More tire questions

IMHO, you are making a mistake by going with all-season tires if you are going to be living in Upstate NY. They won't give you the traction you are likely to need, not to mention your trip across the northern US in the middle of the winter. I have made that trip several times and I got lucky a couple of times (little if any snow); the other times I was not so lucky.

 

Nokian WRG2. Good in snow and ice, good in rain, fine in summer. A true all-season tire. Bonus, better mileage than the stock tires.

In deep snow you will still get stuck. The car will high center (snow will pack underneath). Take the bus or train when it's like that.

 

I would definitely spring for a set of mounted snows to use in the winter. It isn't hard to swap them out if they are mounted on their own rims. An all-season tire just doesn't do the job of a dedicated snow tire, and I wouldn't personally run a cold-weather compound during the summer (even the Nokians). I went to school in upstate New York, grew up in New England, and I can tell you from experience how much it sucks to realize you shouldn't have compromised on winter tires. Over the long run we aren't talking about a great deal of cost.

 

"Upstate NY" covers a big (and poorly defined) area. Some areas (like Watertown) are bad news, but others (Oneonta, NY) are not.

We do just fine going from Rochester to Buffalo weekly on All Season Primicies.

 

Check out the new Consumer Reports Tire test. Only all season tire with best SNOW and ICE traction is Hankook Optimo H727 and is highly recommended. Not only that, this is most comfortable and quite tires when compared to many other All Season tires.

As per CR, this tire has better traction on ICE and SNOW than some Winter tires. I got these installed in 195/60 R 15 size and drove about 1400 miles so far including one 1100 miles trips.With these tires I felt like completely new car, it is quite, very comfortable(no more bumps) and no more tire slips at stop lights on inclines. I have not tested these ICE and SNOW yet, but supposed to be better than some winter tires. I think you will enjoy these tires on your long drive, and also save some moolah when compared to Michelin or Goodyear TT.

There is a thread with CR attachement in this forum, search that.

BTW, here is the link for that thread
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...michalin-primacy-vs-hankook-optimo-tires.html

There tires are rated for 100k miles, but I am guessing more like 70-80k though.

 

any one have experence with Town Fair tires service? I am leaning on going to the 205x55x16 michelin hydro edge for my 07 Prius touring (i have 15 inch snow tires and rims i use in the winter)