Winter Tire Preference?

[upnorth26]

I'm currently in the market for winter tires (first set I have ever bought for a vehicle) and was curious if anyone had any suggestions as to a good brand or one that they currently use and like (I am leaning towards the Nokian brand for my 6 day old GTP).

Any info would be great up here in northern BC!!!

[Pageophile]

Tires

Nokian seems to be the way to go. My buddies have all picked up Winter Tires recently and comparing brands the Nokians keep coming out on top.

Considering where they are designed/made it makes me all the more confidant in recommending them. While I don't doubt other makers can design a good winter tire, I'd like a maker to have some experience with REAL winter conditions

Good Luck

[Lmac83]

Continental conti-touring all seasons

Seriously though , i'm going to invest in a good set of blizzaks next year , been stuck too many times by the ice polishers that came with my car.

[ragingfish]

best tires i ever owned were green diamonds.

Unfortunately, they don't make them in the size i would need for installation on 16" steel wheels for the G6. Not sure if they come in a size that would fit the 17" wheels though, never thought to look.

If they are available in the right size, green diamonds all the way. I would never get anything else (unless I had to!)

[jnak]

The only winter tires I've ever had were Toyos. They were great.

[Blackrider]

When I lived in Winnipeg blizzaks where what I rolled on.

[upnorth26]

Tire choice...

I think I am going to check out the local Kal Tire dealer and see what kind of deal i can get on a set of Nokians mounted on steel rims... or can I go to a 16" rim and instead of a 50 series tire go to a 70 or something to compensate (instead of the stock 225/50R18's... go to a 225/70R16" ???)

[GraniteGrey]

I'm REAL HAPPY with my Goodyear Eagle Ultra Grip GW-3's (although I'm not a particular fan of previous Goodyear/Good-for-one-year tires that I've had). We'll see how they hold out for lifespan/distance, but that's going to take a while (like a couple winters at least). See my posts here:

http://g6performance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4656&start=30

I've linked to page 3, but you might want to check out the previous pages too.

In a recent Consumer Reports, the GW-3's were the highest scoring tire, but only by a few points out of 100. I don't remember the "second highest", but it was fairly close. Of course, unless you're going to do tests of several brands using some sort of scientific method, you're going to see such a large improvement on snow and ice over your all-season tires performance that just about any brand is going to be "the best" until you've tried them all - which is something no individual is going to do. I would question how useful the comments from places like 1010Tires or TireRack will be because the consumers are simply using "seat-of-the-pants" testing (if it can even be called that). It's fine to say that the buyers are happy or not with their purchase, but how does that translate to how a Goodyear compares to a Bridgestone to a Yokahama to a ... for best, second best, etc. Giving a score out of ten (with decimal point no less) and then ranking them is akin to saying "this colour is more pleasing". BTW, I'm a huge fan of the TireRack's independent (scientific) testing of tires, but less interested in how actual users rate the tires.

In the end, I'm happy with my purchase... and my buddy is happy with his Bridgestone's. They're both leaps and bounds better than our all season tires for snow and ice, and they're not a bad compromise for times when the road is bare too.