Winter Tires during warmer months...

[buster]

Winter tires like Michelin's Ice X are meant to be used in snow/ice conditions (this also makes them good for gravel/dirt).

The obvious downfall to using a winter tire in the summer would appear to be more road noise, increased wear and less dry grip. I suppose as they wear down, they become more of an all-season tire.

For those that use winter tires, do you run them all year or just seasonally?

 

[dparm]

They come off all our cars as soon as the temperatures are consistently above 45 F.

 

[buster]

Is that because they wear much faster?

 

[RiceCake]

You can pretty much kiss your winter tire goodbye if you run them through summer. They're soft and will wear out faster. Why spend more on winter tires if you plan to cook them off on hot, dry pavement, making them equivalent to a worn out all season tire, at best?

 

[SubLGT]

Winter tires like the X-Ice and WS70 etc have very long wet braking distances in warmer temperatures, as well as poor hydroplaning resistance.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: buster
Is that because they wear much faster?



Yes. They're also ridiculously noisy and the handling is mushy and sloppy.

 

[R2d2]

Mine went on in Jan, and came off in early April (Blizak 70's).

 

[The_Jeff]

They turn hard so next winter they won't be as good as a same set with the same tread that was stored away.

 

[Andy636]

The answer is no.
Winter tires when used above 10C will increase the wear on the tire, fuel consumption, noise level, braking distance and will decrease feedback and stability on the car since they seem to have softer sidewalls.

 

[Vikas]

All things considered, I run winter on my Maxima all year and change them every 3 to 4 seasons. I got used to the noise

 

[rjundi]

I personally cannot stand running pure winter tires on dry/wet days in the winter when I had performance oriented cars (Legacy GT and WRX). The warm weather only made it worst. I think the worst budget Chinese all-seasons were on par in performance on dry/wet days.

The Nokian WR G2 is definitely a wonderful compromise all around for winter biased all-seasons.

The reality is winter tires are utilized to any real capacity maybe 1-3 weeks driving time per year. Why run around the other 50 weeks on them.

 

[LotusLover]

If winter tires are run REALLY aggressively in warm weather, they chunk apart. I've had first hand experience with this.

That said, nowadays I only run "worn-out" winter tires in the summer, when the tread depth is too shallow to provide good winter traction. There is not much tread squirm when the wear bars are showing.

I usually replace them in time for the next winter season...

 

[JHZR2]

Winter tires are run all year round in the Caribbean, where steep wet hills demand traction. It just works for them, and has worked for a long time. My mil even has a set on her Camry now.

Is it absolute best? Don't know. But probably gives better wear than a summer performance tire on a non-performance car in a place where you can't drive fast anyway.

Different than the US, but many do with success.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: buster
For those that use winter tires, do you run them all year or just seasonally?

I run mine only during winter, but if you want something that is OK to run all year long, look at Nokian WR.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Winter tires are run all year round in the Caribbean, where steep wet hills demand traction. It just works for them, and has worked for a long time. My mil even has a set on her Camry now.

Is it absolute best? Don't know. But probably gives better wear than a summer performance tire on a non-performance car in a place where you can't drive fast anyway.

Different than the US, but many do with success.


Does your mother commute every day or drive hard? If you don't drive a lot and don't drive hard, winter tires year round are better than A/S year round.

But running winter tires year round for people who drive 15K a year seems like it would get expensive.

 

[buster]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Winter tires are run all year round in the Caribbean, where steep wet hills demand traction. It just works for them, and has worked for a long time. My mil even has a set on her Camry now.

Is it absolute best? Don't know. But probably gives better wear than a summer performance tire on a non-performance car in a place where you can't drive fast anyway.

Different than the US, but many do with success.



Good to know. I'm asking because the 03 Forester I picked up came with new Michelin Ice X tires (I forget which ones specifically) and I don't want to change them out right now. I will be taking this car on the beach so maybe having these tires is a good thing. I did read that winter tires can be great on dirt/gravel type roads.

 

[Scum_Frog]

The rule of thumb is when temps average 7C it is time to switch your tires either way depending on the season.

The soft compound will just wear away and not provide the performance required on pavement once temps start to climb. They are designed for cold weather (not just snow).


I do switch from my All Seasons to winters on my Dodge in late October, not matter the weather ( although this is usually the start of the great tire change over lol) as i head to the deer camp and the winter tires offer pretty good off-road traction.

 

[threeputtpar]

Originally Posted By: buster
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Winter tires are run all year round in the Caribbean, where steep wet hills demand traction. It just works for them, and has worked for a long time. My mil even has a set on her Camry now.

Is it absolute best? Don't know. But probably gives better wear than a summer performance tire on a non-performance car in a place where you can't drive fast anyway.

Different than the US, but many do with success.





Good to know. I'm asking because the 03 Forester I picked up came with new Michelin Ice X tires (I forget which ones specifically) and I don't want to change them out right now. I will be taking this car on the beach so maybe having these tires is a good thing. I did read that winter tires can be great on dirt/gravel type roads.

I think your answer may depend on how much tread remains on the tires. Most winter tires have the first 50% or so as a "winter" compound and the remaining tread is an all-season compound. If they are worn past the snow wear bars, they should funcion as an all-season tire with a bit more siping.

I'm currently running my Hankook W300s all summer because two reached the snow bars and the other two are almost to the regular bars. They actually perform quite well, as good as the set of Eagle GTs that I had installed new last fall and drove on for 6k miles before winter. They are a bit noisier than the Eagles, though but that doesn't matter to me much as it's just a commuter car now.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: rjundi


The Nokian WR G2 is definitely a wonderful compromise all around for winter biased all-seasons.

The reality is winter tires are utilized to any real capacity maybe 1-3 weeks driving time per year. Why run around the other 50 weeks on them.



The WR G2 is indeed a winter-focused tire that can be run year round.

However, I do not agree with your statement about how they're only useful 1-3 weeks per year. In Chicago, it is plenty cold for a while every winter. Winter tires grip cold pavement (even if it's dry) FAR better than even an all-season can.

 

[buster]

What about Michelin X-Ice?