Snow tires....

[e30addict]

Ya but they're pretty cost effective. Had them on my 01 Corolla and they made the thing unstoppable in 3 winters. For 42 a tire I was living the dream.
And let's be honest, it's a winter tire... How much performance do you need from it?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

I expect way more performance than I can get from a high quality all season, otherwise why bother?

[Kurlon]

It's not the tread pattern alone that makes a good winter tire good. It's the rubber and how they go about getting microsipes in it as well as what they do to that helps it function in sub-zero temps that matters.

[Garandman]

The Sailum and Altimax Artics are so similar.

General in 1st link
Attachment 48574
Attachment 48575

They appear to have cloned or purchased the molds from the Hankook Winter I-Pike.

The Altimax Arctic is the Gislavid NordFrost 3, rebranded.


And if you wonder where they got the idea, this is the 2005-vintage Nokian RSI.

[RandyO]

Sailun = Chinese knockoffs.

General = American knockoff

everyone is trying to copy Nokian

[e30addict]

General = American knockoff

everyone is trying to copy Nokian

Well Nokian kinda led the industry for decades.....

[Garandman]

General = American knockoff

Not really. But a fascinating study in branding.

General is owned by Continental AG, a $40 billion Corp and one of the world’s premium tire manufacturers. They purchased General Tire in the 80’s. In the 90’s they purchased Gislaved, a Swedish tire manufacturer. Because Finland, Norway, and Sweden require winter tires, it’s a large and highly developed market.

Gislaved made a number of winter tires under the NordFrost sub-brand. When they developed a successor to the highly successful NordFrost 3, those molds were transferred to General. Tire molds commonly have inserts for the brand name and this is easily done.

Continental kept the Gislaved brand as a primarily “Nordic” brand but decided to market those tires under the General name in the US. Now that the value-priced AA’s are being undercut by Chinese and other low-cost producers, they may bring the Gislaved brand to the US, or may stick with the Altimax family branding. Gislaved has introduced two or three new models in the meantime, and Continental has their line of WinterContact tires as well. One third to one half of the tire market is the “value” segment (cheapest price) so there are big stakes for a company like Continental.

The Altimax Arctic 12 is a rebranded Gislaved NordFrost 100, so it’s a much newer design latest is the NordFrost 200) at a price maybe 20% more than Altima Arctic but 20% less than Nokian.

We had a VW Scirocco we used for Performance Rallying and ice time trials and bought the original Conti Contacts to keep out of the studded tire class. I worked for a rubber molder of OEM car parts at the time so been following the technology ever since. Molded rubber is wild stuff.

[lobsta3]

Got Blizzaks on the ol' ladies Soul, now she motors past all the Mud an Snow people goin nowwhere when the light on the hill turns green.
Never going back to M/S 's.

[tls25rs]

Not really. But a fascinating study in branding..................................

You really don't have much to do with your time do you? LOL

[FriskyDingo]

I like to try out different winter tires, took a chance last year on a set of Falken Eurowinter, I would say AVOID them unless you get a screaming deal. Better than A/S but poor compared to top shelf snows (Blizzak/Nokian/X-ice, etc), which was unfortunate as I've had a few decent Falken performance summer sets.

[Garandman]

You really don't have much to do with your time do you? LOL

Fair commentary.

But I’m at a ski house with my Mother In Law and four teenagers, it’s -2° and we have marginal interwebz....

[csmutty]

You really don't have much to do with your time do you? LOL

Hey. That was actually pretty interesting haha!

[nhbubba]

The lack of TLA's makes me suspect his account has been hacked.

[Garandman]

NAF.NO made the winter results available, posted at Enter Hakka 9 – The 2017 NAF Winter Tire Test | Saskatchewan Studded Tire Club
Not all are available in US. Many manufacturers offer special “Nordic” versions. ContiVikingContact does not seem to be sold in US.Sava is owned by Goodyear, made in Slovenia. A lot of police vehicles use Goodyears but they don’t seem as popular as the other top brands.

Studless Tire Ranking List and Final Scoring

Continental ContiVikingContact 6, 8.1 points
Sava Eskimo Ice, 7.6 points
Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2, 7.5 points
Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice 2, 7.5 points
Michelin X-Ice XI3, 7.4 points
Hankook Winter I * Cept IZ2, 7.4 points
Bridgestone Blizzak WS80, 7.2 points
Pirelli Ice Zero FR, 7.1 points
Landsail Winter Lander, 6.7 points
Linglong Green-Max Winter Ice I-15, 6.3 points
Nankang Ice Activa Ice-1, 6.2 points

[loudbeard]

First real test for my Hakkas today, we had about 4" of snow on the ground and the roads hadn't been plowed when I came into work. Under low to mid acceleration they stick like glue in both straights and cornering. If I boot it it'll break loose but with decent bite/drive and very predictable drifting. Normal braking conditions I have zero slippage. Emergency braking test I got my ABS to fight back and some sliding. Gotta say I'm very pleased.

[e30addict]

So after this storm I'm pretty impressed with the ArticMax. They let me chew through snowbanks and stick the car places no one else would go without worry.

[Garandman]

Altimax Arctic?

Motor Trend tested the “new” Altimax Arctic 12, which is the General-branded Gislavid NordFrost 100. That’s one gen back from the NordFrost 200 but two gens newer than the Altimex Arctic.

[e30addict]

No idea which generation they are. I'm guessing at least a generation of two from current. They certainly killed my fuel mileage so I'm guessing old design.

[ZX-12R]

Time to drag up this thread again. I'm buying a winter tire package from Tire Rack for my MKZ. I'm downsizing to 18" wheels with 245/45R18 tires (factory 18" tire size). There are a handful of tire options and I have no insight into what's good or not so I would like opinions. My options are (run flats not included):

Michelin X-ICE XI3: I'm partial to Michelin for all my other tire needs. I'm concerned about the relatively small grooves in the tread and how it affects its ability to shed snow and water.

Bridgestone Blizzak LM001: Tread looks nice and aggressive. Everything I've found suggests they work well but wear quickly and I rack up a lot of highway miles.

Continental Wintercontact SI: Don't know anything about them.

Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3: Don't know anything about them other than I've had good luck with Pirelli all-seasons in the past.

All these tires cost about the same with the Blizzaks being an outlier on the high side. Due to the miles I rack up, I would sacrifice some capability in extreme conditions in favor of a tire that would last longer. This is my first AWD car and I've made do with mostly FWD vehicles and all-seasons my entire life. I'm sure any of these will be better than what I've used in the past.

What says the horde?

[capitalcrew]

I say lets not talk about it for another month. Check back in september pls.

[ZX-12R]

I say lets not talk about it for another month. Check back in september pls.

Or I can take care of it now before prices spike closer to the snowy season.

[capitalcrew]

Relax bub.

[ZX-12R]

I don't change bikes often enough to be Bubs.

[nhbubba]

Are the General Altimax arctic still a thing? I had a set on my VW and they were fantastic. Priced decently too. I sold the wheel / tire setup to a coworker who runs them on his Passat now and the tires are still going strong a few seasons later. Should be on your list, IMO.

[Falko]

I ran Yokohama IceGuards for a few years on my FWD SAAB. They did well, wouldn't say they were a game changer though. But they did wear well and did well in the shoulder months of lots of water on the roads.
I only bring those up as the Continentals look very similar in design. I don't know about the compound though.

I'd be concerned with those X-i3 as well. I'm a big fan of wide channels in snow tires.

[Garandman]

Time to drag up this thread again. I'm buying a winter tire package from Tire Rack for my MKZ. I'm downsizing to 18" wheels with 245/45R18 tires (factory 18" tire size). There are a handful of tire options and I have no insight into what's good or not so I would like opinions. My options are (run flats not included):

Michelin X-ICE XI3: I'm partial to Michelin for all my other tire needs. I'm concerned about the relatively small grooves in the tread and how it affects its ability to shed snow and water.

Bridgestone Blizzak LM001: Tread looks nice and aggressive. Everything I've found suggests they work well but wear quickly and I rack up a lot of highway miles.

Continental Wintercontact SI: Don't know anything about them.

Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3: Don't know anything about them other than I've had good luck with Pirelli all-seasons in the past.

All these tires cost about the same with the Blizzaks being an outlier on the high side. Due to the miles I rack up, I would sacrifice some capability in extreme conditions in favor of a tire that would last longer. This is my first AWD car and I've made do with mostly FWD vehicles and all-seasons my entire life. I'm sure any of these will be better than what I've used in the past.

What says the horde?

I equipped a fleet of 8 vehicles with winter tires, and regularly tried new designs as they came out.

Nokian Hakkapeliitas remains both the most expensive to buy and least expensive to own, due to their longer life. They usually outperform all others in snow and ice (especially). But they are not sold by tirerack.

The newer Blizzaks last longer than older designs: I’d not be surprised if the tire life comments are based on old models. We had X-Ice2’s and they were quite civilized but wore out the fastest.

There are several bang-for-buck options. The General Altima Arctic is a rebranded Gislavid NordFrost 3, and now that Gislavid has a new design, General got the NordFrost 4 molds. Not sure what they are called.

Nokian sells their previous generation tires under the Nordman brand.