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Old 02-03-2011, 12:06 PM
 
1,245 posts, read 3,168,635 times
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I know you said Scranton, but there is a guy in Kingston by Sem that sells used tires. $25-35 a tire installed with a 60 day warranty.
He is located next to the Pizza Mill.
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Old 02-03-2011, 12:16 PM
 
996 posts, read 1,047,954 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107 View Post
Actually blizzak has 2 models. one is designed for hard core snow and ice driving. they wear very quickly on pavement . the other is the blizzak performance snow which is what i bought..its just great and wears nicely on pavement. with good handling on highway. its an excellent balance. this is my 2nd season with them and the are like new and i do 8-9,000 a year on them in the winter months.

the extra rims are well worth it and if they save you from sliding in even one crash then its less then your deductable..

after 1 season on real winter tires you will never want to go back to those crappy no season tires again. the all season tire gets so hard and un-plyable at cold temps that they only work until they dont and then your out of luck either stuck or sliding into oblivion.

as far as im concerned tires are the most important part of your car.. your life is dependent on them. all the awd systems or 4x4 systems do you no good if the tires have no traction.

usually including installation tire rack is generally cheaper then local dealers will do. i did get kost tire on route 6 to match the price on my snows and wheels but no dealer here in nyc would do it.
I was not aware that Blizzak made two variations of their tire. If it works for you, good for you.

The biggest misconception of 4WD is that it will prevent you from slipping or careening out of control on snow on ice. That is totally false. 4WD allows to climb a hill and to obtain initial traction in deep snow..

SLOW SPEED and the BRAIN people were supposedly born with keeps them on the road once underway. Funny I see more and more of them in the ditch these days.

I spent most of my driving day yesterday in D2 going down hills at 20 mph without applying the brakes. Some fools passed me by - one wound up in the ditch and I blew the horn at him as I passed him by.

AWD all the TIME - I would not purchase a vehicle that is equipped with it.
Difficult steering, lower gas mileage - especially at highway speeds, and constant stress on the drive train universals are factors that keep me away.

Different strokes.
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Old 02-03-2011, 12:34 PM
 
105,691 posts, read 107,663,235 times
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and im the opposite, i would never ever buy a car without a good awd system. what a difference from my front wheel drive cars. especially in rain. not even a flintch when hitting a puddle on the highway. i had a bmw x3 and now have the bmw 328xi although my sons infinity is every bit as good. both cars have superb road feel with awd. jeep, suburu are others with just great awd systems. these are rear wheel drive cars which are only awd when needed so how you dont like the road feel is a mystery,they are rear wheel all the time unless slipping......

not to get sidetracked but many vehicles sold as awd are not really. vehicles like the murano are really front wheel drive with an assist. not the same thing and not even close to being effective.

Last edited by mathjak107; 02-03-2011 at 12:45 PM..
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Old 02-03-2011, 01:41 PM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
18,754 posts, read 17,966,022 times
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I just wanted to ask about re-treads? When I was young, and funds were tight; many of us would buy re-treads. Sometimes we would get long life out of these reclaimed tires and sometimes not.
Some of the commercial trucks also used re-treads - which accounts for much of the rubber on the sides of our roads.

I guess, what I am asking; are re-treads still popular?

One driving point from a retired truck driver: I have seen more than my share of 4WD and AWD accidents - especially in the first storms of the season. Drivers go out with the attitude that they can go anywhere. That anywhere is into a ditch! Just because you can go; does not mean you can stop or steer.

One other point about winter driving: Personally I have witnessed more accidents from slush - than from black ice. Our weather channels love to scare everybody about black ice - but they don’t mention slush. Two, three or four inches of slush (or just wet snow) will hydroplane even the heaviest of private vehicles and some lighter or empty commercial vehicles. When you hydroplane on slush you have no steering and no brakes - good combination for an accident. If your interstate is down to one lane and there is slush in the passing lane - don’t be impatient or try to be a trail blazer.
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Old 02-03-2011, 01:53 PM
 
105,691 posts, read 107,663,235 times
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when it comes to my safety or my famlies i would never look to save money on tires. nothing is as big a factor as to whether you will have an incident or not as your tires....everything in and on your car boils down to how well those 4 little patches of rubber make contact.

i have to say also that having a 4x4 or a good awd doesnt make you feel like you can do anything but what happens is There is no hint at all that your on anything slick. unlike front or rear wheel drive where you can feel a little fishtail when you accelerate with a 4x4 or awd system you feel nothing. im a pretty careful driver but ill look down at the speedometer sometimes while on a snow covered highway and go ooooh man i cant believe im going this fast, i didnt even realize it...

its more a case of once your driving on auto pilot and not staring at the speedo and talking you loose all concept of just how fast your going because it just feels no different then dry pavement. that is until you try to stop or turn.........ESPECIALLY WITH IMPROPER TIRES FOR THE CONDITIONS

Last edited by mathjak107; 02-03-2011 at 02:40 PM..
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Old 02-03-2011, 02:39 PM
 
2,861 posts, read 3,824,577 times
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Long Post Warning:

To the OP, I don't think you posted the size other than "17" but you should be able to get them quite a bit cheaper than $700 if you shop. There are some suggestions on this in the following.

Now...per the discussion above: I am an advocate of two sets of tires on two sets of rims. I've done this for many years. There are various ways to accomplish this.

1) If you use a mail order store like Tirerack and buy snows mounted/balanced when you first get the car (especially if it is newish and you plan to own a few or more years) AND if you can change them over yourself at the right time (I have done it myself most every Dec/Jan and Mar/Apr living in the Northeast. This has worked well for many years). As 'motivation and justification' I treat myself to a nice wheels that are inexpensive for the snows. For about $100-$200 less you can get standard steel rims, or if you are really frugal go to a used parts place (aka: junkyard) and get used factory wheels.

or

2) Many local tire places will change over the snows/summers for no charge if you buy them from them. This is true whether you remove/remount the tires from the rims (but probelly must pay to balance them) or just swap the already mounted tires/wheels. Again, I prefer this because it is easier/faster, cheaper and better for the tires.

I think that by using this approach (snow/summer changed over at the 'right' time) I usually have the best tire for conditions. Summer tires are better in the summer and winter tires in the winter. Not much doubt about this. 'All seasons' are by definition a compromise, BUT they can be suitable depending on many variables and compromises. IF these items don't affect you (e.g. where/when you drive, type of car/driving) that is fine use them. All seasons probully outsell snows in many 'mid-snowy' states, like PA. This year I bet the sales of snows jumped up in CT, NJ, LI/NY etc.

Summary: A buyer should try to be aware of the trade offs, considerations, costs etc. and make an informed decision based on their situation. There is an automobile forum on City-Data and other fora (probilly those for most NE Northern states) where this topic comes up a few times a year for more reading on the topic. There is NO absolute answer, since there are many variables. You will get many opinions based on individual's requirements and experiences. They are all sort of accurate in that context.

Some places to look to buy tires in NEPA: I recently used Sandone and Jack Williams. There are other good places. You can begin shopping by phone or internet (most local dealers have internet sites and most will quote prices over the phone or the Internet via email. Jack Williams site does this well and quickly. They will supply a list and installed price (this is important) of their stock in the requested size. IIRC, Sandone does quotes in response to an email where you can describe your situation OR just call them. Before you begin, you must know your car/model and/or tire size and type of tire you seek (winter or not)).

(BTW, I recently retired a set of Yokahama snows that served me well starting in 1998. I don;t recall the mileage but it was probably at least 20k. The key is getting them on/off the car at the right time and not abusing them needlessly when on aggressive/dry road . Yes, I know they were technically too old to be safe when they were retired but I watch them closely when I personally mount/dismount them. I am now using General summer and winter tires on both of my AWD cars and my FWD car sits in the garage until the snow is gone from my driveway.)

(BTW2...my AWD vehicles both handle well above average (including DRY road handling with those pesky summer tires too) and get 20-26+ and 24-32+ mpg respectively depending on conditions. In fact summer tires will typically provide the best mileage in warm weather conditions. These cars are not 'hard to steer', in fact they drive quite well. One of them is a great great snow car except it can't plow through the snow.) )

Good luck.
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Old 02-03-2011, 03:01 PM
 
105,691 posts, read 107,663,235 times
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Tire rack has some great testing videos showing the different tires on different vehicles and the results.. The manuevering and stopping with the winter tires is not even close to the all seasons. In fact you can see rear wheel drives cars with 4-snows out perform all wheel drives with all seasons
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Old 02-03-2011, 03:20 PM
 
996 posts, read 1,047,954 times
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There should be no need for test track manuevering and stopping stunts on public roadways.

In snow,ice or slush conditions, double or triple your normal following distances, if the road is really bad slow to a crawl, put on your 4 ways, and let the rest of the folks behind you grow impatient.

I'd rather be 10 minutes late than stuck in a ditch with a wrecked vehicle.


p.s. I've got studded snows on my three work trucks..

Gotta make some work for the penndot road patching crews come spring..

I have a soft spot for studded snow tires - they make me recall when I was a teenager and I had a Hemi Dodge. I'd throw sparks during a burnout that would make it look like a welding crew was under my car....
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Old 02-03-2011, 04:28 PM
 
105,691 posts, read 107,663,235 times
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im a big believer in i want the odds in my favor no matter what i do. if i even can get a tire to stop 1 foot sooner and avoid an accident its worth every penny. i used nothing but the "no season tires " that came with my vehicles all these years. even my beloved xterra 4x4 had stock tires and usually things worked out okay.
after getting stuck a few times i decided to try a winter tire. wow, no comparison at all. even on ice was more controllable.. i would never think of doing winter driving anymore on anything but.
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Old 02-03-2011, 04:34 PM
 
2,861 posts, read 3,824,577 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by varmintblaster View Post
I have a soft spot for studded snow tires - they make me recall when I was a teenager and I had a Hemi Dodge. I'd throw sparks during a burnout that would make it look like a welding crew was under my car....
I had studded snows on a '69 Z-28 regularly driven (in snow too) between NEPA and NY state back in the day before I-84 .... that was 'challenging'!

Also not so good on dry roads...

re the OP: studded snows are very good in snow and even helpful on ice but probably not for you unless the conditions are extreme
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