Snow tires?

[2o6]

How do you guys feel about snow tires? Part of me thinks I should go out and buy a cheapie set from CL, another part just wants to ignore it. For the most part, I have never had any trouble in Focus or Neon in the snow. And I test drove Yaris in the snow before I bought it, and it did fine. There have been a couple of days where going up steeper hills has been tricky, but for the most part, I have been OK.



Do you guys use snow tires (if you live in an area that sees snow)?

[giant_mtb]

I use all-seasons because it's what I can afford.  If I had the option, I'd definitely run snows. 

[Eye of the Tiger]

If I could have afforded them, I would have always used snow tires up north. Now I don't care. Summer tires all year.

[Raza]

I usually run all seasons, but now that I have a RWD car with summer tires, I'm either going to get snow tires or just work from home every time it snows. Or grab a ride with my brother, the one with the AWD sedan.

[Rich]

If you have all seasons I'd stick with those until they wear out... then make your call to go with summers/winters or just a set of all seasons

[GoCougs]

I've used studded and studless. They are borderline dangerous on bare roads, especially wet bare roads. Ride is bad and road noise is high. It's a significant trade-off. I'm stll undecided on dedicated snows for the G37; if I didn't do a lot of ski and mountain pass driving, and if Seattle wasn't such a disaster when it snows, I'd definitely just stick with the all seasons.

[r0tor]

Used  high performance snows in the winter and summer tires for the other 3 months in the RX8... it had a pretty twitchy tail end.   The snows handled well in all circumstances up until it got about 60 degrees outsied amd then they got mushy.

Use all seasons in the jeep.  I wouldnt even consider anything more for it as it just rocks in the snow.

[GoCougs]

That reminds me, on the Tacoma I used all-seaons. It had a really short wheelbase + high CG so was tricky when it got slick but did okay over all. All in all, for driving snowy/icy roads the Accord w/studs > Tacoma w/all-seasons > Accord w/studless >>> Accord w/all-seasons.

Still trying to convince myself to go w/all-seasons. Thing is the G37 AWD system reverts to RWD after ~15 mph, but it does have aggressive stability control, no LSD, and will re-engage AWD when slip is detected. Fanboy forums say it works great in snow but I'd rather have the option to lock the center diff...

[Raza]

I've used studded and studless. They are borderline dangerous on bare roads, especially wet bare roads. Ride is bad and road noise is high. It's a significant trade-off. I'm stll undecided on dedicated snows for the G37; if I didn't do a lot of ski and mountain pass driving, and if Seattle wasn't such a disaster when it snows, I'd definitely just stick with the all seasons.

Your G37 is AWD, right?  Would you get a lot of utility out of snow tires?

[GoCougs]

Your G37 is AWD, right?  Would you get a lot of utility out of snow tires?

See above post. More snow utility than a 2WD car for sure but how much more is TBD owing that it's an "intelligent" (= unpredictable) AWD system.

My general philosophy for snow driving is if there's snow on the ground keep it to a max of 35 mph. That seems to be about the max speed for having a chance to regain control, and if things go bad, I'd probably slow to 25-30 mph before crashing likely resulting in little if any injury (provided I don't hit someone head on or t-bone someone).

I'm worried about two aspects of snow/winter driving - knuckle dragging idiots going too fast (had a super close call last year; almost got hit head-on by an idiot in a Pilot) and black ice. Snow tires don't help with the former but help somewhat with the latter.

[giant_mtb]

See above post. More snow utility than a 2WD car for sure but how much more is TBD owing that it's an "intelligent" (= unpredictable) AWD system.

My general philosophy for snow driving is if there's snow on the ground keep it to a max of 35 mph. That seems to be about the max speed for having a chance to regain control, and if things go bad, I'd probably slow to 25-30 mph before crashing likely resulting in little if any injury (provided I don't hit someone head on or t-bone someone).

Do you get run off the road much?

[GoCougs]

Do you get run off the road much?

Should I be?

[MX793]

All seasons.

[Raza]

See above post. More snow utility than a 2WD car for sure but how much more is TBD owing that it's an "intelligent" (= unpredictable) AWD system.

My general philosophy for snow driving is if there's snow on the ground keep it to a max of 35 mph. That seems to be about the max speed for having a chance to regain control, and if things go bad, I'd probably slow to 25-30 mph before crashing likely resulting in little if any injury (provided I don't hit someone head on or t-bone someone).

I'm worried about two aspects of snow/winter driving - knuckle dragging idiots going too fast (had a super close call last year; almost got hit head-on by an idiot in a Pilot) and black ice. Snow tires don't help with the former but help somewhat with the latter.

Hmm.  Kind of sounds like you should have gotten an Audi.   

[S204STi]

I run snows for the snowy months, and summers for the non-snowy months.  I have them mounted on separate wheels, so it's easy to swap them out.  Also, WRT cost, it's really not that much more costly to do this.  You pay up front, but since you're using each set 2/3 or 1/3 of the year the cost balances out.  At that point I get awesome traction pretty much all of the time.  The only time when it's sketch is trying to time it correctly.  Mount the snows when it's hot outside, and your traction plummets during panic stops and such.  Mount the summers too soon in the spring and you get caught in a blizzard with slicks.  But overall the system has served me well.  Even AWD cars can benefit from good rubber in the winter, especially if it has ESP or some other such nanny intervention.

[CJ]

Cougs, look at the Continental DWS.  Not a dedicated snow tire, but an excellent compromise.  My 940 with them was very good in the snow we had this year. 

[Northlands]

I use snow tires. It's not really the snow that worries me. It's the ice. The all season tires harden up like a horny high school kid reading Cosmo when it starts to get a bit cold outside and cannot stop for shit. Winter tires are a great deal softer and have a much lower freezing point. Better grip on ice. As much as I like getting grip when trying to accelerate, stopping without sliding 80 feet is hugely important.

[Speed_Racer]

When I lived in NH, I ran snow tires on the MR2. I swear by them, easily worth the cost since I got 4-5 years out of a set by taking them off as soon as spring hit.

[MrH]

I ran "3 season" tires all year with the protege5

Dedicated snow tires on the miata. I'll be getting blizzaks for the BRZ soon too. Rwd, light weight, a really low polar moment of inertia, and short wheelbase is just a bit to risky to do on summer tires. One crash, and you're in for over the cost of snow tires.

[cawimmer430]

They're required by law here. I usually put mine on in November and have them taken off mid-April.

If you're caught driving without snow tires in the winter you could face some serious fines. And if you cause an accident in the winter and your insurance finds out you were driving with summer tires, they won't pay.

[J86]

Didn't need 'em in New Orleans.  Doubt I'll need 'em on the Jerzy Shore either...

[Raza]

Didn't need 'em in New Orleans.  Doubt I'll need 'em on the Jerzy Shore either...

Jersey does get snow; and we're supposedly in for a rough winter on the northeastern I95 corridor. 

[Payman]

Studded snows are illegal in most Canadian provinces. I have a great set of regular snows.

[SVT666]

Studded snows are illegal in most Canadian provinces. I have a great set of regular snows.

Perfectly legal out West here.

The Explorer runs the General Grabber AT2s all year and they are rated for extreme snow.  My Focus has dedicated winters and dedicated summers, and I will be getting dedicated winters for the G37 this year.  THey will be the same tires I had on the Focus because they were easily the best winter tires I've ever used: Hankook W409 Winter iPike.  Don't listen to Cougs.

[TurboDan]

Jersey does get snow; and we're supposedly in for a rough winter on the northeastern I95 corridor.  

Well, some parts of New Jersey get snow. The Jersey Shore rarely does. We didn't have any snow all winter last year.

Growing up, the rest of the state would have the day off from school and we'd always have to go. Within 10-ish miles of the coast, the air temperature is always just high enough during storms due to the ocean temp that it's normally rain.

[TurboDan]

Didn't need 'em in New Orleans.  Doubt I'll need 'em on the Jerzy Shore either...

See above post. But even if we do get snow this coming winter, it's not worth it to spend $$$ on new tires because of it. There might be ONE day of snow all winter, and it's usually a few inches.

Where are you going to be living around here??? Haven't heard you're moving to this area.

[Raza]

See above post. But even if we do get snow this coming winter, it's not worth it to spend $$$ on new tires because of it. There might be ONE day of snow all winter, and it's usually a few inches.

Where are you going to be living around here??? Haven't heard you're moving to this area.

Wherever you see fist pumping and blackout drinking, he'll be there. 

[TurboDan]

Wherever you see fist pumping and blackout drinking, he'll be there.  

I tend to see/participate in that quite frequently. 

[S204STi]

[J86]

Jersey does get snow; and we're supposedly in for a rough winter on the northeastern I95 corridor. 

Not compared to what I grew up with...