LookingToBuyAFord Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 (edited) Note: Live in a small town in Southwestern Ontario, Canada (not far from Michigan) with a mix of highway, city and country driving. We have a 2020 SEL which has 245/60R18 Michelin Latitude Tour HP all-season tires. We made it through last season without the winter tires but for this year, we might consider it as this winter is projected to be a heavy one. Our other car is a small PHEV with full winter tires - we normally try to use this car as much as possible due to the fuel economy of the car (even if it's FWD). Or should we just drive the Edge during the winter because it's a bigger "safer" vehicle (although the PHEV is rated as a top safety pick plus by the IIHS whereas the Edge is only a top safety pick)? The thing is that our small town is on the same road as the operations center for the county so the main road gets serviced fairly regularly (our actual street is off of the main street and it takes a bit longer to plow). The most powder we ever see is always getting off our street first which can be substantial on really bad days. Other than that, we only face packed snow from ploughs/snow covered roads/blowing snow (not really much in the way of pure unploughed roads other than previously mentioned). We do drive carefully but I guess dangerous conditions can happen at any time. In researching winter tires, there are basically two types: the lighter/longer lasting kind or the heavier/better winter performance kind. For example, something like a Michelin X-Ice will last longer but may not have as good pure winter performance whereas a Blizzak will have great snow performance but will not last as long (especially off snow and with highway driving). Some of the brands we are looking at are Michelin (X-Ice), Bridgestone (Blizzak), Nokian and Pirelli - not sure if there are any other brands to consider. What do you guys drive? We were looking at buying through Costco but a lot of tire options through Costco are temporarily not in stock. Or is it even worth it if we got through last winter with the Latitudes that are currently on the Edge and see what we can get in the spring? I feel silly for not trying to get a set last spring when they were on sale. My in-laws don't have snow tires for their Edge and they live in a much more remote rural area than we do. Any opinions? Edited November 10, 2021 by LookingToBuyAFord Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escapeman Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 I live in Toronto and travel Southwestern Ontario for business during the winter, think I know the area where you are. I currently drive a 21 Lincoln Nautilus and had snows on my 19 Nautilus as well. I can tell you from experience that there is a huge difference in traction using snows vs leaving the all seasons on during the winter. For my new 21 which I just got my tire guy ordered me a set of Toyo Optima G3 ice . I would not have thought of these. The guy I deal with is always straight goods type of guy. He suggested these to me as they have great user ratings and professional ratings , and are much less expensive than the typical brands you mentioned. I am getting new tires as the ones I had on my 19 Nautilus are the same I used on my MKX so time to change. My other set was Yokohama, they were great in the snow, very loud on dry pavement, these are supposedly a quieter tire . Time will tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92merc Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 No Edge here, but I had a set of Blizzak's on my Montego FWD. When I bought an Escape, my son inherited my 2007 Montego. I bought some rims off Ebay and put the Blizzak's on the Montego. His Montego would get around as good as my AWD Escape. And braking was much better. He got spoiled with winter driving in ND. He got about 35k out of the tires. They're pretty much done now. But I wouldn't hesitate to buy Blizzak's again, should I need them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campingnut Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 We have nokians on ours and have lasted over 60,000km and are good for one last season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LookingToBuyAFord Posted November 10, 2021 Author Share Posted November 10, 2021 Is there any benefit to buying new rims rather than 2nd hand ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 I have had General Altimax Arctics, Firestone Winterforce II's, and Goodyear Ice Grip WRT's and this coming year with the new Corsair, I have gotten a new set of General's. I was satisfied with all three, but the overall grip of the Generals is why I bought them again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92merc Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 Personally, used take offs from EBay are fine. Since they are winter use, a few scrapes are fine. The rims I found had the clear coat peeling. But the rims themselves were true and no road rash on them. If you really want to go cheap, you could find some steel rims in all black. But not a common size I'm guessing. So it would take some searching. You could always just check out Tire Rack site for rims as well. They'd be "new", but sometimes they have closeouts on a style that isn't half bad looking and cheaper than EBay. And for winter, good enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campingnut Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 2 hours ago, LookingToBuyAFord said: Is there any benefit to buying new rims rather than 2nd hand ones? If shipping was not so bad I have a set in Calgary I would love to sell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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