Mazda3 came with 205/50R17 RS-As which had a tread width of 6-3/4" and a tread design that was optimized for fuel economy and steering feel on dry pavement. They were absolutely useless on any amount of snow. I got 30K out of them. My mother's Sunfire GT came with 205/55R16 RS-As that had a much more all-season tread design, though I still wouldn't want to use them in winter. They were 7-3/4" wide and she got 60K miles out of them (and she still has two on the car). The ones used in the C&D test were, IIRC, 225/50R16 and, with a true all-season tread pattern, they actually performed decently on snow in the test. Even the new Mazda3s with RS-As have a totally different tread pattern than the ones that came on my car in 2004.

 

[MGregoir]

Nokians or bust.

 

[Ken2]

My experience with so-called All Season tires---they're really 3-season tires.

M+S tires, including all-season tires, have a tread pattern that is geometrically described, not tested on snow, and often very inadequate on snow. Snowflake-on-mountain real winter tires are tested on snow.

Brand new All Season tires are usually OK in snow. They're dangerous on ice. Last winter a fellow ski instructor rolled her Pathfinder on ice with new all season tires.

Used all season tires are much worst in snow than when they were new.

Some tread patterns and some rubber compounds of all season tires are OK and some are dreadful in snow. The half-used Continentals on a rental Pontiac G6 I had in Colorado last November were scary-terrible.

Do buy four. Braking and turning keep you out of wrecks, too.

Buy wheels on eBay, then buy winter tires in October. Dicker hard. You'll find 4 for the price of 3 or other good deals. After October is too late for deals. As said above, buy the narrowest original equipment size that fits your car. The only time you want wide snow tires if the snow depth is expected to be 110% of the clearance under your car.

If you'll do much driving on ice or well polished snow at intersections and elsewhere, buy studded tires for the safest travel. Modern studless tires are really good, as good as studded tires in snow, and almost as good and safe as studs on ice. High performance snow tires don't grip ice and snow as well as lower performance snows...there are always compromises.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Ken2
My experience with so-called All Season tires---they're really 3-season tires.

M+S tires, including all-season tires, have a tread pattern that is geometrically described, not tested on snow, and often very inadequate on snow. Snowflake-on-mountain real winter tires are tested on snow.

Brand new All Season tires are usually OK in snow. They're dangerous on ice. Last winter a fellow ski instructor rolled her Pathfinder on ice with new all season tires.

Used all season tires are much worst in snow than when they were new.

Some tread patterns and some rubber compounds of all season tires are OK and some are dreadful in snow. The half-used Continentals on a rental Pontiac G6 I had in Colorado last November were scary-terrible.

Do buy four. Braking and turning keep you out of wrecks, too.

Buy wheels on eBay, then buy winter tires in October. Dicker hard. You'll find 4 for the price of 3 or other good deals. After October is too late for deals. As said above, buy the narrowest original equipment size that fits your car. The only time you want wide snow tires if the snow depth is expected to be 110% of the clearance under your car.

If you'll do much driving on ice or well polished snow at intersections and elsewhere, buy studded tires for the safest travel. Modern studless tires are really good, as good as studded tires in snow, and almost as good and safe as studs on ice. High performance snow tires don't grip ice and snow as well as lower performance snows...there are always compromises.

I suppose the M+S standard only requires that the tire surface be tested in laboratory conditions. That being said, I'd think that some manufacturers would be testing their all-season tires in more stringent conditions.

The Tire Rack did a test with a BMW 325i using four types of tires. The Bridgestone RE960AS was actually quite close to the (performance winter) Blizzak LM-25 in ice traction results. Of course the studless ice tires beat them all when it came to ice traction.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=80

 

[firemachine69]

Definitely buying studded tires for winter this year. Besides, tires are pretty cheap for the Yaris platform.

 

[nj300se]

Thanks all! I'm currently hunting down a set of steelies, and it seems the General Altimax I can get on TireRack for about $70 (plus shipping, mount, balance etc) but then I'm done and should have fewer worries over the next 5 seasons or so.

 

[nj300se]

Snowtire Update - I cant believe it was August I was researching Snow Tires!

Anyway, I ended up getting the Hankook I-Pike from DTD online. with the free shipping I thought it was a better deal. So, they got mounted on the X cop car steelies and I put swapped them in November.

Needless to say, this has been a snowy winter in Jersey so far, and I am really happy I got them! These tires are very quiet, don't feel 'squishy' (the car rides squishy enough I think anyway), and I've had no problems in any type of snow of slush I've encountered this year.

So - thanks to all for the advice, I'm glad I did it!