Kumho WinterCraft ws71 255/55r18
$771 after tax, came with a $60 Esso Gift card.
$100 to install all 4 locally.

Had them on since mid December...

So far, decently quiet, wife didn't get stuck on her way to work on Monday, despite many cars stuck in intersections / on/off ramps in and around Waterloo.....

My impressions so far... decent traction, Will report after some more driving.. It's on her car, so I don't drive it that often...

 

Does the wife know you bought her “cheap winter tires” lol?

 

no, it's more a reflection of her winter driving abilities.....

she's had Barum Polaris tires and Minerva Eco Stud tires on her q7's before, so these tires are like SnapOn to Mastercraft to me!

 

I have those tires on my 2003 996 C4S and even though I don't drive it every day, so far they work great in the snow. I'm in Montreal so we get our fare share of it.

 

Tire manufacturing is a dirty business. Not many manufacturers domestically.
Lots in countries where dirty plants are not regulated. So not tires made in California.
I bought snow tires for my STi. I had three choices. All the same tire, from the same plant, three price points.
Viking $9o, semperit $12o, or Dunlop @$14o.
Most fresh snow tires are great. Used Russian retreaded Utube repaired, not so much.

 

My Cayman is on NEXEN WINGUARD SPORT 2 for second winter now. I am happy with them. Cheap, quiet, good grip in the cold.

 

I've never really seen the point of cheap tires unless you plan to get rid of the vehicle within a year. Long run they are just more headache then they save you.

 

had a few sets of these, agreed

 

thx.

also shopping for new all season to put on the q7 for March... Looking at the Nexen Roadian GTX tire... apparently they are OE for the new Hyundai Hybrid...

 

I used to run X-Ice on my daily for years. Great tire all around. I was ready to buy again in November but since Im going to be trading in my daily soon, I decided to buy instead the Continental wintercontact SI from Canadian Tire which was on steep sale ( they still are) for a total out the door with install for about $700 bucks.
Man these are great tires! I've been shocked how good they are! Since i put them on, I have driven to Florida and back before the lock down, been through a few blizzards and of course the recent storm. I have about 16000 on them already as I drive a lot for my work lately. Cant say enough about these tires. Last Monday I was plowing through everything, felt I was driving a German Panzer ( BMW 530XI) deep snow, light snow whatever never got stuck for a moment. On dry they are quiet and better than expected for a snow tire, wet performance is great, no aquaplaning , just all around a great snow/winter tire.

 

I've been very happy with my VikingContact's on my wifes BMW. Not a huge headache like some of my past winter tires in the wet or dry and really good traction in snow.

That said, I've had some cheapo winters before. They were great in the first year or 2 but then deteriorated faster than I would've hoped and were really bad in the dry.