You could replace your alloy spare with a steel spare.

 

Well the name doesn't make it any better on ice than any other high end studless tire (not to mention the cheap ones).

Any studless tire on icy conditions is pretty much useless. No matter which manufacturer made it. I'd say studless (all-season) tires from the high end range are at the most a moderate choice for ice.
They are the perfect choice for snow though.

 

Where I live stud is illegal. My family always depends on Nokian or Michelin winter tires. I know some Continental is good too. And speaking of Michelin X-ice 2 is better tire than X-ice 3.

 

Just got my Blizzaks put on and they are awesome, so far driven in one snowy condition here in CO. Was driving around my neighborhood late at night testing out snow mode and also messing around doing drifts and donuts in power mode with T/C off so see the limits of the car and how it handles, but for everyday driving in winter conditions, the snow mode and a full tank of gas will usually do the trick np!

 

Blizzak is good tire but they wear too fast. By the time half of tread is gone, tracking becomes not as good as when new. You can notice it yourself. This is common complaints.

 

yes, which is why I don't drive too aggressive with them, and it helps if you live in a colder climate. As when it warms up here in the Spring, I try to put the summer tires back on asap. I'm trying to get at least 3 winters out of this set, 2 at the least.

 

X-Ice is not an all-season tire, it is a studless winter tire and it is better on ice than a lot of its competitors, hence my comment. The higher end range of studless winter tires from Michelin, Bridgestone, Nokian, etc. have better ice traction than some cheaper brands that rely on the addition of studs to have much if any traction on ice. In snow, the bar is set lower, and many models of tire will have good handling characteristics in snow but fall short (and stop long) on ice. For city driving in North America, where roads are plowed and sanded, studs are loud and damaging to the streets while being ultimately not that necessary. As others said, they are also banned in several places because of the damage they do.

 

Thanks for the info. I've always thought that over there in US or Canada all-seasons cover every studless tire there is except of course summer tires.
I did a little research and it seems you have four types of tires (why, I can't understand); all-season, all-weather, winter non-studded and winter studded.

Wouldn't it be easier if there were just three types; summer, winter non-studded and winter studded. Plain and simple.

 

There is new type of tires called all weather tire. Not received very well. It is no good for summer of winter. Name sake dual purpose.
also they seem to wear fast.

 

All-season is the catch-all term for a tire that has a cold weather/light snow rating but isn't actually optimized for winter conditions. But is also not a strictly-summer performance tire. They really are a bad idea, but they are the default tire for most vehicles until the owners swap them out. All-weather is the same but, as far as I understand, no endorsement for their use in snow. The two kinds of winter tire are not really classed separately, but yes they are subdivided into studdable and studless, for simplicity's sake. Not all retailers bother making the distinction except for cataloguing reasons. What people call a summer tire here is a performance tire (or better) that absolutely should not be used in cold and/or snowy weather. Lately there has been a lot more education about the benefits of winter tires over all-season, and the province of Quebec has made winter tires mandatory. My own province's public insurer has a financing program to encourage the installation of winter tires, it's a nice move.

 

If you have two sets of tires it'll long time to replace either sets. As a retired senior I don't drive much these days. I usually keep a car for the duration of factory warranty
most of time. So often I don't need to replace tires. Stud are punched into holes in threads on winter tires . Some places studded tire is illegal 'cos they damage pavement.
No matter what all depends on driver skills. I've been driving over 60 years. Only accident I had was a drunk guy ran a light hitting my car passenger side. If it were the
other side, I might not be here today.

 

Tried to drag race an AWD in the snow and lost. The tail kept on coming loose.

 

All season tire thread rubber start getting hard at 7C losing traction. Winter tire rubber is much softer in cold temperature maintaining traction. In my area we can go see ice racing cars, motor bikes on frozen lake. We live in cold and snowy country. We know how to drive in winter by years of gained experience. New comers, young new driver is most often panic when car starts to go out of control and absolutely have not a clue what to do. Worst case just put the tranny in N and jam the brake, steer.
Also understand how well your car weight is balanced between F & R, over steer, under steer, what kinda drive train you have if AWD what type. Just drive to road condition. Going is not a problem, stopping is.

 

I have a lot of trouble going... damn open diff. Stopping is fantastic without ABS and with winter tires. Four wheel lockups to show off, threshold braking without the bloody interfering computer for actual slowing down.

 

Pro racing drivers hate ABS...