Do I need to get all weather tires? (Kenosha, Winter: 2013, costs)

[HyperionGap]

I got a new subaru with AWD several months ago and it came with summer tires. My previous car was an accord with all season tires and did OK in the snow. Anyone have any opinion if it's beter to get a new set of tires?

I drive about 50 miles every day on I-94 from downtown to hartland for work.

[Iburytheliving]

I would definitely get a set of all seasons at a minimum, or straight up winter tires (blizzaks).

[everwinter]

Summer tires? Yes, get new tires & swap them out during the seasons. I bought a car in southern New Mexico (where it never snows) & didn't realize they had high-performance summer tires on them. I assumed all cars came with all-season tires on them. I moved to Kenosha & almost crashed many times until I put some all-season tires on. They made a huge difference!

Leave it to the pros. This is results from a civic. An AWD Subura may be different.

Time it takes to accelerate to 40 mph on snow in
snow tires - 11.7 seconds
all season - 14.5 sec
summer tires 41.7 seconds

Distance it takes to stop from 40 mph on snow
snow tires - 156 feet
all season - 184 feet
summer tires - 351 feet
Tire Test: All-Season vs. Snow vs. Summer

[ranger17]

yes get all season; with the awd it will go thru most WI throws at you (none of our awd's all our years up there had anything but all season and we were fine). If it was a fwd car, i'd recommend actual snow tires (all 4) as that does make a difference in start and stop.... the test everwinter pasted in is a good example of that and we used them up there as well. Big diff over all seasons on the car we had.

i've noticed since moving down here many cars have summer tires and not just performance models. No wonder they have trouble even when it rains here lol.

[HyperionGap]

Ok. So if I already have summer tires, why get all seasons instead of actual snow tires? Just the pain/hassle of changing them every year?

[ranger17]

Originally Posted by HyperionGap

Ok. So if I already have summer tires, why get all seasons instead of actual snow tires? Just the pain/hassle of changing them every year?

our last car up there we ended up with 1 set of summer tire/rims and 1 for winter tires/rims. That worked perfect for us, but i may not recommend using only one set of rims and swapping tires on/off every time (i'd assume that's hard on the tire's bead and hard on aluminum rims as well).
A set of snows on spare rims could be an easy option, note that good snows are softer so while traction is improved their lifespan is not near as long as regular all seasons; maybe 2-3 winters is my guess absed on our experience.
Is storing the extra tires (and perhaps rims) an option? If so that may not be a bad idea, to look at 2 sets since as you noted you already have 1 in hand.

[43north87west]

Summer tires aren't going to cut it. The only summer tire car I had was a 340hp Audi S4. Even with AWD, they couldn't hack any snow.

Over the years I've had other Audis, Volvos, MB, Subaru, and a smattering of other cars. IMO, the ideal winter setup, is to mount winter tires permanently on a spare set of wheels then just swap them off. That's not cheap, but it should be doable for < $1000. If that's more than you are looking to spend, all season performance tires could be permanently mounted on your existing wheels. I've done this with a couple of cars, and it's really nice to have the traction, plus the ability to switch back to the summer or all seasons when there is a nice run of weather, so you don't wear off the winter tires. For me this was 20 minutes in the garage with nothing but a floor jack, socket, impact wrench, and torque wrench. I could jack both wheels off the ground, swap them in a couple minutes, and be done with the side in 10 minutes. If you have to use a tire shop, it's fast but costs.

Also, FWIW, my current Subaru does fine on all season tires on chains/4WD only roads that are snow covered. If you have a WRX, you might get away with all seasons because the AWD; a BRZ would do much better on winter tires due to RWD and the wide factory wheels.

If you haven't checked out NASIOC forums or other enthusiast forums, they usually have great information about this type of thing as this is a common question.

[brian571]

Originally Posted by HyperionGap

Ok. So if I already have summer tires, why get all seasons instead of actual snow tires? Just the pain/hassle of changing them every year?

+1 on needing something other than summer tires. I had them on an Audi A4 quattro and we got an early snow before I put my winter set on. It was extremely dangerous. The car would get sideways starting out and randomly while driving down the road. Stopping power was almost non-existent. I'd imagine your Suburu would act the same way.

If you already have summer tires and they're in good shape, I'd just order up a set of winter tires and wheels from the Tire Rack. They have some inexpensive alloy wheels (around $100 each) or you can get basic steel wheels for about $50 ea. They'll ship them to you ready to go and they'll mount and balance the tires for free if you order the wheels at the same time. Since mounting and balancing usually costs around $100 for 4 tires, if they have steel wheels for your car you'd only be paying $100 plus the cost of the tires.

Bridgestone Blizzaks are very good for a dedicated snow tire. Otherwise, if you want to only have one set of wheels with all season tires, check out the Continental Extreme Contact DWS. I was able to forego winter tires once I switched to the Continentals and I have them on a rear wheel drive BMW. Very good in the snow...

[HyperionGap]

Thanks for the information everyone. I don't think I'm going to get a set of winter tires mounted on a separate set of wheel because I am 95% most likely going to be leaving WI and 90% going to be leaving the upper midwest by next May. But from the sounds of it, I should go ahead and get all season for my WRX which would be useful no matter where I end up.

[Milwaukee City]

From what everyone tells me is that once you go "Winter Tires" you never go back.

I use Tire Rack, great prices and they ship the tires to your shop, your shop calls you and installs them.

http://www.tirerack.com/index.jsp?ef...ire%20rack%27&