I agree completely...my wife drives about 80 miles round trip about twice a week to work and the rest of the week about 8 miles round trip...this is well within the snow belt...get the best tires you can and get them studded. I did this last year and I won't fail to do it this fall again. It cost me around $500 and If it saves her even a slight ditching it's paid for itself. The slightest dinge will run more than that so it's really silly to cut corners on tires IMO.
Studded snow tires are illegal in many places in the U.S. Check with your tire dealer before you get it done.
Studded snow tires have very short metal studs protruding from the rubber to provide additional traction on snow and ice. Studded snow tires are very noisy - they make a buzzing sound and they tend to cause more wear and tear on roads, which is why they are banned in some places.
If you're willing to put up with the buzzing noize and if they are leagal, they are much better in snow and ice conditions than all season tires. Only tire chains provide better traction than studded snow tires.
Overkill, says me. Slow down and drive like the roads are greased and your all-season tires will do fine.
Michigan winters are surely no worse than I deal with here in SE Minnesota, and I've NEVER had anything but all-season tires. That includes commuting and the occasional foray into REAL winter on trips to north central Minnesota. The only times I've ever had any trouble are when the plows are slow getting to the semi-rural neighborhood I live in and I wind up having to work from home for a day . . . .
-Don (looking forward to his 30th winter in SE MN)
Those are OK. Try BF Goodrich traction t/a radials. THey're cheaper and are excellent.
FWD cars are very good on snow. You won't need snow tires. I never did and drove on alot of snow in my day. I remember driving on about 2 inches of snow on a 2 lane highway at about 40 mph whilst the RWD cars were going 20 and slipping. FWD is the way to go!
If you live in an area that gets an annual dose of Real Winter, you really should get a second set of rims, and a set of real Snow Tires. "All Season" tires do everything adequately (wet traction, dry traction, snow, mud, cornering, tread wear, heat resistance) but they do none of them really well.
You can save a whole lot of money by getting a set of generic steel wheels, but you need to get a second set. You can spend $60 to 300 each for some fancy alloy rims, where Tirerack.com has a generic black steel 14" rim for $34 each. At that price, it's not a heartbreaker if you still manage to get sideways on a patch of ice, slide into a curb & bend the rim. $34 is 'disposable'.
Spend the money on good grippy snow tires - if you don't leave them on too long after the snow melts, you can get two to four winters worth of wear out of them.
Dismounting and remounting regular and snow tires on the one set of wheels every year is hard on the tires (the bead areas can rip from the mounting machine arm) and the rims (the seating flanges get all torn up, and the bolt holes.) And the wheel finish gets destroyed from constantly clipping new balancing weights on.
And if you have to have someone else swap the tires for you, you inevitably either wait too long to put the snows on in the fall and get in a wreck, or you wait too long before switching back in the spring and wear out the snow tires way too fast - the soft sticky rubber wears away fast on dry roads.
Then there's that day-long wait at the tire dealer right after the first storm, and the labor charge for each change-over - or if they do the change "for free" they charge for the balancing, or the "things that they find wrong while they're in there..." TANSTAAFL, they need to make their money somewhere, and the workers need to be paid at the end of the day.
And with a second set of wheels & tires all ready to go, if you get a freak early or late snowstorm, you can swap the snow tires on and off your car multiple times a year all by yourself with no problem and no waiting. Buy a floor jack and you can swap them in under an hour without breaking a sweat.
Under 10 minutes with the whole family helping and pit-crew style practice drills, under 5 with a floor lift and multiple impact wrenches, then you get into the zone with the Indy-car jacks built into the car, special captive lug-nuts and "speed wrenches"... What's the limit now, 5 men over the wall? ;-P
(Gotta go get me a Nomex jumpsuit with a bunch of sponsor's names...)
Nah Ray...not now at least...I can hear them only occasionally, mostly as I pull into Horton's drive through window because of the wall up near the car but I never hear them on the highway.
Perhaps they're just quieter now because of modern engineering? In any case they're the cat's ass I think...I get them 'all around'.
Where I find them very useful is on wet roads when the temp dips below freezing and you're suddenly on 'black ice'. WHOOPS!
Incidentally they're allowed here in the Fall but must come off sometime in the Spring.
All good suggestions, plus (if you can legally) stud them and put them 'all around'...else the first time you 'ditch it', and pay $1000 (~) to fix a couple of dings you'll wish to hell that you had spent $500 bux for studded snow tires...to these guys who say "Shucks, just slow down" etc. Well, I've been driving in Canada for over 55 years and I damned well know what the hell I'm talking about, if you want to ignore my advice then 'fill yer boots bud'...and the best of luck to you too. :)
No, God no!...I'm a retired military (Air Force) flight engineer...I love Horton's coffee that's all!... :)
...and I don't drive Marie's Matrix much (which has the studded tires), she works (just a kid) so needs the traction...I have a little Corolla to run out for coffee with buddies... :)
I have not heard studded snow tires since they were banned in Illinois. We had studded snow tires on 3 cars - I had to yank the studs out of the snow tires for all 3 cars. Even with a special tool, my knuckles were bloody by the time I was done.
I agree, studded tires are the cat's pajamas but they are tough on the roads.
Let us know if you still feel that way after you slide off the road at a curve at the bottom on an icy grade. Especially after the cop that comes to investigate your accident arrived in a RWD CV LOL
I agree...I think the reason is because the front wheels have more weight on them due to the engine...and another pointer, if you have a 4X4 with selectable 4 or 2 wheel drive,,,leave the vehicle in 2 wheel until you get stuck,,,THEN select 4, back out of the drift and go home.
If you use 4 until you get stuck then you're screwed cuz then you're REALLY stuck...
I once saw an article that defined 4 wheel drive as a driveline configuration that (1) allows one to get stuck in deeper mud than one would get stuck in with 2 wheel drive (2) allows one to get stuck in an area that is inaccessible by a tow truck (3) in poor road conditions, allows one to lose control at higher speeds than with 2 wheel drive.
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