Kizashi Club

Yeah I knew winter tires not only helped with acceleration grip but also stopping. I just wondered how much with grip. It seems quit a bit. I recently bought a FWD Toyota Sienna rather than the AWD Sienna because the AWD came without a spare tire. The under carriage is so crowded on the AWD there is no space for a spare tire. The FWD does have a spare under the passenger side. Buying a spare and placing it inside defeats the reason (room) I bought the Sienna for. Since this summer when I bought the FWD Sienna I helped my mother chose a Honda CR-V with AWD and Honda Sense. I was impressed with the lane assist and adaptive cruise control. Now I have CRV envy. The Honda practically drives itself on the highway. Now I wish I would have bought a Honda CR-V or a Subaru. Not only would I gain AWD but the driving assist suite which would be great for my drive across the country this summer. But trading in my Sienna with only 9000 miles would be a big money hit. Waiting a year or two would put more miles on the Sienna and the money hit would be even greater. Decisions.

SamirD wrote: The General Altimax Arctics we have copy a Nokian design that originated in Europe, and the tires themselves are made in Germany despite having the General branding.

Do you have any experience with the General Altimax All Season tire? I'm trying to choose between getting General Altimax All Season or Michelin Defenders for my Kizashi. I have been real happy with the Defenders, I have on the Kiz now, but read the the Altimax is a quiet grippy tire.

nokian is a good wintertyre in europe. I have yokohama wintertyres in 225 50 17 but not much experience cause i have my car one week now

redmed wrote:

SamirD wrote: The General Altimax Arctics we have copy a Nokian design that originated in Europe, and the tires themselves are made in Germany despite having the General branding.

Do you have any experience with the General Altimax All Season tire? I'm trying to choose between getting General Altimax All Season or Michelin Defenders for my Kizashi. I have been real happy with the Defenders, I have on the Kiz now, but read the the Altimax is a quiet grippy tire.

If you're talking about the Altimax RT43 all-seasons, I just put a set on my Kizashi and they're very quiet and smooth. Handling isn't as good as the BFG summer performance tires I used to have (obviously) but it's predictible at the limit. Wanders a little on the freeway following the grooves in the concrete. Does fine in light snow.

redmed wrote:Yeah I knew winter tires not only helped with acceleration grip but also stopping. I just wondered how much with grip. It seems quit a bit. I recently bought a FWD Toyota Sienna rather than the AWD Sienna because the AWD came without a spare tire. The under carriage is so crowded on the AWD there is no space for a spare tire. The FWD does have a spare under the passenger side. Buying a spare and placing it inside defeats the reason (room) I bought the Sienna for. Since this summer when I bought the FWD Sienna I helped my mother chose a Honda CR-V with AWD and Honda Sense. I was impressed with the lane assist and adaptive cruise control. Now I have CRV envy. The Honda practically drives itself on the highway. Now I wish I would have bought a Honda CR-V or a Subaru. Not only would I gain AWD but the driving assist suite which would be great for my drive across the country this summer. But trading in my Sienna with only 9000 miles would be a big money hit. Waiting a year or two would put more miles on the Sienna and the money hit would be even greater. Decisions.

It's a huge difference in ice and fresh snow--like 200% difference. My test is usually before I get to the roads, I jab the brakes hard and see where the abs kicks in and how far I slide. Almost 100% of the time I'm surprised with how much grip I really have considering others are sliding around just pulling onto the road.

Ah yes, the fun of buying cars. I always made it a point to test drive everything out there just to see what I might be missing. Of course, a minivan and smaller suv are different animals. The minivan kills an suv for long drives as you can sleep so comfy in a minivan. It's the ultimate road trip machine imo.

redmed wrote:

SamirD wrote: The General Altimax Arctics we have copy a Nokian design that originated in Europe, and the tires themselves are made in Germany despite having the General branding.

Do you have any experience with the General Altimax All Season tire? I'm trying to choose between getting General Altimax All Season or Michelin Defenders for my Kizashi. I have been real happy with the Defenders, I have on the Kiz now, but read the the Altimax is a quiet grippy tire.

General is typically a low-budget tire brand, so I was actually shocked to see their winter tire so highly rated. It's only until you realize that the tire isn't really their tire at all, but a rebranded European designed, German manufactured beauty that happens to have their name on it.

I'm not sure about any of their other offerings, but if you have a chance to see it in person and if it says 'Made in Germany' on the sidewall, I would be inclined to think it would be quite nice, especially on the price/performance ratio.

That being said, remember that if spending $500 more on tires saves you from just one accident, it just paid for itself right there. Something to keep in mind.

SamirD wrote:Which brings me to our observation of snow tires in the heat. They actually work like any other tire, but the sidewalls and tread are much softer, making a cushy ride. The real drawback is because the tread is designed to 'give way' to enhance winter traction, in summer driving your tires' traction will also 'give way' under any type of hard or sometimes even moderate braking, making them a dangerous summer choice because they can't stop like summer tires in the summer.

I'm surprised you were able to leave them on. Last year during one of the random winter days where the temps climbed near 60 I ended up drifting through a completely dry roundabout on my winter tires because they don't have grip anymore at that temperature. And they wear extremely fast in the heat. I remember seeing a video on TireRack where a couple laps around a track on winter tires basically wore them completely out.

SamirD wrote:

redmed wrote:

SamirD wrote: The General Altimax Arctics we have copy a Nokian design that originated in Europe, and the tires themselves are made in Germany despite having the General branding.

Do you have any experience with the General Altimax All Season tire? I'm trying to choose between getting General Altimax All Season or Michelin Defenders for my Kizashi. I have been real happy with the Defenders, I have on the Kiz now, but read the the Altimax is a quiet grippy tire.

General is typically a low-budget tire brand, so I was actually shocked to see their winter tire so highly rated. It's only until you realize that the tire isn't really their tire at all, but a rebranded European designed, German manufactured beauty that happens to have their name on it.

I'm not sure about any of their other offerings, but if you have a chance to see it in person and if it says 'Made in Germany' on the sidewall, I would be inclined to think it would be quite nice, especially on the price/performance ratio.

That being said, remember that if spending $500 more on tires saves you from just one accident, it just paid for itself right there. Something to keep in mind.

Thanks, I may go with the Altimax RT43's next.

Tires are the only thing that touches the ground. I suggest (and personally believe) that makes them important.


Kizashi snows = Michelin X-Ice Xi3

Kizashi summers (what we call all-seasons up here in Vermont) = Continental DW06


The only better snow tire is the Nokian, and not by much.
There are numerous 'summer' choices that are better for specific individuals and their personal driving style and concerns.


Your results may vary

Just got a set of Continental ExtremeContact DWS06. Very sticky. I would be quite scared to push them past their limits. Have a friend that works for Continental and he got me them from tirerack.com for $96 per tire.