Extra set of wheels for snow tires??? (Sandpoint, Priest River: live in, dangerous)
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We're thinking about driving up to NID for a couple of weeks in late fall. Obviously we're not going to buy a set of studded tires for a two-week trip, but would it be enough to carry chains? If we have to spring for a set of snow tires by ID law, maybe we should just fly up and rent a car.
If your CRV has AWD and all season tires with the M+S label, you should be fine for your visit to NID in the fall. I can't imagine needing to buy snow tires just for your trip. I never had any problems back in the 80's in my Subaru driving up to Tahoe for skiing in some horrible conditions with all season tires.
You don't have to own any kind of tires by law here. Oldaf is right- All Seasons will do fine for a visit, especially if you get some chains for a possible emergency.
My personal rule for changing my tires is when I begin spinning out at every stop. Until then, I usually stick with my All Seasons. The only exception has been a planned trip I took one winter when I decided to get 'em changed because I didn't know what the roads at the other end of the trip were going to be like.
Do you 'guys' keep the All-Season tires on the car during the Spring/Summer/Autumn?
Yes, I do. Some people will choose to have a summer/performance set, but I always just ran all seasons if the snow tires were off.
I didn't read all the replies, but having an extra set of wheels is a good idea. For the last several years I've had my studded tires mounted and balanced every winter, and then the reverse in the spring. Each time you have that done, it's between $40 and $60 so having a spare set of rims is worth it
Thanks for advice, guys. Even here in SoCal we have to carry chains if we do any mountain driving during or after a snow storm, so we'll probably just bring chains.
My wife drives a FWD sedan. Would she only need to get studded tires for the front or would she need them for all 4?
NEVER put studs on just 2 tires. Always do all four tires. If you studded just the fronts, in a slippery turn, the front would hold but the back would swing around and spin the car out anyhow.
I was always a believer in studded tires despite their problems. Their biggest problem is the studs tend to wear out long before the tire does, especially if there are a couple of dry winters in a row.
But I changed my mind after I purchased a set of the new hi-tech stud less winter tires 3 years ago. I bought a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks, but similarly good tires are made by Michelin and Goodyear.
These tires have specialized rubber compounds that are designed to enhance their advanced siping. The rubber is almost like foam rubber; it has millions of tiny air pockets that, along with the siping, makes the tires stick like glue to black ice, and are just as effective on rain covered roadways.
The only reason I chose the Blizzaks was because they had the best cornering grip of the bunch, but all of them out performed studded tires in stopping distance, resistance to slippage, and starting from a dead stop without slippage.
They are great tires. They have outperformed the best studded tires I've owned by far, and I've driven my FWD car in places I would have only used a 4WD before with no problems at all. It's almost as if the roads are dry instead of being covered in ice. When they were brand new, I drove through an Oregon downpour with them, and there was about 3 inches of standing rain on the Interstate for hours. The water was heavy enough to pull the car when I drove into a big puddle, but the tires never let go of their grip.
The only problem with them is the rubber compounds are so soft they must be taken off as soon as the roadbeds begin heating up in late spring. When they're driven on a hot roadbed, they grip like crazy, but they also wear like crazy, too.
As long as the roadbeds are cold to under 100º, though, their wear is excellent. Mine are going on the 4th year now, and have been on my car just as much as my 4 season tires have, and show almost no wear yet. At the rate they are wearing, I expect to get 8 to 10 winters out of them at least.
They are spendy, for sure, but are worth looking into. Any good tire store can tell you all about the differences.
Sorry to bring this thread back in the middle of summer, but we're doing some planning to get ready for our first winter in NID. I want to figure out how we want to set up our cars with respect to winter tires so if I see a good bargain we can jump on it.
We have two vehicles we want to use in the winter: A Ford F350 4WD and a Jeep Cherokee that is AWD/4WD. Both normally have All Terrain/Mud and Snow tires on them (not dedicated winter tires).
We are planning to get a second set of wheels for both vehicles with whatever we decide to run for winter tires mounted so I can easily swap them as needed.
We live in the eastern part of Sagle, about 10 miles from Rt95. Most of our drive into town is on Sagle Rd. My wife has an office in Sandpoint, so she will need to drive into town daily unless the conditions are really miserable. I'm retired, so I can hole up at home for a while until the roads are clear. Actually, the reality is I'll probably be catching up on my sleep after getting up at 4AM to clear the driveway so my wife can get out.
The main question is studs or studless. I've read some research that indicates that studs are only better then modern dedicated winter tires without studs under a very specific set of circumstances, namely on ice at or around the freezing point. Once you get well below freezing studs loose their advantage. The report didn't identify why, but what I suspect is that at colder temps the ice gets hard enough that studs can't get as much "bite" into the ice, so the superior traction of the very soft winter tires with siping takes over. BTW, the conditions identified in the report when studs work best sound very much like the sort of treacherous conditions that Toyman describes above.
Reviewing this thread it seems that the consensus opinion here among NID residents is to go with studded tires. Anyone care to chime an updated opinion on that? Is the choice of studs made to deal with that specific icy condition near freezing, and do you then find that studs work "well enough" in other conditions even if they may give up a little to a dedicated winter tire? Would it be crazy of us to outfit one car with studs and the other without? If so, which would you put the studs on?
Any other thoughts based on folk's experience up here would be welcome.
Thanks,
Dave
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Actually, the reality is I'll probably be catching up on my sleep after getting up at 4AM to clear the driveway so my wife can get out. 
