New Michelin Latitude X-Ice Xi2 Tire & Wheel Combo

UPS just delivered my daughter's early Christmas present! Ordered this combo package (with regular steel wheels) for her Honda CRV from TireRack on Tuesday morning. They just rolled in on Thursday afternoon ................. amazing!

 

TireRack.com is awesome! I get all of my wheels and tires from them. Which reminds me, I should probably put the Blizzaks on soon.

 

Yup, been putting Latitudes or Blizzaks on my cars for years ............................ Latitudes a little better on ice, Blizzaks a little better in deeper snow. I did try a new snow tire on my 2014 Outback last year and love them, Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2. The perfect blend of the other two tires. More aggressive in snow like the Blizzak, better overall handling and ice use like the Latitude. TireRack does not carry them and I could not find any in her size locally without waiting for some to be ordered.

 

I have standard latitudes on the grand cherokee, great tires.

 

I'm eyeing a set of winterforce LTs on tire rack for my wrangler. Probably pull the trigger later this month.

 

Order as soon as you can afford too, they will run out of specific tires and certain sizes as the season progresses!

 

Yeah, I need tires to replace all season tires that are getting worn on my allroad.

I'll wait until mid December to get some more miles out of my all seasons. The Audi eats tires.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that snow tires have gone up in price more so than summer or all season tires.

Discount tire, tire rack, sears, and others are great sources.

 

I ran those xice tires on the wife's prevoius car, Mazda 6.....first time for us....2 winters and loved them. We went to an AWD CX5 and so far the factory tires have done fine...bought it last Feb.

 

All seasons are decent on an awd, but true snow tires are about 50% more grip than all seasons in cold and snow.

 

As you know living here in NEO, most of the time good "all seasons" will do just fine, winter and summer. For me, living in Buffalo till I was 21, plus having two young daughters driving makes the jump to "performance snow tires" on separate rims my personal choice. That way I can also run "performance Touring" tires the rest of the year, instead of the "jack of all trades, master of none" all season tire.

 

I picked up some Continental ExtremeContact Winter tires this summer, and will be trying stud less snow tires for the first time this winter. Supposedly they are superior in most circumstances to the studded tires I used last year and the year before, we'll see.

Greg

 

Here's last years winter tire thread

Question on Winter Tires | Firewood Hoarders Club

Most studless winter tires outperform studded now, according to Tirerack.

I hope the Conti Extreme Winter Contact stud less ice and snow work better for you than they do for me, ran them on my wife's Mazda5 last year, I hate them. I bought them specifically because Tirerack said they have good dry road performance, and most of the time your on dry road, even in the winter. The tires did just OK in winter conditions, and on dry road they make the car feel squirmy, like it never wants to track straight, subtle but very annoying and a little unnerving at higher speeds.

 

I was going to say the same thing. AWD or 4WD can often get by with an All season tire. However; snow tires will still give you about a 50% gain in performance in the snow. Well worth it for me. Not only that, once you buy them, each tire will give you the same amount of miles, but that will be longer as you are not putting year round miles on each tire.

My other point which was also made earlier is that I'll stretch my all season tires beyond the time to replace them. I was able to get an extra year on my all season tires since I was not using them in the snow. Yeah not the best for rain, but so long as you drive within the tires capability, you'll be fine. Plus they were not bald. It's just that they would not pass inspection.

Winter tires all the way. I'll never do anything different.

 

Just curious.
How much were the plain Jane steel wheels.
I got on TR.com and couldn't find that option for my GF's vehicle.
I've bought wheels out of the junk yard for an extra winter set but they sure seem to be scarce these days and the ones that are available are pricey for JY fodder.

 

my .02 cents, yes studded do not perform as well on dry roads. but in my experience work so much better on ice. I know tests do not prove it but they go test on polished ice rinks. I tend to drive on roads that get oil on them from cars etc. (pavement is oil product). I guess I need studs 3 to 5 times a year. I do drive a front wheel drive. Never regretted them them. Granted I live 25 minutes from Jay peak which gets hundreds of inches a snow a year..

 

They were item "16x6.5 5-114 et50 cb64 st new" at $62/ea. It is probably a size/availability issue with your GF's car. The Honda CRV can run both 16 (225/70R-16) & 17 (225/65R-17) inch wheels. My regular summer tires were 17" on fancy rims. When I searched for that vehicle it came up with two options, their "recommended" option ........ the 16" combo I bought, or the second option ........ to select whatever else you wanted in 16 or 17 inch. There were no plane Jane wheels available in 17", just $100 & up stuff.

I too always went with junk yard wheels in the "old" days, but as you stated they are scarce and pricy these days.

 

I just put studded Nokians on three vehicles: 2 nordman and 1 haakkapalita (sp?). Plus used aluminum wheels for the truck. It cost a fortune. We live on hill though. Last year, the long driveway turned into a sheet of ice for weeks and the studded tires really helped.

 

Well we got blasted with snow up here.

The bfg MT/Rs blow goat nuts in the snow.

I was getting ready to click the button when a coworker clued me in to a local guy. He beat tire racks delivered price with better wheels to boot. Should have them in about a week. No flak when I told him no tpms and that I never let a shop install my wheels. He said he didn't blame me, he sees lots of warped rotors from a particular shop in town.

 

Wisconsin outlawed studded tires about the time I was born. So, outside of studded atv tires, I've never driven a car / truck with studded tires on a road. I also stud every snowmobile I own, wouldn't ever think about riding a sled on icy trails without them.

 

Good advice.

Check your local independent small mechanic, they will more than likely be able to come very close to Tirerack...etc price...and the guy/gal lives in your community