Are snow tires worth it?

I think they're worth it, personally. I do live in the mountains, but even driving around in a few inches of snow the difference (safety wise) is night and day IMHO.

 

If you're going to drive in snow on a regular basis, you need snow tires. If you don't mind sliding around in the occasional skiff, and can live with staying home when it dumps, then maybe not.

 

I absolutely believe snow tires are "worth" it. I've used various studded and studless winter tires since I was 16 years old, which has been a lot longer than I care to admit

My 2004 Prius appears to have the hyper sensitive Trac control, which on "all season" tires has left me stranded. The car was completely helpless, which IMHO is dangerous at an intersection

I went back to studded tires last fall, as my hyper sensitive Trac still had trouble on icy roads. I got a *great* deal at Canadian Tire on their new Goodyear Nordic: tire, studding, mounting/balancing came to $122 a tire. I use cheap generic "multi fit" steel wheels for winter, saves the alloys from road salt damage (Filoform corrosion)

The Goodyear Nordic is the same tire as the well respected and highly rated Goodyear Ultra Grip 500 sold in Europe:

Goodyear Eur-Winter Tire-UltraGrip 500

If you click on "Profile" a Flash movie loads about the tire construction and benefits. This is a very aggressive winter tire, as such on dry roads you get a lot of tire noise. In my Prius, there is a resonating hum/growl at 50-65 km/h.

Given our severe winter conditions, that is an acceptible compromise!

Studless tires work as advertised, especially the Bridgestone Blizzak and Toyo Observe car tires. You can expect some highway wander and squirm around tight corners. They're much quieter than studded tires and perhaps easier to live with

I run the SUV equivalent of the Toyo Observe on my FJ Cruiser, the Toyo Open Country G-02 Plus. Toyo claims to use a ground up walnut shell in the tread to enhance ice traction.

Toyo Tire Canada Inc. Tires - Pneus

I have a few comments about the Open Country/Observe claim of enhanced ice traction. Note these comments apply to my experience with the Open Country on my FJ Cruiser, and I always operate in 2wd only on highways and streets, never in 4wd

First of all, my studded Goodyear Nordic/Ultra Grip 500 still offer better glare ice traction than the Toyo winter tires. It's a very noticeable difference. The studded Goodyears offered enhanced ice traction from the moment I slapped them on

Second, you have to wear-in the Toyo's before getting that enhanced traction. Not sure if that is some sort of mold release blocking the traction, but at first I didn't notice much difference on ice over the regular Goodyear Fortera TripleTred's.

If you run the winter tires on separate rims like I do, then you spread out tire wear among 8 tires instead of 4 tires. Long term, there is no additional "cost" to run a separate winter tire/rim set. If your Prius has TPMS, then you will have the TPMS warning light on all winter. No different than ignoring the snowflake light all winter long

I hope this helps in your decision. Personally, given the fact you can experience quite severe mountain snowfalls where you live, I would absolutely run winter tires

 

I always used to put studded snow tires on my old Civic. I just have all-season tires on my Prius. In Both Fargo and Spokane they seem adequate. I don't go out if there is deep snow on the roads, though. I can wait for the plows.

Once, in Fargo, I got rear-ended because my studded snow tires stopped me at the stop sign, but the car behind me was unable to stop. That's not a reason not to have them, but it just shows that often it's the other car that matters as much as yours. And a good reason to stay home when the roads are too slippery, even if your car is wearing crampons.

 

I am very pleased with my Nokian WR Snow tires. They grip very well in the snow, and are designed to run all year long with a 50,000 mile treadwear warrantee. They only weigh 18 lbs and I have not seen any mileage hit at all.

 

Another vote for the WRs. Fantastic grip. Nice ride. Good mileage. You can run them all year. Here's a link:

Nokian Tires

 

I store the winter tires/wheels in the basement, but I suppose the garage would be ok too

I think anybody is "mechanically inclined" to a certain point. It's really quite simple to jack up one wheel at a time, remove the lugnuts and wheel, and slap on the winter tire/wheel.

I think it's good practise for anybody to learn at least how to change a tire. What if you have a flat in the middle of nowhere and there is no cell phone coverage, or AAA is at least 2 hours away?

The best place to learn how to change a tire is right in the comfort and security of your own garage. You will quickly discover the factory "jack" leaves a lot to be desired

If you chose to go with winter tires on steel wheels - which is what I recommend - then you will also need to go to Napa and get the proper "acorn" conical seat lugnuts. The Toyota lugnuts meant for alloy wheels will dangerously loosen up on a steel wheel

If you wish I can provide the exact size lugnut and even the Napa part number. It would also be wise to invest in a $40 torque wrench to properly tighten the lugnuts, to avoid warped brake rotors

 

When I had the Civic and used studded snow tires in winter, the tire store stored my other set of tires for free. They had a big attic storage space. Twice a year I'd take the car in and they would switch out the tires, including balancing and proper inflation. I did not have separate rims. So I was paying for changing the tires on and off the rims. If you spring for the cost of another set of rims, you'll pay less to have them switched out twice a year.

I never had to touch the tires, and I didn't have to haul them home or find a place to put them or worry about storage conditions. Because they were only a tire sales and service store, I trusted them to know what they were doing and store the tires properly.

 

Statistics show (at least where I live) that the frequency of accidents with injuries are lower when the roads are covered with snow. If you use snow tires as an excuse to drive faster, the advantage is lost two-fold.

 

The new Nokian WRG2's perform even better than the original WR's that we have mounted on our other two vehicles...the out-the door cost was $424 with a 50k warranty and free 5k inspections and rotations...I highly recommend to anyone who has to deal with rain, snow, slush, sleet and ice and yet does not want to swap out at winter season's end...we have been a Nokian tire family for just short of ten years and, in my humble opinion, Nokian continues to set the standard by which all tires should be measured.

 

That's right! We've managed to have our AWD Lexus hybrid slide out from under us ... entering into a 90 degree turn on ice. And that was going pretty slow! Lots of Montana roads have large ditches along side, for snow removal dumping. When I felt the studs (we find they have better traction than chains or tires) break loose in the iced-over turn, I had the where-withall to just keep up the momentum ... bounce through the ditch, plowed accross our neighbors' front yard (there was over 18" fresh powder on his lawn), and slowly worked our way back onto the road. Our daugher, in the back, bounced around, but managed to not even drop the cherry cobbler she was holding
whew!

 

I live in WI and we have had 50 plus inches of snow this winter. Have had no problems at all with the stock tires. I don't have to deal with elevation like you do in CO. I had a BMW 3 series years ago and it was worthless in the snow until I out on some hakkapeliitta snows. They are made in finland. I was amazed at the difference and could actually drive my car instead of looking at it. I think it really depends on every situation. If you struggle with the stock tires then make the switch. One good thing about snow tires is you only have them on for a few months so they last multiple seasons for your ROI. Just my two cents worth.

 

I would hope that any prudent driver will slow down on icy roads. I use studded tires to increase my safety, not as an excuse to drive recklessly fast.

There have been studies done by the Finish road transport authority (VTT) and the Swedish road transport authority (VTI) examining road safety and the use of winter tires. Overall, both concluded that studded snow tires are safest on icy roads

Page 29 of this pdf discusses studded tire use in Finland

http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/publications/1999/P401.pdf

The VTI also examined studded vs “friction†tires and concluded that even new, the studded tires had an edge on icy roads. As the “friction†tire ages, it loses a lot of its traction on ice. The summary is on pdf page 4

http://www.vti.se/EPiBrowser/Publikationer%20-%20English/M965.pdf

The VTI has also studied the health impact of studded tires, in particular the increase in PM10 (Particulate Matter 10 micron) emissions. They concluded that while studded tires increase PM emissions, so do “friction†tires. A huge factor in PM emission is the presence of road sand on the pavement, which is used to increase traction on icy roads

In the early 1970’s, the Province of Ontario banned studded tires in the mistaken belief that the extra safety was not “worth†the slightly increased road wear. Thanks to a few lawsuits, new testing performed by VTI, and a CBC Marketplace show, studded tires are finally allowed in the Northwest region of Ontario

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/news/regional/2005/050221.htm

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/topics/wintertires.htm

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/faq/vehicle.htm#studs

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/cars/tires/tiretests.html