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Just put on my General Altimax Arctic winter tires - wow!


Geer

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I ordered the correct 225/70/16s back in late September from 1010 tires. Got them for an awesome price, and did not have to pay any PST or environmental levy/tax plus they offered free shipping to boot. Problem - ordered a bit late and they were back ordered. They arrived a couple weeks ago and I finally put them on my '11 R/T AWD tonight.

What can I say....WOW - the reviews are right, these are excellent winter tires, particularly given the fact they are cheaper than the the so-called premium winter tires. In the past I have paid much more for "premium" winter rubber and got far less in the way of actual winter performance. These have excellent bite in snow and on ice, seem to provide very good handling. Noisy, but I've never had winter tires that were not.

I really have to push the pentastar hard to get the tires to break and enable the traction control. Much to my surprise (given the cost) these are in fact directional tires, so the treads are designed to work with the direction of rotation and maximize braking ability (thus you need to buy matched pairs, not just 4 of the same). Between that and the seamless performance of the AWD, these tires have really transformed my Journey into a winter performer. The 19" OE all-seasons are absolute garbage in cold weather. And hey, here the roads are covered with ice almost 6 months of the year, so investing in winter tires is a no-brainer.

Definitely recommend the Generals to anyone. And IMO no sense bothering with 18" or 19" winter wheels, the 16"s are cheaper (both in terms of rim and tire), much more forgiving and I believe will perform better in adverse conditions.

RT 007.jpg

Edited by Geer
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you need to buy matched pairs, not just 4 of the same

Actually, all 4 tires will be exactly the same. You just need to have 2 of them mounted on the wheels in the opposite direction to ensure the rotational direction is correct. Did you get them studded? I had the General's on my previous vehicle and was impressed with them for the price. I ended up going with Michelin X-Ice Xi2 tires for the DJ.

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hmmm...so that must mean each sidewall is marked accordingly (I didn't check that)...I just noticed that there were arrows on the sidewall either pointed left or right relative to the tread. But what you say makes more sense....and it's up to the tire installer to mount them accordingly.

Do you like the X-Ice tires? One of the brands I was considering...

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hmmm...so that must mean each sidewall is marked accordingly (I didn't check that)...I just noticed that there were arrows on the sidewall either pointed left or right relative to the tread. But what you say makes more sense....and it's up to the tire installer to mount them accordingly.

Do you like the X-Ice tires? One of the brands I was considering...

Each sidewall has an arrow pointing to the direction of rotation, so yes it's up to the installer to make sure they mount them correctly. My Michelins came from Tire Rack already mounted on wheels, so they had stickers on each one to mark it as driver's side or passenger's side. I always triple check the arrows when I swap my winter tires to make sure I'm putting them on the correct side. I also mark the position with chalk when I take them off so I can make sure the fronts go to the rear and vice versa next season.

So far, I really like the Xi2 tires. They're super quiet, but I've only had a couple of inches of snow to take them through so far. I need a good foot to really put them through their paces.

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  • 2 months later...

I'll soon be taking delivery of a 2012 Dodge Journey with 19" rims, but am doing my research for next winter now.That I can have everything in place for next winter without scrambling.

I noticed you went down to 16 wheels, so I have a few questions

1. How has the affected the speedo reading in terms of accuracy?

2. What type of wheels did you get? Steel rims /mags? I saw some photos on another thread about winter tire wheels. The poster had steel rims but the center area where the wheels attach to the vehicle is exposed to the elements. Not liking that idea,

3. Did you get the TPMS appratus for all four wheels?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

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