NON-Directional snow tires

[3930dave]

Car tire I'm chasing,...... so didn't drop this into the new Tires forum, out of respect for tractors .....

Anybody know of a manufacturer still making NON-directional snow tires ? Looking for one in 14", but I'll take any leads at the moment.

(I understand there can be performance gains with modern directional snows, but I don't like the limited rotation pattern).

Rgds, D.

 

[MoMower]

Firestone winterforce. Or Cooper winter master.

 

[3930dave]

Thanks Mo.

I'll have another look at Cooper - I've run those in the past and liked them. I think I checked Cooper last Winter, and they don't make anything small enough for what I need, but I'm not 100% on that.

Truck Winterforce may be different, but the old ones I'm replacing on this car were definitely Directional. They worked, and were a good price, but as they aged they got incredibly LOUD..... limited rotation ability was part of that story....

The new Winterforce 2 at a glance might not seem Directional, but it is listed that way on TireRack:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Firestone&tireModel=Winterforce+2

Side shot is at an angle, so it's harder to see, but there is a Rotation arrow showing.....

Thnx, off to look at Cooper....

Rgds, D.

 

[mikester]

You don't say where you are, what kind of car, or the typical driving conditions. 14's are small wheels, go to crappy tire and get the cheapest, narrowest non-directional snows they have. If you care about traction and drive in the GTA I'd get X-ice3. If deeper snow and slush get Blizzacks.

I'm now using X-ice3's because they are light weight, drive like all season tires, give best fuel economy, and our roads gets plowed and salted regularly. They don't do well in deep snow and slush, blizzacks plow through that stuff better but ride is mushy and fuel economy suffers.

 

[3930dave]

Rural roads Mike. I'd be happy with just a traditional zigzag tire, but they are scarcer that white-rhinos today.....

I don't mind spending money to get a decent mid-range snow tire, but everything I've seen so far at CTC, Wally World etc is all now directional, even the cheap stuff.

I'm not chasing a cheap tire - if I could still buy a quality zigzag, I'd use that. Does what I need, and the road noise is constant, through the life of the tire.

Performance of the last-gen Winterforce on this car ('01 Civic) was OK. There is enough tread on them that I could drive another season with them, if I drive with ear-plugs. No 4 way rotation is my beef with this class of tires. They seem a little to much like iphones to me...... you're supposed to buy new ones, every 2 years or less......

Rgds, D.

 

[MoMower]

I thought the winter force were just “inside/outside” specific



That’s the tread on the Cooper Weather master ST2. (I think I said winter master before)

This is the Cooper Evolution



They perform similar to each other.

 

[mikester]

Rural roads Mike. I'd be happy with just a traditional zigzag tire, but they are scarcer that white-rhinos today.....

I don't mind spending money to get a decent mid-range snow tire, but everything I've seen so far at CTC, Wally World etc is all now directional, even the cheap stuff.

I'm not chasing a cheap tire - if I could still buy a quality zigzag, I'd use that. Does what I need, and the road noise is constant, through the life of the tire.

Performance of the last-gen Winterforce on this car ('01 Civic) was OK. There is enough tread on them that I could drive another season with them, if I drive with ear-plugs. No 4 way rotation is my beef with this class of tires. They seem a little to much like iphones to me...... you're supposed to buy new ones, every 2 years or less......

Rgds, D.

Unfortunately its going to be harder to find a deal this time of year. Try costco if you have one close enough and see what comes up on sale. I personally wouldn't worry about using directional tires, never had any issues, just mark them and rotate regularly.

You will like the blizzacks on your car for traction in snow, slush and dirt roads. I keep my snows on a set of steel wheels and don't use them in warm weather. Got 8 years on my blizzacks, the 2 year thing is a money grab IMHO unless you put on 60,000km a season. I only drive paved highways now and the x-ice3 are light, quiet and handle really well like an AS tire, great on black ice. Blizzacks are heavier and noisier than x-ice3, better in deep snow and slush, and handle like a set of traditional snow tire marshmallows. They are quieter than traditional zig-zags.

I had coopers for my truck which worked well, bought the same ones for a small SUV and hated them. Way too soft side walls made me feel less in control and too much body roll.

 

[Doofy]

I keep my studded winter Coopers on separate wheels and have never rotated them. They still look brand new after 10 winters but are due to be replaced due to aging. I install them the 15th of September and remove May 1st. Studs are even still sharp. It's a shame to age-out otherwise perfect tires.