Are Winter Tires worth it?

[chimo2u]

Hi all! I would love to know if you find Winter Tires to be a good investment...I have an appointment at my local Costco to put on Winter Tires on Dec 22, but they are costing me $889.00.....that's a lot of money that can be put towards car/house insurance that is due this month as well (another $800.00 bill) I am trying to decide if I should keep the apt. and purchase for my 2010 Ford Escape.....or if I would be ok driving on All Seasons again for another winter.....I am not a very confident winter driver as is, and my son (19) is a newly licensed driver this winter who occasionally borrows our vehicle.....If you have winter tires, do you notice a difference??

$900 is a lot of money, it could buy one of our plane tickets to Disney next October, or pay my car/house insurance installment that is due this month.....

I am trying to decide if I should keep my appointment to put on winter tires, or if my all seasons will really be that sub-par to a winter tire?

Do Winter Tires make a noticable difference, and are they truly like night and day in comparison when it comes to stopping, handling on ice, traction etc.....

It's alot of money to shell out and I am beginning to second-guess my decision to buy them!

 

[Chokky]

Hi all! I would love to know if you find Winter Tires to be a good investment...I have an appointment at my local Costco to put on Winter Tires on Dec 22, but they are costing me $889.00.....that's a lot of money that can be put towards car/house insurance that is due this month as well (another $800.00 bill) I am trying to decide if I should keep the apt. and purchase for my 2010 Ford Escape.....or if I would be ok driving on All Seasons again for another winter.....I am not a very confident winter driver as is, and my son (19) is a newly licensed driver this winter who occasionally borrows our vehicle.....If you have winter tires, do you notice a difference??

$900 is a lot of money, it could buy one of our plane tickets to Disney next October, or pay my car/house insurance installment that is due this month.....

I am trying to decide if I should keep my appointment to put on winter tires, or if my all seasons will really be that sub-par to a winter tire?

Do Winter Tires make a noticable difference, and are they truly like night and day in comparison when it comes to stopping, handling on ice, traction etc.....

It's alot of money to shell out and I am beginning to second-guess my decision to buy them!

Definitely! I live in the same province as you and just got them last year.
My car has AWD so is usually pretty good in the snow but adding the winter tires has made driving in winter a lot better.

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

I love my studded snow tires when I lived up in Maine. I couldn't imagine not having them. There is a definite difference in driving. My advice is to get the tires.

 

[DISdreamin']

I love, love, love our snow tires on our van, but I bought all-seasons with the severe service emblem for my car. I didn't want to have to worry about the TPMS system (I wanted steel wheels to switch over to so I didn't have to mount and unmount my winter tires) and it was just sooo expensive that I decided to take of the OEM tires and just do better all-season. Plus I would have had to have the dealer reset the TPMS every time I switched tires. My new tires aren't quite as good as dedicated snows would be, but they're a darn sight better than what came on the car.

One question, though - the tires for your vehicle sound really expensive. Is it the size that makes them so expensive? Our snows were about $700 total (they are 225/60-16 and a pretty good quality tire) so nearly $900 sounds like a lot to me! I'm assuming maybe the tire size is bigger or something. My car runs 225/65-17's and a set of four ran about $750.

I just checked tirerack.com and they listed a wheel SET for a 2010 Escape 4WD XLT V6 (including tires AND wheels) for less than $850. The Blizzak tires were just over $500. Maybe the size is wrong (the site came up with 235/70-16) but $850 still sounds steep to me.

 

[Kellydelly]

If you have been driving in snow for years on regular tires, I would think you could continue to do so and save yourself some money .

 

[chimo2u]

I love, love, love our snow tires on our van, but I bought all-seasons with the severe service emblem for my car. I didn't want to have to worry about the TPMS system (I wanted steel wheels to switch over to so I didn't have to mount and unmount my winter tires) and it was just sooo expensive that I decided to take of the OEM tires and just do better all-season. Plus I would have had to have the dealer reset the TPMS every time I switched tires. My new tires aren't quite as good as dedicated snows would be, but they're a darn sight better than what came on the car.

One question, though - the tires for your vehicle sound really expensive. Is it the size that makes them so expensive? Our snows were about $700 total (they are 225/60-16 and a pretty good quality tire) so nearly $900 sounds like a lot to me! I'm assuming maybe the tire size is bigger or something. My car runs 225/65-17's and a set of four ran about $750.

I just checked tirerack.com and they listed a wheel SET for a 2010 Escape 4WD XLT V6 (including tires AND wheels) for less than $850. The Blizzak tires were just over $500. Maybe the size is wrong (the site came up with 235/70-16) but $850 still sounds steep to me.

I live in Canada, so slightly higher pricing, I suppose....the tires where from Costco with a $100 rebate, micheline x latitude, bigger too for a suv ford escape.,,,$889 was the total cost installed

 

[cornflake]

What do you mean by winter tires? Are they snow tires specifically? Have you checked the reviews on them?

Do y'all get a lot of snow?

If you're driving in snow a lot, yes, they're worth it - though if your car is front wheel drive, you can do just two, not all four, and have the same result. If it only rarely snows, or if it like snows but it's plowed immediately and you don't actually end up driving in snow....

On snow, yes, good snow tires make a noticible difference. They have a different tread, made for snow handling, and the rubber in them is different, the tires themselves are "softer" as it were in the cold and that contributes to their handling better in snow. It's also why you have to change the tires back and forth, if you drive on good snow tires year round, you'll wear them down very quickly and it theoretically will give you slightly lower gas mileage.

Snow tires really don't do anything for driving on ice. Studded tires will, because the studs actually grip into the ice, but aside from that, ice is ice and it's not going to make a difference.

 

[formill]

Just had mine put on - Canadian as well it cost me $850 for four and that included rims- mini van. I drove my husbands car last year with snow tires and the difference was huge. It is not recommended to just put two on -changes handling. Another thing to think of as an investment- your summer tires will lost longer they are not getting as many kms and some insurance companies are now offering discounts if you get them..........now our problem with 3 vehicles is storing all these extra tires.......

From one website and many said similar "Lets talk about a front wheel drive vehicle. If you only put 2 snow tires on the vehicle what you are doing is transferring the traction of the rear onto the front tires and that could lead to a possible over steer condition which could result in the car fish tailing or swinging out. To maintain optimum traction handling and stability we recommend 4 snow tires on all vehicles."

 

[pigletto]

Yes, there is absolutely a noticeable difference with our snow tires! And like you, we get a ton of snow in our province. Dh is commuting 3 hours per day and I insisted he get them last year. He was slightly skeptical and was very happy with them once they were on. The price you are quoting does seem high though. Did you shop around?

ETA) And this post reminded me I need to make the appointment to have them put back on!!

 

[englishteacha]

Popular Mechanics just tested snow tires. The general concensus was that snow tires/winter tires do a LOT better in the snow than all season tires do. With AWD and FWD vehicles, there was a noticeable difference in stopping distance and handling on turns.

 

[chimo2u]

Yes, there is absolutely a noticeable difference with our snow tires! And like you, we get a ton of snow in our province. Dh is commuting 3 hours per day and I insisted he get them last year. He was slightly skeptical and was very happy with them once they were on. The price you are quoting does seem high though. Did you shop around?

ETA) And this post reminded me I need to make the appointment to have them put back on!!

Hi Pigletto Yes, Alberta gets a lot of snow, slush, blizzardy commutes, sub-freezing temps....so I am thinking WINTER tires might be a good thing....I wouldn't call them snow tires (as to the PP who asked).....I am looking at Micheline X ice...or rather X-Latitude for the size of vehicle I have....I have a AWD 2010 Ford Escape, and the tires, while expensive at $889 , was the best price I could find for my SUV....

Costco has pretty competitive pricing and even my local dealer and Fountain Tire stated they can't touch Costco's pricing.....so when looking at 4 tires installed on an SUV, $889 is not a bad price. I guess I will keep the appointment, my safety is very concerning to me with the commute I do on the highway.....

My commute is only about 20 minutes in good weather, but when it snows, I often find myself on the road for almost double that time as I need to slow right down to feel in control and safe (sometimes I will have to slow to 60 kmph instead of my normal 100 kmph when the morning commute is a blizzard like conditions) I think the winter tire may help with traction and gripping those wet, slick roads!

I have already paid half the bill and put the other $400 on my American Express Costco Card, I may as well just pay the $50 down on my credit card each pay cheque and be done with paying for them once winter is over in the next 4 months!!!

I think I will be keeping that installation appointment!
If anyone else wishes to share their views on their experiences between winter tires vs their all seasons, I would love to hear your thoughts!

 

[bethy]

If you have been driving in snow for years on regular tires, I would think you could continue to do so and save yourself some money .

I have been driving my entire life just with all weather tires. This includes on hills, over snowy mountain passes, etc. Never been in an accident. Just yesterday I hit black ice and my all weather tires did just fine.

One thing I do have that I didn't in years past is all wheel drive and traction control. That makes such an incredible difference. I can imagine that with good snow tires the difference would be even more amazing but it's not worth the $1000 to me (which is what 4 good tires would cost where I live for my car.)

That said, my IL's have 2 sets of tires for each of their cars and switch off each spring and fall. Once you pay the initial investment of the extra set of tires the difference in cost over the years is negligible b/c the wear and tear on the tires is cut in half.

 

[chimo2u]

I have been driving my entire life just with all weather tires. This includes on hills, over snowy mountain passes, etc. Never been in an accident. Just yesterday I hit black ice and my all weather tires did just fine.

One thing I do have that I didn't in years past is all wheel drive and traction control. That makes such an incredible difference. I can imagine that with good snow tires the difference would be even more amazing but it's not worth the $1000 to me (which is what 4 good tires would cost where I live for my car.)

That said, my IL's have 2 sets of tires for each of their cars and switch off each spring and fall. Once you pay the initial investment of the extra set of tires the difference in cost over the years is negligible b/c the wear and tear on the tires is cut in half.

I have AWD and traction control on my Ford Escape.....I only work part time, alternating every Mon/Wed/Fri then Tue/Thur on a rotational basis.....so I guess I only need worry about the days that are my work days!! Now you have me re-thinking the close to $1,000.00....as I stated earlier, I do have 3 flights to Orlando to buy (at approx $600 cost each if I get a good deal, but right now sitting around $800 ea).....then there is my car/house insurance installment that is due.....another $800 payment.....so I have many places I could use that money right now! Here we sit, almost Chritmas, and blessed with balmy/ wierd weather this yr. for some reason!! We've only had one or 2 snow falls so far, maybe we are headed for a whallop, but so far, we've been blessed this yr......arrrghh, such a hard decision....maybe I will just hold off THIS yr. but buy them next yr., early so I can have them put on rims.....
Your post has me thinking!

 

[bethy]

Remember, how many inches of snow you have on the ground at any given time don't really make a difference. Snow tires just help with traction. Clearance is a seperate issue. Also a factor is how well they groom your roads.

And the single biggest faster in safe winter driving IMO is going SLOWLY. Also, experience helps. When I was learning to drive my dad took me to a giant snowy parking lot and we drove and spun over and over. And then just years of experience of driving in the snow make a huge difference.

Would having snow tires make things even safe than all of the above? Quite possiblly. But even with safety we all have to draw the line somewhere. For example we can't all afford to have an armored car and chauffer. We can't stay home and stay out of the car all the time. Driving a car is quite dangerous in and of itself.

 

[mrodgers]

And the single biggest faster in safe winter driving IMO is going SLOWLY. Also, experience helps. When I was learning to drive my dad took me to a giant snowy parking lot and we drove and spun over and over. And then just years of experience of driving in the snow make a huge difference.

From 5 mph, I slid down the hill, and down the hill, and down the hill, and into a ditch, and nearly put it on it's side. It certainly wasn't from driving too fast, it was from having crappy tires.

Whether snow, ice, rain, or perfectly dry roads on a perfect summer evening, the tire is what is on the road and tires are what matters the most.

A car with snow tires will out perform in every way in the snow over any all-season tire on a 4WD, AWD, or the crappy system that Ford calls AWD on the Escape (it isn't really AWD, it is FWD with a rear PTO driven drivetrain that "senses" slip and kicks in when it does, really bad idea as you are already slipping, duh!)

That said, if you do have 4WD or AWD (or the crappy Ford version of AWD, can you tell I do not like their system?) then all-seasons are also perfectly fine in the snow unless you are trying to drive up a mountain trail rather than just a snowy road.

 

[chimo2u]

From 5 mph, I slid down the hill, and down the hill, and down the hill, and into a ditch, and nearly put it on it's side. It certainly wasn't from driving too fast, it was from having crappy tires.

Whether snow, ice, rain, or perfectly dry roads on a perfect summer evening, the tire is what is on the road and tires are what matters the most.

A car with snow tires will out perform in every way in the snow over any all-season tire on a 4WD, AWD, or the crappy system that Ford calls AWD on the Escape (it isn't really AWD, it is FWD with a rear PTO driven drivetrain that "senses" slip and kicks in when it does, really bad idea as you are already slipping, duh!)

That said, if you do have 4WD or AWD (or the crappy Ford version of AWD, can you tell I do not like their system?) then all-seasons are also perfectly fine in the snow unless you are trying to drive up a mountain trail rather than just a snowy road.

Thank you mrodgers wow, didn't know that about the AWD Ford Escape system! sounds crappy......I was actually wanting to buy a Subaru Forrester for myself because of their great engine quality and AWD system....but alas, got suckered into a great Ford deal, which really ended up being a "sucker" deal!!! without to many boring details, we where suckered into a "balloon deal"....basically making what I thought was going to be a 5 yr loan into a 8 yr loan!!! I have never had a loan longer than five yrs. and now find myself having to scramble to pay off this loan before that balloon blows up in my face!!! so.....that's that....never buying Ford again.....next vehicle for me is Subaru all the way! and I may even look at a used one from a dealer instead of being all swayed by shiny and brand new!.....considering how much it depriciates once I drive away.....
I don't have any mountains to get up, just that small stretch of highway on my morning commute.....so maybe I will just save the money this yr. and continue on my all seasons for now....
Thanks for your help

 

[bethy]

Point taken about the grip on hills. We live in the mountain foothills and snow and hills are scary.

Also ITA that not all AWD systems are created equal (and probably not traction control either.) I used to drive a Subaru and adored it. It did not have traction control but it's AWD was amazing. Then I need more space and had to get a bigger car. I ended up with a Volvo but knew going in that the AWD system was supposed to be not as good. I've found this to be true but have still found it satisfactory. And other features on the car also help make up the difference. There are so many factors in play - especially with regard to physics: speed, slope, weight of vehicle, etc, etc.

 

[Chokky]

If you have been driving in snow for years on regular tires, I would think you could continue to do so and save yourself some money .

Because where we live due to budget constraints the city can no longer clear the roads as well as they used to.

We have snow on the ground five months of the year so that is a lot of driving on questionable roads.

 

[DISdreamin']

A car with snow tires will out perform in every way in the snow over any all-season tire on a 4WD, AWD, or the crappy system that Ford calls AWD on the Escape (it isn't really AWD, it is FWD with a rear PTO driven drivetrain that "senses" slip and kicks in when it does, really bad idea as you are already slipping, duh!)

I live in an area that gets snow...oh, 8 months of the year most years. I have all-season tires on my car, but they actually have the severe service emblem (the mountain/snowflake that indicates a certain minimum winter driving performance). My little SUV with "AWD" (that really isn't AWD) wearing Nokian WR G2 SUV tires actually outperforms a front-wheel drive minivan wearing Nokian Hakka R's as far as traction and handling. Stopping, the true winter tires have an advantage, but not by much in my experience. So it really seems to me that it is a combination of tires and the vehicle.

In my opinion, if you own a really heavy vehicle, I think it is far more important to have really good tires. When you get our 5000+ pound minivan rolling (or, worse, sliding!) you want a tire with really, really good traction to get that sucker stopped!

OP, I think of it this way. We have a high deductible on our auto insurance. If I can avoid one accident (ie: deductible) the tires have nearly paid for themselves! Also, when it comes to winter driving with my kids in the car, you can't put a price on the peace of mind that comes with knowing you've done everything you can to keep them safe. I'd spring for the tires and not look back.

To bethy who said

Remember, how many inches of snow you have on the ground at any given time don't really make a difference. Snow tires just help with traction. Clearance is a seperate issue. Also a factor is how well they groom your roads.

In my experience, the amount of snow on the roads can make a huge difference in the handling/traction. Clearance aside, having a couple inches of snow on the roads and having 6+ inches are two entirely different things! Six inches won't stop most vehicles because of clearance, but it will make it very, very hard to get them moving and to get them stopped, in my experience! We've had people stuck in their parking spots at work some days because their all-seasons couldn't get enough traction to pull them through the drifted snow around their car! Also in my experience, all-seasons sometimes tend to get stuck in the ruts formed by the cars before them where snows, with their additional siping, tend to grab better and track where you want them to go. Some of that will have to do with vehicle weight, but some of it is definitely the tires!

FWIW, I drove ONE snowy day on the OEM tires on my car, ripped them off and put on my Hakka's. It was terrifying to drive with those original tires (they were Bridgestones, and were good all-seasons, but they were NOT made to tackle the snow). Granted, it was a heck of a snowstorm, but once was enough for me.