Has anyone changed to snow tires?
Just thought of it because of the foot of snow I had last night. I wonder how bad it would affect mpg's?

 

I put Michelin LTX M&S on mine. I will use them all year long.

I am still averaging 29mpg.

I took a road trip the other day and it actually was about 40 degrees warmer. I was at 38 MPG. I dont think the tires had much effect.

I will sacrifice 1 mpg for a much better ride then the factory tires. The Cont. are terrible.

 

Do you have a fwd or awd MMH?

 

I just purchased the FWD, especially since the AWD doesnt lock in.

I drove an AWD gas last year as a rental, it was a 2007, but I only seemed to use the AWD feature when I was pushing it faster then I should.

So far its handled in snow very well. I am of course limited by height/clearance. Another major storm coming in the morning, I will let you know the results.

 

Thanks, keep me posted. I ordered the fwd MMH, mainly because I wanted the maximum gas mileage that I can get from a MMH. After yesterday's storm, I was second guessing my decision.

 

I had my Goodyear Triple Treads installed this week. I actually bought them in September 2007 but waited until I had a chance to drive the Conti Ecoplus tires in snow. Last week, this area received around 4-6 inches of snow during a 48-60 hour time frame. The Ecoplus tires did ok ( I only have 9500 miles on the vehicle) for this amount of snow. However, looking at how the snow packed on the tire, the treadmarks left in the snow and how I felt driving in this amount of snow, made me want to swap out the Ecoplus tires for the Triple Treads. I have used snow tires on my previous three vehicles over the past 18 years. There currently is no natural snow in our area but it is forecasted for this weekend.

My beef about snow tires is the limited treadwear and not as good dry road handling when compared to the "3 season tires" used during the rest of the year. I normally used snowtires in December thru the second or third week in March. My snowtires were frequently worn out after two seasons if I skied weekly and traveled to find snow. When I purchased my Escape earlier this year, I decided to use tires that were rated to handle snow conditions, provided improved treadwear durability and would not sacrifice mileage. During my search I learned of the mountain and snowflake rating:

http://www.canadiandriver.com/winter...snow_tires.htm

From this article I narrowed my search down to Nokian WR or the Goodyear Triple Tread tires. Goodyear's were cheaper and carried an additional 10,000 mile warranty. I will learn more about my choice in the future.

 

I am actually running the Nokian WR SUV tires mentioned which I actually found cheaper than the Goodyear TT . I ordered them special from our local big box tire place, Town Fair Tire.

I had my first winter weather experience with them the past few days, and I can't be happier. Stopping in both deep snow, and on ice was excellent for a set of tires you can run year round. Obviously studded snow's would be better, but you can definitely not fault these at all.

They also run much quieter than the Conti's I had on there before, and I am not noticing any major differnence in my MPG, even though the Nokian's are suppossed to have a higher rolling resistance.

 

Hi,

I am on my second winter using Michelin Latitude X-Ice. We're getting our second blizzard this year (probably more snow to date than all last year). I've always had winer tires and in our climate, it is recommended by any authority (police, transport Canada etc...).

Winter tires wear faster because of the softer rubber. The worst thing to do is to keep them off too long in the spring as the warmer weather softens the rubber even more and increases wear. Of course, if mother nature would post her schedule it would be easier to optimize ourselves.

I can't tell how the tires lower economy because of all the other negative factors that come with winter (less EV mode, slower traffic, slipping wheels etc...). I expect that the tires have higher friction (the softer rubber deforms more while rolling) so there is a hit. I figure having the truck replaced because I flipped into a ditch would take more energy, but I have not done the math .

Everyone has an opinion and a lot of the decision goes to comfort, I feel more comfortable with winter tires.

Drive safely,

Roch

 

I run my stock Conti's at ~48psi most of the year.
Now, with all the snow and ice in the mid-west, I lowered them to 35psi front, 40 psi rear.

I don't know for sure, but I'm hoping going from 48psi to 35psi will have the same net effect as going from 35psi Conti's to a 35psi snow tire.

Maybe I'm a bit too optimistic? But it's definately cheaper!
-J

 

I certainly appreciate everyone's input about tires and winter driving.
Maybe by the time my MMH fwd arrives, spring will be here.