GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I've been perusing the posts here, looking at tires on websites, and reading what people have to say about their varying experiences.

My heads about to explode.

I need to replace the rear tires on my '09 GT. I will ultimately replace all four by the time the first snow falls but the two need to be replaced right now.
My priorities from most to least important are:
1. I want an all-season that will handle decently in the snow - as decently as an all-season can handle in the snow anyway.
2. I'd like a little smoother ride if possible (the stock tires are rough, to say the very least).
3. noise reduction would be a nice bonus.

EDIT: Just gonna go with the Continental DWS.

Well, really there are no all-seasons that will work as well as a winter tire in snow. In my opinion, it's very hazardous to try to "get by" in snow with all-season tires. Quebec actually has a law that motorists must use snow tires in winter (I don't happen to agree forcing people to buy winter tires by law, but they certainly wouldn't have passed the law if the tires didn't make a big difference in safety). How much is your life worth to you? Even four lightly used winter tires would be better than the best all-seasons. I bought four Nexen winter tires someone was selling on Kijiji up here, used one winter, for around $180 total, and they've been very decent tires for me in the winter (not the best winter tires by any stretch, but better than the all-seasons that I'd struggled with the previous winter).

That being said...If you're going to make the attempt, we had Pirelli all-seasons on our Kia Rondo, which was one of the worst-handling cars I've ever driven in snow. They were a vast improvement over the stock tires. I bought the Pirellis after reading lots of reviews of all-seasons, because I knew I wasn't going to drive the Rondo in snow at all if I could help it, but I wanted something good just in case I "got caught" out in a little bit of snow before I could get home. The Pirellis were among the top-rated all-seasons for snow. I forget what site I was looking at...I don't think it was Tire Rack, might've been something else.

One time we DID get caught in the snow. We were driving down to NYC in October and there was a freak snowstorm that occurred out of nowhere. We drove through it for the last hour of our trip as it was coming down, around 2 inches or so on the ground. We had excellent traction, and if we'd been in the stock tires, we'd have been sliding all over the place.

Best of luck with your choice. But again, I urge you to seriously reconsider all-seasons, and look instead at lightly used winter tires.

I live about 60 miles west of Chicago. In the 13 years I've been driving, I have never once driven a vehicle with snow tires. All the vehicles my parents and I have ever had have always had all season tires. The 16" steel wheels we put on the Vibes for the winter months have Kelly Explorer all season tires and we have never had any problems getting around in the snow and/or ice and we're approaching our 5th winter with the Vibes and 16" steelies. Alot of winter driving comes down to taking your time and being extra cautious.

I can honestly say you definitely do not want to drive in snow with a dedicated summer tire though. One winter, I went out in my former 2002 Pontiac Sunfire SE Sedan with 17" Kumho summer tires in barely a dusting of snow and I was sliding all over the place. I actually miss that car in the winter though. It was lowered 1.4" and had front and rear strut braces and some Bridgestone all season tires on 15" steelies. It was an absolute beast in the snow! I remember driving home from an eye doctor appointment that was an hour away. Snow was coming down like crazy, there was at least 6" of snow on the roads and people were sliding everywhere. That little Sunfire plowed right through it all and never slid once. I also remember turning off the traction control one time and doing some pretty wicked donuts in a church parking lot during a pretty intense snowstorm !

I do take your point about winter tires, but there are several reasons I won't be purchasing them. First is storage. I live in a one bedroom apartment - 720sq.ft. I have no room to store tires and rims over the seasons, nor, frankly, do I want to. Second is installation. I have no one to swap them out each season and the constant changing of the tires will get pricey over the life of the tires. Third, and probably most problematic right now, is that I need actual tires. I'm not shopping for all-seasons because I want "better" tires than what I have for going into winter; I'm shopping for tires because I need tires. I have one that is constantly going flat and that one plus one other are showing dry rot. These are ridiculously huge tires. It's going to cost me $700 to get four new ones. I simply can't afford to then turn around and buy four snow tires on top of that, used or not, so these tires have to handle the winter - at least to the best of their ability - because there will be no more tires purchased because there is no more money to purchase them. lol So it is what it is; I need tires and I need to do my best not to end up upside down in a ditch with the tires I buy.

In addition, in all honestly, I've never had a car, save my '05 Vibe, that handled poorly in snow with all-seasons. I always attributed that to the fact that the Vibe was so light weight, but I guess I'll find out this year (with this '09) if it's really the model itself that is a poor car for snow, or if it really was just that '05 with it's small engine (low weight) and lack of traction control.

EDIT: Just gonna go with the Continental DWS.[/quote]

I think when it is time I am going to try the same - but I got about 15-25k miles to go.