I am considering purchasing winter tires for my Subaru. I live in northern NJ where snow tires are a "nice to have", but not an absolute necessity. Anyways, I have narrowed the choices down to the Altimax Arctic (studdable) and non-studdable Blizzak WS60, Conti Extreme Winter Contact, Dunlop Graspic DS3 and Michelin XIce Xi2. Many of the studless tires seem to have "wear indicators" when tread depth is at 50% and some have a high silica tread compound for the first half and and all season compound for the other 50%.
Do "studdable" tires require studs to be effective? Are snow tires useless when the tread depth wears below 50%? My goal is to mount them from Dec 1 to Mar 15 and to have them last 4 or 5 years. How is the treadwear on snow tires? I plan on "taking it easy" in turns to prolong tread life and my driving style is conservative.
Please help me make an educated decision.
Do "studdable" tires require studs to be effective? Are snow tires useless when the tread depth wears below 50%? My goal is to mount them from Dec 1 to Mar 15 and to have them last 4 or 5 years. How is the treadwear on snow tires? I plan on "taking it easy" in turns to prolong tread life and my driving style is conservative.
Please help me make an educated decision.