A lot of people pinged my Facebook when I mentioned I was buying from the US. With the Canadian dollar on a winning streak, it’s hard to ignore buying across the border.
TireRack is a well recognized size for US shoppers and they make buying in Canada very seamless. Their site quotes shipping to Canadian addresses as well as adding duty and brokerage fees already. The only thing you have to do is convert to CAD (which may even reach par soon).
Yes, it’s winter, so it’s time to shop for tires. Remember there are different types of winter tires: All-season winter tires, full winter tires and performance winter tires.
In Toronto I recommend full winter tires if you are a “must drive” type of person. Those that drive to work and drive every day will appreciate the traction on those stormy days. The top end tires in this category use multicell technology – a way of creating a tire that removes water from beneath the tire. I recommend Bridgestone WS-60 and Michelin X-Ice Xi2 and both use multicell compounds for the best traction on ice and packed snow. Tires without multicell technology are cheaper, but at a cost of ice traction – which probably is an OK sacrifice for Toronto.
Performance winter tires are better for occasional drivers and drivers that are willing to sacrifice some snow traction for some cold/dry performance. I bought one of the newest offerings in this category, the Bridgestone LM-60.
I don’t recommend any all season tires for winter in Toronto.
If you are interested in truck/SUV tires, see this article at Canadian Driver.
Tags: rubber, tirerack, tires, wheels, winter
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update: the tires from tirerack arrived in just three days! the order was confirmed on tuesday and arrived on friday.
Hey great article, as usual. How about doing one on buying car from the U.S.?
when i buy something from the US, i’ll write it :)
[...] wheels and tires in Toronto. Well my most recent experience is with ordering from the USA through Tire Rack. However for those wanting to have someone else do their installs, I highly recommend Simply Tire. [...]