Snow tire advise

[Justa231]

My Turbo T that hasn't seen rain or snow for years has become my daily driver.
I need to get a set of snow tires for it since I have Nitto drag radials on it right now.
Can anyone give me advise on what snow tires I should get?
I live in New York and we do get snow on occasions.
I would like to leave these tires on and put the Nittos back when the weather gets nicer.

Thanks
Nick

 

[mark b]

One word: Blizzak's....... they are a soft tire and will wear out quicker if you don't have snow, but when you do IMHO they are the tire to get

 

[Justa231]

They are the tires I was just looking at on Tirerack.com.
What do you mean by wear out quickly?
Approximately how many miles should I expect from them?
I was also considering the Winterforce by BF. Do you know anything about them?

 

[wagon]

The rubber in snow tires is a softer compound than regular tires. That is why they wear out quickly on dry pavement. That is also why I use mud and snow rated tires as drag tires for my car. They work good for me.

Brian

 

[Justa231]

I'm going to order the Blizzaks.
One last question.
What size should I get?
215/65 15 or 215/60 15 or another size?

Thanks

 

[mark b]

Do they make them in 215/65? Hardly anyone makes that size anymore, the choice is getting very limited. You can run 235/60 which is the same height and I doubt the extra width is going to hurt....

 

[salvageV6]

215/65 work for me for 13 years now.

On my second set and they are about used up.

You get about 25K out of them if you put them on in late Nov. or early Dec. and take them off early when it warms up.

You might get caught in one last April snowstorm but that usually cleans up in one day anyway.

I like the original style the best. They make 3 types now I think.

 

[Justa231]

I called Tirerack to order the Blizzaks and they told me that I cannot buy just two tires. They told me that I have to buy all four.
I was planning on just replacing my drag radials with the snow tires.
Do you guys have all four tires snow tires or just the rear two?
Does anyone know where I can buy just two Blizzak tires?

 

[mark b]

How about a local tire place?

In our area we have "Town Fair Tires" that has decent prices on many brands....

Where in NY are you? I hope not in the Adirondacks.... I read it was 20 below zero up there this weekend. At least here in CT it was only 3 below!

 

[Justa231]

I'm on Long Island.
I called a couple of local places this morning to get prices, but it appears that nobody stocks snow tires.
I'm going to call them back to find out if they will sell me only two tires.
I guess I'll just have to wait.
I guess its okay to only have the snow tires in the rear?

 

[mark b]

> I guess its okay to only have the snow tires in the rear

For sure..... my father and I'm sure millions of others did this with rear-wheel drive cars for a long time! I'm not sure about the Yukon, but for our area it's fine.

 

[Kent C]

I had a set of snow tire on my car a couple of years ago when I was forced to drive in one winter (smack up winter beater) I would highly recommend getting all 4 due to the fact you have to stop and the fronts snows make a big difference than just having all seasons. to bad you don't live around here I would let you use them for the winter they have been sitting in my garage mounted on a set of t-type wheels now for 3 years now and they still look brand new. hopefully I will never need them again??

 

[salvageV6]

All 4 unless you really don't need to turn.

If you had all seasons on the front you might get away with 2.

Tell the tire rack you bought 2 last year locally and want 2 for the front this year.

 

[mark b]

Man, how long have you lived in CT? In Litchfield County maybe?
I drove for 20 years with nothing but BFG T/A Radials and never got stuck once. If I had 4 Blizzaks on the car, I'd go into the plowing business or towing business!

 

[salvageV6]

Bet you weren't out at 6am today in a TR.

 

[PhilM]

Hope your a good driver, i dont care what kinda tire you got, no possi car is gonna *drive* in the snow. You'd be better off buying a frontwheel drive POS and SAVE your car from hitting trees, poles, ...etc...

 

[DJay]

I wasnt impressed with the Blizzak at ALL.

My brother still drives his GN in the winters (lack of moolah) and I drove my IROC every Chicago winter for 7 years.

The ONLY snow tire worth a darn, imho, is Made by Nokian Tyres. These tires are made in Finland by people who know snow. I've NEVER been stuck with these tires even while driving in unplowed snow that was 8 inches deep!!!

Best part about em ... u can drive em ALL YEAR LONG! They wear like no other ( i used mine for 3 years) and still handle decently. You'd be silly to get a tire u HAVE to take off once it gets above 40 degrees.

Heres the link for you... http://www.nokiantyres.com/

Best of luck

 

[mark b]

> Bet you weren't out at 6am today in a TR.

No I wasn't, I was out at 7:00 am...really!

BUT.... I'll be the first to say that my GN isn't meant to be a winter car and I agree that a posi car with any real HP isn't the best thing to be out there with. I'm only doing it because I sold my winter driver (85 MCSS). I drove that with BFG TA's all the time. If I smash the TR up, I'll make sure I get killed because I couldn't stand seeing the car wasted.

 

[PhilM]

well, if you kill yourself too, that makes it all OK then.

 

[turbojimmy]

Originally posted by mark b
> Bet you weren't out at 6am today in a TR.

No I wasn't, I was out at 7:00 am...really!

BUT.... I'll be the first to say that my GN isn't meant to be a winter car and I agree that a posi car with any real HP isn't the best thing to be out there with. I'm only doing it because I sold my winter driver (85 MCSS). I drove that with BFG TA's all the time. If I smash the TR up, I'll make sure I get killed because I couldn't stand seeing the car wasted.

My dad drives his '99 Camaro SS 6-speed w/ posi year-round. He puts Blizzaks on it in the winter and swears it will go anywhere a FWD car will go. He convinced me to buy a set - I have 4 on my Buick Century now. Haven't "used" them yet, but from what I understand we'll get some snow tomorrow here in the NE.....

Jim