Do you run your snow tires all winter?

[KST]

or just put them on when there is a threat of snow?

Putting on my snow tires mounted on steelies make my Subaru sluggish compared to the stock setup of alloy wheels.

So I put them on only when the threat of snow is predicted, as happened last week, and remove them once it subsides.

Anyone else do this?

 

[JHZR2]

Ive yet to put mine on yet, despite having a big snow before halloween.

Its always a delicate balance in terms of keeping them on in case, versus not subjecting them to high temperatures, and also not getting too cold doing the install...

Snow around here is Dec-March or so, with the heavier snows in Feb-Mar, and then rapid warming up after that. So once they are on, they are on until I get a warm spell. Too much work to swap them out more than once. Lifting a car is a pain, even with a hydraulic.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Ive yet to put mine on yet, despite having a big snow before halloween.

Same here. I've been lazy this year. I drive very little nowadays, so I'm hoping I can get by on my all-seasons, although the 530i really sucks in the snow with the wider RE960 tires.

But in the past years, I'd put the winters on just before the first snowstorm of the season and keep them on until early April. I've never noticed the car being sluggish with them on either. They weigh about the same.

 

[cp3]

I keep an eye on the temperature forecast and wait till it's consistently below 10C before they go on and get them back off before it's consistently above in the spring. Hasen't been much snow here this year but my summer tires were done and would have been hazardous in just a light flurry.

 

[RISUPERCREWMAN]

I put on my Firestone Winter Force snow tires on my Camry in late November & usually remove them sometime in March! They are great snow tires!

 

[RF Overlord]

Originally Posted By: KST
Putting on my snow tires mounted on steelies make my Subaru sluggish compared to the stock setup of alloy wheels.
Are you speaking of handling or acceleration? If they're the correct size, you shouldn't notice any difference in performance.

To answer your question, I put mine on at the first sign of snow, which is usually close to Christmas in my area, and leave them on until the 2nd week in April or so. One year we had 14" of snow on April Fool's Day, so I got paranoid...

 

[Drew99GT]

I usually keep mine on all winter, but I took mine off a few weeks ago because it's been 50 degrees everyday with no snow in sight. On my car, it only takes about 15 minutes to swap tires.

 

[sciphi]

They went on in late November and will come off in mid-March. I need to get around for work, and don't have the time to swap wheels all the time.

 

[KST]

Originally Posted By: RF Overlord
Originally Posted By: KST
Putting on my snow tires mounted on steelies make my Subaru sluggish compared to the stock setup of alloy wheels.
Are you speaking of handling or acceleration? If they're the correct size, you shouldn't notice any difference in performance.

To answer your question, I put mine on at the first sign of snow, which is usually close to Christmas in my area, and leave them on until the 2nd week in April or so. One year we had 14" of snow on April Fool's Day, so I got paranoid...



So i just finished changing them. I took the opportunity to weigh them. the snows were 49# and the stock alloys were 39#.

I think the extra weight make a already sluggish vehicle like my Subaru, even worse.

 

[qr25de]

Originally Posted By: RF Overlord
Originally Posted By: KST
Putting on my snow tires mounted on steelies make my Subaru sluggish compared to the stock setup of alloy wheels.
Are you speaking of handling or acceleration? If they're the correct size, you shouldn't notice any difference in performance.

To answer your question, I put mine on at the first sign of snow, which is usually close to Christmas in my area, and leave them on until the 2nd week in April or so. One year we had 14" of snow on April Fool's Day, so I got paranoid...


Incorrect. Unsprung weight is THE most important factor of how a vehicle "feels" and responds. It is THE X variable when determining impulse response to energy imparted by road dynamics....rather more or less the k coefficient...

I run my snows as soon as the temperatures hit a steady 5C or less for a few days. I put the summer tires around the same time.

 

[The_Jeff]

I slapped mine on for the halloween storm then pulled them then replaced them.

I left the wife's car on good all seasons until just a couple weeks back, so we wouldn't burn up good snows in the dry. We mix and match cars for the conditions.

My snows with thin soft sidewalls have a low tire weight, and are on rims an inch smaller. The complete assembly, IMO, is slightly lighter. (175/70/14 artic claws vs 195/60/15 stock aluminum saturn wheels.)

 

[Rand]

Yep all winter.--usually put them on right before a big snowstorm.. take off end of march or so.
Its not the changing thats a PITA its the moving them into and out of the basement.

 

[Colt45ws]

I put them on when it gets too cold for my other tires as I run UHP Summers.

 

[gathermewool]

I put mine on last Thursday and will keep them on until the steady trend is > freezing and no snow forecast.

 

[bluestream]

Originally Posted By: KST
or just put them on when there is a threat of snow?

Putting on my snow tires mounted on steelies make my Subaru sluggish compared to the stock setup of alloy wheels.

So I put them on only when the threat of snow is predicted, as happened last week, and remove them once it subsides.

Anyone else do this?


I have never heard of anyone doing this...You would be taking them on and off every week or two, and who has time for that?

 

[Rand]

I could see that if you lived in say.. Cali and were going out to ski in mountains etc.

 

[KST]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: KST
or just put them on when there is a threat of snow?

Putting on my snow tires mounted on steelies make my Subaru sluggish compared to the stock setup of alloy wheels.

So I put them on only when the threat of snow is predicted, as happened last week, and remove them once it subsides.

Anyone else do this?


I have never heard of anyone doing this...You would be taking them on and off every week or two, and who has time for that?

I live in the PNW so it does not snow too often. last weeks was the equivelent to a zombie apocolypse.

Takes me about 1/2 hour to replace them

 

[Bill in Utah]

Put them on when the first BIG snow is going to hit and leave them on till April (or the chance of snow has left)

The P4s do decent and I have to carry / use chains (even with the snows at times) so if I get caught to a point where the P4s don't work safely then its chains till I get the snows on.

This year the snows went on very late.

Bill

 

[leeharvey418]

Originally Posted By: RF Overlord
Are you speaking of handling or acceleration? If they're the correct size, you shouldn't notice any difference in performance.


Winter tires on dry or wet pavement (even in cold weather) will only have about 75 - 80% of the grip of a good all-season in the same conditions. Tall, narrow tread blocks with copious siping are a real detriment to decent handling.

 

[Scum_Frog]

Winter tires are not just for snow, it is recommended that winter tires be run once the average temp in below 7C. Same for switching back to summer/all season at above 7C.