Winter Wheels and Tires

Initial Review, 30,000 Miles on Tires
April 01, 2013

I just went through a winter that delivered record snowfalls and the tires performed as I had hoped they would - excellent. I drive in deep snow all the time and despite driving a high performance rear-wheel drive car, I had no problems driving on ice and deep snow on a regular basis. I put them to the test while driving through the Adirondacks in a blizzard after a day of skiing Whiteface...the tires got me through 6-8 inches of snow on the icy roads without a problem...even the step hills and sharp turns...outstanding winter tire fit for my car. I know winter and I love winter driving..great recommendation Tire Rack

Initial Review, 1,000 Miles on Tires
March 22, 2013

If you are driving a rear wheel drive car like my camaro and it snows where you live get a set for the winter driving. Took my pirelli stock tires off due to slipping and sliding on the smallest amount of snow and put the scorpions on and WOW!!!! huge difference no slipping or sliding at all. Went thru 6" of snow with no problem the Ice is very good as well due to the siping on the tread. Would have liked to be able to stud them but cant. One bad thing they are louder than the all season tires particularly on rough roads.Cornering is a little less stable than the all seasons as well. If it snows get a set ASAP!

Initial Review, 20,000 Miles on Tires
March 14, 2013

Update on original rating. Since I change wheels and tires summer/winter I have no opinion on winter condition traction. I use off road Yoks in the winter. Suffice to say that this tire is the most comfortable and quiet tire I have ever owned. Yoks are the superior brand of tire "for the money" in my view.

Initial Review, 50,000 Miles on Tires
March 16, 2013

Update to previous 4,000 mile review. A phenomenal tire, and I can see none rated better that I would buy. Exceptional in dry and wet conditions, even heavy rain. Good in light to deep snow, but fair in icy conditions. Have maybe 5-10,000 miles of tread left now that I've put on 50,000. Quiet, smooth, what we all would expect a good tire to be.

Interestingly, I work in construction. My previous Continental Cross Contacts which I loved, had a number of flats from picking up nails, etc. None with this tire, which is either coincidence, or signs of better tire composition, which I believe it is. Continental has none in this size, so I will buy this tire again.

This winter, I looked at the tread and had concerns about winter driving on worn tread. But, decided to stick it out and tires performed SURPRISINGLY well.

My Toyota V8 all wheel drive limited has the best of everything, and these tires meet my expectations. Mileage in summer averages 18.4, and less in winter due to gas reformulation.

Highly recommended for those who appreciate quality, safety and consistency. But, if you live where ice and snow abound all winter, you may want to consider winter tires, but these are more than able to take on CT winters. Best to you all.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
March 17, 2013

I use these on my 4 wheel drive winter/ off road truck and with these tires driving in the snow barely affects the traction i get. It is just like driving in normal conditions. Even in mud and gravel i feel plenty of traction. A great tire in every day driving conditions as well. If you're looking for great all terrain tires these are the best you can buy. I've owned plenty of different brands and these are by far the best

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
February 21, 2013

Recently purchased these tires mounted & balanced on steel wheels by Tire Rack. If you need to get around in snow, sleet, or slush, you want real winter tires, not all-seasons. Had no problem in Winter Storm Nemo on unplowed roads, my car is an '05 Honda Civic 5 speed stickshift.

Initial Review, 2,500 Miles on Tires
March 02, 2010

This is more a review of these tires on my specific car.



Great in the snow, absolutely great. The more snow the better, or so it seems. Braking is easily better than all-seasons, as is handling and acceleration. Wet snow is noticable more difficult to maintain control, however. Now for the bad news, seemingly terrible in the slush. Not sure if it is my car or the tires, but the car gets pushed around very easily by even small amounts of slush. I tend to believe it has more to do with my cars suspension, weight, and width to wheelbase ratio than the tires though. Easier to drive through 6 inches of snow than 1 inch of slush. Fun to have a car willing to rotate on dry roads, but not so much on wet winter slush.



Dry roads are mixed, as these things like to grab every little pebble and sand grain the road commission dumps on Michigan. Slip and control is well within tolerance though, and really only becomes an issue in spirited driving. It takes very little to spin the inside wheel accelerating through a tight corner if there is any sand, debris. Clean roads are great in the dry though. Some tire wandering above 65 mph, although determined mostly by road surface. Tires seem to move and stretch a noticable amount more above freezing temperatures, although this is only apparent driving back to back temperature differences.



Very quiet tire, almost as quiet as the non-OEM all-seasons that I had on before. (Coopers?) Much quieter than my father and bro-in-laws Blizzak Revo's. Stock wheels are 17", these are on 16", I notice more rebounding motion from the tires than stock, although small imperfections are slightly smoothed over versus stock. In retrospect, I should have gone with 17" as the extra sidewall can be felt in hard acceleration. Not sure on tread-wear yet.



In summary on my Mazda 6s, great on the snow, bad in slush, matches wet(rain) A/S performance, dependable dry weather performance and a very quiet ride for snow tires.

Initial Review, 5,200 Miles on Tires
March 14, 2013

No tire alone will stop on ice but this was pretty decent on some very solidly frozen interstate. Travelled through two snow storms up to six inches on the road and held up quite well without losing control. All with a rear wheel drive vehicle. Tires gave you the confidence to climb hills in snow. I'd recommend these tires if expecting snow.

Initial Review, 18,362 Miles on Tires
March 10, 2013

I purchased this tire in December of 2011 and I have been waiting to write my review until I could experience winter driving in snow. These tires are excellent in every situation which are experienced in Nebraska driving conditions. My immediate response to these tires in dry and wet driving was night and day from my previous tires. I especially appreciate the quietness of these tires After almost 20,000 miles on them they still make the car handle like it is brand new even though I have over 107,000 miles on my 300C AWD. At the same time I bought these tires I also bought Continental Pro Contact ECO+ for my wife's car and there is no comparison. I can say that I would recommend these tires to anyone and they are my replacement tires of choice in the future!

Initial Review, 7,500 Miles on Tires
February 27, 2013

Amazing Winter tires for a front wheel drive sports car. Was able to do rooster tails in 6 inches of snow, and Ice was not ever a problem. Going up and down hills, even from a stopped position was also better than expected. very little tire spin even in 6 inches of snow on non treated roads. Road noise was also very little. Noting that tread wear was faster than i expected I probably would have rotated every 2500 miles. I will be able to get a second season out of these tires though.

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
February 26, 2013

From other reviews, it seemed this tire would change my life. It did not. You still slip, slide, and can easily get stuck in snow. Yes, these Michelins are better than all seasons, but the difference is nominal given the cost of a separate set of tires with new wheels. However, I can now equip the car with summer tires on the stock wheels, and the combined advantages may make the purchase worth it. Just do not expect a sea change in snow traction when equipping your car with winter tires.
Dry handling is absolutely fine, and road noise is reasonable. Still at new tread depth after 3k miles. If you see only 1-3 major winter storms per season, I would save the expense of winter tires. My Avalon does not have traction or stability control...perhaps that would help.

Initial Review, 4,500 Miles on Tires
March 01, 2013

This tire is just being used on the rear of a 2 wheel drive Colorado. The original tires that were on this truck when I purchased it from the dealership were Hancooks. They must have been the cheapest tires that they could find, because I could not even get a regular start from a redlight without breaking traction in the rain. On the other hand, these Firestone Winterforce UV tires give the best traction that I have ever had with this truck. I have owned many 4X4 trucks and these tires make my 2 wheel, drive just like it was a 4X4. I thought that I was pushing my luck here in Saint Louis trying to get by another winter without snow tires and I'm glad that I did buy them this year. The first storm we had, was a combination of snow, sleet and freezing rain. Most other cars were getting stuck on the Interstate on the steep hills, but not me and my 2 wheel drive pick-up. Stop thinking about getting them and just buy them ASAP!

Initial Review, 700 Miles on Tires
February 27, 2013

This tire came standard with the Toyota Camry Hybrid LE. These tires are rated low rolling resistance (LRR) and thus they might provide a better fuel efficiency. They perform well on dry or wet roads in the city. Cornering could be better; if your driving style is rather spirited, you will notice some sliding of the rear wheels when taking a turn too tightly. Where this tire disappoints is on wet and cold pavement. I drove up to Snoqualmie pass in Washington state last weekend and at 70 MPH going uphill on the wet freeway (outside temp 38 F) the tires lost traction and the car felt like it was slightly skidding. I had to slow down to 60 MPH. It wasn't really confidence inspiring. The tires handled well on slushy snow, although brisk acceleration caused the wheels to spin and the anti-skid light to come on. I have not had a chance to test these tires on ice or deep snow, yet. I always carry tire chains in the trunk just in case.

Overall, this tire is ok for driving in the city if you don't expect lots of snow. If you like to drive up to the mountain passes or you expect snow in your area, make sure that you have tire chains or install a set of winter tires in the winter. Also, this tire feels generally rather stiff, at least compared to the Pilot Exalto A/S that we had on the old car. I would not buy this tire myself and I wished that the Camry had come with a more reliable tire like the Primacy MXV4 (or even the Pilot Exalto A/S).

Initial Review, 4,000 Miles on Tires
January 30, 2013

I have a 24 mile commute (one way) to my college campus in southwest Wisconsin. The plows aren't the best at keeping some of the roads cleared, and they can remain in pretty poor condition for quite some time after we get winter weather. After having a few close calls with some poor-quality all season tires, I decided to purchase a set of X-Ice Xi3's for my 2010 Ford Fusion.

I've had these tires on my vehicle for about 4,000 miles now, and have driven through a variety of poor winter weather driving conditions. I cannot say enough good things about these tires. Traction in light and deep snow is excellent. As long as I have ground clearance, these tires will grip with minimal wheel spin, and get me through it. Braking is much better too, as compared to regular all-season tires. Ice traction is much better than all-season tires. Hydroplaning resistance and wet traction are also excellent.

When the roads are clear and dry, the dry traction is also excellent. However, when cornering or with steering responsiveness in general, these tires can feel a little bit "spongy", as most snow tires do. However, I hardly notice it, and feel it is much improved over the previous generation of X-Ice snow tires. The ride comfort is excellent, and the treadwear is great (they're still practically new with over 4000 miles on them). These tires are also extremely quiet, however I have noticed they do make a little noise when driving on wet pavement, but even that's quiet.

In closing, I think Michelin did an absolutely amazing job with these tires. I highly recommend them, and will be purchasing another set of them once my current set wears out. These tires obviously can't overcome the laws of physics, give you perfect traction, and make you invincible/unstoppable in winter weather. However, with some winter driving experience and using common sense, they can make your winter driving experience much more enjoyable, and a whole lot less stressful.