Firestone Winterforce Sizes & review

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The Winterforce is Firestone’s Studdable Winter / Snow tire designed for the owners of coupes, sedans and minivans. Available in P-metric and Euro-metric Standard Load or Extra Load sizes, Winterforce tires are for drivers looking for traditional wintertime traction on dry, wet and snow-covered roads.

Firestone Winterforce radials share the tread design, compound, internal construction and dimensions of earlier Winterforce tires. This makes them fully compatible and allows them to be mixed and matched as necessary.

NOTE: Installing less than a complete set of new tires on four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicles may require that new tire(s) be shaved to the same tread depth as existing tires to minimize driveline wear and/or damage.

Firestone Winterforce winter / snow radials feature a winter tread compound molded into an aggressive directional tread pattern with tread blocks that are siped, stepped and/or can be studded to offer the biting edges necessary to provide traction in snow and on ice. Independent tread blocks feature high-density siping to enhance grip in loose snow while the intermediate and shoulder tread blocks are molded to accept studs that further enhance traction on hard-packed snow and ice. The tire’s internal structure includes twin steel belts on top of a polyester casing to combine strength with ride quality.

Winterforce winter / snow radials meet the industry’s severe snow service requirements and are branded with the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol.

7 COMMENTS

  1. This is an excellent all-year all-round tire. Third set on my commuting Jeep Liberty through harsh Montana winters. No issues on highway, secondary, or gravel roads up to ski hills etc. As long as Firestone makes them, I’ll be buying them

  2. I have about 8000 miles and two winters on these tires. Dry and wet road straight line grip is perfectly adequate as long as you don’t go crazy. Cornering is…..interesting. Dry and wet road cornering is relatively predictable and benign but I don’t push them hard in those conditions as I know they are not meant for aggressive driving, particularly on dry/wet roads. However, some of the curves on I-75 southbound through Dayton are heavily grooved and these tires track every little undulation in those grooves. It’s not surprising when you consider the deep tread and soft tread blocks, but it was a little disconcerting the first few times. No big deal: improvise, adapt, and overcome.They were VERY rough and noisy the first 3 – 4K miles, and would start vibrating at various highway speeds (65 – 80 mph) at random. Some of the vibrations, when the tires were new, were outright unacceptable and had to slow down until that harmonic disappeared. I was dreading my second winter on them but much to my surprise they had become much smoother and quieter as they got some wear on.Now for the good part. These tires are UNBELIEVABLE in snow. Dry snow, wet snow, slush, deep snow, light snow, it just doesn’t matter. These Firestones dig and grip like nobody’s business while accelerating, cornering, and most importantly braking. My daily commute is 30 miles each way on rural roads that are often drifted over and last to be plowed. These tires make the commute orders of magnitude safer and less stressful than it would be on all-season tires. Like others have said, these tires allow you to SAFELY achieve speeds far above what most people (who’ve never driven on tires like these) think is possible. Control on snowy curves is amazing, to the point that some corners that I drive every day can be taken on a slight drift. These tires are that good, that forgiving, and that predictable.I am sold on them and will probably never buy any other winter tire.

  3. These tires are the best snow tires hands down. You might as well just take “I can’t make it because of the weather” out of your vocabulary with these tires! I’ve had them on a 91 civic and I was the only car on the road that was getting around with ease. Now I have them on all 4 wheels of a Subaru Forester (complete overkill). There is no such thing as getting stuck. Last snowstorm, there was a line of cars trying to get up a hill. One of them was some guy in a lifted Wrangler with big offload wheels and tires, lighter, winch, etc. (you know the type) and he must have been so pissed to see me, in a little crappy old Subaru going up the hill as if it were dry out. The worst part about these tires is constantly being stuck behind people when your vehicle with these tires is totally capable!

  4. Hands down the best tires I’ve ever had for snow traction ! Do excellent in snow and slush situations. Excellent grip and handling. Cornering and stopping in snow is very good too. Would rather drive my Civic that these are on when there is less than 5 inches of snow then my Suburban (obviously for better MPG so I only use the Suburban for big snow storms where I might need extra height and 4 wheel drive). Noise of these tires is comparable to other snow tires I’ve used and is hardly noticeable when city driving. I’ve only noticed any tire/road noise when on the highway with these tires and even that isn’t too bad. 5K on tires so far and they still look brand new. No visible wear at all ! I drive about 10K miles in the winter season and I am hoping to get at least 4-5 seasons out of these tires. Great tires for the price ! (got them on close out so even better!)

  5. Live along the Indiana / Michigan border and see a fair amount of cold weather and snow off the the Great Lakes.(Borrowed from another review but spot on for my road conditions.) I ran these Firestone Winterforce tires for on my Chevy Tahoe year round. Happy with the snow and winter performance of these tires. The tires seemed to be best in deep snow but still offered good performance in hard pack and slush. I was not surprised with the wear on the tires running them year round. This is my second set, (89 4wd F150 previously) and have been pleased with both. 40K seems to be the replacement wear point for my style and use.A third set will be going on the Tahoe soon.

  6. We live back in the mountains of Colorado on a road that does not get plowed in the wintertime. Typically cars are required to chain up to have access up and down the road. We wanted to get studded tires for my wife so hopefully she could avoid needing to chain up. These tires with studs worked great. The one issue I had with these tires was the tread life. The tires being the softer tread of a winter tire causes the tread to wear down faster on the dry roads. So I would recommend to only use these in the winter and switch over to all season tires in the summer.

  7. Excellent winter performance under challenging conditions including deep and often wind drifted snow and/or glare ice on a incline rising 133 ft in 1/4 mile. (my unpaved driveway in Northern Vermont) Elevation from 1101 ft. to 1234 ft. Tires used are studded as stud-less tires lack adequate traction from a standstill on steep grades on glare ice. You need studs on footwear too in such conditions as you cannot remain on your feet otherwise. Getting out downhill is the other half of the challenge. Especially for the ABS which helps keep the vehicles’ attitude on the right path while it helps the car decide if it should remain on the drive while needing to stop at the roadside or if it’s clear to break through the densely packed snow barricade left at the driveway outlet by repeated overnight passes of the town snowplow. Without momentum a vehicle is prevented from breaking through and ends up perched on a pedestal of snow without wheels in contact with the ground. Now that long walk up the hill, all the way hoping that at 25 below zero that the tractor’s block heater will warm things up enough to start it, that is, if the diesel fuel hasn’t jelled. Maybe I can dig out enough under the rig to get the wheels back in contact with the “terra firma.” Usually things work just fine and the car gets you out without an hitch. Still you’re glad you have studded snows on all four corners.

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