Winter tire advice needed

[exvolvo]

I'd like to get some winter tires for my 2013 LR4 HSE LUX. It came with the 20" alloy rims. In talking to the dealer, they gave me pricing on 20" and 19" tires. The 19" tires would require new rims, of course, and so are more expensive (but would include TPMS), but then you save wear and tear on the tires because you're not removing them from the rims each season.

That said, I'll be driving 20,000 kms (about 13,000 miles) each winter so I'm not even sure winter tires would last past 2 or maybe 3 seasons and if the extra wear and tear makes a real difference given how much I'll be driving.

So first question first: is there an advantage to going with a 19" tire or should I stick with a 20" tire? If the latter, does it make sense to get new rims?

Eric

 

[PaulLR3]

Yes, a 19" tire will be a little better in snow than a 20" but the traction difference may be minimal. Of course a 19" tire has taller sidewalls which do a better job of protecting the wheel from damage.

For our LR4 winter tires I just picked-up a set of used 19" LR3 wheels off ebay. I didn't want to expose the new OE wheels to road salt, potholes, sliding into a curb, etc. I bought the TPMS sensors from TPMS Direct. And for winter tires I went with the Nokian Hakkapelliitta R2 SUV. It's a new winter tire that replaces the Hakka R SUV that we're running on our LR3. The R2 should be better in slush. The one advantage I think Nokian has is that their tires remain winter tires as they wear. On other winter tire brands, the tiny sipes that stop you on ice disappear as the tire wears.

And after all, traction won't be a problem, it's stopping and turning this heavy vehicle on slippery roads.

When shopping for used wheels, beware of reconditioned & repaired wheels. You never know what has been welded or done under that shiny new coat of paint.

 

[NASdiesel]

If you are going to run 13K miles on them. You'd be lucky to get a 3rd season out of them. So I wouldn't worry about wear and tear on taking off. I tend to not buy new rims for winter tires among my cars because I like have the tire rebalanced as it wears. Ensures a smooth ride season after season. Also give us a chance to inspect them.

 

[94speedster]

Our LR4 runs Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60s on our 20" wheels. I bought my latest pair from Tire Rack for $1,222.60. They are awesome in deep snow and on ice/packed snow. We buy them every year around October for mount on Nov. 1st, and run them all 12 months. Last year's tire lasted 30k miles until the wear lines showed... As a dedicated snow tire, I'd wager that we got 15k miles out of them before they were relegated to "all season" use...

The tire compounds are what make the tires stick on the ice/packed snow, and the tire edge angle is what allows you to carve a turn in deep, unpacked snow. These Blizzaks have a great edge angle (90 degrees) which enables high speed driving in deep snow (lots of fun btw...)

We live in Park City, UT and get 350+ inches of snow per winter. The combination of an LR4 + Blizzaks is IDEAL. As my wife's DD - she has NEVER been stuck and enjoys cruising past SUVs on lesser tires...

As an alternative, you can't go wrong with Nokians either.

My $.02,
-B

 

[mbw]

Our LR4 runs Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60s on our 20" wheels. I bought my latest pair from Tire Rack for $1,222.60. They are awesome in deep snow and on ice/packed snow. We buy them every year around October for mount on Nov. 1st, and run them all 12 months. Last year's tire lasted 30k miles until the wear lines showed... As a dedicated snow tire, I'd wager that we got 15k miles out of them before they were relegated to "all season" use...

The tire compounds are what make the tires stick on the ice/packed snow, and the tire edge angle is what allows you to carve a turn in deep, unpacked snow. These Blizzaks have a great edge angle (90 degrees) which enables high speed driving in deep snow (lots of fun btw...)

We live in Park City, UT and get 350+ inches of snow per winter. The combination of an LR4 + Blizzaks is IDEAL. As my wife's DD - she has NEVER been stuck and enjoys cruising past SUVs on lesser tires...

As an alternative, you can't go wrong with Nokians either.

My $.02,
-B

Blizzaks are fantastic in winter, but why would you want to run them on above freezing temp roads? They are really soft. I would avoid using snows all year.

 

[94speedster]

Blizzaks are fantastic in winter, but why would you want to run them on above freezing temp roads? They are really soft. I would avoid using snows all year.

Sure. Let me first ask - where do you live? Your signature says Iowa. A quick Google search yields that Iowa gets 23-39 inches of snow per winter. In Park City, we get 350 inches. Five miles to our southwest as the crow flies (Alta), they get 550 inches annually. Yes, we get a LOT of snow and it comes as early as September and as late as June - so having all-seasons (good) or snows (best) is a great idea. (I have actually both skied & golfed on July 4th, but that is another story...)

When I moved to Park City full time back in 2001, I began experimenting with tire compounds on my DD car & my wife's SUV, bouncing between winter & summer tires. On a sports car, R-Comps are clearly more fun. But on a 6500lb SUV, do I really need "stickiness"? What we found over the years was that the snow tires wear down nicely by early summer and make an excellent "all season" tire during the summer/fall. The deep grooves enable good rain channels, and the base tread is much harder than you'd think. We take the Rover to Vegas often and the car/tires see temps of 120 degrees in the summer and have plenty of grip at that temp....

This will be our 6th year with this model, and it just works for us. The only challenge has been finding the right winter tire with a 90 degree tread angle. The M+S Pirelli's and Michelins both didn't work well in deep snow. The Blizzaks have been amazing.

-B

 

[PaulLR3]

A friend of ours used to live in Park City and did the same thing...she ran winter tires year-round on her allroad. Just made more sense when it snows for 8 months out of 12. Here in the northeast we have the opposite, just 4 months of possible snow so it would be nuts to wear out the expensive winter tires.

 

[mbw]

I am not disagreeing that you should use winter tires there a lot, but do you have times when the road is warm, no snow? I would still probably switch between snows and other tires each year. That is what I have always done with our cars.

I have no doubt you need snow tires, im just curious about the other parts of the year.

 

[mbw]

A friend of ours used to live in Park City and did the same thing...she ran winter tires year-round on her allroad. Just made more sense when it snows for 8 months out of 12. Here in the northeast we have the opposite, just 4 months of possible snow so it would be nuts to wear out the expensive winter tires.

I guess that makes sense, if you only have a few months you dont need them. Just a shame to only ever drive a car on snows though.. they are so squishy.

 

[still-one]

In another thread I mentioned that I replaced my Conti's with Michelin Latitudes hoping that they would be better in the snow. Well we have had a lot of snow covered roads the past few days and the new Michelin's are significantly better in these conditions. I was never comfortable from day one with the Conti's and yesterday and today I had absolutely no issues. Great improvement.