I am shopping for snow tires and live in Colorado. Need good ones on a low budget. Anyone heard of the “Arctic Claw” and would the extra money for Blizzak’s really be worth it?
I’ve never heard of the “Arctic Claw,” but there are probably hundreds of names for winter tires.
In my experience HAVING winter tires is what counts. Brand name or model is less important. And, of course, you need four, not just two.
I have a set of expensive Nokian winter tires on one car, and a set of inexpensive Firestone winter tires on the other car. The only difference I can discern is the amount of road noise on dry roads. The Nokians are extremely noisy. The Winterforce are almost as quiet as all-season tires.
Never heard of “Arctic Claw” - who makes it? You can find out lots of good info at Tirerack.com. Also, latest Consumer Reports has a tire review, including winter tires.
“Artic Claw” is probably an off-brand name that’s actually made by one of the big manufacturers.
Artic Claw’s(I think Cooper makes as non branded) are studdable tires. Blizzacks are studless design and work quite well especially on ice.
Personally I would go with the cheaper one and cross my fingers the Artic claws are not too loud.
If you want the absolute best winter tire (the term “snow tire” is archaic), that would be the Michelin X-Ice. In addition to having superior traction in winter conditions, it also has the longest tread life, and a short tread life is a major problem in cheaper winter tires.
My experience with about 6 sets of winter tires including pricey (Nokian, Michelin, Bridgestone) and cheaper ones is they all last between 30k-40k miles. The difference is noise and even price does not matter there. Winter conditions are so variable I don’t think one was better than the other in any condition.
A test comparison from a magazine means nothing except testing hopefully on a single day in same conditions. But wait two days and different conditions in consistency of snow and the results will be polar opposite.