Are you still researching winter / snow tires? Well, Thanksgiving has just passed us by and it's time to pare down your list and decide what tires are right for your vehicle. And to help you with your decision, take a look at two options available in the Studdable Winter/Snow category: the
Firestone Winterforce and
General AltiMAX Arctic.
While a set of these Firestone auto tires and General winter tires can be studded ($15 per tire), most drivers are better off running them unstudded. Our
testing found that driving without studs gives most drivers a better balance of snow traction, dry and wet road performance and ice grip.
Both tires are good choices but the General AltiMAX Arctic outperforms the Winterforce in many areas. The Firestone and General tires are comparable in moderate and deep snow, however the AltiMAX Arctic performs better in dry road handling, packed snow, ice and wet grip. Although all winter tires have tread noise, the AltiMAX Arctic has the added bonus of being significantly quieter. Customers agree with our test results as well, as this winter / snow tire is currently the top-rated tire in our
Tire Survey Results.
General is owned by German tire manufacturer Continental, who supplies Original Equipment tires to many automobile manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen. So it's really no surprise that the AltiMAX Arctic is engineered so well to be a set of General truck tires for light duty applications, as well as a set of winter / snow tires for your SUV, coupe, sedan, minivan or crossover.
And whether you decide to purchase a new set of General AltiMAX Arctic tires or are looking for a set of Firestone tires for sale, use our
Upgrade Garage to help you make an informed decision.
This week, I wanted to take the opportunity and share how I shop for tires. In this case, I am looking to replace tires on my lovely fiancee's Jeep. She has a 1998 Grand Cherokee Laredo that is her daily driver as well as our vehicle of choice for camping expeditions.
For a 4WD vehicle that sees more Midwestern winters than any sane person could want, snow traction is important. Some of our camping adventures involve unfamiliar dirt or gravel roads and steep grades, so a bit of off-road capability is also a must. And price, as always, is a consideration.
The winter and off-road needs lead me right away to the On-/Off-Road All-Terrain category. But I want to keep the car somewhat civil for all the daily driving on regular streets, so we can't go crazy with oversized mud tires. In the stock size, 225/75R15, there are six all-terrain tires. The
General Grabber AT 2 is a fun tire, but they are backordered right now in this size, so we cross them off the list.
If we look at the
Tire Survey Results, two candidates are at the top: the
Firestone Destination A/T and
Kumho Road Venture SAT KL61. Survey results are excellent on both, but the Firestone has maintained its excellent results over 18 million miles and counting, while the Kumho has yet to crack a million miles of results. We'll go with the Firestone Destination based on their well-documented track record.
So how does a Tire Rack sales specialist shop for tires? Likely a lot like you: identify what is needed, find the available options, evaluate a few of the top choices and make a decision.
Stay tuned to see how my tire choice worked out.
Spring showers bring May flowers..and wet roads! Much of the country is having a very wet spring this year, so many drivers can identify with this problem. Whether you're driving a BMW 3 series, a Toyota Camry or a Chevy Suburban, wet traction is important. Will a new set of tires with great wet grip and treadwear improve your confidence when driving in the rain? Definitely!
If you're slipping and sliding in the rain and looking for tires with outstanding wet traction, then refer to this list of some of my top picks in various tire categories :
to see which tires work best for your vehicle, or
contact one of our sales specialists to help guide you into a great choice for your driving style and conditions.
We like to play with our tires.
Not only does it make our job fun, it gives us the ability to really get to know a tire. And the more we know an individual tire, the easier it is for us to help you find the perfect set. We recently
tested four
Ultra High Performance Summer tires—the
BFGoodrich g-Force Sport,
Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval Indy 500,
Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31, and the
Yokohama S.drive. All of which are made to provide sports coupes and sedans with a good blend of dry and wet street performance, plus a sporty sense of handling. But could each of these really do just that?
We mounted them on our BMW E92 328i coupes and took to the open road and our closed loop test track. Without a doubt, our sales specialists preferred the Yokohama S. drive for its "responsive handling and reasonable road manners," but everyone agreed that it could use a little more wet grip. That said, it did prove most efficient in terms of fuel consumption as it helped us get 27.8 miles to the gallon.
Read "
Testing Ultra High Performance Summer Tires" for complete test details. If you're interested in purchasing any of the four tires for your vehicle, just
shop by vehicle.
At Tire Rack, our advice involves the entirety of the automotive experience. Sales specialists receive continuing product education and participate in test driving experiences.
Recently I had the opportunity to drive and compare the
Firestone Precision Sport,
Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S,
Yokohama AVID ENVigor, and
Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 tires side-by-side.
I found the the
Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 and
Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S to be the most comfortable and noise reduced, while the
Firestone Precision Sport and
Yokohama AVID ENVigor to have excellent handling and steering.
This experience means that when you call us for advice on tires and before we recommend tires to you we are also saying "Yes!" to road-testing these tires and sharing our experiences with you.
The full report of these tire comparisons will be available online soon!
This week we have started tire testing. We will be testing the following tires:
Firestone Precision Sport, Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S,
Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 and the
Yokohama AVID ENVigor. These are in the class of High Performance All-Season tires.
On Friday I will test all four on the street and highway course and then next week I will push them to their limits on our test track. All but the Michelin are new tires this year, so it will be interesting to see how they all stack up. By having everyone on the sales team test tires we offer an advantage that no other tire distributor has -- hands on experience with the tires we sell.
I will follow up after testing is complete.
It's that time of year again. We're riding the fine line between winter and spring. Some of you are hoping winter is done until December, wondering if it'll ever stop. And if that's you, then we'd like to recommend some Firestone snow tires.
The
Firestone Winterforce Studdable winter / snow tire consistently ranks at the top of our Tire Survey Results. Our customers like it, citing excellent snow traction. In fact, it currently ranks second out of four other tires in its category. (
See chart.) We
tested the tire ourselves and found that it does, in fact, provide excellent traction in the snow.
But if you ride the other side of that fine line, we've got plenty of Firestone tires for sale that'll give you that same excellent traction on roads that are done with snow.
Search by vehicle to create a list of suitable options.
Firestone's
Winterforce studdable winter radials offer outstanding value at an affordable price. Perfect for crossovers and SUVs, these winter / snow tires work great on sedans, vans and light-duty pickup trucks, too.
An aggressive tread pattern features tread blocks that are siped and stepped. The high-density siping enhances grip in loose snow while intermediate and shoulder tread blocks come ready for studs to enhance traction on hard-packed snow and ice.
Tire Rack's testing helps us learn more about an individual tire's performance in comparison to others like it. These tests were performed using the Winterforce:
• "Winter Testing at the Arctic Circle: Studdable Winter / Snow"• "Technological or Traditional Traction for Ice and Packed Snow?"To see if these Firestone snow tires fit your vehicle, check the
available tire sizes.
Or, you can
search by vehicle or tire size. This will get you a list of Firestone tires for sale—which may or may not include the Winterforce, depending on your vehicle. But that's the point, really. The tire has to be an exact fit for your vehicle. And we'll know.
2008 Toyota Camry SE
2004 GMC Sierra K2500HD Ext Cab
