Winter tire decisions...

"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
10/10/2018 at 20:31 • Filed to: None

The van is needing some new winter tires (and rims) to go with it. I’ve started pricing things out, and I’ve got a few options.

I had a look at what Kal Tire had to offer. The cheapest winter tire they had to offer that looked slightly reasonable is the Sumitomo Ice Edge. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of reviews out there, but it did seem to be a fairly soft compound and the tire looks nice and chunky. Does anyone here have experience with Sumitomo as a brand?

The other options from Kal Tire include the Michelin X-Ice (~$100 more than the Sumitomo ), and the Kakkapeliita R3 (not cheap - about $1200* for a set with rims, mounting and balancing, etc.). The reviews for the Michelin X-Ice seem mostly reasonable, but there does seem to be a small minority that hates them, and think they are pretty much the worst winter tire ever. The R3s, if they are anything like the R2, seem like the gold standard for winter tires, but all together are insanely expensive.

I’m trying to figure out how to do this on a budget, and it seems like Costco’s mounting and balancing is $5 less per tire, and they have a $70 rebate if I bought the Michelin X-Ice tires there. They would end up being about $30 cheaper than the Sumitomos, at least in theory.

Part of me wonders if I could buy the tires from Kal Tire, and the rims from Costco and have them mounted there.

I’m also wanting new winter tires for my car. I already have rims, and I don’t have any sort of TPMS sensor stuff to deal with, so it ends up being quite a bit less expensive . Costco ends up coming out t o $ ~470 CAD for a set of Michelin X-Ice tires, while the Nokian/Nordman 7 ends up being about $20 more. Given the price difference for my car, I’m tempted to go with the Nordman 7.

So, anyone have any advice they’d like to share?

* Prices are in CAD, with taxes and everything else.

DISCUSSION (21)

dogisbadob > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/10/2018 at 22:00

Do you want studs or not? Are studs even allowed where you are? Will you be getting new rims or not?

The Nordman is studded. The Nordman pri ce you quoted is jsut the tires, right?

The price of the R3 is with wheels. How much would the R3's be just the tires

IdleInCA > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/10/2018 at 22:15

I look at it from a safety perspective. And how much will it cost if I crash?

On my Focus I have Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9s . And while I had an pretty good s et of Michelins on my Golf, I just put the R3s on the Golf.

Southern AB gets lots of ice, and this year, a v early winter.

Safety first. While expensive, it's cheaper than crashing.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > IdleInCA
10/10/2018 at 22:17

I agree - that’s why I’m going for winter tires. :P

It's just a matter of how intense I want to go...

BaconSandwich is tasty. > dogisbadob
10/10/2018 at 22:19

The Nordman comes with or without studs. For my car, I was looking at the studless ones. Our previous vehicle had the studded Hakkapaliita 7, and they were great. But I'm suspecting the previous owner (another family member) paid through the nose for them.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > dogisbadob
10/10/2018 at 22:29

I should have clarified - the prices for the Nordman are just for the tires for my car (14") not the van (16"). And supposedly, at least according to the folks at Kal Tire (despite what the website says), they don’t make them in a 215/65/R16. The gal was very nice and felt bad about it, and was willing to give me a discount on the R3s as a result, but the $1200 total price seemed like... a lot.

dogisbadob > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/10/2018 at 22:31

If you’re not going to use the studs, get the R3. They will probably be better than a non-studded Nordman.

Studdable tires are usually designed with the studs in mind.

Also, the Nordman 7 is the same, or at least very similar, to the old Hakka 7.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > dogisbadob
10/10/2018 at 22:35

From what I can tell, it seems very similar to the Hakka 7. Supposedly it’s the same tire compound as the R3, but the tread pattern seemed a little more aggressive through the center of the tread, while the R3 seemed a bit less aggressive.

dogisbadob > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/10/2018 at 22:41

That makes a difference too! The 14-inch tires will be cheaper than 16's, with or without rims!

I looked on Kal’s site, and it looks like you can order the 215/65-16 R3's online and book the service.

deekster_caddy > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/10/2018 at 22:43

I’d take the X-Ice over the Sumitomo. Never been disappointed with Michelins.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > dogisbadob
10/10/2018 at 23:05

Yeah, I found it a bit odd that there were some pricing differences between online and what I was told in store. According to online, mounting and balancing should be $15/tire instead of $20. I also was given a quote for a 17" R3, not a 16", so that would explain some price difference. It doesn’t seem possible to order steel rims online, though.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > deekster_caddy
10/10/2018 at 23:19

I’m really split. I’ve only ever bought Michelins in the past, but the Sumitomos seem to be a bit more aggressive than the X-ices.

vicali > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/10/2018 at 23:45

Picking up my Blizzaks tomorrow from Costco, previously bought Xice2 there before that, and all seasons for the subie as well. Blizzaks and K02 for the truck in the past too

All those tires drove right by Kal Tire perfectly fine.. didn’t feel a thing.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > vicali
10/11/2018 at 08:27

How did you find the x-ices?

deekster_caddy > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/11/2018 at 09:38

It’s really hard to go wrong with any snow tires. However, if you are more worried about deep snow the X-ice isn’t as agg ressive as many of the other snows out there. Those Sumitomos look like a good tread for deeper snow.

vicali > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/11/2018 at 10:00

Xices were great, made the Subaru unstoppable, never triggered the abs while stopping. This would have been their 10th winter on the car but we are replacing them with Blizzaks. They are just getting to the wear bars now.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > vicali
10/11/2018 at 12:41

Wow. That's a lot of seasons on one set of tires!

BaconSandwich is tasty. > deekster_caddy
10/11/2018 at 13:45

I'm more worried about ice at intersections.

deekster_caddy > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/11/2018 at 14:32

Both of those treads have a lot of sipes and should be similar on ice.

vicali > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/11/2018 at 16:10

Costco tech just laughed at me dropping them off an hour ago; “Why are you replacing these?!”..

The X-ice2 was a really good tire, I’ve rallied with them a few times.. I had 215/60-R16 stock sized for the Forester mounted on wrx wheels;

Kinja'd!!!

Kamloops gets crazy weather, between +5 and -30 all winter long, snow, ice, melt, more snow.. add in the Rogers pass and the Coq and it’ s no wonder winter tire s are mandatory in the province now..

I have Blizzaks VM- 1 on the Tacoma, they’ve been fantastic.. I’ve had Toyos and Kuhmos on cars in the past and haven’t been very impressed.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > vicali
10/11/2018 at 16:44

That’s awesome. We get similar weather here in Lethbridge - snow, freezing, Chinook, then more snow/ice.

I think I'm going to go with the X-Ice on the van and for kicks, the Nordman 7 on my car. It'll be interesting to compare the two.

vicali > BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/11/2018 at 22:19

Kinja'd!!!

Soon..