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I will be replacing my Sailun WSL2 tires at the beginning of the winter. I've been fairly happy with them, probably put about 50,000km on them in winter driving over 3 winters, plus they seem to refuse to die over this summer (I've been running them since April in an attempt to kill them off and use up the tread.).
The price has gone up slightly,...
Leaning toward getting another set of Sailun WSL2 for my daily driver....
i have bought my last 3 sets of tires online from Quebec.... usually on my doorstep within 72hrs, fastest was 25 hrs....
PMC tire, Quattro tire. I do not know if they will make that tire in a Boxster size, unless you have 16 or 17" rims...
Anyone have experience with studded tires? We had Coopers with studs on them for 1 season, but they were loud..... about 10-15% of my commutes are snow covered, hardpack roads, probably 10% snow swept but track bare, the rest of the time not an issue
I have recently learned that "winter" tires are very compromised compared to all-seasons for cold but wet or dry braking:
Car and Driver tested this back in 2009 using some of the most highly respected tires in the industry: Michelin’s Pilot line of performance all-season and winter tires, along with their X-Ice Xi2 studless winter tire. They performed braking and skidpad grip tests on both dry and salty wet pavement at -5C, and in snow at -11C. The results are surprising to anyone who has echoed the mantra that winter tires outperform all-seasons in cold temperatures.
The high performance Pilot Sport high performance all-season easily beat the X-Ice Xi2 at -5C in both conditions, stopping from 60 mph in 128 feet in the dry and 139 feet in the wet, compared to 158 and 174 for the X-Ice. The Pilot MXM4 touring all-season was very close to the Sport at 130 and 140, while the Pilot Alpin high performance winter tire put up respectable 141 and 145 foot stops.
Which is pretty shocking. I had believed that the compounds in a snow tire would out-stop an all season tire in cold conditions. The same tests found the expected results in snow and ice:
Of course, in the snow it was a different story, with the Pilot Sport all-season requiring 123 feet to stop from only 30 mph, while the X-Ice needed only 83 feet. The Pilot touring and Alpin tires measured 105 feet and 95 feet, respectively, confirming that one tire simply can’t do everything well.
With this in mind, I now choose my winter tires based on the conditions that I expect to see. Here is a ranking of winter tires based on an aggregate score of their wet and snow stopping distances
If you are a numbers guy, you can see that snow and wet have been given equal weight in these scores. You could re-do the math with different weights depending on your conditions. You will note that the Sailun WSL2 tires are very far down the list, and weren't tested in the snow because their wet stopping distance was so bad. They might stop just fine in the snow.
I would hate to slide off the road or get in an accident because I wanted to save $400.00. Seems like poor economy to me.
If you are buying new tires. Get an agreed upon date code. Especially if your ordering in from maybe quebec?
I'm happy on buying new tires. But if your paying full pop? dates 4 year old "new" tires, are not what I'm looking for.
I have my subaru and BMW rims/snow tires up on Kjijijijijijj . No calls yet. I have them priced at more than fair. Cheap people are cheap.
I want new fresh ones. Plus my Old STi wheels don't fit on my new STi. Yes I test fitted last weekend, while it was still warm, and I can still move my fingers ...
thanks for the article and link... very interesting...
wish they had data on the wsl2 for snow and dry in that comparison...
i crunched the wet numbers, and it looks like with the 51 tires they tested, the average wet stopping distance was 44.6m. the wsl2 stopped in 48.4m which is 3.8m more than average, that's less than one car length (mk1 jetta is 4.2m according to google)
....
well i've done 3 winters with my wsl2, and i didn't slide off the road, ditch, or spin unintentionally with the tires I had,... so that's $400 more in my pocket.... not going to lie, I did have a few pucker moments, but didn't have to do any extra laundry....
My winter driving is:
10-15% snow, hardpack
10% track bare
5% slush
20% damp/wet
50%+ dry
my last tires from quebec were manufactured with 6 months of my purchase date.... however, they had only been on the market for 1-2 yrs....
I just price tires cheap on kijiji... saves the hassle... I have a tire depth gauge, and for a passenger car tire, I would price anything under 6/32" under $100 for 4 ( or 25% of retail new).... I wouldn't reinstall an allseason with less than 3/32" tread depth,,
My understanding with snow tires is only the first half (maybe less?) is actual snow tire compound. Beyond that it is all season. So buying used is a waste of money if you already have all seasons. But having said that, with the test results above all winter tires are a hoax.
My understanding with snow tires is only the first half (maybe less?) is actual snow tire compound. Beyond that it is all season. So buying used is a waste of money if you already have all seasons. But having said that, with the test results above all winter tires are a hoax.
I couldn't disagree more. The dedicated snow tire stopped 40 feet sooner than a UHP all season tire from 30 mph. Put another way, the UHP all season required 150% the distance of the dedicated winter tire when travelling at city speeds.
The issue is if the winter tire actually fits the conditions you see where you live. In the GTA there are very few days of ice and snow covered roads. Most of us might be better off with good all season tires. The question is if it is more important to equip your car for the worst conditions, and accept it won't be as good in most conditions, or the other way around.
I couldn't disagree more. The dedicated snow tire stopped 40 feet sooner than a UHP all season tire from 30 mph. Put another way, the UHP all season required 150% the distance of the dedicated winter tire when travelling at city speeds.
The issue is if the winter tire actually fits the conditions you see where you live. In the GTA there are very few days of ice and snow covered roads. Most of us might be better off with good all season tires. The question is if it is more important to equip your car for the worst conditions, and accept it won't be as good in most conditions, or the other way around.
10-03-2018, 04:51 PM
OT: Budget Winter Tire - 2018
