Snow Tires Yes or No

[Geezer]

While its true that the use of snow tires is a personnel choice, its very hard to argue with the facts that snow tires are simply superior to other tire use on ice and snow. There's been too many comparison tests to argue this. And anyone who has used snow tires will agree. Millions and millions of them would not be sold if they were not any better than a regular tire in winter conditions. If you "have" to drive in ice and snow snow tires not only give you and edge but the other guy as well. Even a minor fender bender or simply bouncing off of a curb can easily cost the equivalent of a set of snow tires. Like others have said, its added insurance albeit insurance that you do see (and feel) a return from. A serious (and responsible?) driver will use all the proven performance advantages they can to properly prepare for the worst, even thou it may not happen.

[e350 coupe]

And now one last reason, why "everyone" must have snow tires


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsxV49pmnL8

[NorthernFocalPoint]

Don't like Midas, but one of my all-time favourite winter tire commercials! :)

Originally Posted by e350 coupe

And now one last reason, why "everyone" must have snow tires


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsxV49pmnL8

[Custodian]

I have to vote yes... just purchased a set for our 2011... the last 3 of my vehicles have used a winter set.

[forddorf]

I put snow tires on all my cars for the winter. My vw has Ice x and my sons focus has blizzaks, My focus is garaged for the winter.

[miles@tirerack.com]

That was worth a big laugh out loud! I haven't seen this before. Thanks for sharing it.

Originally Posted by e350 coupe

And now one last reason, why "everyone" must have snow tires


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsxV49pmnL8

[josephd]

I found out the hard way when I bought my Focus. That was a really bad winter here in the N.E. We had one major snow storm after another, I am still stumped how bad this car is in snow, unless I put snow tires on all fours.
The Focus is just a rebadged and naturally much improved Ford Escort. But I remember my 84 Escort, with all season Michelins, that car was a tank in the snow.

[Julian@TireRack.com]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth

One other possibility is the posts are stuffed with Tire Rack employees posting as users to give the impression EVERYONE who lives in any snow area needs to buy snow tires. Certainly would get them more business..

Just for the record, I am the only Tire Rack employee here.....

Before working here I never thought about getting snow tires, front wheel drive was good enough right? Well our second day (it was in December) we were taken onto our test track to drive 2 cars back to back - one with one of the best all season tires (the DWS) and the other with the Blizzak WS70's. The DWS handled well but just like every other all season tire. When you turn, you sort of push or under steer, when you accelerate or brake the traction or ABS system kicks on. The track had several inches of snow on it that we were packing down, but when you jumped into the WS70 car and turned, guess what?!? The car actually turned! The rubber compounds and tread design do such a great job of ripping up and tearing at the snow that you get traction levels you're not used too. My family will never drive a winter on an all season tire again.

You can say it's a waste of time and money, you can say your summer only tires work just fine, everybody is entitled to say what they want to. I just know I would feel much safer in the winter if everybody drove on winter tires when the white stuff starts to fall.

By the way, Anybody here ever rented a car in Europe in the winter? Check out a rental website and act like you're booking a reservation in the winter. You'll notice a line that says "winter tires included" And we all know how much rental companies love throwing money away on extra tires they don't need.

[Black&Tan]

Thread necroed...

But yeah I always thought snow Tires were a waste... Until I drove with them in a snowstorm. Now I'm a convert.

[josephd]

Originally Posted by Miller88

I always run snow tires.

My old Ford Taurus with good snow tires was 100% my choice of vehicle to drive anytime the weather got bad.

Why? The snow tires gave it the traction it needed to dig through anything. The more agressive tread on the snow tires also helped when I would hit slush or even be driving through snow on the highway. Also, being a front wheel drive car, it was VERY heavy in the front and EXTREMELY predictable in the snow. Jeeps and a lot of other typical 4x4 SUVs tend to not be predictable or stable in the snow.

I've had my Focus through one minor snow storm when I first got it. While it didn't do terrible, it didn't do as well as I had hoped. I really don't feel comfortable driving on all seasons in the winter.

No intention to start an argument here. But that statement is 100% inaccurate. My Jeep Wrangler was hands down a million times better in the snow than my Focus or any other car I have driven in the snow, with the exception of AWD.