tire decisions for AWD

[bigwalleye]

I've decided to bail on the RFTs for my 2011 Sienna (thus foregoing the spare). The OEM Bridgestone RFTs didn't last and they're terrible on snow and ice. So I've narrowed down to two different tires and I would like to know if anyone has any experience on their Sienna. Btw, I'm looking at 235/55R18 on my stock rims.

Dueler H/L Alenzas (I have these on a crossover SUV and love them):
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....r+H%2FL+Alenza

Goodyear Assurance TripleTred (these are passenger all-season while the Alenza's are SUV all-seasons...not sure if that's a big deal):
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....nce+TripleTred

Any thoughts?

[skinny2]

Have you considered just going to snow tires? They'll outperform eitehr of those and in the long run really don't cost much more. The triple-treads are the closest to a snow tire though.

[Laser]

I had the Goodyear Triple Treads on an Infiniti G35X. Could never get them to balance, they were howling loudly after 10K miles. Worst tire I ever had. I have a 2006 and 2011 sienna AWD. Best RF tires I put on my 2006 were Michelin X radials from Sam's or Costco. Quiet, smooth and good in Minnesota snow and ice.

[bigwalleye]

Originally Posted by skinny2

Have you considered just going to snow tires? They'll outperform eitehr of those and in the long run really don't cost much more. The triple-treads are the closest to a snow tire though.

Do people generally leave the snow tires on all year? I don't want the hassle of keeping a set of tires around and swapping them in and out.

The Bridgestone DM-V1's seem like they'd be a contender for a snow tire:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=Blizzak+DM-V1

[bigwalleye]

Originally Posted by Laser

I had the Goodyear Triple Treads on an Infiniti G35X. Could never get them to balance, they were howling loudly after 10K miles. Worst tire I ever had. I have a 2006 and 2011 sienna AWD. Best RF tires I put on my 2006 were Michelin X radials from Sam's or Costco. Quiet, smooth and good in Minnesota snow and ice.

Good to know. Thanks.

I'm leaning toward the Alenza's because they're so popular and I've had several sets on SUVs before. I'm intrigued by the "snow tires" though...

[skinny2]

Originally Posted by bigwalleye

Do people generally leave the snow tires on all year? I don't want the hassle of keeping a set of tires around and swapping them in and out.

The Bridgestone DM-V1's seem like they'd be a contender for a snow tire:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Blizzak+D M-V1

We switch them out. Completely worth the hassle in my book. I have a set of cheap Highlander rims and downsized to a 17" for winter. We run the Blizzaks and they're very good in snow/ice...you really can't even compare to an all-season tire. Read the reviews/tests. The DM-V1 was what I was going to get if I kept the stock 18" rims. You don't want to run snow tires in the summer...the handling isn't as crisp as all-seasons particularly when the weather warms up.

[xradman]

Not too mention that snow tires generally do not last more than 12,000 miles. Per miles, snow tires are probably one of the most expensive tires on the market.

[skinny2]

You should get far more than 12k out of them. We've historically gone three winters on the blizzaks which gets them just under 50% tread where the ice traction disappears. That would be at least 20k miles for us, probably more. I do agree they could be expensive per mile but our OEM tires for the Sienna are not going to last much more than 20k by the looks of them. They have 15k miles on them and I'm wondering if I want to run them this summer or not. They were hyrdoplaning terrible this fall...can't even imagine them in the slop. These blizzaks plow through standing water like it's not even there.