Are snow tires worth it?

Are snow tires worth it? NO! This is a myth spread by tire manufactures to sell more tires. I live in Buffalo NY and have driven a front wheel drive car on allseason tires for the past 15 yrs. I have not once got stuck or spun out, or been unable to stop.

The average snow tire will cost you about $100+ including taxes. Also, Most shops will charge you to remount your allseasons in the spring. This will run you from $15-$25 a tire. To avoid this they tell you to have separate rims. Well, new rims will run you $75-$100. And most shops will again charge you for the change over. So, if you can't change the tires yourself buying rims is a waste of time. The total cost can run you from $800- $1000 for the snow tires. And since snow tires are made of softer rubber they wear out fast! Esp. on dry roads. So, you might have to get snow tires every year, or everyother year, depending on how many miles you drive.

Another point: In years past you only need 2 snow tires for your car. Now they say you need 4. We've all heard that studies show that you need 4 snow tires. Well, did you ever ask who pays for the studies? Answer: The tire companies of course!

So, it comes down to this: If you have money to burn, or live in an area where it snows heavy and they don't plow the roads you might want to get a set of snows tires. Otherwise you should be ok with a set of all seasons.

Please note: If you plan on driving allseason tires through the winter they should be in good shape with plenty of tread left. A worn tire may get you trough the summer ok, but will be a disaster in the winter. My advise is to get a new set of all seasons in the fall.

 

Cost of four Nokian WR -true- all season tires - $400 installed.
Cost of an accident because you couldn't stop - $2000 and up, and perhaps injuries or worse.

Good winter tires ARE "worth every penny you have to spend".

 

Yes! (answer to conditions and location of original post)

My Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi's make a huge difference.

 

Only if it snows!

I second the Nokian Hakas or WR. WR are a great all season that has great snow traction and no fuel mileage hit!

Icarus

 

Or if it's cold....or icy... they're not just for snow anymore.

 

Good for you

I had money burning a hole in my wallet, so I got 4 factory studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 SUV tires for my FJ. Silly me

 

Snow tires are definitely well worth the money. I have the Nokian WR G2 and I wasn't impressed. We had huge amount of snow last year and the car got stuck very often. I didn't plan ahead so by the time it snowed last winter, tire shops were short of snow tires and WR G2 was my best bet. If I had the choice, I would have went with the "Bridgestone Blizzak"

 

I picked up a set of Michelin X-Ice2s. We had about 20cm (8 inches) of snow fall today. I found they make a big difference over all-season tires. Last winter we almost set a snow-fall record of 170 inches (average is 93 inches). They are worth it here.

 

Maybe not worth it to you, but I live about 100 miles SE of you and I guarantee you I can find time/days when you won't make it to my house on your all seasons.
I will agree that if you live in town where roads are always plowed and mostly flat and you can decide not to go out and otherwise dislike the snow then you can get away without them. Most people do.
However, once I tried a set of Blizzaks I've had them on every vehicle since as well as pretty much everyone in my family.
That said, we have to drive up and down hills, which is where the snow tires become NECESSARY to make it on bad days. Let alone that I generally head to work around 5am and they haven't plowed my hill yet. So like YESTERDAY, there is no way in the world normal all seasons were going to drive up my hill with 4 inches of thick wet snow with a crust on top. OK, *MAYBE* my wife would have with her AWD Suby, but she also would have slid off the highway on her way to work since she HAD the Blizzaks on and still slid. But a such, she wasn't one of the myriad of people she saw off in the median.

Cost? Sure I spent $700 for a set of alloy wheels with Blizzaks. But while I'm wearing the Blizzaks I'm not wearing out the summer tires. So if you own the car long enough to replace tires then they're not necessarily an extra cost. I drive about 15-20K miles per year and it seems to be about every 4 or 5 years they need to be replaced. And that is when they reach the 50% tread level at which point they will just be used as summer tires. My parents had a set of Blizzaks last them almost a decade before getting rid of the car.

So yes. If you live in a maintained area, you can slip around, be careful and drive slow enough to most likely make it on normal tires. Whereas I on Blizzaks you can drive around without a problem in almost all conditions. You will probably start to have issues once the snow is above your bumper level, and ice is slippery no matter what, but you'll stop about twice as well with Blizzaks...

Levi

 

I started using snow tires about 4 years ago and use them exclusively now on basically everything I or my spouse drive during winter. The Blizzak WS-60 has been my favorite tire of choice, though not always available in all sizes I would need. That being said, a "bad" set of snow tires are not great to have either. They give a false sense of security. Snow tires have come a long way though in the last 10 years. They don't just look like mud tire tread put on a passenger car tire anymore. In fact, one of the most affordable brands (Firestone Winterforce) constantly gets great reviews.

Short of having to go through deep snow, snow tires make a vehicle much safer, which is the key factor for me (safety).

 

One drawback of snow tires is their generally poor performance on dry roads (and they don't perform as well as all-seasons on wet roads either).

As a general matter, snow tires handle poorly and brake very poorly on dry roads. So, even if you live in a heavy snowfall area, snow tires may not be the safer choice depending on your frequency of driving on snow-covered versus dry roads in winter.

In its November 2009 issue Consumer Reports tested a large variety of all-season and winter tires. Attached below is a copy of its reviews, recommendations and Ratings Charts. I'd look it over carefully if you're considering new all-season or new winter tires -- it's the best and most comprehensive tests of tires now available:

Consumer_Reports_Nov._2009_Tire_Tests-1.doc

For me, the most important discovery revealed by these tire tests is the overall performance of the Hankook Optimo H727 all-season tire:

-- It is among the highest rated all-season tires in general.

-- For snow traction and ice braking, it rates higher than the Nokian WRG2 that a lot of people rave about.

-- In fact, it rates as well or higher in snow traction and ice braking than most of the WINTER tires tested by Consumer Reports.

-- Plus they only cost about $75 to $85 per tire, depending on where you get them from.

 

I have been running 4 snows on my cars since 1986. I wouldn't even think about going through a winter with the hills around with out snow tires.

I love the people who say you don't need snow tires with FWD.

Last winter I was driving around and past all the people who still believe that old wives tale. BTW I was driving a RWD Volvo Station wagon. I can't tell you the FWD's that were just spinning their tires on two or three inches of snow.

I was at the Volvo dealer about ten years ago when an owner of a new S70 fwd was complaining about how terrible it was in the snow.

His old rwd 960 was great in the snow he lamented. The service writer asked him if he was running four snow tires on his new S70 like he did on his 960? Nope. Seems he was told by the salesman that with fwd on the S70 you don't need snow tires.

It isn't starting out that is the most important aspect of winter driving, it's the stopping part.

BTW I just had four Michelin Ice Xi2's put on this morning.

 

I just switched over to my Blizzaks a couple days ago. The day before, it was snowing for the first time this year as I was driving to my storage locker to pick them up. In the space of 3 blocks I had the "bad traction trifecta"... ie lights on the dash for each of abs, tc and vsc. (no, not at the same time). Yesterday with Blizzaks fitted and with 6 inches of mucky, slushy, new snow I had to push it hard to get any of these lights on the dashboard... and only managed the abs. So, yes. Get snow tires. In Quebec it's the law, and I think it was the insurance companies that pushed that, not the tire makers.

By the way, Boo....
The tests that said snow tires weren't as good as all seasons on dry pavement do not appear to have been done with cold tires on cold pavement. All season tires get hard at low temps and lose grip even on dry pavement, compared to winter tires which use a softer compound. I've heard it said that the switch to snows being better is around 5 C.

 

Except for the true LRR tires which also stay soft in cold weather. The Nokians (WR, WRg2) do well at low temperatures (that's why the snowflake emblem on their sidewall).

JeffD

 

I have never seen the need.

 

I'm with ya on this one. I'll be in some cold stuff next week like -20°F.


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