10-04-2009, 04:42 PM
OK, for anyone north of the 49'th and doesn't live in Vancouver, and says "I've gotten by just fine on all seasons" has never tried snow tires in snow and slush.
On the Prairies it's a little different story, since it gets cold, stays cold, and they sand the roads with actual sand, unlike southern Ontario, where we season them liberally with salt to produce a wet slushy mess.
Snow tires are made with a rubber compound designed to work at temperatures below 4' C. All season tires have a compound that gets hard and inflexible below 4'. Snow tires are designed with smaller sipes in the tread blocks to provide grip on slick surfaces. This, combined with the softer compound, will give you excellent grip and traction in snow and on slick cold surfaces, something the AS's won't.
I got a set of 4 snow tires for my '95 Civic last winter for $300 installed. They were the first snow tires I'd bought in many years, having muddled through (by necessity) on AS's. The previous year, we had a 4" snowfall and my Civic couldn't even make it up the gentle hill to my street. This year we had a 6" snowfall, and I drove right through it, with confidence. The peace of mind you have in hitting the brakes on snow and slush and ice with snow tires is well worth the few extra dollars you'll save by going with AS's for the year.
Even the cheap snows you can get from Wally World are going to be a huge improvement over your all seasons come winter time. About the only "all season" tire that might be better than a general all season are the "aqua tread" types designed to channel water away - since most of the time the roads are more wet than slippery, since we use more salt than anything else in the winter.
On the Prairies it's a little different story, since it gets cold, stays cold, and they sand the roads with actual sand, unlike southern Ontario, where we season them liberally with salt to produce a wet slushy mess.
Snow tires are made with a rubber compound designed to work at temperatures below 4' C. All season tires have a compound that gets hard and inflexible below 4'. Snow tires are designed with smaller sipes in the tread blocks to provide grip on slick surfaces. This, combined with the softer compound, will give you excellent grip and traction in snow and on slick cold surfaces, something the AS's won't.
I got a set of 4 snow tires for my '95 Civic last winter for $300 installed. They were the first snow tires I'd bought in many years, having muddled through (by necessity) on AS's. The previous year, we had a 4" snowfall and my Civic couldn't even make it up the gentle hill to my street. This year we had a 6" snowfall, and I drove right through it, with confidence. The peace of mind you have in hitting the brakes on snow and slush and ice with snow tires is well worth the few extra dollars you'll save by going with AS's for the year.
Even the cheap snows you can get from Wally World are going to be a huge improvement over your all seasons come winter time. About the only "all season" tire that might be better than a general all season are the "aqua tread" types designed to channel water away - since most of the time the roads are more wet than slippery, since we use more salt than anything else in the winter.