Winter Tire Advice (For Rx450H)

[chad2]

I am about to place an order on tire-rack for a winter tire package for my 2010 RX450h AWD, and I am looking for some advice before I make my order. Here are the 18" tire choices I have:

1) Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice WRT (Studless Ice & Snow) @$153each

2) Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 (Light Truck/SUV Studless Ice & Snow) @$156each

3) Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow (Light Truck/SUV Studless Ice & Snow) @$152each

I live in Ottawa, Canada, and we get a fair amount of both Snow and Ice

I am leaning towards #2 because I have used the Blizzaks before (have them on my IS250 AWD) and I like them a lot. Tirerack preferred package chose #3.

What do you think? which ones would you choose?

Also, for wheels, I was initially going with the lowest price modaEB1 (see top pic below), but my concern is the big openings in the wheel, would it be filled with heavy snow and cause steering to shake? (I had this issue with a Nissan Maxima before, but this might not be an issue with the RX?). Tirerack's Preferred choice was the Sports Edition CX model (see second picture), but it is $30per wheel more than the first one. I added a third pic of a third choice that has the least openings to avoid lots of snow from getting stuffed in the wheel, even though it is a hideous looking wheel but again looks is not really a huge factor for me in the winter. So again what do you think about the wheels? should I just go with the lower price and save $120 on the set?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help

[ZKo]

I"m in the same shoes..

wondering if I should/could go 17" instead ..

Heard great things about all but Goodyear ones (from various forums).

Are you going to pick them up from USA? or ship them up to Canada?

Thx! :)

[RX350lover]

I am about to place an order on tire-rack for a winter tire package for my 2010 RX450h AWD, and I am looking for some advice before I make my order. Here are the 18" tire choices I have:

1) Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice WRT (Studless Ice & Snow) @$153each

2) Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 (Light Truck/SUV Studless Ice & Snow) @$156each

3) Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow (Light Truck/SUV Studless Ice & Snow) @$152each

I live in Ottawa, Canada, and we get a fair amount of both Snow and Ice

I am leaning towards #2 because I have used the Blizzaks before (have them on my IS250 AWD) and I like them a lot. Tirerack preferred package chose #3.

What do you think? which ones would you choose?

Also, for wheels, I was initially going with the lowest price modaEB1 (see top pic below), but my concern is the big openings in the wheel, would it be filled with heavy snow and cause steering to shake? (I had this issue with a Nissan Maxima before, but this might not be an issue with the RX?). Tirerack's Preferred choice was the Sports Edition CX model (see second picture), but it is $30per wheel more than the first one. I added a third pic of a third choice that has the least openings to avoid lots of snow from getting stuffed in the wheel, even though it is a hideous looking wheel but again looks is not really a huge factor for me in the winter. So again what do you think about the wheels? should I just go with the lower price and save $120 on the set?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help

I can't help you with the wheels. As far as I remember, winter tires are supposed to be narrower and taller than your 'regular' tires. So they cut in the snow. But as far as winter tires for suv are concerned, the November 2011 issue of CR rates the tires as follow:

Your number one, Goodyear, is in 7th place out of 10 tires tested. Your number two, Bridgestone, is in 6th place out of 10. And your number three, Pirelli, is not tested as winter tires for suv, but was evaluated as an all-season for suv and is in 23rd place out of 23 evaluated, iow, dead last. The Pirelli was also evaluated as an all-terrain for suv and is in 8 place out of 13. FWIW, CR rates the best winter suv tires as the Continental ExtremeWinterContact and the second best is the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R. You might want to suscribe or buy the November issue of CR. They also evaluated car batteries, among other things. Priceless, really.

[kwbuggy]

Here is a link for those of us who live north of the border and want ratings on most of the winter (snow) tires available in Canada. This list is much more comprehensive than either the Tire Rack, which only sells a few brands, or Consumer Reports which didn't test too many winter tires. For those non Canadians reading this post the APA is a well established Canadian consumer protection organization helping car owners. I am not and never have been a member but admire their work.

http://www.apa.ca/WinterTires2011-PassengerCars.asp