Quote:
Originally Posted by rory_a
Pretty sure I already know the answer to this, but is running snow-specific tires truly worth the cost?
I have the RE070s for summer, not thinking of running them anymore until March-ish. But, been considering either snow-specific or all-season tires (yes Scott, I know you have some Falken Ziexs available  ).
I've run both all-seasons and studded snows on my 4-wheel-drives in the past, and truly loved how solid the Grand Cherokee was on studded Winter Force, but the "hassle" of maintaining a lower freeway speed, and not being able (or at least wanting) to drive the car into warmer areas is indicative that all-seasons might be a better choice.
At this time I'm leaning more towards running some all-seasons (something like a set of used Falken Ziexs, for example ) year round and keeping the RE070s for fun (when does next season start???).
My driving consists of 30-40 miles commute daily from Stead to Sparks, with absolutely no leeway for being late because of snow. I head over to Tahoe often, but not regularly - hoping to get the snowmobiles out more than a few times this year, but last year we only got them out once. Also, my bum knees mean I don't ride much if at all.
Anyway, looking for thoughts here as to the what would truly be more cost-effective in the long run, yet still dependable to get to work - snows (studded or not) or all-seasons???
My current options are used studded snows for the stock 17" wheels for $150, used all-seasons for the stock 17" wheels (or a 17x8 ) for roughly $250, or used all-seasons on 18" wheels for $500. And being the materialistic, fashion over function kinda guy that I am, I'm leaning towards the 18" set up for daily use. |
My 2 cents echos the replies above.
If you've got the space and the money up-front, a set of dedicated studless snow tires is awesome. In the long run, the cost is hardly more because event though you've got two sets of tires for the car, you're wearing them out half as fast. Really the only added cost is the cost of the wheels for the snow tires.
If you don't *have* to drive in the snow, then I would recommend some good all-seasons for the car and just forgo the hassle of swapping wheels (not that it's a huge hassle). Simply put, Subaru's AWD system is pretty damn awesome, to the point where getting caught out in the snow on all-seasons isn't ever a big deal... you're not going to get stuck somewhere.
But if you have to drive in the snow regularly, you might as well run some snow tires since they're so much better than all-seasons, esp. on ice. Plus, now you can run a sticky no-compromise performance tire in the summer for autocross.
As far as studded tires... I wouldn't ever bother, unless I lived in Truckee or something. The snow in Reno is infrequent enough to make studs overkill. Also, for similar reasons, I tend to look for snow tires that have the best dry road ratings rather than snow/ice ratings. 90% of the winter, the roads are dry around here. Even driving over Donner, it's usually pretty clear because they plow so much. It's only on the days where it's actively snowed that you really need the snow/ice traction, so I like tires like the Wintersports as they're still very competent tires in the dry.