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Thread: Winter/snow tires for Micra

  1. #1
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    Winter/snow tires for Micra

    I know it is early but has anyone shopped for winter tires yet?
    Any recommendations for this light weight car? (SR automatic)


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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Micra SR automatic: 8.0 L/100 km ... 35.4 mpg (Imp) ... 12.5 km/L ... 29.5 mpg (US) ...


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    Well if you look outside calgary today it is not to early!!!!! I was driving through a blizzard all day yesterday! I was well suprised how well she handled. I didnt notice the traction control kick in.

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    Senior Member Howie's Avatar
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    Stick with the factory sized tired. Contrary to popular believe wider tires don't nessisairly mean more traction. In some cases, the thinner tires cut through fresh snow and steer better like a freshly sharpened skate as opposed to a a blunt one.

    Now the ultimate dreaded thread.. Snow tires vs no all season. Neither is wrong. In all forms of research I have seen and some of my own testing through work, snow tires have a performance advantage over all season tires. PERIOD.

    But the trump card of all of this is the object between the seat and the wheel. Increase your following distance appropriate to the conditions and then some. Don't go mock chicken light speed. If you look outside and the roads are crap and accidents are everywhere, don't go out. Drive like there was an egg on the bottom of your foot. Practice threshold braking techniques.

    When you first get a good dumping of snow, wait until night. Find a BIG (like walmart, costco, home depot) parking lot with minimal lights in the middle. Drive around slowly, get a feel for how she handles in the snow, gradually increase speed, try to initiate a slide, do some hard braking applications to get a feel for it in a safer environment. Then determine if you need snow tires or not. Figure out how your car is going to handle in the worst conditions so if happens on the road, you know what to do.

    Personally, myself I have never purchased snow tires on my own personal vehicles. I do not see the benefit in them and believe people tend to use them as a crutch over poor winter driving skills. As a professional driver and driver training, I find that its best to train people to drive in winter, then let them have the snow tires to help the skills that exist.

    All to many people on the 401 and trans canada seem to think. OOH! Derp i gotts a 4x4, or I gots snow tires so 140kph riding bumperz is safes! Hurr durr! Usually why in my area 50 car pileups on the 401 are not unusual.

    Now onto what your really looking for. We found that the michelin X-ice series worked very well for the cost. The same with the goodyear nordic series. Pretty much identical in performance and the performance in winter is noticable.

    Bear in mind.. Snow tires (typically) reduce the available grip on dry and wet bare roads. This is something to consider if your climate has good snow removal and ice control. Or if you live in a warmer area where slush is more common then snowy roads. If over 80% of the time you can see the pavement, snow tires may actually perform worse then all seasons on the same surface, but the snow tire will always perform better on ice and snow. It has to do with the compounds in the tire itself, each being engineered for different road surface tempuratures. All seasons typically become rock hard at -20 and loose a lot of grip ability. Where as winters become too grippy at above 7'c and will wear faster and increase strain on steering components. Even af -5 or -10'c, if the road has been baking in the sun all day, its not uncommon to see the road surface temputature above 10'c.

    7'c and below your safe with snow. 7 and better you should be all weather.
    Last edited by Howie; 09-09-2014 at 11:19 AM.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Micra S automatic: 7.9 L/100 km ... 35.7 mpg (Imp) ... 12.6 km/L ... 29.7 mpg (US) ...


  4. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Howie For This Useful Post:

    LilGeckos (10-16-2015),MetroMPG (09-26-2014),MrMicra2015 (11-18-2018)

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    According to some reviews reviews, Nokian "All Weather" all season tires are some of the better all seasons at dealing with ice, snow, and wet pavement. Might be a good alternative if someone wants a single set of tires.

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    Senior Member PocketRocket's Avatar
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    Get some goodyear ultra grips... they come in a ridiculous amount qualities for people who are budget minded to having some cash.. anywhere from 90 a tire not on sale to over 200. I had good year ultra grip performance on the old vibe i got from my father... and it was like it was on rails in the snow... And the current car my father is driving has ultra grip ice wrt, still pretty good but cheaper... the wrt are way better in super cold dry conditions... but the performance are almost like having performance summers in the snow....

    source : me... we get a lot of snow here, to the point where the plows get delayed. So if i can push a little sonic through the snow with confidence and no loss of crontrol on these tires... i think you should look into the range of them

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Micra S manual: 6.5 L/100 km ... 43.7 mpg (Imp) ... 15.5 km/L ... 36.4 mpg (US) ...


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    Senior Member AlphaMicra's Avatar
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    So the last car we bought was a brand new 2009 Pontiac Torrent, AWD. I figured, with AWD and good driving skill, who needs snow tires? Alas, my wife pestered and insisted that I get snow tires because she felt the ABS kick in once, so I put Goodyear Nordic Winter tires on all four rims. Then we had a really bad snowstorm, the roads were clogged with fairly deep snow, and I wanted to go out for a drive. My wife told me I shouldn't go anywhere in that weather, to which I replied:
    "I bought an AWD vehicle, put good snow tires on it, and you expect me to stay in as soon as we get a lot of snow? Why spend money on AWD and snow tires if we're going to hide in our house every time it snows?"

    Yup, you can bet that I had some great fun driving that day.

    In our culture obsessed with absurd excess, the Nissan Micra is my counterculture car of choice.
    Be sure to visit my blog at mymicra.com!

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Micra SV manual: 6.4 L/100 km ... 44.3 mpg (Imp) ... 15.7 km/L ... 36.9 mpg (US) ...


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    I run toyo Garrit in winter. It is the best winter tire I have ever used. I have used everything from Michelin xice, blizzaks, cooper studded, yokohama winters, nokian. The Garrit is the best one I have used.

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    I ended up getting a set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 for 440$ (after 70$ mail-in rebate that I should receive by 2018). It's almost the same price as a single tire on the SUV, so I'm enjoying the move to 15" tires.
    Last edited by MetroMPG; 10-31-2014 at 09:39 AM. Reason: (copied this post over from other thread)

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    Senior Member AlphaMicra's Avatar
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    I've ordered the Michelin x-ice Xi3 tires, 185/60R15, from Costco, to be installed on the 4th. I went with these because they are rated as a higher mileage snow tire, and I put a lot of kilometers on my Micra, so I think they'll be well suited to my driving habits. However, I'm wondering if I should change my order to the 185/65R15.

    In our culture obsessed with absurd excess, the Nissan Micra is my counterculture car of choice.
    Be sure to visit my blog at mymicra.com!

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Micra SV manual: 6.4 L/100 km ... 44.3 mpg (Imp) ... 15.7 km/L ... 36.9 mpg (US) ...


  12. #10
    Member Johnskers's Avatar
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    I'm getting installed the Toyo Observe GSi-5 185/60R15 straight from my dealer on Monday. a little pricey, ($138) plus tax and installation. But i was looking for a studless tire that was good in ice AND snow. Was going to go for the xi3's but was worried about snow traction. looking forward to hearing what you think of them Alpha. (I would stick with oem, if Nissan fixes the problem at least you'll have 2 sets of proper tires)

    Kojack. the garrit's are nice but the smallest one they make is 195 wide.



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