New from General: Altimax Arctic 12

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A new studdable winter tire from General Tire.

Quote:
Designed specifically for passenger cars, minivans, crossovers and compact SUVs, the Altimax Arctic 12 replaces the Altimax Arctic ……….Mr. Maher said the Altimax Arctic 12 resembles its predecessor, the Altimax Arctic, in name only.

What's not different is almost nothing," said Mr. Maher, who has been with Continental for 13 years and has worked in the tire industry for 35 years.

"We have a new pattern. We have a new contour, and we have a new compound. The pattern is designed to deliver both dry, wet snow and ice traction. We have a contour that is designed to give a broad contact patch, which helps to improve snow and ice performance, and it improves the mileage by 18 percent."


http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/2017...ter-tire-lineup

http://www.generaltire-tyres.com/car/tyres/winter/car/altimax-arctic-12
 
looks very interesting. an update to a strong but outdated tire.
No one else except nokian makes a widely available top tier winter studded tire IMO.

Might be in the market for next winter.

I would like to know the specific differences between this and the
recent grabber arctic and grabber arctic LT

is its similar compounds etc.
 
Will be watching to see how these compare next winter. I have one more season left in my Altimax Arctics. I didn't even put them on this year, but used the Dunlop SP Winter Sport and this was tough winter for those.
Hopefully they will come out with my preferred 215/65R16 size.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
I would like to know the specific differences between this and the
recent grabber arctic and grabber arctic LT...


The most obvious difference is 3 different tread designs.
 
Now I understand why Discount Tire dropped price on the (old) Arctics for at least one of the sizes I was looking to buy. That's assuming these Arctic 12's will make it to the U.S. market.
 
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I'm very impressed with my General Altimax Arctic's (pre-12). Just finished a third Winter season with them, they have about 13K miles total and no significant wear. Very good rain traction as well as ice, slush and snow. Most importantly they can get me up (and down) my uphill driveway on wet slick ice with very little drama. Only complaint is they have a lot of tread squirm, but I'll live with it for the benefits.

When the time comes to replace them, I'll look at the Arctic 12's first.

Happy to have the Conti PureContact A/S tires back on, even at 30K they have great rain traction (as I've proven in panic breaking twice this week due to idiot drivers). Continental/General has some real winners on the market right now.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Expected since Continental updated Wintercontatct.


That WinterContact SI should've also been a General, so that Conti could sell the ContiWinterContact TS-series over here. So then General could have both a studded and non-studded option, and for a premium option there'd be the TS850.
 
http://www.moderntiredealer.com/article/...senger-vehicles

Quote:
...The new General brand winter tire also gives dealers what they are looking for in their product screens. “We made the Altimax Arctic for everything from a Ford Focus to a Ford Super Duty,” says Travis Roffler, director of marketing for the General brand. “It was one pattern, one design and one compound for three market segments.

“We had a one-style-fits-all tire, and the push back from the dealers was that when a work truck comes in, the Altimax Arctic doesn’t look robust enough.”

The company’s response was to break the Altimax Arctic into three lines designed for work trucks, light trucks and passenger vehicles.

The Grabber Arctic LT, an LT-metric studdable winter tire for larger and heavier commercial service light trucks, was introduced in 2015. Available in 10 sizes, the Grabber Arctic LT has a symmetric tread pattern, which allows for rotation on dually trucks.

The Grabber Arctic, a studdable winter tire for larger SUVs and pickups, followed in 2016. It is offered in 16-inch through 20-inch sizes.

“When we combine the Altimax Arctic 12’s 47 sizes with the Grabber Arctic in 15 sizes and the Grabber Arctic LT in 10 sizes, we have a total of 72 sizes in the market,” says Roffler. “It’s really good market coverage for a winter tire lineup. So between those three lines, dealers will really be able to fit the majority of the vehicles that come into their stores.”...
 
The current General Alti Arctics are the only snow tire on Tirerack that are not Severe Snow Service rated. That doesn't sound good.

edit: Looks like that's the studded one, where the studdable is rated for SSS.
 
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Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
The current General Alti Arctics are the only snow tire on Tirerack that are not Severe Snow Service rated. That doesn't sound good.

edit: Looks like that's the studded one, where the studdable is rated for SSS.


All Altimax arctic are SSS

The studded ones are studded by tire rack, not by general at yhthe e factory
 
Originally Posted By: SubLGT
I believe the European market Arctic 12 will be factory studded.

https://www.generaltire-tyres.com/car/tyres/winter/car/altimax-arctic-12

Quote:
The special stud design provides exceptional grip on icy roads in lateral and longitudinal directions.


That's the benefit of factory installed studs, as they are designed for that tire.

The US ones won't be. They will be made without studs, and TSMI #12 silver-colored metallic winter studs will be installed by the installer, or TireRack for $15 extra (per tire I assume).

I'm leary of aftermarket installed studs, as I had a windshield crack from a stud that hit my car a few years ago.
 
Just had a set of these delivered for a Passat. Looks like a well made tire. Made in Germany.

4x 215/55R16 was $398 after taxes, shipping and rebate off the TireBuyer.com eBay site. Good deal IMO
 
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I currently have this on 960 Volvo rear wheel drive. They do have some noise in dry conditions but the car is a beast on the snow.
 
After selling my Corolla to my son (the older AA's went with it), I picked up a set of these AA12's (not studded) which are SSS and have the mountain snowflake symbol on the side.

I haven't put them on the Si yet as we don't have snow on the roads...just yet...
 
Local pepboys (yes they were the cheapest) said they couldn't get anymore this year (lie?).
So I went with Falken EuroWinter for my wife's car.
i'm sure we could've gotten another season out of the continentals, but not in deep snow.
Better safe than sorry.
 
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