Tire advice for commute in Ontario

Hi folks. I am looking for advice on the best tire(s) to go for. 2015 GS AWD, 17" here. Bought slightly used at 20k km, now sitting at 55k km. Live in Hamilton, Ontario, commute around 140km-ish round, daily to Toronto via the good old QEW.

Currently I have been using the stock tires, Geolandars G91. They have never felt great, to be honest and they are now down to 3/32's on the back pair and 4.5/32's on the front. Also at a recent service the Mazda technician said that he heard road noise due to the tires and said that they noticed some cupping. I can't see any myself, but I don't know how obvious it would be. I noticed increase road noise but assumed this is due to wear. They suggested an alignment but it was too expensive, and I have been thinking about swapping tires out anyway.

Now, I was going to get winter tires - Blizzak DM-V2's - but now that my stocks are nearing the end of their life, I am wondering whether I should go for all-weathers instead, such as the Nokian WRG3, for financial reasons (I can't really afford to buy two new sets of tires, but will bite the bullet if it's the best thing to do). Winter in the GTA tends to be not too bad, with some bad spells; also much of my driving time will be spent on ploughed and treated highways. BUT, I'll be racing along the same highways in the heat of the summer, so I don't want too much noise during the summer, nor to wear them out too fast. Also my commute features lots of heavy braking, so I am looking for something that will give me good response year-round.

So far my options are:
- Keep the stock Geolandars til they die, swap for all-weathers (Nokian WRG3)
- Ditch the Geolandars and get winters (Blizzak DM-V2 or WS80) and all-seasons (tbd)
- Ditch the Geos and get winter tires, and ride on the winters all year.

Any advice, especially from fellow GTA CX-5 drivers, appreciated.

I'd get two separate sets. If you're concerned about noise, you will not be happy with all-weathers...
Call Tom at Upper James Midas and see what kind of a deal he can pull for you. 905-388-1140. I doubt you can get better price on Blizzaks then his because of the deal Midas has... Tell him his uncle sent you...

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billyphatu said:

Hi folks. I am looking for advice on the best tire(s) to go for. 2015 GS AWD, 17" here. Bought slightly used at 20k km, now sitting at 55k km. Live in Hamilton, Ontario, commute around 140km-ish round, daily to Toronto via the good old QEW.

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You won't get an all season that will do what you want. In fact, you won't find a winter tire that excels at all things. I'm in Ottawa, and here too the city does a fair job of clearing snow along major routes and is quite liberal with salt along these. My reasoning was that thanks to clearing snow, followed by salt melt, and finishing with temperatures too low to make salt effective resulting in freeze, that the major problem here is ice. So I ended up with Michelin x-ice tires. I feel these to be far superior on ice. They are not THE outstanding deep-snow tire, but if the snow is so heavy that I can't get thru it I take the bus into work.

Just sayin'

Brian

bamirault said:

You won't get an all season that will do what you want. In fact, you won't find a winter tire that excels at all things. I'm in Ottawa, and here too the city does a fair job of clearing snow along major routes and is quite liberal with salt along these. My reasoning was that thanks to clearing snow, followed by salt melt, and finishing with temperatures too low to make salt effective resulting in freeze, that the major problem here is ice. So I ended up with Michelin x-ice tires. I feel these to be far superior on ice. They are not THE outstanding deep-snow tire, but if the snow is so heavy that I can't get thru it I take the bus into work.

Just sayin'

Brian

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Thanks, good point. I will rarely need to drive through heavy snow (I hope) - more likely will be slush and ice. How does your CX handle on the Michelins?

I was torn between the Nokian and the new Toyo Celsius CUV, went with the Toyo as it was cheaper and the tread design looked better (to me) that the WRG3,,,,,, so glad I did!
These new "all weather" tires are far superior to standard "all season" tires!

Only drawback? The 235-55/19 Celsius CUV is slightly heavier that our stock 225-55/19 tires. Lots of videos (Canadian made!) about these tires!

And to comment on that other posters statement that "all weather" tires are noisy,,,, the Celsius CUV is quieter than my stock (but worn) Toyo A23's! No howl noise what so ever

billyphatu said:

Thanks, good point. I will rarely need to drive through heavy snow (I hope) - more likely will be slush and ice. How does your CX handle on the Michelins?

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I'm extremely pleased with the handling I get with the Michelins. I certainly have gotten better grip/stop performance than some of the vehicles around me (but ON has yet to mandate winter rubber so I may be seeing the all-season crowd). I will point out that they are not bad in snow. I live on a low priority side street and with two days of no plow following 14" of snow I ventured out for groceries. Conditions caused me to plow the snow in front of the CX-5 until reaching a main street. I had little difficulty on my come and go even as I helped two others on the street push their cars back into their driveways when they saw that the street would not allow them to proceed. Still, be careful what you wish for. On returning to my own cleared driveway I noted a black plastic piece hanging down from the underside near the rad. Turned out to be a trim piece partially torn off by the pressure of the compacting snow. A 34$ repair.

There are other top names that also deliver good performance. Review the posts for the best names/performance that reflect your local conditions and then make a selection on price. Oh, my winters are quieter than the Toyos.

Brian

bamirault said:

Oh, my winters are quieter than the Toyos.

Brian

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That's good to know. With the twice daily highway drive, and my Toyos down to 4/32, the noise is grinding on me; I realise that noise is an important factor in my choice of tire.

Does anyone know how wheel size impacts on road noise? If I went down or up from 17?

billyphatu said:

That's good to know. With the twice daily highway drive, and my Toyos down to 4/32, the noise is grinding on me; I realise that noise is an important factor in my choice of tire.

Does anyone know how wheel size impacts on road noise? If I went down or up from 17?

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Road noise is completely dependent on tire tread design, not wheel diameter.

davesxx01 said:

Road noise is completely dependent on tire tread design, not wheel diameter.

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Eh... A shorter sidewall will tend to be stiffer, and may transmit more high-frequency road noise than a tall, soft sidewall. Yeah, road noise is primarily a function of the tread pattern, but sidewall height still plays a role.

I have Googled 'quiet winter tires' and I'm getting mixed reviews. Does such a thing exist? I'm thinking of those dry winter days on the highway at 120km/h.

billyphatu said:

I have Googled 'quiet winter tires' and I'm getting mixed reviews. Does such a thing exist? I'm thinking of those dry winter days on the highway at 120km/h.

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Not really. One man's quiet is another's unbearable. Throw in the fact that tire comparisons are often across different types of vehicles, and trying to come up with an objective measure of tire noise is a crapshoot.

Thanks for advice. I am going this weekend to get a set of Blizzak DM-V2s on new 17" steel wheels - CAD$920 (then a $70 rebate) installed. Which I hope is a good price.

Three more issues. Pretty much a novice at autos so bear with me.

1) The cupping on my summers and what I think is a very slight wobble (observed on freshly laid road surface) means I think I need to get an alignment done on my wheels. Anyone know what this should cost me? Mazda Hamilton do it for CAD$140.

2) I'm getting a knock whenever I do a hard turn to the left (ie locking to the left). Right is no problem. And it doesn't happen every time. Endlinks? Rods?

3) A bit of a shudder when I am braking, mostly from high speeds on the highway. Rotors, pads? I think original pads are on and I'm on 61k km.

Anything I can diagnose and/or fix myself would be good as $$ is tight. Still under warranty.

In the end the tire shop had sold out of Blizzaks so I went with the slightly cheaper option of Continental WinterContact SI. CAD$900 (not including a $65 rebate) with steels, installed at Simplytire.ca. They were very busy, clearly a popular spot.

Got them right in the nick of time, first proper snow of the season came that very day. So far so good, I've had nothing to worry about over fresh snow, packed snow, slush, ice and freezing rain. The only bit of slippage was when changing lanes on on unplowed highway at 100kmph. Acceleration in all these conditions is excellent. And the difference in noise is substantial.

My summers are toast, apparently - very minor cupping and thread worn. So now I'm on the hook for an alignment and new summers. Going to wear through them quickly on my commute, so need something inexpensive and fuel efficient, but which isn't going to leave me feeling dead inside. Any ideas?

billyphatu said:

Thanks for advice. I am going this weekend to get a set of Blizzak DM-V2s on new 17" steel wheels - CAD$920 (then a $70 rebate) installed. Which I hope is a good price.

Three more issues. Pretty much a novice at autos so bear with me.

1) The cupping on my summers and what I think is a very slight wobble (observed on freshly laid road surface) means I think I need to get an alignment done on my wheels. Anyone know what this should cost me? Mazda Hamilton do it for CAD$140.

2) I'm getting a knock whenever I do a hard turn to the left (ie locking to the left). Right is no problem. And it doesn't happen every time. Endlinks? Rods?

3) A bit of a shudder when I am braking, mostly from high speeds on the highway. Rotors, pads? I think original pads are on and I'm on 61k km.

Anything I can diagnose and/or fix myself would be good as $$ is tight. Still under warranty.

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All three indicate you very possibly have something worn or damaged with the suspension, particularly with the cupping which is sometimes caused by a bad strut or shock. Maybe check and see if one of them is leaking? Worn shocks/struts allow excess flexing in the suspension which also cause excessive wear of suspension components.

Thanks madar for this. I had my local Mazda dealer have a look at this issue. Tech and I went for a road test and he could feel the shuddering when breaking, on my winters. Said he would take a look.

So, an hour later I got the car back and the service guy told me that they found nothing, the rotors are all in good shape, and that the shuddering I am feeling is normal for winter tires.... when I told him that this was happening before on my summer tires, he had nothing to say except the same thing. Unfortunately I had my kiddo in tow and he was desperate to leave so I told them I would take the car back and see what I think. Low and behold the shuddering has mostly stopped. Whatever the technicians did, helped greatly. Whether that was intentional or not, who knows... but it's running much better since then. I am not convinced everything is 100% well and good underneath, but I am waiting til next service point to have them take a look.

Been riding around on the Continental WinterContacts in the GTA area and I am very happy with them. Initial quietness and softness has gone, but then again the roads have deteriorated a lot over the last few months so hard to tell. Performance in rain is excellent, and I got through a few snow dumps and freezing rain storms in them just fine.

Now I am looking for new all-season/summers. My criteria for them in order of importance is:
1. Long lasting (I do 40k km a year, I don't want to change them for a while!)
2. Good stopping dry and wet (busy highway commute with family, usually two or three stops from high speed per week)
3. Comfortable and quiet (roads are a mess around here, plus I drive 3 hours a day)
4. Cost
5. Low MPG (I know most tires are close enough in this area not to lose sleep over)

So far on my list are: Continental TrueContacts, Continental CrossContact LX20 ECO+, Michelin Lattitude Tour, Michelin Premiter LTX, General Altimax RT43. Leaning towards Conti CrossContacts for their all-round qualities and I trust Conti's over Michelins for endurance. The Generals are very attractive price wise though

Local tire dealer recommends Pirelli Scorpion Verde AS Plus but I have read poor reviews of this tire.

Any advice appreciated.

Shuddering can be caused by rotors with a *tiny* amount of runout, and slave cylinders that are sticking (maybe due to infrequent brake fluid changes).

Also by bent wheels, or tires with slipped belts or construction failure. You can test for this by swapping tires front-to-rear.

It's also possible that a small amount of brake pad material built up on the rotor in a thicker amount in one spot, and will cause pulsing. You can fix this by doing a brake pad break-in.
Typically, you accelerate to 45 mph, brake middling hard, and repeat 4-6 times. You then need to let the brakes cool down before stopping! This literally bonds a small amount of brake pad friction material to the rotor.

Thanks. I think it was definitely more like a pulsing than shuddering, come to think of it. Perhaps when they inspected the rotors in the shop, they gave them a clean or something, which explains why the pulsing reduced significantly. I will give your break-in a go. Does it matter that these pads are not new?

For my new all-seasons I went with the Pirelli Scorpion Verde AS + 225/R17/65 on stock rims. I've only done about 1500km so far and they are....okay. I came off of my winters (Conti Winter Contact SI), which are excellent, so it's a bit tricky to tell how good these Pirellis are vs my old stock Toyos. Certainly the rolling road noise is louder than I had hoped, but on the other hand they take bumps and holes well and quietly. I think steering response is a little slower, but MPG is better. IE Great when I am running along the highway in a straight line for my commute but less satisfying when I'm on my weekend drive.