Snow Tires - how many miles?

[billski]

For those using snow tires.

How many miles are you getting out of your snow tires?

I have some Blizzak WS60's. They seem to have worn down a lot sooner than expected. After 36,000 miles over 3 years they are getting close to the minimum. I'm aware that the rubber is softer, so I don't expect as much as I get out of rain rated/summer tires.

No, I don't want to get into the debate of snows vs. all seasons vs. summer tires. Again!

My family member drives the car in the northeast, city and highway driving about equal. Pretty conservative driver.

I would like to get a range.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[drjeff]

Out of personal and family safety concerns, I tend to take the view point with any type of tire, that I'd rather be cautious and replace it while it still has some "acceptable" amount of tread left on it, than try and eek every last mile out of them. Since Murphy's Law will almost always dictate that at somepoint,you'll go from the thought process of "maybe I should get new tires soon" to "I wish I had bought new tires last week/month/etc"

The snows on the car that mainly is used to transport my kids to/from their school (30 miles each way for the school they go to), I had those Nokian Hakka's (I'd totally butcher their actual name if I tried to spell it out in full ) at just under 30k on them when the service manager at the shop where I take them (and he's a personal friend of mine so he doesn't feed me any lines of BS) said that I had just under 30% tread life left.

Could I have used them for another probably 5-7k, sure. But when I considered who mainly is transported in that car, I chose to replace them early

 

[bvibert]

If I get 2 winters out of a set of snow tires I'm happy.

 

[Cornhead]

This will be year three on my set of Blizzaks. I have 33,000 miles on my car, most of them have been on the Blizzaks, at least 2/3. I expect to replace them next year, but we shall see. My ride is AWD, so I can probably get away with them more worn than if it weren't. I've had Blizzaks on FWD cars in the past. I can tell you this, even pretty much shot snows are better than all season radials in the snow. I just hope I actually need them this year, not looking good so far.:sad:

 

[soposkier]

Im going on the 4th winter for my Blizzaks, still have decent tread on them. Not sure of the mileage, although I dont think I hit 10k in anyone one season.

 

[hammer]

Could last year's warmer weather caused them to wear down more quickly than average?

 

[wa-loaf]

I had prob close to 20 on my General Altimax and they still had another season in them at least.

 

[skiNEwhere]

I put my Blizzaks on in October and didn't take them off until May. 17k miles. They worked so well the first few months. I could slam on the brakes going 15 mph on snow and only slide a couple of feet. Around March though I noticed it was taking 2 to 3 times as long to stop. I could probably get away with another year if I was only driving through 4-6 inches of snow, but seeing as it can be over a foot, uphill/downhill at times I might need new ones when I get back. When I was in Denver I would travel from 10,000ft to 5,000ft and back daily, it's imperative that my snow tires are working at their max efficiency.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

year 3 on my Firestone Winterforces, plenty of tread still on them, easily another 2-3 seasons left...

 

[Geoff]

I threw my Blizzak WS-60's in the dumpster with about 15,000 miles on them and lots of tread left. They had no grip after the outer coating wore off. I couldn't even get out of my Killington condo parking space without getting a bucket of sand. I'm back with Nokian Hakkas. I got about 50,000 miles out of my last set of Hakkas.

 

[skiNEwhere]

I threw my Blizzak WS-60's in the dumpster with about 15,000 miles on them and lots of tread left. They had no grip after the outer coating wore off. I couldn't even get out of my Killington condo parking space without getting a bucket of sand. I'm back with Nokian Hakkas. I got about 50,000 miles out of my last set of Hakkas.

Do they work as well as blizzaks? As much as I love the blizzaks, they have the tread life of a pencil eraser, thinking about studded tires as well

 

[Nick]

I have Hankook Ice Bears 17r205 and I normally get about 25k on a set ... Maybe 30k

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Geoff]

Do they work as well as blizzaks? As much as I love the blizzaks, they have the tread life of a pencil eraser, thinking about studded tires as well

Yes. Nokian Hakkapeliitta friction tires (this year's model is the Hakkapeliitta R) work as well as Blizzaks with about 3x the tread life.

They also make an all season tire that would be a good compromise for somebody with a big daily flatland commute.

This is the WR G2 "all season" tire. All season if you live north of the Arctic Circle, I guess. It's very aggressive compared to the usual all season tire.

I have studded Nokians for my SUV. Trust me, you don't want studded snow tires on a daily driver unless you live on a dirt road in Northern New England where you need the traction. It makes the car handle like farm equipment. Lots of noise and vibration.

 

[deadheadskier]

Maybe I'll take a look at the All Season Nokians in the future because I do have a 100 mile round trip commute 5 days a week. I really haven't owned a snow tire including traditional Hakka's, Firestone Winterforces and a host of other brands that I've found to be all that effective beyond 30K miles. Heck, even with proper rotation, our Mazda 3s chew through summer tires in around 35K miles. I've heard several other 3 owners that lament about how the car chews through tires; wonder if it's suspension related???

Due to my flat country commute and going skiing, I typically put about 15K miles a winter on tires, so that means 2 seasons max on winter tires for me. I opted to go used this year for that reason. I got a set of 4 lightly used snows for $200 with enough tread to last 2 seasons. Beats dropping $500+ on new tires that would probably only last the same length of time.

 

[riverc0il]

2 or 3 seasons for me. Depends when I put them on and what brand/model. But I usually put them on early and take them off late so I am covered for early/late season storms. I can be pretty lazy with taking them off once I don't need them. Essentially, my snows are on my car almost half of the year and probably take 10k miles per season since most of my yearly miles is during the winter.

It will be interesting to see if the new WS-70s have longer life than the 60s. I can't remember when the 70s came out but I don't think it was long enough ago to have solid real world reports. Personally, I didn't find that the 60s wore any faster than the other brands I've tried. But then again, I probably changed them before most people because of how many miles I drive in a season... I don't want to have problems mid-season so I change before I really need to.

 

[billski]

If I recall, Nokians were the most expensive tires in the stable.

 

[Geoff]

If I recall, Nokians were the most expensive tires in the stable.

Obey the 11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Pay Retail

Goss Tire in Rutland, now renamed Vianor Tire, has a Nokian sale around Columbus Day.

 

[steamboat1]

Just put a set of Blizzak WS-70's on the car a couple of weeks ago. I let you know how I make out.

 

[billski]

Thanks all. I put two W70's on a Camry last week. four w70's go on a Corolla tomorrow. My wife has been running on her w70's for a couple years now. Others have a hydroplaning issue, so that trumps everything except grip on ice.