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Old 12-19-2014, 02:33 PM   #5676
K.Linchpin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prerak77 View Post
I feel that dry performance has been great. Some high speed lateral grip is down. I noticed it when taking a sweeping on-ramp that I normally take at much higher speed. With these tires on I had to drop my MPH down, but not by much.

But one more note, these are my first ever set of winter tires, so I really have no other set of winter tire (performance or not) to compare against.
Thanks, man. This along with about 20 positive reviews on the tire rack made my decision to get a set. Looking forward to taking on/off ramps at the limit in the dry. And also looking forward to some trips to VT before, during, and after some big snow storms.

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Old 12-19-2014, 02:40 PM   #5677
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After being on the market for 5 or 6 years in North America, the Continental ExtremeWinterContact studless winter tire is finally getting an update in 2015. Continental is having a press introduction in January, in Montana, from what I have read elsewhere.

I am guessing the tread design will be identical to the ContiVikingContact 6 tire sold in northern Europe and Russia.
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Old 12-19-2014, 02:52 PM   #5678
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Looking for input, especially from Luke@tirerack. I just got my girlfriend some Altimax Arctic OEM size (225/60/16) tires on 03 WRX wheels for her 2000 Outback wagon with 5MT. She's trying them out in South Lake Tahoe for the first time, today. She's going to be living there, where they're going to be great, but frequently she's going to be driving to Santa Rosa, CA (basically tons of dry pavement freeway driving in the Winter) and the tire installers convinced her that driving through Sacramento, even in the Winter, is going to limit the tires to just one or two seasons before they wear out. We saved her stock wheels with A/S tires for the summer, but how many miles can one expect to get out of the Arctics when driven a lot on dry pavement in the Northern California Winter season?
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Old 12-19-2014, 03:20 PM   #5679
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Nobody really knows, I suspect so keep us posted.
It might have been better to buy Dunlop 3D in the same size.

Krzys
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Old 12-19-2014, 03:24 PM   #5680
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Nobody really knows, I suspect so keep us posted.
It might have been better to buy Dunlop 3D in the same size.

Krzys
I'm on my 2nd set of 3Ds so I'm very familiar with them. They are a big-time compromise (closer to an A/S tire) and, IMO, just not safe enough for someone I care about who will be driving in and from South Lake Tahoe down the mountain on a regular basis. It's just not worth saving what I imagine is about $20/year by going that route, but I am obviously open to input on the subject so keep it coming.

She actually might be getting a job at Kirkwood too, about 30 miles from S. Lake, and they do have a shuttle bus, but she'll be driving in snow and ice, a lot!
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Old 12-19-2014, 04:35 PM   #5681
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cody View Post
Looking for input, especially from Luke@tirerack. I just got my girlfriend some Altimax Arctic OEM size (225/60/16) tires on 03 WRX wheels for her 2000 Outback wagon with 5MT. She's trying them out in South Lake Tahoe for the first time, today. She's going to be living there, where they're going to be great, but frequently she's going to be driving to Santa Rosa, CA (basically tons of dry pavement freeway driving in the Winter) and the tire installers convinced her that driving through Sacramento, even in the Winter, is going to limit the tires to just one or two seasons before they wear out. We saved her stock wheels with A/S tires for the summer, but how many miles can one expect to get out of the Arctics when driven a lot on dry pavement in the Northern California Winter season?
I drove the crap out of mine, commuted from truckee to reno 3 days a week, plus roadtrips. I drive a lot. Got a solid 2 winters out of them, putting them on about halloween and taking them off mid may. Theyll be good, just rotate them a lot for good measure, youll get your money out of them. Dont overinflate!
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Old 12-19-2014, 04:42 PM   #5682
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I have a 2015 WRX and ended up getting the Pirelli Sottozero 3's for about $770.00 shipped not including a $50 mail in rebate... pretty expensive... I wanted the Dunlop 4D's but they were out of stock ... I got 235/45/R17's (standard stock size) I got them installed by Mr. Tire for $60 a little over a month ago and here is my review:

Notes on why I purchased: Other than the comment above (Wanted to get the 4D's because they were cheaper), I will be switching tires for Auto-x and then back to winter... therefore I figured I'd get performance winters over all-season and throw them on from November --> March-ish... I live just outside of Baltimore, MD and commute into the city... Oh and the sh***y roads suck in this car... suspension and tires both lol... That's what you pay for to get the handling though ...

PROS: Very grippy, especially in cold weather (less than 40 degrees), has great lateral holding, not too much drop off from the Maxx RT's (stock) I was pleasantly surprised... handled some light slush well... No real snow yet, I will update though... I can't even begin to explain how well they have stuck to the road during spirited driving and some hard cornering... I took the same corner with the stocks a few days before and these have an incredible about of grip below 40 degrees.. traction control came on with the stocks... about 40 degrees then too, Great looking pattern looks like it will do well in snow, slush and some ice

CONS: I did notice about a 20% decrease in steering feel "weight of the wheel when turning" immediately... Biggest gripe: They are silent up until 45mph where they get quite loud and I wasn't too happy about that... it's hard to explain but the stock tires were fairly loud at most MPH... these tires have more of a higher pitched drone than the full spectrum drone of the stock tires... best description I can say... It's kind of nuts that they're silent at 44MPH and they are LOUD (compared to 44PMH) at 46MPH... wonder if all of you have similar issues... maybe I just have a low tolerance... the car is loud anyways... I would take a quieter noise throughout the spectrum though...

PICTURES:








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Old 12-19-2014, 04:54 PM   #5683
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Originally Posted by left footed whooten View Post
I drove the crap out of mine, commuted from truckee to reno 3 days a week, plus roadtrips. I drive a lot. Got a solid 2 winters out of them, putting them on about halloween and taking them off mid may. Theyll be good, just rotate them a lot for good measure, youll get your money out of them. Dont overinflate!
Thanks, Bud. Appreciate the advice.
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Old 12-20-2014, 12:08 AM   #5684
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cody View Post
I'm on my 2nd set of 3Ds so I'm very familiar with them. They are a big-time compromise (closer to an A/S tire) and, IMO, just not safe enough for someone I care about who will be driving in and from South Lake Tahoe down the mountain on a regular basis. It's just not worth saving what I imagine is about $20/year by going that route, but I am obviously open to input on the subject so keep it coming.

She actually might be getting a job at Kirkwood too, about 30 miles from S. Lake, and they do have a shuttle bus, but she'll be driving in snow and ice, a lot!
I've run the 3D's too and they are FAR better than A/S tires, tests have also proved your statement wrong. I say run Xi-3s as they are mileage warranted and most winter tires are not..
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Old 12-20-2014, 03:12 PM   #5685
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cody View Post
I'm on my 2nd set of 3Ds so I'm very familiar with them. They are a big-time compromise (closer to an A/S tire) and, IMO, just not safe enough for someone I care about who will be driving in and from South Lake Tahoe down the mountain on a regular basis. It's just not worth saving what I imagine is about $20/year by going that route, but I am obviously open to input on the subject so keep it coming.

She actually might be getting a job at Kirkwood too, about 30 miles from S. Lake, and they do have a shuttle bus, but she'll be driving in snow and ice, a lot!
If ice is concern then unstudded Arctics are probably not better than performance winters which were designed to handle ice without stud's help.
Just my opinion.

Krzys

PS Just looked at CR ratings. General Altimax Arctic got white dot for ice braking (good). Xi2 and Xi3 got excellent. Of course hard to tell what it means as they do not provide raw data.
4D got very good rating but in different test so it may not be directly comparable.

Last edited by krzyss; 12-20-2014 at 03:19 PM.
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Old 12-21-2014, 08:23 AM   #5686
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I heard we may get some snow finally around New Year's.

I did go up to Kancamagus Hwy the other night. The top 1/4 mile or so is covered in ice/snow where my Altimax did really well. No ABS kicked in and stuck like glue. There's one parking lot (the smaller of the two, the big one is blocked in with snow) that has packed snow and of course I tried to swing the car around but it wasn't as easy even with traction off. So that was kind of boring Pic link -> http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ostcount=11259

It's very predictable in that sense. I did a quick 0-30mph to hard braking and ABS kicked in slightly but stopped in short distance. Not complaining of course, it was good knowing I wasn't going to be sliding everywhere.

What others said about breaking in the tires I do think it's true for the first 50 miles or so. The traction control was coming on the first 25 miles often when accelerating from a corner. It stopped doing that after 100 miles or so.

Last edited by wrxnh; 12-21-2014 at 08:28 AM.
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Old 12-21-2014, 09:51 PM   #5687
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Quote:
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I heard we may get some snow finally around New Year's.

I did go up to Kancamagus Hwy the other night. The top 1/4 mile or so is covered in ice/snow where my Altimax did really well. No ABS kicked in and stuck like glue. There's one parking lot (the smaller of the two, the big one is blocked in with snow) that has packed snow and of course I tried to swing the car around but it wasn't as easy even with traction off. So that was kind of boring Pic link -> http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ostcount=11259

It's very predictable in that sense. I did a quick 0-30mph to hard braking and ABS kicked in slightly but stopped in short distance. Not complaining of course, it was good knowing I wasn't going to be sliding everywhere.

What others said about breaking in the tires I do think it's true for the first 50 miles or so. The traction control was coming on the first 25 miles often when accelerating from a corner. It stopped doing that after 100 miles or so.

nice shot! you have that hi res you can share? it reminds me of home (i'm from Wolfeboro).

On topic, here is my mom's XV on 16x7 Sparco Terras with 215/60 Hakka R2s. Pretty badass if you ask me (still way underpowered though )



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Old 12-22-2014, 03:35 PM   #5688
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^Nice! What PSI are you guys running with the 16's? I double checked and it was around 33 psi all around which I'm assuming is the recommended?
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Old 12-23-2014, 10:23 AM   #5689
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^Nice! What PSI are you guys running with the 16's? I double checked and it was around 33 psi all around which I'm assuming is the recommended?
good question, i have no idea. i had the wheels shipped to the installer (Northern Tire on Rt 16 in Ossipee). The R2s were purchased through them and they did all the work.
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Old 12-23-2014, 01:57 PM   #5690
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good question, i have no idea. i had the wheels shipped to the installer (Northern Tire on Rt 16 in Ossipee). The R2s were purchased through them and they did all the work.
You don't check your tires after install.... ? Trusting, aren't you...

I have had tires come out of the shop at 50 psi... and tires at 20 psi... I always double check.
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Old 12-23-2014, 02:39 PM   #5691
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Originally Posted by krzyss View Post
If ice is concern then unstudded Arctics are probably not better than performance winters which were designed to handle ice without stud's help.
Just my opinion.

Krzys

PS Just looked at CR ratings. General Altimax Arctic got white dot for ice braking (good). Xi2 and Xi3 got excellent. Of course hard to tell what it means as they do not provide raw data.
4D got very good rating but in different test so it may not be directly comparable.
It is hard to compare them directly because they're in different classes, but the Arctic gets very high marks for ice traction in the TR tests and surveys, even without studs. It gets better with studs, but hopefully that won't be necessary with all the freeway driving she does.

But I feel like my 3Ds were only okay on ice, at best, and these should be much better after reading the TR test and surveys for them.

FWIW, 3D's get an 8.0 for ice traction while Arctic get an 8.6. Both have over 5 million miles reported, in the survey.

Survey: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...sp?type=W&VT=C
Test: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=123
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Old 12-23-2014, 02:41 PM   #5692
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I've run the 3D's too and they are FAR better than A/S tires, tests have also proved your statement wrong. I say run Xi-3s as they are mileage warranted and most winter tires are not..
You misread my statement if you think your statement contradicts it. I said closer to an A/S, meaning less like a dedicated snow tire than the Arctics...which is true.
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Old 12-23-2014, 04:16 PM   #5693
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Surveys are opinions and are useless for detailed comparison.

Krzys
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Old 12-23-2014, 05:38 PM   #5694
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Surveys are opinions and are useless for detailed comparison.

Krzys
I find the TR surveys useful for judging things like tire noise, tire wear, and ride comfort. But for attributes like ice/snow traction, wet/dry traction, braking, hydroplaning, etc I ignore the surveys.
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Old 12-23-2014, 06:55 PM   #5695
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You don't check your tires after install.... ? Trusting, aren't you...

I have had tires come out of the shop at 50 psi... and tires at 20 psi... I always double check.
Not my car.... and no, checking tire pressures on my mother's car are not my priority when I see her.

Do I check my pressures regularly, yes. My wife's too.
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Old 12-23-2014, 09:42 PM   #5696
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I find the TR surveys useful for judging things like tire noise, tire wear, and ride comfort. But for attributes like ice/snow traction, wet/dry traction, braking, hydroplaning, etc I ignore the surveys.
I should have worded it better.
Surveys are good enough for subjective characteristics but near useless for objective ones.

Krzy***347;
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Old 12-27-2014, 11:02 PM   #5697
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Any additional feedback on Blizzak WS-80 performance... looking for some bare road handling info... are they as squirmy as the previous WS-70's...?

My current TOYO GSI-5 's are kind of at the edge, squirm wise... could definitely be better... but work well in the nasty stuff.
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Old 12-27-2014, 11:18 PM   #5698
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Surveys are opinions and are useless for detailed comparison.

Krzys
Multiple opinions are worth way more than one...

We drove her (heavier than my) car on snow and ice yesterday and holy ****, the Arctics, as I said I expected, are a MUCH better tire than the 3Ds when it comes to ice/snow traction. I was VERY impressed. They were worlds better than my car with 3Ds. Argument, over. It's almost like you can trust the TR tests and surveys (to a lesser extent, of course) or something...
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Old 12-29-2014, 05:16 PM   #5699
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^Nice! What PSI are you guys running with the 16's? I double checked and it was around 33 psi all around which I'm assuming is the recommended?
The placard inflation sort of goes out the window if you change tire sizes. If the load index is similar to the stock size, then the placard inflation is probably fine to run.
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Old 12-30-2014, 08:48 AM   #5700
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The placard inflation sort of goes out the window if you change tire sizes. If the load index is similar to the stock size, then the placard inflation is probably fine to run.
Ya I'm going to double check this week before Saturday night's snowstorm that's brewing. Hopefully we do get 6+ inches so I can test her out. Going to be likely a heavy wet snow. Hell yes
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