I have read all the post here on snow tires. It sounds like the Blizzak 50 tires are the best and the 60's are should be awesome.

I am putting together an '87 2.5 for my 16 yr old son. He is not an experienced driver. Currently it has 195-70-14 all season tires with plenty of tread. We were test driving it when things got scary on a patch of Ice. I could feel the rear end breaking away. I want my Son to be safe! Prior to our test drive we replaced everything in the rear end and even added a rear sway bar. I would ban him from the Fiero in the winter months, but it was his Christmas present and he has done much of the work. He just painted the whole car last Saturday.

So my question is what the best overall solution is.
1) Snow tires costly, you have to take them off and on (added cost of mounting each year or new rims), storing them in off seasons, leaving them on too long can wear them very quickly, But much safer in the snow and lice. Cost $62 for Blizzak 50's (about $80 each with everything $320) Blizzak 60's very hard to find are about $83 (about $100 each with everything $400!)
2) Get the best All-Season Traction tires. Leave them on, no extra storage required no additional cost, however will this fix the rear end breaking away in normal driving (we were only going 20 mph).
2) a. Has any one tried the Goodyear Assurance Triple Tread tires on a Fiero? http://www.tirerack.com/tir...Assurance+TripleTred
According to all the hype they are great on snow/Ice/Rain/Dry however I don't know how they perform on a Fiero. And the reviews are mixed on snow and Ice. They are about $80 a tire with an 80K tread-life warranty about $400 for 60k-80K not bad

What are your thoughts and recommendations?

Thanks,
Tayne

Triple treads got my friends fiero through winter last year, and he only had them on the front.

The blizzaks are great, I am sure those would be the best by far, but the triple treads worked well for my friend.

For bad weather snow tires are best. All season tires are a compromise in all conditions. They are O.K. for all conditions but not the best in any conditions. A few months ago Car and Driver tested performance, all weather and snow tires and concluded that the best tires were performance tires for summer, and snow tires for winter.

Where will he be driving? If he goes up in the hills then snow tires are probably a good idea. If you get snow tires just buy a set of steel rims from a junkyard off a Fiero and Caliver so you don't have to worry about mounting and dismounting.

I would also suggest that you install new shecks and struts all the way around. Last year in the winter my Fiero had a blown strut and it got very hard to control when that wheel hit anything slick.

Dont have any experiance with the triple thread. I can tell you that that anything with 80k is a pretty hard tire and can't be that great is dry weather, no matter what the tread pattern.

Its a tough subject really. You have to figure how you will drive the car most and make adjutments accordingly. I prefer to run winter tires and good summer tires. The summer tires usually do about the best in wet weather also so you covered in all seasons except for the freezing weather. The softer the compound the better it sticks... and the faster it wears. You have to weigh cost and performance against you driving skills to find the right combo here. No sense paying for tires that can out perform you.

I also just buy some cheap steel wheels from a junk yard for mounting the winter tires to. You can get them for next to nothing and in any size needed if you have bigger brakes. Storing is not that much of a problem. 4 tires dont take up that much space and can be hung out of the way easily. Although increasing the unsprung weight is bad for normal or performance driving it is great for snow or ice, heavy is good in this case. I can change mine out with the fiero jack and lugwrench in about 30 minutes so its not a problem there either. I figure how I drive in cold weather to figure what I want to spend on these. I drive very cautious and save my racing for the dry weather or an open parking lot to play in. This means I can spend a little less on studded tires since I am driving slower and avoid driving all together when possible. If you live in a cold place and drive in cold weather often them spend more and get what you need to get you by.

All-seasons work well in most driving conditions but never superb in any condition. If you really don't want to ever have to change your tires out then this is the best bet but... you are compromising performance all year this way. Even the best all-season can't compare to the saftey and security of the proper tires for the season.

I live in Oregon and here we have 4 very distinct seasons. It rains a lot in the fall and spring . In the summer we get up to just over 100 for a week or two. In the winters we go down to around 15. Good thing is nasty cold weather is not too common and when it happens most places close and everyone takes a day off. Good thing too because a lot of Oregon drivers suck (more then usual. ) in the snow and ice.

What the weather like in Utah?

EDIT: New fiero driver? Take out the rear swaybar til he's more experianced. This will give more warning before reaching the limits of the car. Under steer will be increased but more importantly oversteer will be decreased keeping the a$$ end planted. Its easy enough to break it loose without a rear bar let alone with.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 01-04-2008).]

I have the blizacks and they are great. Even whe they do break loose they are controlable. As much as my duke can break them loose.

My problem has always been the front end sliding out in turns. I spin the spare tire around and place a sandbag in it to weight down the front tires.

Thanks for the information. This time of year we get several snow storms. Just had a big one last night. The mail roads get plowed but the secondary ones not quick enough. I can get Fiero Mags from junk yard for $35 each (if they have them, they are currently checking), Big O has some slighly used studed Hancock tires for $39 Installed!

So will the studded snow tires work ok? My guess is the Bizzaks are better, but more $$

I also need an alignment which will help. I replaced the struts/shocks all rear tierods, lower ball joints, brakes, calipers,rotors, rebuilt a '91 iron duke swaped in (from Olds calais). We just painted and now we are working on the interior. Its been a long and expensive project. We now just want to get it done.

Thanks,
Tayne

My first dealings with studded tires was in Norway. I drove a little car over there with studs and they stuck like glue! I TRIED to spin out and do donuts but I couldn't. Meanwhile our military trucks (HUMMERS, 6X6 5-ton, etc) were spinning out regularly. Check the legality of studs though, I know some states ban them all together and others have a small timeframe in which you can use them. You could also try using cables (kinda like chains, only they fit tighter and have cleats on them). They are a pain to put on and take off, but that way you can run one set of tires all year long and just add when you need it.

------------------
carpe diem

I was surprised to learn that Salt Lake City gets as much snow as it does: 63 inches per annum on average, according to wikipedia. That amount doesn't compare with Buffalo's, of course, and I imagine it doesn't last long on the ground in Salt Lake City, but that amount also is enough for me to recommend 3 sets of tires:

1. Blizzak WS-50s for your 16-year-old son to be safest in inclement weather, plus
   
2. "Cheater slicks," nearly treadless, but D.O.T.-legal tires favored by some drag racers (myself included), in order for your 16-year-old son to be the fastest 16-year-old boy around in dry weather, plus
   
3. Something in between, like all-season tires, for in-between weather.

All joking aside, I'd go with just the Blizzak WS-50s under your circumstances.

I had different major brands of "all-season" tires on my Fiero for years (e.g,, GoodYear, Michelin, etc.) but almost couldn't believe the difference in the car's "snow driveability" when I finally switched to the Blizzak WS-50s I now have on my Fiero.

Also, despite what some do, I use my Blizzak WS-50s year-round on my daily-driver Fiero.

I'm not knocking what some are doing using two sets of different-type tires during different times of the year as I've no doubt that "all-season" tires are better for handling in good weather than are snow tires.

Conversely, having used both on my Fiero, I've also no doubt that good snow tires (like the Blizzak WS-50s) are better for driving in snow than are so-called "all-season" tires. Also, I myself just don't want the expense and time associated with fooling around with two sets of tires, as I readily acknowledge I simply don't have the patience for doing that

Let me play "devil's advocate" here for a moment and assume that year-round usage does indeed make Blizzak WS-50s wear out quicker.

So?

Buying a second set of tires is better to keep the first set of tires last longer? I'm sure that's true, but IMHO, buying two sets of tires instead of one set at a time also sounds like something a tire company marketer would very much like me to do, doesn't it?

Consider also the number of miles likely to be put on your Fiero each year.

I've a fairly short commute, so I don't put many miles on my daily-driver Fiero each year. So what happens if I do buy two different sets of tires, which then allows me to use each set of tires longer? Is the next piece of advice I'll be given that even though both sets of tires still have plenty of tread left, I should discard both sets of those old, dried-out, now-unsafe tires, and buy even more new tires instead? (As I'm sure you could tell by now, I don't work for a tire manufacturer.)

By the way, at the outset of this thread, you posted a link to The Tire Rack's survey ratings only for the Goodyear TripleTred tires. I suggest a side-by-side comparison of those ratings versus The Tire Rack's survey ratings for the Blizzak WS-50s as well.

Perhaps most important of all, a 16-year-old boy and 63 inches of snow without snow tires may be something to think about further before you talk yourself into the GoodYears you've mentioned.

Anyway, those are just my two cents, which hopefully have provided you additional food for thought. Whatever you decide to do, take care, and I wish you the best of good luck with your project and keeping your boy safe.

one point from your initial post, the car was on ice. the only thing that works on ice is studs and chains, and they are not always legal.
I;ve had alot of different snow ties on cars, and now don;t bother. if we get an ice storm, or it freezes slush, nothing is really good.
in just plain snow, as long as it doesn;t exceed the clearance of the car by too much, I've found little differrence in a good all season radial. I've used chains on one car that was infamous for spinning out in a really bad storm, and that kept it solidly under control.
Driving in heavy snow, I've had better control with my radila t/a's than cars equipped with snow tires.
the problem with a fiero in slippery conditions is that once they do start to go, you must react instantly and perfectly to recover, or the inertia of that rear weight will just take the car right around.
I understand your concerns with a new driver tho, and I would say it would be a good idea to take him out to an open field parking lot in the snow and let him drift the car, and get the feel of it starting to let go. Teach him especially in that car that all actions need to be smooth and fluid.

Blizzak 50's sound a great tire. I am told if you leave them on all the time they will only last 2-3 seasons. How long have you been using your set? The Blizzak 60's are said to last longer.

I expect studed tire would also do well in the snow, but you would not enjoy driving these year round.

blizzaks are good in snow....nothing is good on ice unless its a studded tire...when i had blizzaks on my 87gt they suck azz in the rain...car would hydro quite a bit... all seasons are NOT winter tires...at low temps a lot of all season tires loose gripping power...thus rendering them very unsafe...living up here i the great white north has come in handy when picking tires....tim

not to comment on the tires per se.
JMHO:
Ice and snow driving is a learned skill. While some "snow tread" tires might give better traction in loose or moderately packed snow very very few are really good on ice or hard packed snow, or worse, the same with a skim of thaw water of slush on it. stud will help some. but their best use is for help in braking---and that is if they are on all wheels. wider tires with a biggehr footprint in many cases are worse that narrower ones and I suspect that the "duke" is less likely to loose traction and skid than a higher powered engine. I've been driving for 45 years in the "lake effect" snow belt of western MI and I use my fiero as my daily driver, with regular road tires on it. I just drive carefully AND when I got the Fiero 4 years ago I took it out in a frozen and partially snow covered parking lot and spent a good hour learning how it handled, when it started to spin and how to steer out of it; what its manners were like stopping as well as stoppingand turning at the same time.

In spite of all that, last week I had to have my fiero pulled out of a freeway median. I got runnoff the road by a drifting light weight trailer that got caught in a haevy crosswind. no other tires would have made a difference.
I found that in deep snow the Fiero belly makes a real good toboggon. once it got up on the snow it just slid and slid. I had to work to keep it from sliding across into the oncoming traffic. I suspect an inexperienced snow driver could have been in real trouble. This was onl,y the 3rd time in y life I've not been able to get myself unstuck.

whatever you do make sure he get some practice time on snow and ice and make sure he knows that if there is any question at all, leave it parked. Our cars are great and the weight and balance gives them a soldi feel, but they are NOT off-road vehicles.

A good snow tire will always be better than an all season tire. You also want the narrower tire over the wider one. If you get too wide of a tire it won't dig into the snow. Look at a pictire of a rallye car in the snow and you will see how narrow the tires are that they use.

quote Originally posted by tayne: Blizzak 50's sound a great tire. I am told if you leave them on all the time they will only last 2-3 seasons. How long have you been using your set?

My answer to your question unfortunately won't help you much, as my records show I've had the Blizzak WS-50s on my car only since August of 2006.

quote Originally posted by tayne: Blizzak 50's sound a great tire. I am told if you leave them on all the time they will only last 2-3 seasons....The Blizzak 60's are said to last longer.

That may eventually prove to be true, but I don't see what the basis would be for what you've been told about the the new Blizzak WS-60s lasting longer than 2 to 3 seasons. They haven't even been on the market for anywhere near that long, have they?

My concern about the Blizzak WS-60s is that right now, they're relatively new, apparently on the market less than a year. Unfortunately, the first year of anything in the automotive world often is not good (as is the case in a number of non-automotive manufacturing operations as well), as the manufacturer tries to get things "sorted out" during the first year of production.

As for the WS-60's newness, look at The Tire Rack's survey results regarding the number of miles traveled on the Blizzak WS-60s by those who responded to The Tire Rack's survey. As of this writing, the figure for the WS-60s is 113,970 miles. That is only 0.6% of the corresponding number of miles reported for the GoodYear TripleTreds you mentioned (18,734,970 miles), and only 0.8% of the corresponding number of miles reported for the Blizzak WS-50s (13,888,114 miles).

I imagine the WS-60s eventually will be prove to be a fine tire, but I personally would be inclined to wait at least a year before buying them so the manufacturer has the time to get everything "sorted out" on the production line --- at the expense of somebody else who is willing to risk buying some of the new tires' early production runs.

I had great success with Yokohama Guardex K2 F720 Studless tires. Winter tires should be in the narrowest profile, like -80 -85, you can find.