There's quite a few threads/posts on this subject. The general consensus seems to be that the OEM tires (regardless of brand) are not very good in snow. I think your idea of swapping them out to your other vehicle (provided the size is correct) and putting on decent snow/all-season tires on the newer car is a good one.
For rain and puddles, i'd say they're pretty good. First time I drove Scarlette home it was raining cats and dogs but im not slowing down with driving, as if i'm still driving on a sunny, dry road. But i haven't noticed any slipping or sliding using the OEM tires that came with her.
For snow, i have yet to find out. Probably i'd delay changing to snow tires to really see its capabilities.
I've driven them all winter last year. And here in Edmonton we get a lot of snow. They were good, I didn't slip and slide all over, starting and stopping wasn't an issue and never got stuck in deep snow or on icy hills. Also, did some trips on the hi ways and it was good.
Sure having a dedicated set of winters is great, but if you can't afford it, the stock tires are fine. With the car being heavier and with AWD and stability control it helps.
My wives car is a FWD compact and we have winters for it and it makes a huge difference, but it's a different type of vehicle.
I wonder how often do you use your sorento on all-seasons during winter? If you daily drive it, how far do you think you drive? I always take Whitemud drive because I work in the South Common area but I live in the West End so I'm just wondering.
I just drove mine about 100 miles (of the 310 on the odometer at the moment) in a pouring rainstorm.
Cautiously testing the bounds of the vehicle on an empty, wet road, I wasn't able to get it to break loose under normal driving conditions. The tires that came on it are adequate.
Yikes. I wouldn't drive on the OEM tires in Edmonton. Winter tires help a ton with stopping distances. Sure, the traction is nice and all, but really, winter tires aid you to stop faster if you have to brake suddenly.
I can confirm that the Stock Kuhmo's suck in winter..... many people are from Edmonton as well on this thread. If you drive the car like a prius(IMO just as dangerous as going fast) than you might be "fine" or "get by". But IMO, buy winter tires. I have always ran winter tires on every car I have owned for the last several years and this year we decided to go with a nice set of aftermarket wheels and blizzaks, we have had tons of issues with the place we ordered through(we ordered them back in Sept, came with wrong tires at first and now went to mount them last week and the wheels don't even fit. We are going to just get some cheap steel wheels next week and mount the blizzaks on them. Its been a little icey last few weeks and if you take it easy, its not too bad but there has been a few times where the back end kicked out or the car would not brake as well as it should. The Traction control and Stability control on both my Kia's are very good and work very well. But with the sorento, you dont feel like you are in full control at times with the all seasons. With my Forte and studded tires, even on black ice, I can hammer the brakes and it will slide a little but you know it will stop almost as good as it would on pavement. The grip is there doesn't matter if its slippery or not. With the Sorento, you could be driving slow, hit the brakes and ABS says F-You.... @tigrr07 I get lots of people say you got to adjust your speed or allow time to slow down when coming to a stop, etc. What do you do in a emergency situation like if some jack ass in his big lifted 4x4 cuts you off or turns left in front of you, someone runs a red light... sometimes you need to stop very fast or manuveur around something.
Not sure about anyone else but I like feeling like I am in full control of my car no matter what the road conditions are. Can I afford the winter tires? Well I can afford a brand new +$35k SUV... Thats like buying a corvette and bitching about having to buy premium fuel for it.
I actually prefer steel wheels, they don't crack when you slip and hit a curb.
But where can you find them? I am looking around and can't find any cheap ones!
Kumho Crugen is pretty good as long as it's still has decent tread on it. Rain or show but not icy roads. Have yourself a set of winter tires for a safe winter errands.
With the unexpected snow here i had he chance to see how "good" those tires are. My verdict, quite a bit less than good, just a touch better than very bad!
As soon as I can find a source for a decent set of extra wheels (preferably 17 or 18", I will et winter tires for my vehicle. Slip sliding around is not the best automotive driving experience!
Check with Costco USA. We just bought steelies for my wifes car from Costco - home delivery included in price. We went with 15" rim as opposed to matching factory stock 16" as tires were $20 cheaper a piece and taller sidewall will reduce rim damage too. We got General Altimax Arctic tires from Tirerack.
Here in Canada 17" steel rims are CAD$63 and 18" are CAD$80 ea for your Sorento from Costco.
Question for the rim experts here, would a 17" rim with a hole pattern of 5 x 114.3 fit onto the Sorento?
I found those for a very good price on Craigs List.
Living here in the North can provide some very treacherous driving conditions, Last week we had rain, then freezing rain followed by 51 cm of snow in 24hrs. I found the Kuhmo Crugens very good under these conditions. Much better than the Bridgestone Duelers I had on the 2010 Santa Fe. I do not change the tires for the winter and I so far I am very happy with the overall performance.
Changing over is the ultimate but I have not found a real need to do so to date. Was on the road the day after he 1/4" of freezing rain and had no problem. However that being said everyone has an opinion and this topic can go on like the mpg thread. In the winter I drive under the conditions Mother Nature gives me. I lower my speed, allow more time to get where I am going and ensure that I give the car in front of me enough room. I don't care what kind of tires you have on the vehicle in the winter if you are driving like it is still July then you wasted your money on snow tires. Too many drivers feel that I have an all wheel drive vehicle equipped with snow tires therefore I am invincible. Right!! All of the data shows that a FWD vehicle equipped with snow tires is equivalent to an AWD vehicle with all seasons. An AWD with snow tires is the best scenario but common sense must still be #1 .
So far the Crugen's are behaving well and with the onset of this early winter I am satisfied with the performance under my style of winter driving.
Not really as when you slid, FWD cars won't have a compensating rear wheel that will spin and help with the traction, snow tire-wielding or not. But I get your point
What is the smallest rim size that would fit a SX-L, with other words, what would clear the brake calipers? Would a 15" rim be large enough?
I want to have as much rubber as possible between the car and the road, because roads tend to get pretty ruddy around here since they gave up to use salt to clear them.
What's your OEM rim size? 19"?
Normally one can go -1 or -2 in sizing meaning 18" or 17" rim.
Keep in mind you need to maintain same overall tire diameter that will bump you to higher aspect ratio or taller sidewall. It may be very difficult to impossible to find tires with 70 or higher ratio for your car as well as 15" rim may not exist for the car.
I just checked around and it seems the smallest rim you can go with is 17".
Would anybody know if 16" High Offset rims fit a Sorento SX-L?
I found tires for that size, just need to know if the rims fit (my concern would be the brake callipers).
Well I got my blizzaks installing a few days ago, they made a HUGE differance, the Kumhos suck in snow compared to these. On black ice, I have no issues stopping or accelerating(on a FWD,even with winter tires, sometimes, you have a hard time getting going on ice) With the sorento, it just accerates with no issues, traction control barely has to do any work. Going around a corner(with no one around) I tried giving it a bit of gas to get it to kick the back end out a little and it barely can do that, just pulls you through the turn and goes. Well worth the money to get a set of winter tires for anyone considering it.....
Here's a picture with 17" steels and Blizzak DM V1 if anyone interested....
You can probably see through the holes on the wheels in the picture that 17s are in fact the smallest wheel you can fit on the sorento... 16s are a 150% no go.... Almost wish I would of bought 18" blizzaks for the stock wheels and something nicer for summer...
I don't think its much more if you go with 18" winter tires and steelies. Anyway, that setup beats the best (and most expensive) all-seasons this time of the year
Here are some quick pictures of my Blizzak DM V1 on 18" Kia wheels (from a 2006 Kia. I have 235 - 65 , 18's on.
I can testify to the fact that 16" rims will not fit over the brake calipers. (tried it, did not work)
I paid $50 each for these wheels. I found them on CraigsList.
Here are some quick pictures of my Blizzak DM V1 on 18" Kia wheels (from a 2006 Kia. I have 235 - 65 , 18's on.
I can testify to the fact that 16" rims will not fit over the brake calipers. (tried it, did not work)
I paid $50 each for these wheels. I found them on CraigsList.
The US Costco does not carry steel wheels. In fact, they are hard to find in this country. I found some on amazon, but they were up there in the 70 dollar range plus shipping.
That's why I went the Craigs List way.
We are to be supposed to get new snow tomorrow and Friday. That will give the Blizzaks a chance to show what they can do. The Kumho had me slip sliding to the tire dealer the other day!
As I mentioned earlier and up in the thread, 17" rims are the smallest for the vehicle.
Good going with getting dedicated winter rims (and at THAT price!!!) as you can easily change wheels at home and not pay for tire changes and re-balancing at every season change, as for 3-5 years (6-10 times) that would become expensive...
We got steel rims from Canadian Costco and General Altimax Arctic tires (they were made in Germany too, Continental makes them) from TireRack for wife's Forte. I chose to go with 15" rim/tire to lower overall cost. Great tires thou we haven't seen snow/ice yet.
Interesting tidbit is, her average fuel consumption went down after tire change from 7.6L/100km to 7.3L/100km. Nexen CP671 vs General Altimax Arctic. Nexen tires had 12K km on them only.
Please, DO track your mileage before and after wheel/tire change as well as DO proper tire rotation too.
I use Microsoft Excel to document all the maintenance and associated costs etc. You can use same or similar free app to do so.
Please, DO track your mileage before and after wheel/tire change as well as DO proper tire rotation too.
I use Microsoft Excel to document all the maintenance and associated costs etc. You can use same or similar free app to do so.
I generally track my fuel economy with the on-board system. I am not really interested in the absolute economy (I don't care whether it makes 1/2 mpg more or less). I am only interested in the trending (to make sure everything is working properly).
I'm probably an outlier, but I just bought both new tires and rims from tirerack. I love having 2 different "outfits" my sorento can wear at different times of the year! The local tire shop will also change out my wheels for free, which is really nice.
Once my tires go though, I may opt for Summer / Winter tire combo. Seems like the best option versus All-Season/Winter tires.
I have the same idea in mind (and do/did it like this with my other vehicles).
After experiencing the Kumho tires in the little bit of snow a few days ago, I come to the conclusion that they lean more towards a summer tire than a winter tire. Once they are worn, dedicated summer tires will get put on.
Good point. Yes, All-weather tires are what all-seasons should really be. I think it's a good compromise if you don't live in an extreme change of climate. But you have to factor in the higher cost (since they wear out faster during hotter months).
Here's another short summary of the winter tire option:
I got to test out my Crugens for the first time in the snow yesterday. I came away extremely impressed. In the middle of a snow storm where people were sliding all over, I did not have one bit of wheel spin or sliding. I took the long way into work to give myself more time to evaluate them. I did not experience any trouble whatsoever. I live on a long fairly steep hill. On my way home I purposely came from the downhill side of the road to test the tires. There was one set of tracks on the completely unplowed road. I could tell the person had trouble because the track was all over the place. I went to a little past where the incline started and purposely stopped in the middle of the hill. When I hit the gas to start going again there was a split second of slight wheel spin followed by the tires gripping and a nice easy climb up the rest of the way. There was 6-7" of snow on the road when I did this. Again after this first test of the tires I came away extremely impressed with these tires.
In the last week, we got about +15" of snow, some areas deeper with snow drifts. Lots of black ice and I have seen several cars, suvs, etc get stuck. I have no problems with the blizzaks, with the Crugens, I had no real issues with accerating on a straight line. On icey sections, it took a little to get going but not bad. But if you give it a little gas around a corner the Crugens lose grip, when you brake, the ABS says sorry.... With the Blizzaks I am confidant that the car will stop or handle around a corner and with the AWD, all season tires do pretty good but with AWD and the blizzaks, turn traction control off and on icey roads, stomp on the gas and its a rocket. Up hill or around a corner, it just takes off.
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