I got new tires for my xA today. This post is in response to two recent threads, one on tires and the other on snow.

First: Yes, the stock Bridgestone Potenzas are no good for tough winter driving.

Second: Yes, the xA does well in snow with the right tires – i.e., not the stock Bridgestones.

About a week and a half ago, it snowed almost 2 feet here in the southern Rockies. The roads were semi-plowed by the time I got on them, yet my xA did not do well in the remaining 4 to 6 inches. I had to drive up a steep dirt road with switchbacks, and even with my clip-on Spikes-Spider studs, I could not make the last (steep) turn to my cabin. The stock tires just spun around inside the plastic stud assemblies (picture at http://spikes-spider.com).

So today I slapped on a set of Nokian WR All-Weather Plus tires made in Finland. They are the only all-season tire that is also designated as a real snow tire (with a little snowflake emblem). That means you can drive on them year-round *and* have good traction in winter. They are guaranteed for 50K miles as a year-round tire.

The car now rides worse on dry pavement. It feels stiffer and bumpier, though I may be able to improve this by adjusting tire pressure. However, the xA also seems to corner a bit better on dry ground now, and of course it kicks butt in the snow.

Today I went back to my cabin at 9,000 feet elevation, *without* the Spikes-Spiders studs, and made it all the way to the entrance of my driveway. The driveway was not plowed, and after another dump of 16 inches yesterday, the pack was too deep for me to go all the way up it. I bottomed out halfway in. But I made it up the winding road just fine. It was plowed, sort of, but had lots of hardened snow and ice mixed with mud in places. No way would I have made it up with the Potenzas.

So there you go. The stock Bridgestones are junk for real snow conditions, but the xA is a good snow car with the right tires -- if you don’t bottom out. One more reason I will never lower my xA. Hell, after today I may look into a lift kit. :D

Finally, the Nokian WR does not come in the stock 185/60/15. I had to get 195/55/15. It’s only 0.3 inches smaller in diameter. Oh, and they are pricey: $130 each with free shipping.

Happy Thanksgiving and safe winter driving.

awesome awesome.... definitely need snow tires for the xA, especially if you have an RS1 and want to preserve the rims/tires that come with the RS1... i got 15" blizzak's and steel rims for mine, doing well with them so far.... :-)

Yeah, I'd love to have gotten Blizzaks, but I really needed an all-season. At 9,000 feet, I get real winter, but when I drive down the mountain (only a half-hour drive) I'm in the flat desert. Blizzaks wear out too fast at about 50 degrees or warmer, so I compromised with the WR. When I lived in Alaska, I ran studded Nokians most of the year, but those suck on dry ground. Clack click clack click ...

I debated for a while on whether to switch from the stock all-season Bridgestone Potenzas to a snow tire, and I finally decided that I couldn't safely continue with the Potenzas. I put on Blizzaks, and it made an immediate difference. I was able to get the stock size (185/60/15), and it was a relatively inexpensive $350, including the extra shipping to Alaska. I seriously considered a studded tire, but I couldn't find one in the stock size. The Blizzaks are doing great so far, and I'll be able to provide more information after I've driven on them for a while. The point that I am trying to get across is that yes, the xA is a great winter car, but like jeak said, you have to have good tires.

Hey, Kremtok, good luck in the frozen North. I was always afraid to drive a 2WD car up there, so I had 4WD or AWD plus studs. But a friend in ANC uses Blizzaks on his minivan and says they are better than any studded tire he's ever used. If I still lived there, I'd have them too.

As for tire sizes, I was told that as long as you go up on one number and down on the other (from 185 to 195 and 60 to 55), you're OK. You want less than half and inch difference in the overall diameter.

Now if I can just figure out tire pressure. The Potenzas have a max PSI of 44, but the Scion manual says to run them at 30. The Nokian WRs are 51 PSI max, so I'm experimenting with 40-45. We'll see.