All-weather tire, is it time?

That's what our daughter did with her Pilot, worked out fine. She used a Nordman WR IIRC; I'm pretty sure it's Nokian's budget brand. Up here they're sold by Kal Tire (near-exclusively?); not sure about the States.

The Michelins sound good; would probably be my choice, if I was choosing "all-weather".

(Run-on semi-colons got the better of me...)

 

Well, Subaru AWD with all-season is about as good as FWD with winter tires in getting you moving. Assuming you don't have to go out in a blizzard, all-weather should be fine.

 

I put CrossClimate2 (Michelin's all weather tire) on my RAV4 in January. Amazing traction on snow and ice and fantastic in heavy rain.

And, you can run it in the summer. They are noisy, but most people say they are quiet. Maybe my hearing is more acute. I know I am more cute

Downside: $$$$$$

I tend to spend too much on safety-related items nowadays. But, hey, you only live -- what did James Bond say -- twice.

Oh, I purchased the CC2 tires at Costco when they were having a "promotion." Saved, I don't know, $80 or so, but still paid around $900 for all four tires.

I remember running 145's on my little Toyota Tercel when I first stared driving. I think I bought them at Toys 'R Us for $19.95 and a coupon.
kris

 

I thought about all-weather tires instead of dedicated snow for our new Escape. But when I checked, it was cheaper to buy a set of downsized 17" wheels (used OEM wheels) and snow tires (Blizzak) than buying 4 larger CrossClimate tires. So, I went with Blizzak. But now I have smaller wheels, maybe next set I may try CrossClimate and sell larger OEM wheels. The question is the tread life on CrossClimate when worn year around. If it lasts say only 20K miles like our run flat, then they are way too expensive options.

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That was exactly my reasoning. Downsizing the winter wheels to 17" and buying dedicated winter tires were cheaper. I did that only 1 week after getting a new Escape PHEV, so I can't compare the mpg saving. But I will see if there is a big change when I swap back to larger stock wheels/tires in a few weeks. Unfortunately, we are still having snowy days in forecast. Just had accumulation over night. It will be close to May for the stock wheels/tires. Then, temp difference alone will have a bigger impact on the fuel efficiency.


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When I do the tire change, I have to put the wheel/tire combo on a scale. I don't think stock 18" wheels/tires are 15 lbs heavier than 17" winters. For one thing, Ford changed the stock OEM tire size to a narrower 225 tires for all Gen4 Escape. My PHEV trim came with 18" wheels instead of 19" wheels on some Hybrid and ICE upper trims. I bought older Gen3 Escpace 17" OEM used wheels cheaply. For Gen3 Escape, Ford used 235/55R17 tires, but I fitted the Gen3 wheels with Gen4 spec 225/65R17 Blizzak. They sure are much lighter than the wheels/tires I had to swap on our previous SUV (Pathfinder Hybrid) that came with P235/55R20 stock, and a set of 18" wheels for winter tires 235/65R18.

 

My back hurts just reading that.

 

Yeah, OEM alloys are not super lightweight by any means. There are some super-light aftermarket wheels, but they are super expensive. Used OEM wheels for Escape were cheap by comparison. And, even though they say it does not come with TPMS and center cap, but they all did, so that was close to $200 saving right there.

 

Yeah, that was one of the reasons I decided to get rid of our Pathfinder SUV. We do miss the larger cargo room and three rows of seating, but I was getting tired of doing the tire changes on this beast. I never weighted the 20" wheel/tire combo that was on the Pathfinder, but I am sure it was close to 80lb per wheel/tire. Escapes 18" stock and 17" winter were far more "liftable".

 

The heaviest I'm lifting right now (occasionally, if my son leaves it to me) is our son's CX-5 wheels. I did develop a back-saving technique:

1. Wearing steel-toe boots*, get the wheel positioned and oriented just about where it should be, except on the slab.

2. Sit facing the wheel, hook my toes under the tire at around 5 and 7 o'clock.

3. While steadying with my hands, lift the wheel with my toes, then guide it onto the studs, get one nut started. (This takes your back out of the equation completely.)

* Not mandatory, but I think they help. I hardly ever "need" steel toes, but they tend be good quality boots.

With our 3rd gen Prius, CDN Touring model, the 17" OEM wheel/tire combo is noticeably heavier than the 15" snows on Corolla steel rims currently in use. Plan is to switch the Corolla rims for some Prius Plug-In alloys next fall.

 

I'd guesstimate the 17''s on OEM alloys (tire/wheel combo) are about 20~25% more than 15's on steel rims, just via my back-meter. I really should weigh both combos while doing a swap, when they're both available.

Just for notes, here's some part no's:

15" corolla steel rim: 42611-02471
17" (3rd gen) Prius Touring: 42611-47211
15" (3rd gen) Prius Plug-In: 42611-47360

I tried finding some shipping weights, without success.

 

For Gen4 PP stock 15" OEM alloy and stock Ecopia tire, the weight was 30.3lb. With the same tire on an aftermarket steel 15" wheel was 38.3lb. They were light enough for sure.

 

I know Tire Rack at least publishes tire weights in the specs.