I guess I hadn’t explicitly mentioned this yet, but I just moved to Chicago this year, and this is my year-round daily driver. So that means she gets some new shoes for the winter months. I finally got my winter tires mounted today… and not a moment too soon! I’ve used Blizzaks in the past with my Outback, and always thought they were absolutely fantastic. This year, I decided to try the Generals for two reasons:
1.) I knew, this being my first RWD car, that I’d probably have at least SOME fun on them, and didn’t want to do that on expensive Blizzaks.
2.) Everyone insists that the Generals are 90% as good as the Blizzaks for 50% the price, so I decided to see it that was true.
The tires are General Altimax Arctics (205/55R16) on 6.5″ steelies, which came mounted/balanced from from Tire Rack. (For reference, the stock tire size is 215/45R17.) Narrower is better: It helps the tire to cut through the snow, instead of floating over it.
For those who might not know, winter tires work by using a rubber compound that is much softer than a normal tire. This means that in cold temperatures, the rubber doesn’t become too hard and stiff, which allows it to still grip stuff. Unfortunately, this softer rubber also makes your car handle much worse. When you turn the steering wheel, the tires flex a lot more, giving you a delayed, and “mushy” sensation. These tires are SO flobbery that they freak out the stability control. They basically take so long to respond that the car thinks it’s sliding when it isn’t. I took a video to demonstrate. You can see how little I have to turn the wheel to get the car to react. Yay, floppy tires!
UPDATE: After a winter season on these tires, I have to say that they are pretty impressive, especially for the price. They aren’t quite as sticky as the Blizzaks in the snow, from what I can tell, but they’re pretty close. Someone in the Toyobaru club here had the Blizzaks, and when having fun in parking lots, it was apparent that he had a little bit more grip than I did.
However, these are definitely fantastic value, and I recommend them to anyone who doesn’t want to spend the extra $$$ on Blizzaks. I might stick with them anyway because I wouldn’t feel nearly as bad about tearing them up on a non-snowy day than I would with the pricier Blizzaks.
