I had the general altimax winters installed on my 2005 about a month ago....too soon it seems,as the first snow was today. what is the life expectancy of these tires if they aren't being driven on the snow? I drive my sons car when there isn't snow on the ground,but his car is only available for another month or so.
general altimax life expectancy?
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Are those miles mostly dry, not snowy/icy highway miles? That will def speed up their wearing out faster vs using those tires on snow at slower speeds.
cant say for sure how long the life will last though. Just know you are doing over 1000 miles a month, if they see 5k a year at your current rate...thats not so bad. Id still expect several seasons out of them
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umm,
car averages 20k km per year, snow tires 5 month per year, convert to miles.
about 5k miles per year.
yes,mostly dry so far...it's been cold,but not near as much snow as in past years....good to know they should last a few seasons.
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Thenorm said his lasted 5 seasons and puts on roughly the same mileage you see. Id say anything past 3-4 seasons is pretty good. You can check the winter snow bar wear indicator on the treads at the beginning/end of the season to see how much life you have left.
http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/todds-tire-decision-guide
Using them on dry roads kills them I think, especially if it's warmer out.
Put them on when you see a solid stretch of cold weather (and snow of course) and take them off when you don't see much more snow. In late winter (because the cold weather lasts well after the sun has reached higher in the sky) the sun melts the snow during the day, so you don't really need the snows even though it's still cool out. You learn over time when they are needed on average, plus watch the forecast and wait for the first big storms and cold weather.
My prior car's Firestones (Winterforce - can't recall if that's the new name or old model) lasted most of the car's 15 year life (99 Contour). One winter we only got 50" or so (pretty much a record here) and under 100" another year, I kept the summers on those 2 years.
I replaced 2 of them last winter, partly because one leaked, but the other 2 are still from 1999. I only put ~3k miles on them each year, and being a light car, they did no wear quickly. Roads are often wet here - they salt the heck out of the roads when we get under an inch of snow - arg!!!
Put them on when you see a solid stretch of cold weather (and snow of course) and take them off when you don't see much more snow. In late winter (because the cold weather lasts well after the sun has reached higher in the sky) the sun melts the snow during the day, so you don't really need the snows even though it's still cool out. You learn over time when they are needed on average, plus watch the forecast and wait for the first big storms and cold weather.
My prior car's Firestones (Winterforce - can't recall if that's the new name or old model) lasted most of the car's 15 year life (99 Contour). One winter we only got 50" or so (pretty much a record here) and under 100" another year, I kept the summers on those 2 years.
I replaced 2 of them last winter, partly because one leaked, but the other 2 are still from 1999. I only put ~3k miles on them each year, and being a light car, they did no wear quickly. Roads are often wet here - they salt the heck out of the roads when we get under an inch of snow - arg!!!
I agree 100% (nothing a person can do about the road being dry though assuming they are not put on too early and left on too late, as many people do).
My snows lasted forever (13 seasons, 3k miles each winter!!!) - I think because our roads are wet most days.
I did not do anything magic except to not put them on too early (I literally wait until the night before the first long stretch of bad weather) nor take them off too late.
My Contour's all-season tires did not last very long (dry roads in summer)...I went through 3 sets of tires - the junky OEM tires, BFG's, and Uniroyals in 142k miles (minus whatever miles I put on the snows - perhaps as many as 40k miles).
My snows lasted forever (13 seasons, 3k miles each winter!!!) - I think because our roads are wet most days.
I did not do anything magic except to not put them on too early (I literally wait until the night before the first long stretch of bad weather) nor take them off too late.
My Contour's all-season tires did not last very long (dry roads in summer)...I went through 3 sets of tires - the junky OEM tires, BFG's, and Uniroyals in 142k miles (minus whatever miles I put on the snows - perhaps as many as 40k miles).
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