General Snow Tires

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
April 07, 2013

I have always prefered a Michelin tire, and have had great service from them over the years. The prices are high, and I have wondered if part of that is paying for the name? A few years ago, we purchased a new truck with General tires on it, and the tires performed flawlessly. In fact those 11 year-old Generals were are currently on a farm trailer, and show no signs of dry rot, or other problems. After much thought, I decided to give these Generals a try. These tires are very quiet and smooth. They have great resistance to hydroplaning, which is a feature that I like a lot. The tires are not great in the snow, but than a V-8 powered RWD car is not so great in the snow either. I have a designated AWD winter vehicle, so winter traction does not matter to me. We live in the mountains with lots of winding roads, and tires get punished around here. I have the car set up with a stiff aftermarket suspension, so it rides harsh and corners like a sports car. The car no longer handles like a traditional Crown Victoria. Infact this car has seen an AutoCross track more then once... The OE tires where very soft and the car had a tendency to oversteer with them on it. These tires take the curves very well. So far they have passed the test. I plan to purchase three more sets, one for my wife's Crown Vic, and two sets for our two vintage Pontiac Trans AM show cars. For the price, nothing else compares. General seems to have hit the mark!

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
April 06, 2013

These converted our AWD Montego to a winter half track. Studded these tires on their own wheels and they actually out performed the Blizzaks on our other car, for a lot less cost. They have the usual studded winter tire squirm and noise, but not as bad as others were before. But after getting a 3 foot blizzard and many other snow storms, these have proven themselves. And on ice? You can't beat studded tires in my opinion. Took Tire Rack's advice and went down an inch in wheel and tire size, but the taller sidewall gives us the same effective ground clearance, which is valuable in deeper snow. And that taller sidewall is more forgiving on Maine's frost heaved, potholed roads.

Our new Michelin hydro all seasons were downright dangerous in snow the previous winter, so glad we got them off for winter!

Initial Review, 15,000 Miles on Tires
April 11, 2013

These tires replaced the OE Dunlop run-flats that were on the '08 TT Roadster when we bought it. What a difference, the ride is much less harsh, traction is much better, and spirited driving is fun again. The control at highway speeds in heavy rain is exceptional due to the directional tread pattern. Due to the fact that I change to my other wheel/snow tires for the winter I can not comment on driving on snow and ice. Tread ware is very good after 15,000+ miles. When I bought these tires I had them sent to KO Tire in Elk Grove Village, IL for installation. They did an exceptional job and were very friendly and informative when I asked questions. These were both a winning experience.
Thanks Tire Rack & KO Tire !!

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
April 15, 2013

Just getting ready to take these off for the summer. This is my wife's vehicle but we drove together 100 miles yesterday in snow/sleet/freezing rain, mostly highway, windy/gusty conditions. Honestly with a cross wind I was a little disappointed, I had to constantly correct to maintain a line... I've a set on HT all season on a Toyota celica and haven't noticed any quirky type handling like this on that car. I'm not sure if this is the cars fault or the tires. I'll add another review at the end of summer concerning the handling.

Initial Review, 34,000 Miles on Tires
April 05, 2013

These tires were on a 2010 Honda Odyssey. Tire pressure was checked regularly and tires were rotated religiously at 5,000 miles. I really expected better traction and wear from these tires. I would not purchase these tires again. Wet weather traction was fair at best and light snow traction was again only fair at best.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
April 25, 2013

We had a very dry winter in Denver until April. I was quite pleased with this tire on dry pavement. It has very good traction for a winter tire and is amazingly quiet. I finally got to see it perform on the snow, and it met all expections. Easily the best snow tire i have ever driven. And the price is excellent, too.

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
April 02, 2013

Bought these almost 1.5 years ago for my wife's Audi A6 Quattro AWD and it became an absolute tank in the snow. Nothing could stop it. Turn the traction control off and it just dominated the roads. Truly forged a path for plow trucks to follow in the February snow storm where New England saw upwards of 3 (THREE) feet of snow. I was beside myself with this tire being labeled as "All-Season". Props to Audi on their AWD powertrain and all that, but these tires just showed to up perform, and they did just that. The roads have dried up now and the ride is still very smooth. Our two kids (3.5 and 7mo) both pass out from the smoothness and quietness of the ride. Had a 4 wheel alignment done at the time of installation.

Initial Review, 12,000 Miles on Tires
April 01, 2013

I'm going on 3 years with these tires and getting ready to rotate for the second time. With just over 12,000 miles on them, I am halfway to the wear bars, so I expect less than 25K miles out of these tires. I am really dissappointed with the life of these tires.

I think these tires might have a too weak of a sidewall for in-town driving that requres a lot of sharp turns in a Suburban as I find the outside edges of the tread are really chewed up after extended driving that doesn't involve highway miles. Any hard cornering feels like the tire is going to roll off the rim.

Straight line/highway driving is where these tires excel. These tires are really quiet and have great traction in all conditions, including snow.

Initial Review, 70,000 Miles on Tires
April 04, 2013

I like in North/Central New Jersey and previously drove in and around PA. I do a lot of highway driving now. I would describe myself as a "spirited" driver. I have 70K on these tires. They are the only tires I have ever purchased for my car after the OEM tires wore at 35K and my car has 105K on it today. I just took my Civic to the dealer last night and the service manager at the Honda dealer told me my tires were basically new at 6-7s. So I would highly recommend these tires. They are reasonably priced and worth it. I drive in snow, ice, rain and sleet. I never miss work for weather so I drive in some tight situations. The tires haven't let me down.

Initial Review, 17,000 Miles on Tires
April 17, 2013

A good tire for the price, a little noisier than expected, but if I wanted a quiet tire I would have gone with michelins. Previously had pirelli scorpion atr's, they were the best tires I ever had on my truck, did everything far beyond my expectations, but the price jumped up $300 for the set so I started looking at other options. Decided to try these out, I liked the all terrain tread for the snow and driving on the beach. So far holding up well, probably get 35 to 40,000 out of them, not bad for the way I drive. A lot of tread squirm for the first 2-3,000 miles but settled in after that, had to slow down a lot for the on/off ramp almost felt like I was going to lose it, but never lost traction though. But, after 2-3000 miles the uneasiness went away and the back end didn't fell like it was going to pass me anymore. They definitely don't handle like the pirelli's they replaced, it helps to remind me I'm driving a full size truck and not a sports cars. I'm sure I added about 10,000 miles to the life of the tires because of it. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Initial Review, 1,000 Miles on Tires
February 07, 2013

We got about 9" of snow today and these tires made me feel safer than I ever have driving in a snow storm. When other people are slipping, these tires keep me rolling without an issue. They're as sturdy and surefooted in light, powdery snow as they are in the heavy, wet stuff we got today. In fact, I drove into a parking lot with about 6" of untouched snow, and it was like nothing for my tires. I've had Blizzaks in the past, and I'm not sure they could've handled that scenario without some spinning. I am a nervous winter driver, and I am so relieved to have a tire that makes me feel more confident on my long commutes to and from work in rural areas.

Initial Review, 1,000 Miles on Tires
February 09, 2013

Drove with these tires through the blizzard of 2013. With light snow and ice on the highway these tires did not slide once. With 6" on fresh snow up a steep driveway these tires didnt slip at all. These tires were very stable during the storm. I felt very confident/safe with these tires. Would def buy these tires again.

Initial Review, 40,000 Miles on Tires
February 08, 2013

I bought these tire for the 2011/2012 winter season. The first winter I had them they were brilliant. Supurb grip in any snow condition. I plow parking lots but yto get to work ( where the plow truck is) is 22 miles. when I would travel to work I would pass 4x4 trucks as if they were standing still. I also never bougt a set of all seanon for the rest of the year. They feel a little soft in spring, summer, and fall. But they do the job. Noise: there is some but expected. just a slight hum nothing drastic. once again it is winter in chicago and the tire still have good tread, even though I drove druring warmer months. I took the malibu out during the first big snow and the tires still preform very well, not as good as new but pretty close. It is very difficult for me to get it to spin-out it just want to hug the road as if there was no snow.

Initial Review, 20,000 Miles on Tires
February 10, 2013

I live in Long Island NY and we just got hit by the blizzard, where I live got hit the hardest and we got 34" of snow. I work 40 miles away from home and I left during the worst of the storm. I was passing stuck suv's and trucks left and right. I cannot believe how great these tires are. As I was passing cars that were stuck I can just see them staring at me wondering how is that little civic passing my 4wd suv? well all I can say is winter tires, that's how. I did not get stuck once, going up hills and through deep unplowed roads. I am sold on these tires for life and I will always buy them from now on. If you have a lowered civic, or just a basic fwd car I HIGHLY suggest these. Everyone knows how bad this blizzard was and these tires made it great for me. I was even passing plow trucks that got stuck. I have these tires in low profile 215 45 17 tire size so I can imagine how much better they would be with a larger sidewall but these are the best winter tires money can buy!! Highly suggest you buy them if you have a fwd car or truck!!

Initial Review, 1,600 Miles on Tires
February 09, 2013

This is the second set of winter tires that I've owned. The first were Yokohama tires that were really quite good. When I bought another vehicle, I decided to go with these because they were the #1 rated tire on in their category on Tire Rack, had plenty of positive reviews. They are really great on snow, wet and dry pavement, the only complaint I have is they seem to be worse on ice then the previous winter tires. We had more ice than usual on the roads this winter, otherwise it wouldn't be that much of an issue to me. If you get a lot of snow, these an excellent tire. If you get a lot of ice, you probably want to pick something else. I considered about a half dozen different tires when I was shopping, and these were a really good bang for the buck.

Initial Review, 9,000 Miles on Tires
February 13, 2013

A very good tire on a Volvo V70. Very good to excellent in most areas of
the tire rack survey. Very good snow traction(up to 5") for an all weather tire.
Ride comfort and noise level are also very good. These replaced Michelin MXV4
at half the price, AND much better in the snow.
I'm very satisfied.
I hope General keeps making this tire thru 2014.

Initial Review, 50,600 Miles on Tires
April 08, 2013

I have a set of these Michelin LX4 on my Odyssey EXL. I had always been happy with Michelin in the past on my Honda Accords and Nissan. They are generally more quiet than any other tires of comparable costs, particularly when they get olders (35K+). This set performs well for the most part with no exception. I rotated my tires every 7.5K so they wear evenly and keep the pressure between 35 to 40 psi depending on the weather (high pressure during the winter months). They are very quiet on the city and highway unless the road surface have grooves but never pave up in some states. I'd say that we did about 30K on high way and 20K in city. They are probably good for another 4-5K in the summer before I have to replace them. The tires traction is very good in dry, wet or light snow conditions now that the tread had worn out but it is used to be good in 4-6 in" of snow too when it was newer. I will likely replace them with the Michelin Defender which has a better tire life (60K+) for almost the same price. I think if the Defender is quiet as this tire, I will be happy.

Initial Review, 7,000 Miles on Tires
February 13, 2013

I am from Montreal and ordered them and have them installed in the US. The whole process was smooth.

The tires are quite good for winter conditions. I get amazing traction in almost all situations. We have had a few serious snow storms and a few days of freezing rain. I have never had any problems accelerating, braking and cornering. I rarely engage the ABS. I don't have traction control but my tires don't spin even on ice. I use to drive a Nissan Rogue AWD for the winter with Michelin's x-ice and i can tell you that my Corolla with Altimax feels similar, my FWD combined with these tires are just as secure.
The noise level of these tires are however louder than my previous winter tires. That is expected with its aggressive tread design. Same reason why the dry traction and steering response is rated lower. Under hard acceleration, the steering input is often irresponsive. You should expect a .5-.7ms second delay between your steering input and the vehicle's action.

Depending on how long they'll last, probably will buy again.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
March 01, 2013

This is the first set of snow tires i've purchased, after trying to simply get by with all season tires in a region where it is quite snowy in the winter. The tires perform extremely well in the snow, and I've driven on snow covered highways, and up and down pretty steep hills. I would definitely buy the tires again, for a winter scenario. I've noticed a bit more "wander" with the tires, and they are noisy but the agressive tread is going to lead to increased noise. But overall, the snow traction is very very good. In fact, I think i have better traction with my Altimax-Arctic equipped FWD minivan now than my 4WD F150 (with very good tires) in the snow.

Initial Review, 37,000 Miles on Tires
March 14, 2013

After 30000 miles, the winter performance was gone. Stopping in light snow or ice has always been poor, but got noticeably worse after a few years.