Winter tires

[Longball]

Has anyone tried the Nexen winter tires from Walmart ? I think they are $65 a tire right now. Just wondering if anyone around here had them on their car last winter. Reviews please.

[Weazl]

Not to thread jack but I am in the market for winter tires too and damn their expensive!!!!

[Longball]

Thats why I want to know more about these tires. They look good but who knows. I'm pretty sure they must be decent for Walmart to carry them.

[DavidY]

If you want a winter tire that is severe snow rated (mountain with a snowflake) and pretty cheap, take a look at the Firestone Winterforce or Winterforce UV tire. Another one is General Altimax Arctics at Canadian Tire when they are on sale (was 25% off last week). Avoid the Goodyear Nordics and BFG Winter Slaloms.

For winter tire ratings, look at http://www.apa.ca

If you have a vehicle that you plan to keep for awhile, consider a second set of wheels/rims with MINUS sizing (check if the smaller rim will clear the brake calipers). For example, recent Toyota RAV4 have 17 inch rims as stock...but can be MINUS sized to 16 inch. 16 inch winter tire price plus cost of rim will often be similar or chepaer to the cost of 17 inch tires (no rims). Use a tire size calculator to keep the overall tire diameter to within plus or minus 3 percent of stock (this keeps your speedo to the same).

High performance cars typically have very large brake calipers and therefore, they cannot be downsized....need to keep the same rim diameter.

Dave

[Kiwi]

Both Kijiji and usedottawa.com are good sources for tires, depending on your needs.

[DavidY]

Both Kijiji and usedottawa.com are good sources for tires, depending on your needs.

Look at the manufactured date code on the tire (search the Net on how to identify the manufacturing week and year...it's on the tire's sidewall). Avoid any tires that are older than 6 years old. This applies to any tire, winter or all (three) season.

Dave