Tire Advice: Winter Approaches

[twintrbo]

The most snow I saw barely covered a single panel of the car. Put it off til next year, you might come across a great deal in the meantime.

 

[dieseldriver]

If we do get slammed with snow, probably will be taking the CX9 more. Stock Toyos does perform fairly well in light snow however. In the mean time, I would like to add either an OEM or Thule roof rack but they're so expensive. It's one of the few more things to add so I can carry my Thule Evolution cargo box when going camping/hiking and to Orlando this year.

The most snow I saw barely covered a single panel of the car. Put it off til next year, you might come across a great deal in the meantime.

 

[twintrbo]

You can still get my locking Yakima Q tower set up for $150 delivered! Its going up on Ebay soon..... I know when we had that storm around Halloween, mine was sliding the rear on that mess and it would have been scary as hell on all the ice we got a few weeks back. I slid a good 20' to the crosswalk even with snow tires!

 

[dieseldriver]

I had Q-Towers before, good rack, just can't stand the noise from the rack. I am a big Yakima fan, and I heard that they recently acquired Whisprack as well. I was looking around for Whisprack but could not find a cheaper price for aero-style rack that has a factory look. Wound up ordering the factory rack from MedCenter (www.MazdaParts.org) -- always had good customer service from them. Ordered a Inno 6-Ski Carrier from Amazon for $80. So saved over $100 if I was to go with something like Thule from e-Trailer where I still needed to buy the locks separately. Thule and Yakima charges premium and have noticed in the past that they don't necessarily outperform the smaller manufacturer either.

You can still get my locking Yakima Q tower set up for $150 delivered! Its going up on Ebay soon..... I know when we had that storm around Halloween, mine was sliding the rear on that mess and it would have been scary as hell on all the ice we got a few weeks back. I slid a good 20' to the crosswalk even with snow tires!

 

[1987cp]

Well, I was trying to avoid plunking down over $1000 for a winter wheel set from tire rack this year but snow just started. So now debating whether to just go ahead with my original plan to order the winter wheel set and get it by next week or just try to wing it for now.

If your concept is snow-friendly all seaons, I noticed the Yoko Avid Touring S is availble in 205/55/16. We've been having very decent luck with those in 195/70/14 on our Cavalier.

 

[dieseldriver]

I've had the Yoko AVID's prior on my Beetle. Nice quiet tires, but the sidewalls are a bit weak. I agree with you on traction though..

If your concept is snow-friendly all seaons, I noticed the Yoko Avid Touring S is availble in 205/55/16. We've been having very decent luck with those in 195/70/14 on our Cavalier.

 

[1987cp]

Agreed about flexiness. Probably less noticable in a 55-series?

Weirdly, there was a different Avid Touring, the TRZ I think, that someone was saying was awful in snow. Especially odd considering that its tread pattern looks identical to the old Avid S/T, which was rather decent.

 

[dieseldriver]

When I was shopping around for the AVID, I've read lots of review on TireRack.com. Most complaint was for the TRZ which people said it was noisy as well. Maybe they used different compound for sidewall strength and load rating. I like Michelins for my all-season driving without having to get separate snow tires but then they are easily $100 more than most tire brands. I might join Costco again and get Pilots from there.

Agreed about flexiness. Probably less noticable in a 55-series?

Weirdly, there was a different Avid Touring, the TRZ I think, that someone was saying was awful in snow. Especially odd considering that its tread pattern looks identical to the old Avid S/T, which was rather decent.