Are winter tires "worth it"?

[PF52]

For me also, yes.

I hate the way aluminum alloy wheels get corroded and pitted due to salt, so using a set of cheapie steel rims in the winter salt months keeps the nice wheels clean and new. Mounting snow tires on the steel wheels is a no-brainer. The ability to make it through almost any snowfall is a bonus.

Best part is I get to use the "stylish" plastic hubcaps I bought at Autozone!

 

[jeepman3071]

You can usually "get by" with good all-season tires, but after running dedicated winter tires I will never go without them.

A good example is the difference in traction on my RWD BMW. With dedicated summer performance tires, my car wouldn't go anywhere in the snow, not even in my driveway. With my current Michelin AS4's it does okay in light snow, as in I could make it home without much issue, but you can notice the lack of traction on hills. With the dedicated snow tires, I can push deep snow with the front bumper.

 

[RhondaHonda]

South Central United States? I wouldn’t bother with them.

 

[RhondaHonda]

Depends on how much you drive or if your job is a have to" ie rescue, medical etc. If I get a new job 45 minutes away I'm definitely going that route. Where do you live that has a 27% grade driveway, as that is incredibly steep? If it's only fwd with a snowy driveway then snows with studs seem like even better insurance.

27% is only 15 degrees. Its steep but not as steep is at it sounds.

 

[edyvw]

The question is NEVER whether snow tires are better going forward or not.
Your GT with AWD will do better climbing 27% incline than FWD with snow tires, especially Buick.
BUT, it will NEVER brake and handle in inclement weather as snow tires.
Last week we had freakish fall snow storm that dumped some 24” of snow. I managed to only put snow tires on wife’s car. BMW had DWS on and Sequoia Dualer’s. I had to take out Sequoia to do VIN verification and oh boy. Going forward wasn’t as big of an issue. But in curves, the car would slide and when 6,000lbs slides unintentionally it is NOT fun! ABS would kick in on any braking attempt.
So, I drove Tiguan most of the week on WS90’s.
But, even going forward it was an issue. I had to get some momentum to enter garage on my 6 degrees 40ft long driveway with Sequoia. With Tiguan, I could stop, move, and tires would not even slip a bit.

 

[Wheel]

I figure the cost of my car insurance deductable into this. If they save me once (and they have), they're paid for between actual cost and running around. When I had my Outback, I only ran all seasons, which I thought were great at the time. On this Legacy, (same AWD as the Outback) I've run snows. They are superior in the slop compared to the all seasons.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I prefer winter tires for winter. Like boots vs. Flip flops.

My reason is the stop and turn aspects. Great AWD systems do not help to stop or turn. As once was said to me, good AWD/4WD will just help you get into trouble faster and further away from help.

I used some original Nokian WR on my FWD Corolla that were better than many. I was able to stop, turn, and go where the 4WD trucks/SUV's were spinning trying to start or go up a hill.

Unlike @Gasbuggy I will only do 4 to keep the tread and traction the same. I've personally experienced the rear end sliding out in a turn on a very light dusting snow covered road and had me doing a 360 in front of a truck that missed me luckily. That was about 2 weeks after shop recommended 4 but it was my money. Dad only used to use 2 on rear of his vehicles so I did the same but on front of FWD Civic. The following weekend I had 4 matching snows. Dad did also after sliding through a couple intersections.

I know some that will swap to their all weather or all seasons depending on forecasts. If they are mounted on rims it's an easy swap and probably not much time. My tools make it 5-10 minutes per tire including getting tools out and putting away.

If the snow is that deep or conditions bad enough that my FWD with winter tires can't clear or get me going then that vehicle should not be out until it gets cleared some.

My old FWD Sonata about 10" fresh

 

[Astro14]

Yes.

I used to live in a ski town. In Northern Vermont. Lots of people with really nice cars and excellent AWD systems used to come up to ski there. They were all from out of state. We call them “flat landers”

I’ve seen dozens of those flat landers wrecked, stuck in a ditch, or off the road. Crashed, in other words.

Dozens of them.

New Acuras, BMWs, Mercedes, domestic SUVs and plenty of Subarus. All crashed.

What did they have in common?

No snow tires.

And, likely a driver who thought, “I’m a good driver and have a sophisticated AWD system, I can handle this”.

So, true winter tires, mounted on a set of four wheels are absolutely worth it, if you want to avoid a crash in difficult conditions.

Call them “cheap insurance”.

 

[Marcozi]

I have a set of snows mounted on aftermarket alloys. Why? My car has Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires and I won't drive the car with them on hen the temps get below 35*F.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Yes.

I used to live in a ski town. In Northern Vermont. Lots of people with really nice cars and excellent AWD systems used to come up to ski there. They were all from out of state. We call them “flat landers”

I’ve seen dozens of those flat landers wrecked, stuck in a ditch, or off the road. Crashed, in other words.

Dozens of them.

New Acuras, BMWs, Mercedes, domestic SUVs and plenty of Subarus. All crashed.

What did they have in common?

No snow tires.

And, likely a driver who thought, “I’m a good driver and have a sophisticated AWD system, I can handle this”.

So, true winter tires, mounted on a set of four wheels are absolutely worth it, if you want to avoid a crash in difficult conditions.

Call them “cheap insurance”.

I used to live on a hill in the city. The city didn't do a good job of plowing. I always enjoyed coming home on a snowy night and going past stuck AWD SUVs that just couldn't get up the hardpack ice .... I was in a Ford Focus on studded snows. Or even deep snow. A lot of times they just couldn't get up the hill. The Focus always got me home! I did have to back up the hill once.

 

[IndyIan]

Get the skinniest highest profile ones you can, with square edge shoulders, and that 3.8l Buick will probably go everywhere your AWD car will, and maybe even feel more solidly planted on the hwy, with a more straight ahead wheel alignment(closer to 0 camber and toe front and back). Blizzak has WS90's in 215/65R16, I'd get something like those.
A front heavy fwd car with soft suspension and skinny tires is a pretty safe effective winter driver IMO. Lawn dart handling, is a good thing when running in deeper slush and snow.

 

[edyvw]

I used to live on a hill in the city. The city didn't do a good job of plowing. I always enjoyed coming home on a snowy night and going past stuck AWD SUVs that just couldn't get up the hardpack ice .... I was in a Ford Focus on studded snows. Or even deep snow. A lot of times they just couldn't get up the hill. The Focus always got me home! I did have to back up the hill once.

You should see carnage on I70 going to or from ski resorts here. Bunch of people renting JEEP’s, Tahoe’s etc. at Denver airport with Lexani tires on them. Those people are reason why I always take scenic route to ski when it snows.

 

[camrydriver111]

I think the original question is winter vs all weather. Not winter vs all season.

 

[edyvw]

I think the original question is winter vs all weather. Not winter vs all season.

IMO same. “All” means compromise! I drove in snow on Michelin CC2 and Bridgestone WeatherPeak. I have BFG on Pilot with 3PMSF, and none is close to dedicated winter tire. Same like none is close to real summer tire.

 

[c502cid]

In the early 2000's I lived on the high plains of Colorado. Winter was a time of big drifts because of the wind. I had a 97 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP that I put Winterforce studded snows on. Only got stuck once, in a very big drift on a dirt road. Was a cold walk home, fortunately I was close enough that I could see my house. Other than that, it was unstoppable.
Currently I have both my Civics on Arctic Claw studded snows. I got caught out in the same storm edyvw was talking about in the 98 Civic. I was starting to push snow when I got home, but I got home.
My situation warrants dedicated snows. Yours may not. But if you absolutely want the best possible chance of making it, dedicated snows are the only way to go.

 

[bilibako2]

Since 1995 when tire rack had bridgestone blizzak all my car's bought set of it including rims,bolt it and go with lugnuts too.I'm very satisfied,well worth it in IMO.The feeling of traction,stopping ,cornering,peace of mind that my car's ready for the season.Yup lot say's cost money,,storage space,labor, remove/install.From after thanksgiving to march,

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

My wife’s car has Michelin CrossClimate2 tires but Bridgestone Blizzak go on for the winter.

 

[Ws6]

I’ve had to use a few sick days at work not being able to leave home. This pic is when I lived in a residential neighborhood during a Feb 2014 snowstorm. It’s worse where I live now on a country road https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/p1000218-webp.82214/

That's just snow, though. Easy. It's the ice that is challenging for me. Still, I manage to drive the hills in the Ozarks and get it done. I am just wondering if WS90's will make a FWD car as good as my AWD car.

This was on PSAS4's. They are way better than they had ANY right to be in snow and on ice!

 

[Sequoiasoon]

That's just snow, though. Easy. It's the ice that is challenging for me. Still, I manage to drive the hills in the Ozarks and get it done. I am just wondering if WS90's will make a FWD car as good as my AWD car.

If you have them on all 4 they should be better at stopping and turning than your AWD vehicle.

Starting and going on a hill and deeper snow, maybe, maybe not. 4 good correct rubber formulations for those conditions will have better grip than 4 that are optimized for other conditions also.

Not that difficult of a concept IMO but you keep looking for a different answer.

My wife parked her Sequoia which had a very good AWD/4WD system and took my Sonata. Sequoia had 6 month old Conti CrossContact Sport. It SUCKED in snow. Sonata had I think Nokian R at the time.

Do you have the option to disable the rear drive on your AWD? Try it against the other for your own learning.

I had one of my workers stuck going up a hill for an overpass in his nice AWD Escalade with all 4 spinning. I stopped next to him in my Sonata to see if he needed help. He said no and I drove off with just winter tires on my FWD.

To the original are the "worth" it. To me, yes. To the trade off of my insurance deductible and potentially avoided injuries, yes. To my priorities of safety, yes. Your values and definition of "worth it" may differ. Some people have life/health/auto/home insurance, some don't.

 

[Ws6]

If you have them on all 4 they should be better at stopping and turning than your AWD vehicle.

Starting and going on a hill and deeper snow, maybe, maybe not. 4 good correct rubber formulations for those conditions will have better grip than 4 that are optimized for other conditions also.

Not that difficult of a concept IMO but you keep looking for a different answer.

My wife parked her Sequoia which had a very good AWD/4WD system and took my Sonata. Sequoia had 6 month old Conti CrossContact Sport. It SUCKED in snow. Sonata had I think Nokian R at the time.

Do you have the option to disable the rear drive on your AWD? Try it against the other for your own learning.

I had one of my workers stuck going up a hill for an overpass in his nice AWD Escalade with all 4 spinning. I stopped next to him in my Sonata to see if he needed help. He said no and I drove off with just winter tires on my FWD.

To the original are the "worth" it. To me, yes. To the trade off of my insurance deductible and potentially avoided injuries, yes. To my priorities of safety, yes. Your values and definition of "worth it" may differ. Some people have life/health/auto/home insurance, some don't.

I guess I'll just try it this winter and see.