^^^ Thanks Mark, good post.

 

I'm looking at new tires for my 06 FEH and it looks like many of the "recommended" tires have very poor snow performance. I live in the mountains of VA and while we don't normally get a lot of snow, the hilly terrain can make getting around tricky even with only a few inches on the roads. Any suggestions?

I also noticed that the Latitude Tours in sizes for our FEH did NOT get the Green X cert. Kind of strange considering they're for a green car.

 

Well, I'm currently driving on General Grabbers, but I'm not in love with them. Go to the tire rack website and do LOTS of browsing as a first step (if you haven't).

If you've read through this thread, you may realize I started it for people to give us some real info, even stats, about their experience with their tires that they are running INSTEAD of the OEM type Continentals or the wildly popular Michelins.

I put my General Grabber HTS Highway All-Season tires on at 82K miles and am now at 118K. At first they were noticeably quieter than the old OEM Continentals, but lacking accurate testing and correctly calibrated and applied SPL measurement equipment I can only guess as to how loud they actually are anymore. They may or may not be quieter than those OEM tires at this point, I'm guessing slightly quieter. I don't think they'll last anywhere near as long as the OE Continental Eco-Pluses, which are no longer available. I have not driven these through any substantial amounts of snow yet, even though I've had them about 14mo. They do have a grabbier tread pattern then the pics I've seen of the Michelin Lattitudes, and more than those OE tires they replaced. The tire rack listings I'm getting currently don't show any Michelin LRR tires. I'm not seeing any LRR tires with tread patterns I'd call "snow tires", but my whole life you could plan on poorer fuel mileage when you were running snow tires. I don't see that changing.

My mileage is not demonstrably worse than what I was getting when I got rid of the OE tires. 36000mi in 14 mo; I'm obviously doing lotsa highway miles, and getting that kind of fuel mileage and tire noise.

To go back to the heart of your question though, you may actually be best by getting another set of rims altogether and putting a fairly aggressive tread "snow tire" on them, and just putting them on at 1st snow every year and taking them back off as early as you dare. Your mpg won't look nice, but won't be as bad as a lot of other rigs under those conditions. Barring that, go with the Grabbers and get a full set of chains. That'd outperform any ordinary snowtires anyhow when you're actually driving through snow on top of some pack.

 

I can't really go with a second set of winter specific tires at this time. I just read that the wet/snow performance of the "wildly popular" Michelin Latitudes was abysmal. This seems to be a result of the LRR tread compound. I can usually still get around here if it snows with my Eco-Pluses but they are definitely just awful on wet hard packed snow.

I may get a set of the Michelins or Kumhos this spring and maybe in the future I'll finally have a garage and be able to have a second set of wheels for the winter.

Kind of off topic but have the prices on the Michelins gone up? I seem to remember them being around $140 each and now they're closer to $180ish.

 

I put a set of the General Grabbers on our 4 wheel drive FEH in July. So far they are great. We have had little snow until now. They cost 120 mounted and balanced vs 190 for the Michelins.

 

Just read this entire post today. Thanks to those who are posting their opinions. I'm also thinking about replacing my 2008 Continental Contitrac EcoPlus tires. Found a couple of interesting test reports from Tire Rack. Hope this helps others who are in my situation.

Test Report 1
Kumho Solus vs. Michelin Latitude Tour vs. Pirelli model I probably can't afford

Test Report 2
Continental CrossContact vs. Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia vs. Goodyear Assurance CS Fuel Max

Now I haven't read any mentions of the Bridgestone or Goodyear models on this thread. Does anyone have first hand experience with them? It would appear that the they won the MPG comparison. Kumho, Pirelli, Michelin, and Continental all got 18.3 mpg on TireRack's test track while Bridgestone and Goodyear got 19.1 mpg. That difference amounts to ~$137/year according to their calculations. Not insignificant for tires the usually lasts 5-7 years.

Traction isn't a big deal for me. I happen to drive my '08 FEH in pretty good weather with no snow, no ice, and very little rain. So for me, durability and MPG are the biggest concerns (I don't care about noise either). I'm actually 100% happy with my current EcoPlus tires (regardless of the noise issue). I've had 50K miles on them using mostly 38-41 psi tire pressure. The tread is just fine but I'm noticing signs of minor wear now. So probably will be in the market for a new set soon. I've seen the Michelin LTX M/S2 and General Grabber recommended here, but if anyone has information on the Bridgestone or Goodyear models, your opinion will be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

I've bought a few dozen sets of tires over the years. I had Michelin LTX AT2 on the FEH when I sold it and absolutely loved them, best true all season tire I ever owned. I have Bridgestone HL 400 on my brand new '12 CX9 and they are the worst tire ever. I had desert duelers on a '94 Rodeo and they were excellent. The best tire bang for buck are Kuhmo Ecsta. I ran 3 sets on my 240sx and they are hands down the best 3 season tire and cheap. When i retire(pun) the HL400 on my CX9, I will buy Kuhmo's

 

I just replaced my original Conti tires (2007 FEH) with Conti CrossContact Eco Plus tires. My initial reaction is that they are much better riding and infinitely better in the snow and ice. The originals had zip for snow traction from day one. Time will tell on the fuel economy.

 

just as an update, my FEH is now at 126K miles, the Grabbers are still in good shape, and on wet pavement ,,,,,

well,,, they stopped suddenly and without sliding on that wet pavement this past weekend, better than the Jeep Cherokee that was behind me. Heck they even helped stop the Jeep! (but it slid!) Didn't notice what tires she was riding on.

 

At about 55000 miles I replaced the original Conti tires with Grabber tires and loved them. I sold the car at 75000 miles and the dealer thought they were brand new. They had far better snow and wet traction than the Contis. I bought a 2012 Hybrid with Michelin tires but haven't used them in lots of rain or snow yet, so I can't comment about them, but when it comes time to replace them, I'll be looking for the Grabbers again.