Review of Good Year Ultra Grip Ice Winter Tires: Great for Even Alaskan Winters

As my title suggests, I live in Alaska. I’ve lived there for 30 years, and over that time I have had plenlty of experience with different brands of winter tires. Blizzaks are my all time favorite, but at the cost of $200 a tire, they are definitely not in everyones budget.

Our daughter purchased her near new Toyota from a wealthy BP employee who was moving back to the UK. Lucky for her, he had obviously done his homework when he purchased the winter tires! Her Toyota came with four 13 inch Good Year Ultra Grip Ice winter tires, and these were very reliable and safe tires for her car.

About The Ultra Grip Ice

Goodyear’s Ultra Grip Ice winter tires which are designed to provide traction for the snowy and icy conditions that winter time brings. A popular consumer reports magazine stated that the Ultra Grip Ice beats all-season tires by improving snow traction by 35 percent, and ice traction by 40%.

There are many blades and grooves in the Ultra Grip Ice tires made of a softer, more flexible rubber that stays pliant at colder temperatures. Keeping the rubber soft and pliant allows the sipes to bite into ice and snow and give you good traction. The patented pattern of the treads help resist hydroplaning in heavy rainfall and provides for excellent handling.

Since you can use run these tires without studs, it gives you a much quieter ride. Studded tires can really make a lot of noise when you are driving on dry pavement.

Thoughts

These tires performed well for two winters. I drove the Toyota on numerous occasions, and rode in it many other times as a passenger. I always felt safe, because these tires really did perform well in both snow and ice. In Alaska, we have a lot of snowfall and on many occasions when it warms up and melts we are left with parking lots and driveways that resemble ice rinks.

The Good Year Ultra Grip Ice were able to make it through two winters with absolutely no problems. Stopping was not a concern, corners were not a problem, and we could get out of our driveway with several inches of heavy snow.

When the Toyota was sold, we kept these winter tires hoping to use them on another vehicle. Even after two full winters, the tread on them looked almost new. We were very amazed. We had heard that the new snow tires made with softer rubber will wear down quickly, but this was not the case with ours.

Tips

For best handling, you should always run snow tires on all four wheels. Tires should be rotated every 5000 miles, so it’s really handy to have your tires mounted on rims so you can change them yourselves. They will pay for themselves very quickly! It’s not cheap to have tires changed here in Alaska.

Our local news gave an interesting tip the other night about how to check your tires tread. Simply insert a penny into the groove of your tire tread. If you see the top of President Lincoln’s hairline, you need to replace your tires.

Check our tire pressure. In the winter months tires can lose one pound per pressure every month! Get a tire guages and check them when they are cold. The manufacturers recommendation for your tires should be on your car door jamb.

Final Recommendation

In pricing these tires today, I find an average price of $80-100 per tire. That may seem expensive, but they are cheaper than the Blizzaks, which typically run twice that cost, yet they are very reliable tires. Spend the money and get good winter tires. They can prevent accidents and keep you safe, and you can’t put a price on that.