Winter Tires Suggestions

[tripz]

Wondering what people are running on their stock/near stock XJ? Looking for winter tires not all season/off road. Has anyone have any experience with Nokian Hakkapeliitta SUV Light Truck Winter (or any Nokian brand winter tires), Michelin Latitude X-Ice, or any similar. I've heard a lot of good things about Nokian but since there's not much reviews on those tires, I need some input. Thanks

btw, I live in Alberta, Canada.

[ttocsnekia]

BFG a/t's

[2000XJSPORT]

X2 Great tire for the winter.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/ADSBNSF/all_terrain_large.jpg

[KarlVP]

X3 BFG AT is the best tire ever.

They are GREAT on road, and will stand up to mild offroad use.

I put 65,000 miles on my last set.

[JonnyK]

I'm not familiar with the brand you mentioned, but I love Bridgestone Winter Deulers (Blizzaks for light trucks). Best studless snow/ice tire IMO. You can check them out at Tire Rack.

[Matthew Currie]

I had BFG AT's on my 87 and they were quite decent on road, ok off, and not awful on snow, but I found them a little less than great on icy roads. They seemed a little hard and slick. That said, they were adequate and pretty controllable with care, and they wore like iron. They got well into the 70K+ range. My favorites so far have been Hakkapelittaas (and no I'm not going to check the damn spelling this time). I got a set of commercial grade 225/70's for my 95 which worked very well and wore well too. I don't think you can beat them on really nasty icy crappy roads, even without studs. I replaced them a while back with 235/75 Cooper Discoverer snows (not the same tread as the regular Discoverers), and they're also very good. The Coopers also seem to work pretty well in mud, leaves, and basically in any situation where you would not be a total fool to take a stock XJ. My son has the regular Cooper discoverers on his, and my stepson had them on his as well, and they're pretty hard to beat for overall year-round use.

[FatXJ]

BFG AT's are the worst snow tire ever. They pack up with snow and then you are just along for the ride to the nearest ditch. I like mud terrains better than AT's in the snow especially the deep stuff. I am now running TrXus MT's and love them even more.

PS- most of these people don't know what snow is, I live in big snow country where 250" is the average.

[Blaine B.]

I have BFG A/T's too in 30"x9.5" R15, just got them about a month ago.

[johnlv6]

My family has gone through about five sets of BFG A/T. They're great all weather tires. Mine are 31X10.5.

[mozzer]

Surely there's a BIG difference between normal M&S tyres and the proper winters, Goodyear advertise there Nordic as stopping 60 ft shorter on ice than there own all rounder.

[Blaine B.]

60 feet? who needs that.

[desertred]

60 feet? who needs that.

I like the idea of that, especially since that distance would most likely be the difference between accident avoidance and a new XJ coupled with some major hospital bills (depending on the vehicle speed).

Nokian is one of the best winter tire manuafacturer's around. The Finnish have had a lot of practice at driving in the snow. :D I happened to be looking at the Hakka 2 and Hakka 4 yesterday. Both of these tires can be fitted with studs and are available in . As I am more concerned with black ice in my area, studs may be of benefit. Many of the other tires mentioned are also very good (Ice-X, Blizzaks, etc.).

Some of us that travel to or through the mountains have to have either traction tires or chains to comply with local restrictions. Some of the mountain passes in the NW have already had the "traction trires required" warnings out in an early snow. I don't know if I'll go with dedicated winter tires yet or not, but if I do, I will be trying the Nokians.

My $.02

[8Mud]

Thing about a winter tire that is good on ice, is that a whole bunch of small teeth tend to do better than a few large ones. The really aggresive treads, don't seem to work as good. Secondly, is a good ice tire is pretty darned soft and wears fast. Third, is tires often get harder with age, next winter the same tires may not be as good, not becuase of the wear, but because they are harder. And the crisp edges may be a little more rounded.
It may be worthwhile to check the production date on a tire planned for ice and avoid something that has been on the shelf for awhile (maybe years).

[themangeraaad]

Just because I got them this summer, anyone have any input on Mickey Thompson MTX's? Just curious of what to expect. I mean, I had a smaller/narrower set of wal-mart cheep POS tires and they were fine last year, got me through everything, suprisingly, so just curious if anyone knows what I might expect this year.. if they are any good or just suck

[Blaine B.]

My friend has 30x9.50 MT's on his 96 XJ, they are fine except for the rubbing he gets in the back when flexing or carrying a heavy load (the rear springs are kinda shot...)

He really likes them, they gripped really well when he were driving up a steep loose terrain hill in 2WD.

[87manche]

Thing about a winter tire that is good on ice, is that a whole bunch of small teeth tend to do better than a few large ones. The really aggresive treads, don't seem to work as good. Secondly, is a good ice tire is pretty darned soft and wears fast. Third, is tires often get harder with age, next winter the same tires may not be as good, not becuase of the wear, but because they are harder. And the crisp edges may be a little more rounded.
It may be worthwhile to check the production date on a tire planned for ice and avoid something that has been on the shelf for awhile (maybe years).
most snow tires are also formed with two rubber compounds. The outer tread compound is much softer and wears faster, when you get down farther into the tread it's more of a standard rubber.

[87manche]

Thing about a winter tire that is good on ice, is that a whole bunch of small teeth tend to do better than a few large ones. The really aggresive treads, don't seem to work as good. Secondly, is a good ice tire is pretty darned soft and wears fast. Third, is tires often get harder with age, next winter the same tires may not be as good, not becuase of the wear, but because they are harder. And the crisp edges may be a little more rounded.
It may be worthwhile to check the production date on a tire planned for ice and avoid something that has been on the shelf for awhile (maybe years).
most snow tires are also formed with two rubber compounds. The outer tread compound is much softer and wears faster, when you get down farther into the tread it's more of a standard rubber.

[FastFreddy4]

I just bought a set of Nokian Vatiiva for my 01 Sport. I've had them less than a week and evenon the dry roads the XJ just seems to stick better than the original Goodyears with 60K miles. My friend also has a 01 Sport in Michigan and loves the tires - he's had them for over year and no complaints.

hope this helps
Fred

[cyberbackpacker]

Another supporter of Blizzak's. Amazing tire on snow and ice. Used them in Colorado high country (10k+ feet- Leadville, Vail Pass, living in Summit County..)

[4xBob]

Blizzaks rule for one winter, then you have worn through the soft traction rubber and have a mediocre tire. I have Toyo studless winters on one XJ - they're great. Traction is so good that I casually stopped for a light, and the driver behind me didn't (small car with four passengers on all-seasons). The other XJ has Cooper studded winter tires (older model)- they perform well, especially on ice. A friend has a yota 4runner (which is a seriously heavy truck compared to an XJ) with studded real winter tires either Nokian or Hakkapelita (Scandinavian either way) that are stunningly good on ice. I have Nokian Vativa all-seasons for summer, and they are a nice on-road tire. I drive on older-style Michelin LTX M&S tires at work (3/4 ton Dodge), which are not as good as the above-listed tires. This is in north-central BC, with lots of icy roads. Any AT that wears well is made of harder rubber, and won't equal the true winter tires for traction.