banana13

So from the title, are winter tires really worth it because I want to know everyone elses opinion when it comes to buying winter tires, and switching them because in my opinion I find it a hassle to have to switch them everytime and the dealer to switch them out and rotate them correctly and all of this is costly for me but I understand that if you dont switch them then your tires will wear out faster due to poor weather conditions but in the past I had a 1987 Honda civic Si and only encountered a few problems , but nothing that resulted in an accident? Now I have a 2014 acura rdx and currently live in Canada but dont drive anywhere that far like from my house to work is only 6kms.

Thanks for all your input from the Acurazine Community!!!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

first of all; lets get the basics out of the way.

Traction is very important.
if you dont have traction; your car will slide.

Tires are very important because they can prevent you from an accident.


Sometimes; year long all season tires wont cut it.
because youve been driving on them for a year already, what happens if you encounter something that your driving skills cant over come?

you've just crashed.

panamera125

Just debating this right now... Michelin did a test FWD with Winter tires vs AWD with all seasons, and the FWD was better at cornering and breaking with the winters, and AWD was only better for straight line acceleration. For about the same cost as switching the tires every year, you could buy a new set of wheels for the car, have the tires mounted and switch them yourself.

ceb

I don't know. You tell me

http://www.tirerack.com/videos/index...=91&tab=winter

http://www.tirerack.com/videos/index...=23&tab=winter

I ALWAYS opt for winter tires. They are far cheaper than the alternative.

NBP04TL4ME

The short answer is yes. Over and above that, "worth it" is going to vary from person to person. Personally, I have two sets of rims and tires so swapping over twice a year isn't a big deal as I do it in my garage with a floor jack and takes about 30 mins. Essentially - no Ned for a dealer or anyone else.

AXMACD

I live in NS, Canada. I run a set of winters on all of my vehicles.. all on rims.. not cheap but I'm never stuck! Get winter tires!

YeuEmMaiMai

yes it's worth it to get winter tires if you can afford them

seaman116

Definitely worth it! Night and day.I live in Northern N.H. Lots of snow and have Michelin Ice
-They're great!

Jakes_tl

Winter Tires are amazing but can be expensive.

andysinnh

Any vehicle will benefit from winter tires since, at a minimum, the cornering and stopping capabilities will be improved, regardless of whether it's AWD, FWD or RWD. Whether your vehicle "needs" it is a personal preference, and depends a lot on where you live, where you drive, and what you expect.

Living in NH, I've had dedicated wheels/tires for the winter on virtually every vehicle I've owned for the past 30+ years. In the early days I'd put snows only on the drive wheels and improved all-seasons on the others, but after a couple rounds with that setup I went to the matched set of 4 of whatever I got (about the same time Tire Rack started saying the same thing). To give you an idea of what we ran this winter with 4 of the vehicles in my family:

- Wife's '12 Acura TL w/SH-AWD - summer tires/wheels are the stock 18" gunmetal wheels w/Michelin MXM's - winter tires/wheels are a set of 17" TL alloys with Nokian Hakka R's mounted. Nickname - "the ultimate tank in the winter"

- Son's '14 Honda Accord LX - summer tires/wheels stock 16" alloys with Firestone Affinity OEM junk (drive till they wear out) - winter tires/wheels are old, refurbished set of 15" CR-V accessory alloys (had them in my basement stock) with Nokian Nordman 5 studded snows mounted. Nickname - "next to the best thing as the ultimate tank"

- Middle son's '04 Mazda Tribute V6 AWD - OEM old factory alloys with a set of Nokian WR-G2's. For him and his urban boston commute they work just fine....

- Youngest son's (still learning to drive) '08 Mini Cooper non-turbo automatic - OEM 15" alloys with Nokian Hakka R2's - does OK but because the mini is light you still get spin, even with TC/DSC. Studded snows might be an improvement.

- On my '13 MDX I ran the OEM bridestone's for the first year and they did OK, but for this past winter I found a couple of craigslist "finds" - set of OEM Honda Pilot steel wheels w/sensors ($100) and a set of half-used General Altimax Arctic studded snows ($200). This worked well - great traction - but you couldn't hear yourself think. The MDX would do OK if the tread pattern on the tires was grippy enough. Might have considered replacing stock Bridgestones with maybe a set of Nokian WR-G3 SUV's if I decided to keep it.

- Not sure about the RDX next year. Going to try with the stock Michelin's to see how it does. If not happy will find a set of 17" wheels and slap some Nokian's on it.


Yea- as you can see Nokian is my brand of choice. Local dealer can beat prices of Michelin x-Ice or Bridgestone Blizzak's with the Nokian line - and most in Europe or Canada would agree that Nokians are overall the best solution. And I agree.

andy

mrgold35

I would even go for winter tires if the temps are near or below freezing for long stretches of time, with or without snow. Winter tires are formulated to stay more pliable give max traction in cold/freezing temps compared to all season and summer tires.

visiter555

Not worth it in Florida, but here in Canada there are a part of life. Best compromise in the winter snow covered parts is the Nokian WRG3 ALL Weather tires. Note I didn't say "All Season"...lol

andysinnh

I concur with the WR G3 SUV tires - deifnitely something you can run year-round and get true winter traction when you need it. They do wear a little quicker than a normal tire (so if you put a lot of miles on you will want to run a dedicated winter tire like the Hakka R2 from Nokian), but do last a fairly long time and are relatively quiet even on dry roads. No, I'm not in Canada, but here in NH, Nokian is a tire a lot of us rely upon.

andy