I am happy that you found some new tires with good winter performance. Here in Minnesota it's always a dilemma for winter driving, so I made the decision to go with an extra set of dedicated winter tires (and rims) a few years ago. I like having every advantage! I was looking for Blizzaks, but couldn't find a 'deal' to my satisfaction and stumbled into a terrific internet closeout at 1010tires.com on some Pirelli Winter Ice Assymetrico's they were 'blowing out' on clearance (about $68.00 ea.!). Super good winter traction and extremely quiet for a winter tire.

I noted your comment about the original Bridgestone tires. If these were indeed the 'original' Bridgestones, they would be a minimum of 6 years old (you didn't say what model year your SVX was) (and you would have a very low mileage SVX, too). There have been some studies done recently on tires that have determined that they significantly 'age' with time and lose much of their 'moisture'/ or chemical composition over time. A kind of 'dry rot' over the years. The study determined that you should probably replace tires that are over about 4 years old with 'fresh' rubber if you want maximum performance- regardless of the actual mileage and wear on the tires. I have to concur that I've noticed increased noise, harshness, and vibration at the end of a tire's life cycle. It's like they start to separate and 'internally' wear with time.

As an example, I have had a set of Nitto NT450's as 'summer' tires on my car for about the last three years, but one of them somehow has significant wear on the inside edge of the tire (maybe attributable to bounce of a weak strut- which have more recently been replaced), but I've also noticed a harsher ride and more noise than I recall when new. When I mounted the new winter tires, they were as or more quiet than the NT450's. I figured I couldn't complain after I realized I probably have over 40,000 miles on them now. I'll probably be putting some fresh 'summer' rubber on this spring. So far I'm leaning towards the AVS dB's as the feedback indicates they are a good performing tire and are very quiet (which I've come to value on the SVX).

I was also glad to hear other positive feedback regarding Discount Tire. They are relatively new to our area, but I had bought tires from them mailorder before. One of my best friend's brother manages one of the local stores and I concur that they are a very competitive, yet first-rate organization (even without his direct assistance!). Very high level of satisfaction from these people.

Enjoy your snow; we haven't seen any for a while here (but March is yet to come).

-Mark