Edmunds.com Asks - Who Needs Winter Tires?
Edmunds.com
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Edmunds.com Asks,
Today's Winter Tires are designed to perform in all kinds of Cold Weather; All-season tires simply can't keep up.
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Every consumer vehicle should have winter tires. I also encourage people by explaining that the cost of a set of winter tires is not a great deal more. Go to Tirerack.com. Purchase an extremely aggressive winter tire like Blizzak's and if they are available, have them mounted to cheap steel wheels. The cost is about 40% less than a tire dealer. These will be dropped off at your door mounted and balanced and all you need to do is jack the car up, unbolt the old wheel, and bolt on the winter wheel. Caution: Use anti-seize on the hub area for steel wheels or you will not get them back off! Now, your summer tires are in storage and are not depreciating. Instead the winter tires are depreciating. See the trade-off? The only cost is in the extra set of wheels, and you have some control over that.Otherwise you are still wearing just one set of tires at a time.
Nothing, NOTHING keeps you as safe as an aggressive snow tire. Do not be fooled by any other claim. Also, if you have a car that you think is terrible in the winter, and afraid to use it, be advised that tire traction is everything. I have a Celica which is a couple hundred pounds lighter than a Honda Civic. I can barely get the anti-lock to kick in on ice. Thus a car you may assume to have terrible winter performance has flawless winter performance. The performance is all in the tires.
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If I had to do that now, I'd at least try to find a mobile tire service. Storage of the spare set is a hassle.
My last stint in snow country I just got some "all-weather" tires (WR-G2s) and they did fine on my Subaru, and drove them year round. They didn't help the minivan in the snow all that much though, but were good in the rain.
Great tires, though... I highly recommend them.
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Knowing NYC roads a little bit, I guess some studded tires aren't going to make much difference on the wear and tear of your streets.
The article states the glass transition temperature is 40 F (4 C). However, ads from various tire companies recommend installing winter tires when the temperature goes (consistently) below 7 C (45 F). Where does this figure come from? Is there a research paper to support it? Maybe the tire companies recommend 45 F to get the winter tires on sooner and put more wear on them so they can sell more winter tires.
I've been playing around with 5 years' worth of local weather data to calculate an average date to change tires, based on the 45 F criterion. Whether you select 40 or 45 F as your cut-off can make a difference of a week or two. I have a simple Excel spreadsheet for my area that I'd be happy to share with anyone.
Re storage hassles, many auto dealers and tire stores in Canada (probably in northern U.S. too) will store your tires for free to about $50 a year. Make an appointment to minimize waiting time instead of just showing up on a Saturday morning in November (good luck!)
Don't forget to ask your insurance company for a winter tire discount.
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I had a 1 mile commute in 2017. I left my Blizzaks on the whole year! I am moving to warmer weather so I figured why not use them up? However, I wonder if I even put enough miles on to wear the soft compound off. Guess I should look?
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Moved to Milwaukee few years later, could not find any winter tire that would fit my stock tire rims. Much to my fear, the summer tires with weight in the back was a nightmare. I lost control of the vehicle merely letting my foot off the brake at a traffic light. Insurance wanted to total the truck (it cost 8k to fix bc the parts are so rare). 4 months later and driving a winter beater crap car is what I have to do now.
Anyways, get the winter tires or risk losing a precious vehicle. Your summer tires will rot from age before they do from racing/burnouts. Winter tires are so worth it. I'm tired of driving junk winter cars.
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