Come on snow! Tires are on and I'm ready to Hoon.

"Dave the car guy , still here" (a3dave)
12/09/2019 at 18:24 • Filed to: None

I’ve had Blizzak MZ-02 , Conti EWC and Cooper WSC snow tires in the past but this time I’m trying out the Sumitomo Ice Edge without studs . Not m any reviews for this tire but the Canadian reviews sold me on them . First day driving them was in rainy weather and they corner okay for a snow tire , handling better that the Blizzak but not as good as the Continental, on par with Coopers . They lack any center or side rib which I knew usually gives lateral stability but wanted to try these anyway. I w ill need to break them in a bit and they have a lot of mold release on them so they do tend to wander just a little nothing bad but not as direct feeling as any other tire I’ve had on the A3 . The new tires will definitely have an impact on my gas mileage more than any of my prior snow tires. My average dropped by 1 mpg which isn’t awful but the others only dropped numbers maybe a half mpg over standard tires. I can see 27 mp g on low rolling resistance Pirelli rubber and other Continental and Sumitomo all seasons have both yielded 25-26 mpg numbers. Might get 24-25 with these . The plus is they accelerate great in sloppy weather and stop well in the wet so I’m expecting awesome deep snow performance. As beefy as they are the Audi now feels a little Jeep CJ- ish . What I’m getting at is has that wandering around bouncing over objects feel which is great on rough roads or over railroad tracks. I will likely post a follow up when I get in some snow. I’ll be abusing these tires for the next 4 months so I’ll get to know them well. And now I get to wrap my old tires in my new budget tire covers. One still needs to be cleaned an stacked.

Gotta love a good eB ay find. The wheels bags were under $10. Back to the pros and cons of the tires. The tires were about $115 each, we mounted them at work and I had no install expense so they were a cheaper option. The con is they aren’t a studless snow so they won’t have awesome ice performance but there are often trade- offs between most different tire choices . So far I’m happy and can live with these for at least a few winters.

DISCUSSION (20)

bob and john > Dave the car guy , still here
12/09/2019 at 19:40

Funny, i slapped the same ones on my dads Merc this year.

so far so good.

i86hotdogs > Dave the car guy , still here
12/09/2019 at 20:32

I bought these same ones for my RallyCross tires. They worked great in dry dirt, grass, and sand. Slippery in the mud, though. In the small amounts of snow and slush they’ve seen so far, they have been good. $115 per tire is a lot more than what I paid. IIRC they were about $60 each for me. Mind you the website had a sale going on, but still an awesome price.

Dave the car guy , still here > i86hotdogs
12/09/2019 at 21:30

Considering that I bought them as winter approaches they were an average price for a cheaper snow tire. The Coopers and Blizzaks I bought in off season and paid about $45 each on the Coopers a couuple yrs ago and $70ish on the Blizzaks some yrs ago. My timing was wrong.

Dave the car guy , still here > bob and john
12/09/2019 at 21:31

You’ll have to give feedback on his tires after we’ve both had some winter driving. Maybe when I do an update.

bob and john > Dave the car guy , still here
12/09/2019 at 21:47

our 3 cars have the following:
08 Lexus IS250 AWD: General Tire Artimax
14 Merc GLK 250: Sumitomo Ice edge
18 Audi A3 Etron: Nokian Hakkapeliittas 3

weirdly, the Audi is the ONLY one without AWD, so it gets the best winter shoes

i86hotdogs > Dave the car guy , still here
12/09/2019 at 22:13

Good point. Buying winter tires in May saved me some cash.

Jessica McAndrew > Dave the car guy , still here
12/09/2019 at 22:31

I had Michelin X -Ice (and actually left them on all year due to flooding in my region + poor drainage due to perpetual construction) but went with the Blizzaks this year. Hoping for equal or better results. I daily a Prius around 2500mi/week rain or shine and the FWD/full gas tank/snows combo has served me well. N ext time around, I’ll try these.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Dave the car guy , still here
12/09/2019 at 23:44

My MINI needs new snows. What’s better - decent all seasons or snows nearing the wear bars?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Dave the car guy , still here
12/10/2019 at 00:07

I nearly got these for my e90 because they were on sale through amazon for 88 dollars a tire in the size I wanted. 215/55/17. But I ended up buying Continental Viking Contacts from a local tire place because I like doing business with them.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Dave the car guy , still here
12/10/2019 at 00:10

When I bought my tires the guy at the shop was kind enough to inform me that in October General was running a 100 dollar rebate on the Altimax Ices. Wish I had started shopping earlier.

bob and john > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
12/10/2019 at 00:12

neither, get new snows.

if the plowing near you is good, the worn snows are better. compound is made for the cold. But The lack of tread depth means it will be useless if it does snow.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > bob and john
12/10/2019 at 00:32

Yep definitely planning to get a new set.

Dave the car guy , still here > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
12/10/2019 at 07:15

The Conti Viking Contact is more or less the updated version of the Exreme Winter Contact . Continental make awesome snow tires. I had a set of the EWC last 9 seasons before I gave them to a friend to run on his old Ford until they were worn out. I’m betting the Viking is even more fantastic than the EWC.

Bert-Stair > Dave the car guy , still here
12/10/2019 at 10:08

Sounds like you are in a honeymoon phase and they will be at best mediocre tires.

I’m in the same boat. Price convinced me on Altimax Arctic 12, but i should have gave up the snow perform ance and got Michelin x ice

We live and learn i guess...

DtotheJames > Dave the car guy , still here
12/10/2019 at 11:35

Picked up a set of the VikingContact 7s this year and can confirm they are a great tire so far .

B8.5 S4, 245/40s on 18x8.5s.

DtotheJames > Dave the car guy , still here
12/10/2019 at 11:39

Are an unstudded but studable ice and snow tire the way to go versus studless ice and snow?

I assume the studless version has better ice traction than the unstudded.

Odddoylerules > Dave the car guy , still here
12/10/2019 at 14:49

Stop screwing around and get some hakkas already . Ipike vs hakka 6 in 185/65/13 the hakkas win hands down! (Both studded)

We went up in the national forest to get a christmas tree and had to deal w freezing rain in the valley and 6" of snow higher up . The hakkas make winter driving feel like rain driving. The ipikes are nowhere near as confidence inspiring or grippy. Got em for 115 each shipped via simple tire.

Dave the car guy , still here > Odddoylerules
12/10/2019 at 23:02

I started shopping too late this year. Most good choices local and online were shopped over. I’ve been driving in snow for 35 years and have even had performance driving courses with slide and collision av oidance so these will be fine until my next set. The downside will be somewhat longer braking distance on ice but these will still be better than all seasons.

Dave the car guy , still here > Bert-Stair
12/10/2019 at 23:06

I usually need better snow per formance in Ohio. Sure it gets ice covered but I learned winter driving on ice with all-seasons and never had snow tires until the past 20 yrs.

Dave the car guy , still here > DtotheJames
12/10/2019 at 23:21

Snow tires without the studs sacrifice ice performance but are still fine in most winter condi tions. Depending on which studless vs studded snows there used to be some european ice tests showing either style excelling dependent on the brand and which product it was. The mz-02 Blizzaks I had were one of the best ice tires ever so they were named “Icegripper”. The Continentals I’d had were close in ice performance and snow cornering but suffered in wet handling and braking. These Sumitomo seem to brake better in the wet than the Contis and I’ve only driven them a couple of days but 4 trips in rain already. My next set of winter tires will likely be another set of studless snow instead of studdable snows without studs. I was in the middle of job changes and other stuff when I would usually have shopped for the winters. My timing was all off and the selection left of more expensive tires wouldn’t have been my first choice. Even the suppliers for the dealership I work at had few choice. The Sumitomo will suffice for a few seasons. I think they will be awesome for deep snow, There is a Youtube with an A6 driver using them that proved they like the deep stuff.