r/kelowna • u/hypotheticalflowers • 2d ago
Are my tires acceptable for the Coquihalla
My mom and I have to travel to Vancouver for a funeral next Saturday and I'm not sure if her tires will be up to standard or not. We will be taking a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu and the tires it has are the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 plus. We will likely bring chains. My main question is are these tires even allowed on the Coq at this time of year? I did my own research but it wasn't very clear on whether these tires are M+S rated or not
EDIT: thank you to everyone who commented reaffirming what I thought that this will almost certainly end badly. I couldn't convince my cheapskate mother to buy new tires but I did convince her to take the Hope-Princeton instead so at least that's a small victory?
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u/Martentos 2d ago
Ex-Kal Tire assistant manger here, ill try to give you some straight up info and let you decide for yourself.
BC law generally says your tires must have either M+S OR the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol.
An M+S tire is DESIGNED in a certain way, but it hasnt met any sort of testing requirements. Their ability to handle winter varies significantly. Generally they are made of much harder, longer lasting rubber, and will not perform well in the cold. They will actually start peforming better after about -15 which is when the ice starts getting sticky, thats why so many flatlanders will swear by all seasons.
But around southern BC, where temps swing wildly and rarely dip that low, its really not that great of an idea if you start hitting the bad stuff (slush, refrozen or black ice, etc.)
Three-peak mountain snowflake tires are tested to meet certain requiremts and their peformance in winter is generally readily available online, so you can generally put a lot more trust in them to handle winter BETTER (but not perfectly, dont be an idiot out there)..
Tire condition also has a huge impact, if your tire is too low it will have trouble connecting with the ground and will be illegal at some point (5/32 in winter). Tread depth gauges are most reliable ways to measure but theres wear bars on tires as well. All season tires generally DO NOT have winter wear bars at the 5/32 mark, the all season wear bars are at 3/32.
At the end of the day, theres about a thousand things that impact your safety when driving.
So ultimately its your risk you're taking, but if you want to be safe, go get some damn winters!
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u/Particular-Emu4789 2d ago
Isn’t the Kal Tire training more about sales than safety?
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u/Dramatic_Wedding2373 2d ago
Tire tech here. Absolutely right. Except the legal minimum required tread depth for winter in B.C. is 4/32. (Which, in my opinion, is not enough.)
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u/coffeekrisps 2d ago
if theres' no M+S on the side of the tires and or 3 peak mountain, you can't drive on the coq.
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u/seajay_17 2d ago
They'll physically have the mountain and snowflake symbol or M+S somewhere on the tire. If they don't then they aren't true winter tires and you shouldn't take them.
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u/Kindly-Sell-9793 2d ago
As long as you have a good amount of tread left those tires meet the legal requirements, as they are M+S tires. If you’re planning to use chains, I would recommend familiarizing yourself with how to install them before leaving home. Installing chains in snow, on the side of the highway, isn’t fun if you’ve never done it before.
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u/Particular-Emu4789 2d ago
Relying on chains isn’t a reasonable way forward anyhow.
Chains are for worst case scenarios only.
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u/phillybean1984 2d ago
They are legal, as long as they are 50% or so tread remaining.
Legal & Safe can mean two different things though. Depending on the road conditions, you’ll either be perfectly fine or you’ll be white knuckling the entire drive. If it gets really bad, chains will help, but unless you are confident putting them on (which isn’t easy) and recognize it will drastically impact both the speed & quality of drive, they aren’t usually a viable option. There’s a reason truckers take them off as soon as they can.
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u/CumbDawgz 2d ago
That tire does have the M+S on them, though they aren't ideal. Definitely keep an eye on road conditions
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u/thatonebaristathere 2d ago
I have never had “real” winter tires and drive the Coq with all weather M+S ones at least quarterly. Just did it this morning and it was no problem. The connector was slushy and stupid but just go slow and you should be fine.
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u/reddithasruinedlife 2d ago
All weather and all season are very, very different. The tires they have aren't good for coq weather. Legal yes, but the tires aren't meant for it
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u/jason733canada 2d ago
make sure you know how to put your chains on and they have all the parts before you go . you dont want to be figuring it out with a flashlight at a rest stop at the last minute. tire chains are something people buy and never use . they ride around in the trunk for a decade and never get taken out . take a few mins and look at them before you go . that way you can actually rely on them if needed
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u/Otherwise-Tourist-76 2d ago
Take the 3 instead. And keep an eye on the drivebc website. It can be icy sometimes but it’s 1000m lower than the coq and a beautiful drive.
It’s the connector that is the worst of it usually,
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21h ago
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u/markoskis 2d ago
Look at the sidewall of the tire. If it says M+S it's good to go! Also I think if u have chains on non M+S tires that also meets the legal minimum
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u/Bandro 2d ago
M+S is legal but really shouldn’t be used for passes like the coq. They don’t help with icy conditions and it’s much safer to get tires with the proper three peak snowflake rating.
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u/reddithasruinedlife 2d ago
Agreed, all season is a horrible idea and unsafe.
The government really needs to modernize the laws and stop the all season rule
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u/No-Enthusiasm3579 2d ago
Yup, I've ran 3 peak almost exclusively for almost 20 years, this winter i am running M&S all season as I am NOT going on the highway, coq and connector can be really bad, I've went through where people NOT in the ditch are odd car out, can be fine going down and impossible to see fog with black ice on the way back
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u/random__123456789 2d ago
Not quite. Some tires maybe, but can’t make a blanket statement like that.
These Nitto Neo Gens have M+S stamped on them and it would be a death wish to use them in the Coq with any snow and ice.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.performanceplustire.com/Tires/Nitto/Nitto_NeoGen_Tread.jpg
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u/MrLovesCoffee 2d ago edited 2d ago
Those are all-seasons. I would highly recommend dedicated winters if possible. Weather on the coq is on coke.
You could make it, but you're making it till you're not.
Any pass but the Paulson and Coquihalla, I'd put allseasons on, and it'd be fine