Hello, I have a Toyota Camry 1999 CE 4 Cylinders.  The original tires
are 195/70/14.  I would like to fit the car with the best snow tires
regardless of cost.  The tires have to be excellent snow tires with
the "snowflake and mountain" logo and also be close to excellent
handling on dry road.  Please, if you can, provide me with a list of
few tires that I can purchase online that I can ship in the USA.

Thank you

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Request for Question Clarification by denco-ga on 23 Oct 2005 19:14 PDT

Howdy who3ver-ga,

I am going to do this as a request for clarification, lest you have looked
at and rejected the following tires.  All of these come in 195/70R14 and
have the "Severe Snow Tire Grading" ("snowflake and mountain") rating.

Dunlop Graspic DS-2
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tirebrand=Dunlop&tiremodel=Graspic+DS%2D2

Reviews here.
http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews/Dunlop_Graspic_DS-2_tire_reviews.html

"Excellent snow tires. Much better than the Blizzak WS15 in all areas,
specially treadwear."

Goodyear Ultra Grip
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tirebrand=Goodyear&tiremodel=Ultra+Grip

Reviews here.
http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews/Goodyear_Ultra_Grip_tire_reviews.html

"Best tires I've ever owned. Never once stuck in a snow storm with over
1 foot of snow."

Michelin X-Ice
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tirebrand=Michelin&tiremodel=X%2DIce

Reviews here.
http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews/Michelin_X-Ice_tire_reviews.html

"Excellent snow traction as well, and here in Winnipeg where we have
real winters I appreciate the flexibility of the rubber in the extreme
old. I am very impressed with these tires."

If the above appeal to you, I can start checking into best pricing for
you.  Thanks!

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by who3ver-ga on 24 Oct 2005 04:20 PDT

Hi Denco-ga,  

Thank you for the prompt response :-)  Please do find the best prices.
 When you post the best prices you are able to find, You will have my
best rating.

Thanks again, 
who3ver-ga

Howdy who3ver-ga,

Here are some tires that fit your requirements and appear to come highly
rated by people using them.  All of these come in 195/70 R14 and have
the "Severe Snow Tire Grading" ("snowflake and mountain") rating.

Dunlop Graspic DS-2
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tirebrand=Dunlop&tiremodel=Graspic+DS%2D2

Reviews here.
http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews/Dunlop_Graspic_DS-2_tire_reviews.html

"Excellent snow tires. Much better than the Blizzak WS15 in all areas,
specially treadwear."

Prices here.

Graspic DS-2 - 195/70 R14 - tires-easy.com - $58.10
http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/reifensucher.pl?typ=R-116005&Country=US

Graspic DS-2 - 195/70 R14 - TireSavings.com - $67.00
http://www.tiresavings.com/tireShop.php?action=single&sku=305159118


Goodyear Ultra Grip
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tirebrand=Goodyear&tiremodel=Ultra+Grip

Reviews here.
http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews/Goodyear_Ultra_Grip_tire_reviews.html

"Best tires I've ever owned. Never once stuck in a snow storm with over
1 foot of snow."

Price here.

Goodyear Ultra Grip - 195/70 R14 - tires-easy.com - $62.00
http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/reifensucher.pl?typ=R-113541&Country=US


Michelin X-Ice
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tirebrand=Michelin&tiremodel=X%2DIce

Reviews here.
http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews/Michelin_X-Ice_tire_reviews.html

"Excellent snow traction as well, and here in Winnipeg where we have
real winters I appreciate the flexibility of the rubber in the extreme
old. I am very impressed with these tires."

Prices here.

Michelin X-Ice - 195/70 R14 - TireSavings.com - $72.00
http://www.tiresavings.com/tireShop.php?action=single&sku=309143110

Michelin X-Ice - 195/70 R14 - The Tire Rack - $74.00
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes.jsp?make=Michelin&model=X-Ice

Michelin X-Ice - 195/70 R14 - Discount Tire Direct - $81.00
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/findTireDetail.do?yr=1999&cs=195&pc=34458&vid=006911&rd=14&ar=70

Discount Tire has locations throughout the U.S. so there might be costs
savings on shipping with them.
http://dt.know-where.com/DiscountTire/

"You can locate the stores near you ..."

If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask.


Search strategy:

Google search on: "snow tires"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22snow+tires%22

Google's Froogle search on: Dunlop Graspic DS-2
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=Dunlop+Graspic+DS-2

Google's Froogle search on: Goodyear Ultra Grip
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=Goodyear+Ultra+Grip

Google's Froogle search on: Michelin X-Ice
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=Michelin+X-Ice

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

Much thanks for the 5 star rating, who3ver-ga.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

The latest issue of Consumer Reports tests winter tires (November 2005).

The top rated snow tire is the Michelin X-ICE, although other winter
tires may better suit your driving conditions. The full report is well
worth reading.

Be aware, however, that it is impossible for a tire that is designed
for great snow performance to also give great dry weather performance.
These two parameters are not compatible. A snow tire needs to have a
very open tread pattern to grip into the snow while a dry weather
tire, for best performance, needs the opposite.

There are a number of trade-offs in designing a tire. Anyone looking
for maximum performance in snow will mount an entirely new set of
tires for the winter and change over to a different set for the
spring/summer/fall. All the major sellers of winter tires, for this
exact reason, sell snow tires already mounted on a set of rims, to
facilitate this change over. Consumer Reports also rates so called
"All Season" tires. Again, you will see by their ratings, that
compromises have to be made and that no tire offers the best snow
performance as well as the best dry weather performance.

You should also be aware that there can be a difference between a tire
has great snow performance and a tire that is great on ice. However,
less compromises need to be made here. Personally I prefer a tire best
adapted to ice and that means a studded snow tire. These tires have
very poor performance on dry pavement. Consumer Reports does a less
than stellar job of discussing this option although they do admit (in
a sidebar) that a studded tire was the winner in stopping distances on
ice. If you live in a region of the country where winter temperatures
are always well below freezing - ice performance may not be important.

Finally, and I really think this is very important, consumer ratings
of tire performance should be viewed as nearly worthless. These
ratings should be given no weight in your decision making process.
Without tire to tire testing under identical (or near to identical
conditons), no rating is valid. Consumers really have no knowledge of
what they are rating. Their ratings are always highly subjective, rely
entirely on memory and no doubt are in comparison to one other set of
tires (whose attributes are unknown) which they think they remember.

As a further addendum to snow tire ratings see the tests at the tire rack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testResultsPerformance.jsp?perfType=W

Thank you daarrid-ga for all the extra info