Winter Tire Thread (was: GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ New Jersey Devils - 7:00pm ET - TUE. Feb. 1, 2011)

I had two sets of winter tires on my cars but I traded them in in the spring and decided to keep the 4 seasons for the first year. Not sure that was a great decision as I find the 4-seasons to be a little un-reliable.

In the past, I have gone to Messena, NY (just across the bridge from Cornwall) to get my tires. There's a guy that puts them in in his garage and it's between 1/2 and 1/3 of the Canadian price (same tire, brand new).

I think in the US, some states have it as a law that the min tread depth is 3/32nd's of an inch. Each manufacturer may have it's own setting, and of course, the earlier you change your tire, the more money for them!

Welcome to GMTires, where it's all tires, all the time.

I'm sooooo glad I don't leave the house on Wednesdays.

rooneypoo wrote:Welcome to GMTires, where it's all tires, all the time.

I'm sooooo glad I don't leave the house on Wednesdays.

It's a classic hijack of a thread for sure.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:The difference using snow tires, especially on lighter vehicles, is tremendous. I consider it a safety concern, and I just won’t have a vehicle without them, especially with a wife and a two year-old.

I understand that they are expensive, but I’d rather have a healthy family and be $1,000 poorer.

I guess I've just been extremely lucky then since in 20 years of driving I've never had winter tires on any of my vehicles which include:
Nissan Micra, Ford Escort, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Oldsmobile Intrigue, Chevy Malibu and Hyundai Elantra. I understand the reasoning behind getting winter tires and it does improve your stopping distance etc... BTW I have a wife and a 2 year old and a 6 month old. I resent the implication.

I'm not really implying anything; it's the rationale I used in my own brain for justifying the expenditure.

If, god forbid, my wife was ever in an accident, or if I were in an accident with my two year old, I would never want to live with the regret/doubt in my mind that winter tires might have made a difference. I’d rather not have that weighing on my mind every day for the rest of my life. If I were a single guy, I may very well have opted not to buy them, but I just can’t take that risk with my family. It's not always about how safe a driver YOU are...you can't account for the other guy.

Again, I'm not trying to imply anything, I'm just stating my thought-process.

shabbs wrote:I was a winter tire skeptic for a long time as well and then my All Season's started to wear down and were slipping a lot in the winter. I had a set of winter ice tires put on my truck and damn, what a difference it made. I was very impressed. A skeptic no longer.

Still, the key is to not drive like a fool and take your time.

Unless your 4x4'ing it in snow drifts, safely away from anyone... heh heh.

I was on a conf-call this morning and had to step out of the kitchen area (kids too noisy). So there I am in the living room, looking out the front window, when this idiot in an SUV comes barreling down the street -- the street takes an almost 90 degree turn and our house is just on one side of it. He partially lost control and bumped right off the curb -- for a split second I thought he would jump right over the snowbank and take out our tree. There was a lot of snow by the curb so that softened the blow a bit, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had some damage to his wheels/axle/whatever. And he didn't slow down either. Just gunned it a bit more -- which didn't work as well as he had hoped -- and then continued swerving all the way up to the stop sign. What a tool. This was around 8:30 when there probably were already some kids walking to school.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

shabbs wrote:I was a winter tire skeptic for a long time as well and then my All Season's started to wear down and were slipping a lot in the winter. I had a set of winter ice tires put on my truck and damn, what a difference it made. I was very impressed. A skeptic no longer.

Still, the key is to not drive like a fool and take your time.

Unless your 4x4'ing it in snow drifts, safely away from anyone... heh heh.

I have no doubt that having winter tires makes a huge difference but I don't think you can say that it's a necessity IMO. If you drive safely and according to your abilities, the conditions and the vehicle's capabilities then it should be fine.

I go through this every winter it seems with the free tires only being put on the car when the old ones are at 3 32nds (Not sure what that means). Funny thing is the company actually advises customers to change them when they're at 4 32nds LOL.

Thing is, Clutch, you can control *your* driving all you want, but it's the rest of the drivers out there that you still have to worry about. I certainly don't rely on my ABS, but they can come in handy to avoid bad drivers. Similarly with snow tires.

shabbs wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I go through this every winter it seems with the free tires only being put on the car when the old ones are at 3 32nds (Not sure what that means). Funny thing is the company actually advises customers to change them when they're at 4 32nds LOL.

3/32nds refers to the tread depth, ie: 3/32nd's of an inch. There should be wear bars on your tires in the tread grooves. If your tread is at the same level as the wear bar, get new tires ASAP. The tread bar is usual 2/32nd's of an inch. I got nearly 100,000km out of my last set of all-season's, which is pretty good.

You sure? Are you also counting the winter driving you do on your winter tires?

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I go through this every winter it seems with the free tires only being put on the car when the old ones are at 3 32nds (Not sure what that means). Funny thing is the company actually advises customers to change them when they're at 4 32nds LOL.

3/32nds refers to the tread depth, ie: 3/32nd's of an inch. There should be wear bars on your tires in the tread grooves. If your tread is at the same level as the wear bar, get new tires ASAP. The tread bar is usual 2/32nd's of an inch. I got nearly 100,000km out of my last set of all-season's, which is pretty good.

You sure? Are you also counting the winter driving you do on your winter tires?

Hellz yeah.

Got a spreadsheet tracking each tire change and the mileage on summer vs winter tires.

Here's my summary section:



Yep. I'm that guy.

You know what's also pretty neat? Hockey. And talking about hockey.

rooneypoo wrote:You know what's also pretty neat? Hockey. And talking about hockey.

True.

I wonder if there are any other threads that are talking about hockey. Man, I really hope there is one.

If not, someone should start one.

*sarcasm off*

This thread has been JACKED! It's now the Winter Tire Thread.

I got me some Toyo's, and they are awesome!!!!!

tim1_2 wrote:I got me some Toyo's, and they are awesome!!!!!

I've got my eyes on a set of Toyo Open County MT's when my BFG's are done...



Fekkin' beautiful.

What are you putting those things on?

tim1_2 wrote:What are you putting those things on?

My 4x4 Dakota.

shabbs wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:I got me some Toyo's, and they are awesome!!!!!

I've got my eyes on a set of Toyo Open County MT's when my BFG's are done...



Fekkin' beautiful.

Those would look great on my Kia RIO ; how much $$$ ?

TheAvatar wrote:

shabbs wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:I got me some Toyo's, and they are awesome!!!!!

I've got my eyes on a set of Toyo Open County MT's when my BFG's are done...



Fekkin' beautiful.

Those would look great on my Kia RIO ; how much $$$ ?

They won't be cheap... probably around $350 each.

You should price them in the US