If someone is looking for an all-season tire with snow performance that rivals that of some snow tires, Nokian makes one. Here's a review of them in "canadian driver": http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/hl/nokian.htm My girlfriend has them on her volvo, and I'm very impressed with them. They're called Nokian WR. -Wes The Bus Depot wrote: >> I think it needs to be said that a all-season tires >> are neather a good performace tire OR a good >> snow tire but a compromise of both. >> > > > I would concur with part of that statement. An all-season tire is almost > never as good in snow as a dedicated snow tire. It will get you by in a > pinch, but if you are in a snowy region there is nothing like a set of real > snow tires, at the very least on the drive wheels. I put Vredestein snows on > my own Westy in the winter (and we sell them in the winter). But in cases > where an unexpected late autumn or early spring snow squall has caught me by > surprise, the Hankooks certainly acquitted themselves a whole lot better > than a summer tire would have, and got me home. > > Also, there are large variations in the snow performance of "all season" > tires. The "all season" designation is policed by the U.S. tire industry > itself, and needless to say, as with any self-policed standards, they go > pretty easy on themselves. Some tire manufacturers even sell the identical > tire as a "summer" tire in Germany (where the standards are stricter) and as > "all season" in the U.S. The Hankooks are pretty good as far as all-season > tires go, but some other "all season" rated tires are hardly better than a > summer tire in snow. (The Bridgestone RD603's come to mind; lousy in snow, > IMO, although a good dry-road tire.) Of course the Yoko's and Conti's don't > claim to be all-season at all. > > As for an all-season tire necessarily being worse than a summer tire on dry > roads, that can depend on the tire. The Hankooks and Michelins, while > all-season, will hold their own performance-wise to most Vanagon rated > summer tires even on dry roads, as many list members can attest to. > > >> Further more the life of the tire can >> be out lived in a specific application. >> > > Theoretically this is true, of course, if you hardly drive your van and the > sidewalls start to dryrot before the tread wears out. But I would suspect > that most list members drive their Vanagons more than that. > > - Ron Salmon > The Bus Depot, Inc. > www.busdepot.com > (215) 234-VWVW > > _____________________________________________ > Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT > > |
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