Which tire is best?

[Fummins]

I prefer Michelins but they're expensive and I cheap. I have never heard of MOMO tires, I only remember the name from steering wheels and magazine ads from the early 90's. I usually go for the cheapest but this time I went second or third cheapest. In the end after charging inlaws full price for their tires and taking the 10% discount and applying it to my share(they're still getting a great deal compared to any local tire shop), these will cost me under $200.

Strangely enough we often have use for winter tires by now. I installed winter tires on the entire fleet last month. We had one small pile of snow then it melted. The ground is still bare here halfway through November. I figure if I buy a new snow blower we're guaranteed to have no snow this season!

[Mark]

I prefer Michelins but they're expensive and I cheap. I have never heard of MOMO tires, I only remember the name from steering wheels and magazine ads from the early 90's.

Overall, Michelin is probably the best world wide tire company. Michelin owns more affordable BFGoodrich & Uniroyal tires, too.

Since buying my 2017 Mirage, Nokian Nordman 7 (studded & non-studded) were the easiest 165/65r14 snow tires to find in the States. My pair were made in Russia, & I noticed they are not easy to find any more. The war must be impacting this?

My Nokian tires will be doing their 7th winter soon!

I haven't really heard of or noticed MOMO tires before. It's always good to hear about tire options.

[Christopher_B]

Since this thread is about which tire is best, let's talk about which tire is best in Georgia / southeast U.S.

Other regions are not important. I jest of course.

Actually a "which tire is best" for each condition below would be very interesting:

• Inclement weather areas ... Fummins region.
• Some inclement weather regions ... Mark's region maybe.
• No inclement weather region ... mine and Dirk's (current) region.

Mark - I'm really interested in YOUR 1 BEST tire choice per bullet point above. Thanks!

That is the reason I wanted a tire with the severe snow rating.
We mostly get a handful of 1" snows and maybe 1 or 2 snows you could possibly get stuck in per year.
I put dedicated snow tires on my work beater(1990 Plymouth Horizon) so I won't have issues making it to the job. However, there are times where we might be out in snow in the Mirage; just not frequently enough to warrant another set of snow tires for it.

When the Vredesteins were backordered for the 165/65/R14 I came across the MOMO's.
you can see the day I received them here with some information about when and where they were made:
https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...l=1#post147993

[Mark]

That is the reason I wanted a tire with the severe snow rating.
We mostly get a handful of 1" snows and maybe 1 or 2 snows you could possibly get stuck in per year.
I put dedicated snow tires on my work beater(1990 Plymouth Horizon) so I won't have issues making it to the job. However, there are times where we might be out in snow in the Mirage; just not frequently enough to warrant another set of snow tires for it.

When the Vredesteins were backordered for the 165/65/R14 I came across the MOMO's.
you can see the day I received them here with some information about when and where they were made:
https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...l=1#post147993

Yep! I've been waiting for the Vredestein Quatrac 5 tires since December 21, 2022. I purchased them @ $68/tire (due to a $100 off offer at the time). 5 of them appeared @ Tire Rack this summer. I should have canceled my order & bought a pair, but they wouldn't honor my sale price. Thus, I became stubborn rather than smart!

[Mark]

I prefer Michelins but they're expensive and I cheap. I have never heard of MOMO tires, I only remember the name from steering wheels and magazine ads from the early 90's. I usually go for the cheapest but this time I went second or third cheapest. In the end after charging inlaws full price for their tires and taking the 10% discount and applying it to my share(they're still getting a great deal compared to any local tire shop), these will cost me under $200.

Strangely enough we often have use for winter tires by now. I installed winter tires on the entire fleet last month. We had one small pile of snow then it melted. The ground is still bare here halfway through November. I figure if I buy a new snow blower we're guaranteed to have no snow this season!

I put the snow tires on my Forester early this fall. I did that in hopes of it not snowing any time soon!!!!

[Christopher_B]

I prefer Michelins but they're expensive and I cheap.

Michelins for me too. If they made a factory tire size for the Mirage it would be shod with those.
I just put a pair on my sport touring motorcycle.
The Horizon beater has a set of 175/70R14 Michelin Defenders I bought on clearance 10 years ago. They still have about half the tread on them. I actually considered putting them on the Mirage since the bolt pattern is the same I think.

[Basic]

That is the reason I wanted a tire with the severe snow rating.
We mostly get a handful of 1" snows and maybe 1 or 2 snows you could possibly get stuck in per year.
I put dedicated snow tires on my work beater(1990 Plymouth Horizon) so I won't have issues making it to the job. However, there are times where we might be out in snow in the Mirage; just not frequently enough to warrant another set of snow tires for it.
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You have it figured out sir, that it is exactly what we are making "All-Weather" tires with 3PMS for. A tire that will perform in all seasons, including "almost dedicated snow tire" performance. That is what I would recommend for 7Mile also.

[Mark]

You have it figured out sir, that it is exactly what we are making "All-Weather" tires with 3PMS for. A tire that will perform in all seasons, including "almost dedicated snow tire" performance. That is what I would recommend for 7Mile also.

If I lived in the Atlanta area & there was a good amount of snowfall, I would stay home. I wouldn't want to be on the road along with all the others not running snow tires. I can't imagine severe snow rated tires are popular there.

Personally, I don't think anything trumps having two sets of tires. You can use up older tires during the summer months and run newer better ones during the winter months.

If I get the Vredestein Quatrac 5 tires, I'm planning to run a new pair up front. I really want to test their hill climbing ability. I was planning to run my Nokian Nordman 7 snow tires on the rear this winter. They have done 6 winters up front, but if the new Quatrac 5 tires don't show up , the Nordman 7 tires are still my best bet. They still have a good amount of thread left on them. I pull them earlier & wait to put them on each year. That's the joy of having extra wheels.

I like using up my tires while having newer ones mounted during the winter months. Two sets of wheels allows you to do that.

I've done this with 3 pairs of wheels for years, too. If I still owned my 1990 Ford Festiva, I would be adding my newest 145SR12 tires up front. The 2nd oldest pair would be shifted to the rear, & the oldest pair would be pulled off completely.

In the spring, the newest pair would come back off, and the 2nd & 3rd oldest pairs would be used. This rotation kept relatively new tires on the front of that car during the winter months I never found 12" snow tires, nor did I ever need them. I could climb my winter ridge roads with ease. I would even go home & get the tire chains for my other cars. Vehicles with wider tires (Plymouth Colt wagon & VW Golf) couldn't compete with the Festiva. It wasn't even close. I would stop & help people with mini vans that couldn't climb the hill. We would turn their vehicle around so they could head back down. Meanwhile, I was going wherever I wanted with my Festiva. For whatever reason (tires are wider), the Mirage is not as good even with dedicated snow tires up front. Good tires, however, do help!

[Christopher_B]

I prefer Michelins but they're expensive and I cheap. I have never heard of MOMO tires, I only remember the name from steering wheels and magazine ads from the early 90's. I usually go for the cheapest but this time I went second or third cheapest. In the end after charging inlaws full price for their tires and taking the 10% discount and applying it to my share(they're still getting a great deal compared to any local tire shop), these will cost me under $200.

Strangely enough we often have use for winter tires by now. I installed winter tires on the entire fleet last month. We had one small pile of snow then it melted. The ground is still bare here halfway through November. I figure if I buy a new snow blower we're guaranteed to have no snow this season!

So you went with full on Winter tires? Canada has some legal requirement correct?

[Christopher_B]

So far I am happy with the MOMO 165/65/R14.
https://momo.com/en-us/shop/m-4-four-season
The 4RUN M4 is also branded with the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMS*) symbol and rated for severe snow conditions.
I bought them due to the backorder of the Quatrac 5 last fall when I questioned how long my OE Falkens would last. They wound up lasting to about 75K and I repplaced them about 6 weeks ago.
I think they could be added to the list.

I don't know for a fact if the MOMO 4RunM4 tires are still available in the 165/65/R14 size.