We just had our worst "spring" storm here in Edmonton, with lots of snow.Not too impressed with the Continental "all seasons" They dont have a very agressive thread and the handling and braking are so so.I will probably get some really good snow tires next fall and put them on the original rims. Then I will get some nice aftermarket wheels and use the Conti for summer. Problem is have not seen any nice wheels so far Anybody else wish to comment on the Conti's???

Paul

Hey, I'm in Lethbridge and the snow is still coming, worst spring storm I can remember too!!! But, it's worse in the SE corner of the province, Medicine Hat got like 3 feet of snow this weekend, and vey cold temperatures so nothing is melting yet.

Anyway, I'm picking up my new Rogue FWD today, and I test drove it in some deep snow this past December. I remember being very impressed with how it handled in the snow and ice, especially because it was not even the the AWD drive model, just FWD. So now I'm wondering why we have such different experiences with the same vehicle and same tires. I imagine it depends on what you are comparing it to. I used to have a Saturn Ion car, and the Rogue felt much better so perhaps you are comparing it to more stiff competetion? Not sure, but I hope the tires are better than you described!!

Maybe I am just picky. We traded our Mitsubishi Outlander for the Rogue and I had Toyo winter tires on it and it sure made a big difference in the the snow. All seasons are not really designed to deal with this much snow.

Paul

Well that must be it then - if you compare the Rogue all-seasons to your previous Outlander winter tires then I bet they would feel like crap on snow and ice. I don't think it matters what type of tires they are, if you compare all-seasons to winter on snow and ice, the all-seasons will always seem to perform a lot worse.

I have a question for you, because the concept of using all-seasons is one of hot debate in my house lately. My wife has a Mazda 3, and the all-seasons are absolutely terrible in winter, however we don't like the idea of spending all the extra money on an extra set of tires and rims (or do you use the same rims and just swap the rubber?), and also storage of 4 tires doesn't appeal to us. Do you find it a pain to swap the tires every year, transport them to and from the garage for swapping, and to continually store 4 tires at home? I don't really have the room to store them myself..... thanks in advance.

I actually had bought some American Racing wheels (16inch) for my Outlander, with the original tires. The factory wheels had the snow tires. I just changed them myself in fall and spring. Stored them in my garage.Over here snow tires (even with AWD) in my opinion are a must.

Paul

I wasn't impressed with the Continentals on my Rogue either, and so I got Toyo Winter tires (wow, impressive!!). My Vibe (and a lot of people's vibes) came with Continentals as well and most people don't like them, but mostly for tire wear issues.

Cristen,

So you are saying that the factory Continentals that come with the Rogue wear quickly/prematurely? If that's true, then that is dissappointing!

The specs say the tires that come stock with the Rogue are

"P225/60R17 mud and snow tires" I would have thought these would perform pretty well in winter, considering their name implies that they are designed for these type of conditions.......... weird.

kerrton wrote:The specs say the tires that come stock with the Rogue are "P225/60R17 mud and snow tires"

Mud and snow ratings doesn't hold much water. It actually isn't a test, it's just a tread pattern requirement to get the M+S rating... which many times does not equate to good traction:

- Grooves that are a minimum 1/2" long and 1/16" wide- Grooves have to be 90 to 35 deg perpendicular to the direction of travel- The grooves (voids) must make up 25% of the tire.

Now, the Severe Service Rating (snowflake in the mountain logo) is alot more stringent. They actually have to be tested using a method from the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). The test method uses real snow to test the grip of the tire! Add to the fact that many winter tires are made from much softer rubber which doesn't turn into a hockey puck at sub freezing temps like all seasons do.

Now, for the stock Continentals... My '03 Altima had Continental TouringContacts ... with nearly an I identical tread pattern. The issues I had with those tires are already appearing in the Conti 4x4Contacts used on the Rogue:

They are noisy.They may wear quickly. I only got 65,000km (39,000mi) on the Conti's that came with the Altima.They are OK but not great in the snow.They are slippery in the rain. For that matter they can be slippery on dry pavement sometimes.

If you do ANY winter driving (snow, ice), IMHO you should get a pair of dedicated snow tires (severe service rated) before you risk your life any further! Although the Rogue has been OK in snow with the Continentals, they don't exactly instill confidence. I also had too many bad experiences with the Continentals on my Altima to recommend them to anyone.

So this begs the question. Why does Nissan put these tires on the Rogue? Simply because it fits thier budget and criteria. Not because they are the best tires on the market. I am sure the tire mfg's play into this by offering discounts and incentives to get thier tires featured as OEM equipment.

Unfortunately the only thing we can do about the tires is replace them. And I intend on doing just that!

Exactly my sentiment!! They get the job done, but do not instill alot of confidence in doing so. Its seems way to easy to get the car to slip around in the snow causing the VDC to kick in.

Paul

kerrton wrote:Cristen,

So you are saying that the factory Continentals that come with the Rogue wear quickly/prematurely? If that's true, then that is dissappointing!

From what I read on the Vibe forum it seemed rather premature. If you go to http://www.genvibe.com forums and search on continental you will return LOTS of threads about them. Some members made complaints with Pontiac over them.

paulvanharte wrote:Exactly my sentiment!! They get the job done, but do not instill alot of confidence in doing so. Its seems way to easy to get the car to slip around in the snow causing the VDC to kick in.

Paul

Yes I noticed this too, in the 3 weeks I didn't have snow tires this winter. I could drive with the Continentals in the snow, but I felt like i had to tiptoe across town. With my Toyo winter tires the Rogue "ate snow for breakfast." They are great. I have my continentals back on now though.

Cristen wrote: With my Toyo winter tires the Rogue "ate snow for breakfast." They are great. I have my continentals back on now though.

Yes, winter tires are a must in our climate.

We have been blessed with an abnormally warm spring this year in Ontario. Temps have been in the low 20's (+70 degF) since last week. I took the Hakkapelittas off the wife's car a week early and I am happy I no longer have to drive the Conti's in the snow.... lest I tempt the snow gods!

As for replacement tires, I suggest looking at the slightly wider P235/55R17 size (for Rogues with 17" alloys) for a bigger selection of tires. Nissan's recent practice of using large diameter tires means they're not a very common size and selection is limited.

philipa_240sx wrote:Now, for the stock Continentals... My '03 Altima had Continental TouringContacts ... with nearly an I identical tread pattern. The issues I had with those tires are already appearing in the Conti 4x4Contacts used on the Rogue:

They are noisy.They may wear quickly. I only got 65,000km (39,000mi) on the Conti's that came with the Altima.They are OK but not great in the snow.They are slippery in the rain. For that matter they can be slippery on dry pavement sometimes.

On my '02 Altima I experienced the same issues, the Continentals aren't very good tires. I replaced them with Bridgestone G009's, better in every way vs. the Conti's

philipa_240sx wrote:As for replacement tires, I suggest looking at the slightly wider P235/55R17 size (for Rogues with 17" alloys) for a bigger selection of tires. Nissan's recent practice of using large diameter tires means they're not a very common size and selection is limited.

Again, I did the same with my Altima. Nissan has a nasty habit of spec'ing a very odd size OEM tire that limits you to quite literally 2 or 3 replacement options. By going up or down a size I found that I had too many options

I'm not in quite the same boat and most of you are, I find myself wanting to replace the Conti's for something made just for the street. I have no intentions of ever taking the Rogue off road, the worst it will see is a gravel road. The winters here aren't so bad that dedicated snow tires are required, especially with AWD. I also think that a street specific tire will be quieter and give better mileage.

I live in Edmonton also. My Rogue came with the Dunlop tires instead of the Continentals. I found them to be very good throughout this last winter including the spring storm. I used to have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and I believe I had better stability and control with my Rogue in winter driving than I did with my Jeep. I had no problems whatsoever driving this winter. That is probably due more to the Rogue itself as opposed to the tires. The only thing I don't like about the Dunlops is the tire noise. Sometimes I hear a lot of tire noise when driving, especially on hard packed snow or very bumpy roads.

Mine also came with Dunlops. I was kind of surprised to notice that after everybody here was complaining about Continentals (which I can relate to...that's what my previous car had, and they wore odd, leaving to a "cupping" noise).

No complaints with the Dunlops thus far.