Vredestein Wintrac Pro snow tires - anyone used them?

[James]

These are in consideration now. We have TWO vehicles that need snows this year, one will need wheels, too.

Might as well try. Very good tire. I’d listen to @anders_nor as he lives in a part of Norway where apparently it snows more than it rains. (Looking at you Bergen)

I didn’t get lots of chances to drive in snow last year due to injury and then the pandemic. They are fun to drive on snow though. Almost better feel on snow than dry road. They are freakishly quiet on dry roads. I wouldn’t use them outside of winter, much too spongy when warm.

Check out Tire Rack. They can mount and balance and ship. I saved $10/tire picking up at their warehouse. They have one in Denver but not Utah.

 

[anders_nor]

yes, the Viking Contact 7 is awesome and the better allround winter tire (for harsh nordic condition)

R3 is better if you never see any asfalt for the entire year.

Its honestly win win!

studded tires are awesome, even at -15, this suggested dry, blown, polished roads, you can keep a higher pace with a hakka 8 than a R3 on thoose conditionds, but we are talking really extrem conditionds, undercooled rain/roads is also another scenario where the studs are better.

We have about 90% on studless tires here during winter

my preference for SUV is usually studded, and non studded for smaller, but also depends, like for the RWD m5 back in the days it was studded.. If all goes well I pickup my new cayenne tomorrow on non studded tires....it will be my first SUV on non studded


during winter we usually pay a farmer to plow and water his fields (water helps grip) and we go racing! SO much fun. We also do it on frozen lakes, there are no speed limits on lakes (by law)

This is a throwback to 2008... all veichles were brand new, we put on some nokian tires.. and had some fun , knowing your veichles limits within a safe closed enviroment is key.

 

[Atomicman]

These are in consideration now. We have TWO vehicles that need snows this year, one will need wheels, too.

Just my 2 cents, Viking's don't come in 295/35R21.....and my tires are R3 SUV. I run Continental DWS06 the rest of the year and hate the damn things. I have had them road balanced , rebalanced, moved 'em around on the car, and still get a vibration. My guess is they are out of round. I have heard this from other DWS06 users. In Spring I am replacing them with Michelin Pilot Sport a/s 3+ and still plenty of tread on them, but they are worthless!

 

[AmyPJ]

Thanks for the feedback. We have interesting conditions because it's often snowy/icy where we live (the road to get down the hill can be exciting without snow tires) but once we get into Ogden, which is almost daily, we rarely need snows. So, there's a lot of driving on dry/wet and we also have a lot of warmer days during winter. But, snows are a must IMO where we live, for getting out of the neighborhood and getting up to the mountain, which is 10 miles away.

 

[James]

yes, the Viking Contact 7 is awesome and the better allround winter tire (for harsh nordic condition)

R3 is better if you never see any asfalt for the entire year.

Its honestly win win!

studded tires are awesome, even at -15, this suggested dry, blown, polished roads, you can keep a higher pace with a hakka 8 than a R3 on thoose conditionds, but we are talking really extrem conditionds, undercooled rain/roads is also another scenario where the studs are better.

We have about 90% on studless tires here during winter

my preference for SUV is usually studded, and non studded for smaller, but also depends, like for the RWD m5 back in the days it was studded.. If all goes well I pickup my new cayenne tomorrow on non studded tires....it will be my first SUV on non studded


during winter we usually pay a farmer to plow and water his fields (water helps grip) and we go racing! SO much fun. We also do it on frozen lakes, there are no speed limits on lakes (by law)

This is a throwback to 2008... all veichles were brand new, we put on some nokian tires.. and had some fun , knowing your veichles limits within a safe closed enviroment is key.

What profile tires?
Do you go smaller rims and higher profile for winter?

So, there's a lot of driving on dry/wet and we also have a lot of warmer days during winter. But, snows are a must IMO where we live, for getting out of the neighborhood and getting up to the mountain, which is 10 miles away.

I will say the Contact 7 is the quietest tire I’ve had on the car, including the stock all season Continentals it came with that were atrocious in snow. The Nokian WRG3’s are loud.
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the top winter tires. Consider the Nokian Nordman is the old Hakkapellita 7 which was tops in its day.

Saskatchewan Studded Tire Club has reviews based on the NAF, Norwegian Auto Federation tests. Also has direct links to English translations of the NAF. Saskatchewan is probably closer to snowy Norway. (As opposed to rainy Norway)

End of the Flexstud Era: The 2020 NAF Winter Tire Test | Saskatchewan Studded Tire Club

www.skstuds.ca

Look, Norway-

If you want to go somewhere you can hike forever, go to Norway.

 

[JonathanShefftz]

So glad I put in the effort to track them down last fall!
Nobody had them listed, anywhere, and I was about to get the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 instead, but a Vredestein sales rep said a few were in the nat'l warehouse, so the deal was brokered through some exotic tire dealer in ... Florida.
(Not that he ever touched them, or even saw them.)

Doesn't have that "ugh, not again..." feeling when you change them over in the fall, unlike all the winter tires other posters have referenced in this thread.
Plus it's fine on wet roads just like an all-season tire, unlike the lousy (if counterintuitive) performance of all those other winters in the wet.
Yet for any snow I encountered last season, traction was excellent!
(Although I'm not driving through deep unplowed Tahoe-esque or PNW-worthy snow.)

Quite the contrast with two days ago, when the snowstorm hit the valleys hard too, and I was reminded of the limits of AWD with the OEM all-season tires.
(Once those wear out, will be replaced with Vredestein Quattrac Pro.)
Fortunately the snow was deeper than forecast on the mtn too:

NE Rando Race Series

www.facebook.com

Pics from last fall:

 

[AmyPJ]

Apparently Vredestein is not carried by Discount Tire. We usually get a bit of a deal with Discount so are looking for tires that they carry.

 

[James]

So glad I put in the effort to track them down last fall!
Nobody had them listed, anywhere, and I was about to get the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 instead, but a Vredestein sales rep said a few were in the nat'l warehouse, so the deal was brokered through some exotic tire dealer in ... Florida.
(Not that he ever touched them, or even saw them.)

Doesn't have that "ugh, not again..." feeling when you change them over in the fall, unlike all the winter tires other posters have referenced in this thread.
Plus it's fine on wet roads just like an all-season tire, unlike the lousy (if counterintuitive) performance of all those other winters in the wet.
Yet for any snow I encountered last season, traction was excellent!
(Although I'm not driving through deep unplowed Tahoe-esque or PNW-worthy snow.)

Quite the contrast with two days ago, when the snowstorm hit the valleys hard too, and I was reminded of the limits of AWD with the OEM all-season tires.
(Once those wear out, will be replaced with Vredestein Quattrac Pro.)
Fortunately the snow was deeper than forecast on the mtn too:

NE Rando Race Series

www.facebook.com

Pics from last fall:

That car makes those skinny skis look fat!
Tires sound great. I see the sizes are limited. I couldn’t run them, 235/55/17.

 

[anders_nor]

Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 is what we call a "middle european tire" its not made for nordic countries and will only work here if you have snow chains available. I would really really not reccomend for use on snow, its more of a " you can get home ish" when it snows tire. vs going fast & long on snow/ice. my G63 was deliverd on tires like that and yeah, not good on snow/ice. I've also ended up in a ditch with thoose tires years ago, accelerating gets an OK, but stopping... noop.

we had our first proper snowfall tons of forregin truck in ditches everywhere, and people were going 15mph (bad tires) in the 70, with the people on proper tires going 70-80mph.. ( proper tires) . it was a bit chaotic. we had 1-2 inches on the highway on avg, but up to 5-6 inches in places and it was coming down hard.

@James profile matters less and less, I ran 20" hakka R2 on my model 3 performance for last 2 seasons, also ran on bmw i3 with super skinnies, on my A3 I have tons of sidewall and can just hammer through everything, on new cayenne I ended 22" summer and 20" winter, its quite common to go down 1 or 2 inches for the SUV's mostly due to $$ though.

For 911.1 991.2 992 etc we run same rims as summer often, and studded tires, since we mostly use them for having fun on snowy days,and its always fun showing up with a ski rack on a 911


For mixed conditions, the viking contact 7 is kinda hard to beat. but we are always debating this between friends

 

[James]

Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 is what we call a "middle european tire" its not made for nordic countries and will only work here if you have snow chains available. I would really really not reccomend for use on snow, its more of a " you can get home ish" when it snows tire. vs going fast & long on snow/ice. my G63 was deliverd on tires like that and yeah, not good on snow/ice. I've also ended up in a ditch with thoose tires years ago, accelerating gets an OK, but stopping... noop.

So I guess the question is, does the Vredstein Wintrac Pro belong in the category of the Michelin Pilot Alpin 4, Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 ?
The test group of the 2018 Auto Bild test appears that it does-

Vredestein Wintrac Pro Test, Reviews & Ratings - Is It Good Winter Tire? | AllTyreTests.com

Vredestein Wintrac Pro is an Ultra High Performance studless winter tyre with directional tread pattern, designed for Passenger cars. The tyre replaced the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme S. Key performance Vredestein Wintrac Pro Tests 2020 Auto Bild (245/45 R18) In 2020 experts of the German magazine...

alltyretests.com

 

[JonathanShefftz]

That car makes those skinny skis look fat!
Tires sound great. I see the sizes are limited. I couldn’t run them, 235/55/17.

Same lack of availability for my wife's car.
Only decent choices were Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 and Bridgestone Blizzak LM001.
(Note that the LM series is totally different than the WS series, which makes all the generalized "get Blizzaks!" recs even more silly.)

 

[JonathanShefftz]

Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 is what we call a "middle european tire" its not made for nordic countries and will only work here if you have snow chains available. [...]

Great advice for people who spend much of the winter driving on snow and ice, yet rarely on wet or dry.
So, let's see, Nordic countries residents, my brother who lives in Tahoe (Soda Springs), the few homeowners right at Snoqualmie pass, all those skimo racers I know who lives in places like Leadville, even homeowners on unpaved roads in VT's NEK, sure.
But for those of us who live on plowed paved roads, where rain (far too) often falls at low elevations even during January (especially during January?), and where even after chasing a backcountry power day is followed by almost completely dry roads on the return trip, tires like that are made exactly for us -- even though people like us typically just run all-season tires (thinking that AWD is sufficient) or run chunky winter tires that are noisy/buzzy, handle poorly, and have really long wet braking distances.

 

[JonathanShefftz]

So I guess the question is, does the Vredstein Wintrac Pro belong in the category of the Michelin Pilot Alpin 4, Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 ? [...]

Yep, those are all tires that were on my comparison list fall.
Also, Nexen Winguard Sport 2, Yokohama BluEarth Winter V905, Hankook Winter i*cept evo2, Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 -- although some of these might have more of a theoretical existence/availability.

 

[anders_nor]

Picked up new cayenne today on R3 SUV 20" ohh yes. ready for snowstorm. 35mpg, pretty impressed so far, both tires/car

 

[James]

Picked up new cayenne today on R3 SUV 20" ohh yes. ready for snowstorm. 35mpg, pretty impressed so far, both tires/car

35mpg? How?

 

[BLspruce2]

This is a great website to reference. https://tiresvote.com They have links to all the European tests.

 

[raytseng]

35mpg? How?

Maybe it's in metric? 35 Meters Per Gram?


[just joking]