Tires

[Bduck]

I spent a couple of hours getting quotes to replace the tires on my Dodge Nitro. I've been running the Toyo Open Country ATDII on my F250 and wife's Escalade for a couple years now. Looking online is not the same as looking at the tread design first hand. For this part of the country I like an all terrain thats aggressive enough for the roads in the winter snows, get off of the beaten path making tracks but yet not back country which I know would perform to a certain value, I like the taste to play even in my retirement. As with most all terrains they can create some kind of road noise but I find these to the extent that I don't have to talk above normal situations or crank up the radio to drown out the noise. I remember back in the early 70's I would go buy a set of 2 tires, at that time that's what I could afford usually in a bias ply under $100. A radial then was a little more expensive and you were lucky to get maybe 25-30g miles on those 2 tires. Every year I was buying 2 tires to maintain good tread on the road. As I was shopping for the tires I wanted in 5 different tire stores I ran across a $300 spread for the same tire. The package that goes with the tire were close to being pretty much the same except for the road hazard. Road hazard would cover based on how much tread was left down to 20-30% of minimum legal tread allowed on the road which 2/32. The road hazard I got covered 100% down to the 2/32 and the total price was at the lower end of the quotes I got. There are many tires out there that have the same or close to the same tread design with the unfortunate price fluctuations. Most mileage warranties hit in the 50-60mi range with some that go even higher.
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[RonPaulFan]

I've recently spent a lot of time researching and studying tires, so I'll share my conclusions that are for me and not others yet might give others ideas on how to match tire choices that are best for them.

There are tires that provide optimal performance in one use at a steep penalty of compromise of poor performance in the other uses. There are also all-season tires that are designed to provide the best compromise for multiple uses yet with only a fair score in each. There is no such thing as a tire that does everything best.

The most common example of people choosing to have different tires for different seasons is having all-season tires on your wheels for spring, summer and fall and changing them to winter tires for winter and still there are compromises.

My off road vehicle that I bought for fishing has high performance capabilities in multiple categories that are all limited by the tires. I could make do with less performance in these various categories by the typical compromises. I could limit my off road capabilities and my snow and ice traction which will be important for off road trails to ice fishing destinations and I could limit my dry pavement traction and handling on the highway and I could limit my loose beach sand traction for surf fishing by choosing compromises, but I choose to optimize.

I paid for performance in a very capable vehicle, so I chose to have the best tires for each use by having bought extra sets of wheels for the different tires to enjoy that performance.

For snow traction for my ice fishing at hard to get to destinations, I'm getting Bridgestone Blizzaks on Monday. Depending upon the Black Friday sales, I might get sand tires on another set of wheels at the same time. I already have wheels with high performance road tires of a compromise sort yet at the high end of quality and as I said everything about tires are compromises. To get this high traction and handling performance, a much more grippy, softer rubber compound is used at the expense of wearing out very quickly compared to hard rubber that has a long tread life at the expense of lower performance.

They will double as off-road tires for me and though not having the advantages of tread optimized for that, the traction management systems of the car will give me extraordinary capabilities for all but the deepest mud, snow and ice. I've got snow and ice covered and would get mud tires, IF I were caring to push the limits on mud which is a rather odd sport to me.

It might be extravagant to have different wheels for different seasons and uses, but when not pushed to the extreme as I'm doing, it's actually more economical as well as being high performance when just done for snow tires. This is because our winter seasons have lots of warm dry pavement days and that wears out the soft rubber compound of winter tires fast. If you have winter tires put on your one set of wheels in the winter and switch back in spring, you are wearing those tires out fast. It's not practical to have them switched multiple times in a season with the wait and the cost of the service of having them removed and the other set of tires mounted and balanced each time. But, it's quick and no cost to simply change wheels yourself with tires that stay mounted on wheels dedicated to them. That makes the winter tires last much longer and can serve well with near full tread depth (necessary for performance in snow) for multiple seasons. With that concept, I'll be using my all-season tires for most of our winter as the streets will be dry most of the winter (we live in a desert). But, I'll put on the Blizzak wheels for snow days (if I travel far or will be driving in more risky traffic) and my ice fishing.

Extra wheels can really save money.

But, where a LOT of money (TROUBLES AND LIVES, TOO) is saved is when a shorter stopping distance or better control on ice or snow PREVENTS a COLLISION. Sure we can drive within our capabilities and the capabilities of our vehicles as limited by whatever tires, BUT the other drivers will have some among them who do not drive within those limitations by having poor skills or distracted or intoxicated driving or mechanical limitations, disrepair or even bald tires, etcetera.
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[Bduck]

Good info RPF however as a retiree my ground pounding on pavement doesn't justify me having a different set of wheels for the various recreational activities that is required as you described. I've come to the conclusion that I'm getting to old to be rattling my own cage with some activities. Having 3 vehicles the price of rubber just keeps climbing. My F250 diesel is my primary fish/towing vehicle if lucky may see action once a week. My Nitro was passed on to me from my brother who passed away 4yrs ago. It has the original street tires on it still but it will be replaced today. Its my putt around town go for a ride vehicle. Mama's Caddy, well, she does her thing very locally. We are getting as little wear out of the tires since mileage is not being accumulated as with someone who has a daily job to go to. I have 2 sons with their families that live in Sacramento that we would make the Christmas run to see them occasionally. There was a couple of times I80 was closed at Truckee inside California due to whiteout snow conditions, accidents on top of the summit. Other routes that were still open from Truckee to Lake Tahoe only meant it was going to be a longer drive down to Sacramento via US50 from Tahoe. The tires perform phenomenal making the difference in having to chain up or not. The tire siping on rain soaked roads also make handling easier. Speeding in these conditions are never a good idea and no tire will stop you from sliding or hydroplaning. I'm very envious of those who can or have a tire for the different seasons or situations but only can keep up with what I have. So many of our roads are under repair from potholes, a lot of street pounding tires receive damage quicker or easier whereas some of the lesser aggressive AT tires for the roads have better ply ratings to handle those situations and that's another stat i like about them.
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[RonPaulFan]

Roger,

Following up on: "... Depending upon the Black Friday sales, I might get ..."

Well, I added to my fishing equipment. The sales were good, so I went all the way with the best of snow tires and the best of sand tires and I even bought another extra set of wheels for the snow tires which came with a car attached to them, so on snow and ice days or for ice fishing, I have a choice of changing the wheels or just changing the keys in my pocket.

I did consider the off road bumps and jolts and the vehicle is certainly built strong to handle rough terrain well and not just crawling either, so to realize and enjoy it's potential, I oversized the tire selection to maximum diameter and width. With greater tread depth on the snow tires and 2800 pound load capacity per tire, the larger diameter will increase my ground clearance and go over roughness, bumps and holes better with less risk of damage on the snow covered off road trails.

Then I figured I can go so far from civilization in winter off road conditions that no one would be able to bring me a new battery should my weak one fail to start the engine in the cold, so I bought new AGM batteries for both vehicles. No need to stay in on snow days!

Now, I'm all set for ice fishing and working on surf fishing plans.

I agree to not be speeding in winter driving conditions in traffic on public roads, but it will be fun to improve winter driving skills with speed on a snow covered race track. Aside from fun, those skills combined with high vehicle capability will further increase winter driving safety when on the road with a mix of vehicles and drivers that have some that make it dangerous.
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