Every September, we have this conversation on the neighborhood Facebook page: "I just moved to CO (my neighborhood is packed with active duty folks, so lots of transitioning in and out) and wondering do I need snow tires?"
First to jump: "If you don't drive a lot, you don't need it." Or: "just stay home when it snows," (because you know, life never happens).
Of course, winter comes, weather is unpredictable. We have a saying here: "if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes, it will change." So, the weatherman says 2" of snow, we get 20". Or they say 20" and we don't get anything. So, there goes the assumption of how one can stay home, bcs. I lived through 80 degrees temperature drops within 2hrs, and snow storms that started as bit of clouds when I was getting into Costco and an absolute horror show on the roads when I got out of Costco. So, assuming that it won't snow, or freezing rain etc. is not the best strategy, it is just wishful thinking. Then on the same Facebook page: "I don;t know what these people think, but if you don't know how to drive, don't go out" etc, etc.
So, how do you measure whether they are worth it or not? Few days ago, lady in Subaru Ascent in front of me, hit the curb with rear right wheel, started to spin, I slammed on brakes, hard-packed slick snow, and stopped maybe 4ft before hitting Subaru. Any other tire but snow tire would not stop, and I was not sure even these would (Blizzak WS90) in time. But those 4ft is what I paid extra money for extra set of tires. They paid off right there that day, although I owned them 3yrs. And here we talk only about material damage.
