[cordybrown]

I am about to purchase winter tires for my 2017 NV200SV and would like some input on my choice.

I have narrowed it down to Toyo Observe which I know well and the Federal Himalaya ICEO which I know not at all. both sold by Les Schwab locally .

In our Puget Sound climate, the Observe have been awesome performers for year for me on past vans (mostly old Sienna minivans) The tires are soft with walnut shells in the rubber. On wet and ice glazed roads , stopping capability is noticeably good. I just zip around past other cars and SUVs who have slid off the road.

Last year I ran the stock tires all winter and they were fine in what snow we had but not great on slick or icy roads. I hope the winter tire will help as they did on the Siennas but these tires are so narrow I am wondering if thats part of the issue as much as the tire composition?

I am not concerned about payload issues. I never approach the max. but will handling be affected with a lower rated sidewall?

With the Observe I have the option of the stock size. which is an 84T or a 195/65R-15 91T which has a slightly higher payload rating simply due to more air not a stiffer sidewall. The Himalaya in the stock size is an 88T load rating. The Observe max pressure is 44. The Himalaya max pressure is 50.

Again , not worried about payload but wondering about handling - I drive on a mixed bag of highway ,secondary and dirt roads with a lot of steep hills.

thoughts?

( I have been considering changing wheel sizes since before I got the van but thats off the table for now since $$ and time to research are both a bit short)

 

[billibarou]

NV200 takes special tires

Cooper Discoverer H/T3 All- Season Radial Tire-185/60R15C 94T 6-ply

Those were what I purchased. They have worked pretty good. For some reason my 2017 NV200 SV eats front tires. I have 50k miles and have replaced the front tires once. The rear are the original and still have decent tread. I don't rotate them like I should. When I replace the rear ones next year I will rotate the front to the back.

 

[cordybrown]

my 2017 also eats front tires. I rotate (not as often as a should ) and keep record of how much time each tire is on the front and back. the front tires wear more than twice as fast as the rear. not uncommon in any minivan or small van in my experience but this seems much worse than I am used to in the Siennas. my mechanics says the Transit Connect is even worse. it burns through front tires AND front brakes once a year (ie 25-30k miles) .

 

[kosmos]

Up state NY here, 2 winters ago I ran the Nokian WR series, it is an all weather tire. I felt safe rolling around on those, they were better in the traction department than the originals and you could keep them inflated high enough to stop from tripping the "low tire" threshold.
That van, sadly was totaled, however the next van I got, a used very low miles from Hertz came equipped with Continental Vanco 4 season tires. So far I am happy with them.
Winter driving here is usually dry snow, sometimes it feels like you are driving on sand. I lived for 20 years in the PNW and know very well the awful winter conditions you can encounter, PNW peanut butter is what we called it, wet, slushy, thick, yuk. Anyway, I can't say that my choices will work well for you, good luck!