For anyone looking at Winter Tires, Canadian Tire has some deals on Michelin Xice 2/3's.
I just got some 225/45/18's for $169 each.

Is that with or before install? Great price either way, I paid about $1200 for mine back in Nov

Xice XI-2 did not disappoint...got me home safe n sound through some pretty crazy road conditions..

https://i.imgur.com/axNOQ1N.jpg

That's the price per tire. Install is extra.


Got my Xice3's installed on Saturday and tested them out this morning.

Not bad, I'd say as good as my Blizzack WS70's in the deeper snow, while a lot quieter and supposed to have better dry road handling properties and better tire wear.
My Mazda3 has no LSD, at a few lights, I gunned it from a stop and I didn't have much/any wheel spin. Car just pulled away like it was a normal day.

Pirelli Ice Zero FR - mediocre in the slush/snowfall yesterday. Not a lot of traction when trying to start from a dead stop, and I think the tread is packed too closely together for good traction and stability in slush. A lot of crabbing/sideways slip when trying to accelerate as well.

My half-worn Blizzak WS80s were better...

Maybe the tread design was meant for ice. My Goodyear Winter UltraGrip were great in the packed snow last night, but reviews tell me my tires won't perform as well in icy conditions. Will report back in a few days.

https://www.quattrotires.com/uploads...o-fr-large.jpg

I guess so - just my impressions vs. Blizzak WS80s, and Continental WinterContact SIs.

Nokian Hakkapelita(sp?) R2s got me through the blizzard-like conditions in the Coquitlam Ikea area around 5PM yesterday. I went from Langley to Coquitlam and back without issue. My LSD-equipped car probably helped though, see attached.
https://i.imgur.com/d2bCCYN.png

I was easily able to maneuver around the majority of traffic doing 50-60 on HWY 1 without any stability issues.

I've also used the following tires in the past:
General Altimax - Great budget snow tire for wet weather with good wear characteristics, slightly noisy
Yokohama Iceguard 20 - Good on powder on the hills but poor hydroplaning resistance
Blizzak WS80 - Good on powder with decent wet weather capability, but too squishy in the turns for my liking

Hakkas (I had the R2) are the best snow tire I've ever used. Pricey though, and only one distributor (Kal Tire). Wore a bit quick - almost as quick as Blizzaks.

General Altimax, fam.

$430 for 16's all in.

Gotta say, my MS3 with Xice's (the original Xice 1) is surprisingly capable in the snow.
Drove out to the ferry terminal & back last night when the snowfall was at its heaviest. Was a 3 hour trip for what normally takes an hour. Highway was shutdown in spots, accidents everywhere, the onramp to the foot passenger area was blocked, people struggling to get up every hill. I had no problems whatsoever. I'm probably going to do Xice 3's next year.

Not a fan of the Xi3's in West Coast cement snow - tread is too closely packed together, so not great in slushy conditions like what we get now. I think will have same issue as with the Pirelli Ice Zeros. Great during dry/wet/icy conditions though.

https://www.tirerack.com/images/tire...xi3_pdptrd.jpg

I actually find xice to be better than pirellis in slow speed. Pirellis can't get the slush out until about 30km/h.

I agree that Xi3's aren't great in the heavy wet slush. In Whistler last year, I drove up the Sea to Sky in near white-out conditions and they were fantastic. But I almost got stuck in front of my hotel due to 12 inches of wet heavy packed snow.

But realistically, for Vancouver winters, Xi3's are great because they perform so well during wet and dry weather compared to many other products. I had Hakka's before, and my car almost slid out twice on highway on-ramps when it was wet.

My cheap Arctic Claw TXI tires that came with the wheels I bought off Craigslist. Pretty bad in the wet, okay in the dry, but tested them out extensively yesterday and they are fantastic in deep snow.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4f5f6c4865.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...43e554f7de.jpg

Running DWS06 on my wife's Mini Cooper. I haven't been too impressed, but beats nothing. Starting to think I should have went to Michelin A/S3+ considering all the rave reviews.

My M3 with old Dunlop 3D Winters were sketchy. I left the house with no snow, went to Costco. Came out of Costco and it's starting to stick a little. I thought what the hell I'm gonna finish doing my groceries run as I had one more stop. It got really sketchy in 30mins. Surprised how quickly things went south despite being in the city.

How are the as3+ supposed to be in the snow? My 128i has them but I've yet dared to drive it in the snow with RWD.

My dad had them on his 540i. 255/40/17's in the rear + RWD + no extra weight in the trunk, he had issues going up Oak from 70th in light snow/slush.

Probably decent if you had FWD/AWD and in a narrower size.

have a pretty fresh set in 205 16's in a torqueless fwd
it did well in the morning but just 2 hours ago it was starting to feel less confident
i would not chance it in a rwd if it gets icy tmr

They're decent. I have them on my M3, you don't really slide much. Brand new you can easily do 60-70 on packed down. I was too much of a bitch and took it easy going home. Definitely would rather run a dedicated winter setup.

yeah from a stopping perspective you'll probably be fine if you keep a good distance
but with rwd you'll likely get stuck if we get quite a bit more overnight

Have them on my FRS. 2018 dated ones at 245/40/17 lowered low clearance + splitter in the front. Did fine. Went up knight street hill between 33rd and 41st fine. I slipped a couple of times but as long as you don't STOP on the hill while going up you're good. But definitely recommend winters. stick with the main roads where buses go. I added 60kg to the trunk.

Dedicated snow tires is still what I would highly suggest.
TBH, being a winter tire thread, it makes me a bit uneasy some of you are even thinking of testing them out on a RWD.

I've had AS3's on my Mazda3 back in the days. While they worked ok, it was somewhat stressful and iffy at times. I just don't think it's all that worth it. Plus I feel pretty bad if I'm holding up the line cause I'm struggling to make it up a hill, even if technically, I'm not a threat to any one.

the 3+ tests ~30% better in snow according to tire rack vs the older, non-plus

but yeah obviously even the best UHP A/S (PS A/S 3+, EC DWS 06) can't touch modern snow designs

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/u...393175_614.jpg

Tire: New set of Goodyear Nordic, 205/70/15 on 6" wide wheels
Car: 1984 Pontiac Parisienne RWD, 4DR (~3500 LBS)
Impression:
Great at stopping this beast, took about 4 car lengths to bring the car to a stop from 60km/h on Barnet Hwy (Compact snow, evenly spread) by locking up the brakes. (No ABS).

They do a great job at siphoning out the slushie snow, was able to get to 80 KM/H on Barnet at 1AM, where the snow at this point is compact and the slushie bits have hardened... it felt very stable and controllable at this speed.

Also, I am very pleased with how they grip when braking whilst the car is sideways, or mid drift. The sidewall grooves do a great job at regaining control during a drift.

However, I have noticed that getting the car going from a stop does incur plenty of wheelspin. I was able to get out of every unplowed parking lot, even though its RWD, just had a lot of wheelspin - whilst modulating the throttle to keep momentum.