Edmunds.com Asks - Who Needs Winter Tires?

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited December 2014 in General
imageEdmunds.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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Comments

  • antcridantcrid Member Posts: 1
    edited December 2014
    Great article, we definitely take Winter tyres fore-granted, most people think they’re just for snow, but they’re not, you can use winter tyres all year round. I read the other day that 1 in 6 people have an accident over the winter months because of the conditions on the road this statistic is scary and maybe winter tyres might help to lower this number!
  • guitarzanguitarzan Member Posts: 873
    People do not understand that all-season tires, while they do everything, they do everything in a very mediocre fashion. They have acceptable dry traction, but not great. They have mediocre winter performance but not great. People also think that the largest, heaviest vehicle they can buy is "safer." It is not, as is evidence by the upside-down SUVs I see on our freeway once a winter or so. The extra weight actually acts against safety. More weight means more forward momentum. More momentum means a great deal more energy to stop. That stopping energy applied to the tire on snow and ice results in failure to stop in time.

    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.
  • zandorzandor Member Posts: 67
    Tire design in always a trade off. I strongly prefer having two sets of tires, but I don't like studless snow and ice tires on all cars. They give up too much dry and wet performance for my usual winter conditions. I live in Chicago, so we have snow on the roads just a few days a year. Streets & San plows away most of the snow and salt bombs anything that looks like a road, then traffic grinds the salt into what's left. Once the snow is out of the way I have to deal with the usual hazards - Chicago drivers and potholes. For me "performance" winter tires are a much better compromise than full on snow and ice tires.
  • nsbio1nsbio1 Member Posts: 75
    Where would you keep the spare set of wheels and tires? It is not realistically possible unless you have an extra stall in a garage or a heated shed. Also, if you have a car, not a pickup truck or an SUV, how would you carry the spare wheels and tires with you from the tire shop. I would have liked to change tires seasonally, but I simply have no way of transporting them to and from the shop. And no, I am not willing to change tires myself.
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,801
    They fit in the back seat, and/or the trunk especially if the rear seat folds down and opens the trunk to the passengers compartment. Now of course you take some risk getting some dirt, salt,, or what-ever into the car. To mitigate that have 30 gallon trash bags to put the tires and wheels into for carrying them to the shop and back home.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 251,051

    They fit in the back seat, and/or the trunk especially if the rear seat folds down and opens the trunk to the passengers compartment. Now of course you take some risk getting some dirt, salt,, or what-ever into the car. To mitigate that have 30 gallon trash bags to put the tires and wheels into for carrying them to the shop and back home.

    I have an '06 BMW coupe... I got a set of 17" tires/wheels, plus four more unmounted 17" tires in my car, on my last trip to the tire store. Not great for visibility and I had one tire that wanted to do the shifting for me, but other than that, no problem. It just takes practice. (only one tire will fit in my trunk.. so, 7 upfront.)

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  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    I used to have a set of mounted winter tires. I'd swap 'em myself and store them in my crawlspace. Big pain doing that twice a year and I don't miss it. Going to the tire shop to swap tires out, mounted or unmounted was a pain too, and often took several hours.

    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.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 251,051
    The Nokian WR-G2 isn't exactly an all-season tire.. They have the snowflake symbol and qualify as winter tires for those areas where required.

    Great tires, though... I highly recommend them.

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  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited February 2015
    Nokian advertises them as "all weather" tires good for snowy and dry roads. I'm a bit surprised to see that there's even one dealer who sells them here in the high desert. And yeah, I really liked them too, even on the dry pavement.
  • joebklynjoebklyn Member Posts: 1
    I had studded Cooper Weather-masters for 12 years. They were great. They wore out and I've replaced them with studded Nokian Hakkapelita 8's. These are excellent tires according to reviews and are easily worthy of consideration..
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited December 2016
    They let you drive on studs in Brooklyn? Or am I making incorrect assumptions about your member name Joe?

    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. :)
  • jimwhitejimwhite Member Posts: 3
    edited October 2017
    I wouldn't drive my vehicles in winter without winter tires. Four season tires traction on snowy or slippery roads is much inferior to winter tires.

    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.
  • PF_FlyerPF_Flyer Member Posts: 9,372
    I have no set date/temperature when we change over to winter tires, but always find it better to be a little bit too early than one day too late. We put on Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2's and they about as quiet as our normal all-seasons, so it's a lot different than putting on an aggressive tread snow tire like we used to have to use.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 251,051
    Mine go on tomorrow morning. 35 F, this morning.

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  • guitarzanguitarzan Member Posts: 873
    I have performance summer tires. I find them getting particularly slick in the 50°F range on dry roads. So when I see several days of 50° I change to the winter tires. Summer tires turn rock hard real quick in the cold, with no precipitation.

    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?
  • PF_FlyerPF_Flyer Member Posts: 9,372
    Was 29 here last night, looking to be cold/cloudy/rainy near future. Looks like this will be the week :)
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 251,051
    PF_Flyer said:

    Was 29 here last night, looking to be cold/cloudy/rainy near future. Looks like this will be the week :)

    $20 to the local Firestone store, and mine are done! Having a pickup truck in the family really comes in handy.

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  • Eric2845Eric2845 Member Posts: 2
    For the Blizzak WS80 , the best price i found was at 4Tires.ca. https://www.4tires.ca/tires/bridgestone-ws80-winter
  • Roland_Joel1Roland_Joel1 Member Posts: 1
    My winter tires are so much better than my Hankook tires. They ride better, handle better, much better traction in mud, grass, and rain. I love my winter tires know they are 40% better traction in snow and ice.
  • TXmd2007TXmd2007 Member Posts: 1
    If you live in the Midwest, and care about your vehicle as much as your life. You get a set of winter tires, then rotate them put with summers. To note, I drive a racing rear wheel drive truck. The back is fiberglass. I put 600# of sandbags in trunk and put on used dueller (sp?) Tires on half the year. In Minneapolis it drove like a tank. The only time they let me down was in air pressure when speeding in TX over the summer (moving, didnt need them)
    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.
  • rcampos17rcampos17 Member Posts: 44
    What is the recommended tire rotation pattern for Ranger Rover HSE 2015, i have 22" rims
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 251,051
    rcampos17 said:

    What is the recommended tire rotation pattern for Ranger Rover HSE 2015, i have 22" rims

    Are they directional tires? Or, asymmetric?

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