Winter Tires in Mid Atlantic

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The Corolla in my signature is my beater to the commuter lot and back home. 10 miles a day and maybe a run to the dump once every few months. It needs new tires. I can price a set of winter tires about the same as all seasons and not having ever had a set, thought I would experiment since we may have above average snowfall this year. For specifics, I am looking at General arctic altimax vs BFG Traction TA. What I don't know is, if this short mileage over the summer would wear the winter tires too much so I don't get at least a second season out of them. Any insights from experienced users is appreciated.
 
I'm sure the snow tires would be ready for the trash heap after one summer in northern VA. Yes, I read the part about 10 miles a day also. I'd get the regular General Altimax all season or some Cooper CS4's.
 
I agree that you'll wear out dedicated snow tires in Northern VA in quick order.

I would look seriously at the Nokian WR G2 - great in snow, but with an all season compound that will last through the warmer winter days in the Mid-Atlantic...I have them on the Volvo XC and the MB 300E...and run them year 'round with excellent results. Perfect for your application.
 
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I play the A side of this record; CS4s are excellent. They are my year round tire.

If you are coastal, I just don't see a reason to have winter tires; I've never owned them. YMMW, some people want to have them and I understand there is a preference. My parents live in Western VA, everyone just stays home when it snows... 8)
 
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If it snows only a few times a year I'd stay home, the others on the road won't have experience or good tires and will wreck into you.

Best defense is no be there.
 
You will be fine with a good AS tire.

The deal with winters starts with 45 degrees F. That's the break point for compound design for winters. if you don't have at least three months of highs below 45 then you're wasting money, especially on an old Corolla.

BTW, just mounted my Blizzaks today. Ha!
 
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Snow tires are used down in the Caribbean routinely on cars. My inlaws have >30k miles on a set of BFG snow tires, and the tread is still "good". At least good enough for traction on wet, oily and very steep roads.
 
Be careful trying to compare what they do in the Caribbean to the mainland. Many islands in the Caribbean aren't big enough to have roads where you can get high speeds for long periods of time. While a winter tire may be able to survive in hot weather at slow speeds, high speeds for long periods of time like you can easily get on the mainland can kill a winter tire.
 
I had the use of another car for a large part of the summer.

And I left the winter tyres on the Volvo throughout the summer.

The was very slight feathering on the outside of the front tyre.

I suspect that they would wear quicker in hot temperatures.

But I also suspect a set of winter tyres wouldn't get hot enough in a 10 mile daily drive to make much of a difference.

What I did note is that the GoodYear UltraGrip 8 tyre is slightly softer riding than the tyres that were there previously. Which was two GoodYears one Michelin and a Pirelli. (You have to love Kwik Fit when they fit tyres to company cars, I have the receipts for all work on the car and they fitted odd tyres on the same axle a few times, almost certainly as they had said it was "illegal" to repair the tyre with a nail in it, yes much better to have odd tyres on an axle!)

I have checked and there is no regulation in the UK saying you can't run winter tyres all year. Even VOSA have no problems with it though they say it isn't "best practice".

Drivers that run on a shoestring in the UK regularly run on a mixture or winter Nd normal tyres on an axle.

If you ever get in a minicab rather than a Black Cab have a look at the tyres first as one of the biggest culprits for this are minicab drivers in and around London.

I can only comment about In and around London though.

One reason why I think they do this is that used winter tyres come from Germany like a lot of used tyres in the UK and they have higher legal tread depths on winters making them seem better for the average minicab driver.

I should point out that I have only ever seen a certain group of minicab and indeed regular drivers have this attitude to car maintenance and safety.
 
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