Purchase Perfect Snow Rims and Tires for Your Vehicle

If you get snow where you live, it's a good idea to change tires for the winter season. Winter tires provide better traction than all season tires and therefore more safety. It will be cheaper in the long run to buy rims and tires together, to reduce installation costs every time you change tires.

There are lots of tire brands to choose from and your choice may be influenced by what pro racing car driver you like and the tires he uses, or by what you see in the movies and on TV. Here's a partial list: Avon, BFGoodrich, Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Falken, Firestone, Fuzion, General Tire, Goodyear, Hankook, Hoosier, Kumho, Michelin, Nitto, Pirelli, Sumitomo, Toyo, Uniroyal and Yokohama.

Tire Reviews
At websites such as consumerssearch.com/www./automotive/reviews.html you will find tire reviews based on Car and Driver and The Tire Rack using a BMW325I test car and test track in three days of wet and dry blind testing. The top-rated tires were the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, the Continental ContiSportContact 2 and the Yokohama Advan Neova AD07. Car and Driver said the Eagle was the best performer in wet testing and was second in dry conditions. Its editors said "as an all-around high-performance tire, you can't beat this Goodyear.",

The Tire Rack (tirerack.com) is considered the best authority for tire ratings and reviews. Because it sells winners and losers, its test appear to be unbiased. It tests tires in groups of three or four and because there is no ultimate ranking system it's hard to determine which tires are best in their class.

Top-Rated Tires
Their top-rated tires include the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD and KDW, Yokohama Advan Neova AD07, Bridgestone Potenza RE950, BFGoodrich Traction T/A (high-performance all season), Michelin HydroEdge (premium tire), Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S, Kumho ECSTA Supra 712 (ultra high performance all season), Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 Max (summer max performance), Uniroyal Tiger Paw w/Nailgard (self-sealer) and Bridgestone Turanza LS-H (grand touring.)

If you want to touch and feel your new tires before you buy them, Discount Tire is the largest independent tire dealer in the U.S. with 526 retail stores. North of the border, Canadian Tire is just about everywhere.

Used Tires
Used tires are an alternative for those on a really low budget. Be wary of the quality however and make sure the treads have been measured and assigned a grade before you buy. Websites such as bordertire.com reclaim tires from new and used car dealerships and have them in excellent condition (A1-A3), "just get by" condition (C1-C2) and standard condition (B1-B2.) They sell them in pairs and quads.

You can judge if auto tires are safe by accurately measuring the tread wear. If the tire is worn slightly but still has tread depth, maybe you just want to use it as a spare. It's your safety that's at stake, so make sure the tires you buy will keep you safe for years to come. Remember when you're looking for a discount tire that cheap tires have to deliver more than cost savings.