Surprised by poor snow performance

[Finlayforprez]

How would you say they compare with the stock Contis for non-winter driving on paved roads and dirt? (e.g., road noise, mileage, grip, etc.)

In other words, is there such a thing as a one-size-fits all tire that I can use all year, or do I need to get special snow tires for snow? My issue is that I live in Los Angeles, but we make about 5-10 trips up to go skiing in the Sierra Nevadas, which can get a ton of snow. Hasn't been an issue yet this year, because there's been so little snow. Also, I have good chains for the really bad situations

Hey Mateored,

I live in the SF Bay area and know several LR4 folks (with the stock Continental 4x4Contact tires) who go to Tahoe skiing all the time and have no problems - even in lots of snow. I am not sure if they use chains or not? I think you should be fine for 5-10 trips a year... Really bad weather they close the roads!

Keep us posted.

-David

 

[PALR4]

How would you say they compare with the stock Contis for non-winter driving on paved roads and dirt? (e.g., road noise, mileage, grip, etc.)

In other words, is there such a thing as a one-size-fits all tire that I can use all year, or do I need to get special snow tires for snow? My issue is that I live in Los Angeles, but we make about 5-10 trips up to go skiing in the Sierra Nevadas, which can get a ton of snow. Hasn't been an issue yet this year, because there's been so little snow. Also, I have good chains for the really bad situations

I'm sure you can get by with the contis, but the Nokian is a much better tire and not noisey at all. As with any tire, you want to keep your tire pressure and alignment correct to keep even wear. Any tire can make alot of noise if it wears unevenly. If you look on Tire rack, these Contis have some of the worst ratings of any tire I've seen. Only the Goodyear Wrangler HP (which used to come on the LR's) can equal it's bad ratings. At this point, I have the parts manager buy the stock tires from me before the sale and put different tires on from new...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?skipOver=true&width=255/&ratio=55&diameter=19

 

[jjvd21]

My LR3 in 6" of snow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEFz7g5nE68&feature=youtube_gdata_player