Whats the downside of leaving winter tires on year round? I have just put a good set of winter tires on the front of my mx6. I use the car primarily as a winter beater, but also here and there throughout the rest of the year.
They wear out much more quickly than they otherwise would, because winter tires are made of softer rubber compounds that don't take on the characteristics of cast iron when cold. Also, they're not designed to handle high-heat situations such as occurs with prolonged high-speed summertime travel.
DS
They rarely are as good as normal tires for driving on dry pavement. The arctic grade winter tires have very poor tread wear compared to normal tires, so they wear out and you have to buy another set. Tend to be noisier.
If you put very low miles on it the rest of the year and don't try to play Mario Andretti, no reason to swap the tires off...
I have had the best luck with BF Goodrich Winter Slalom tires on our Aerostar. Put 4 on, they were so quiet I left them on. Great traction all year around. Got 60,000 miles on them, replaced them with Dayton all-seasons, which only lasted about 20,000 mi.
I am switching back to the Winter Slaloms now, 2 done 2 more to go.
Rob
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