I've seen a few comments about snow tyres now that the winter is upon us - but I am a little confused as to what they are. Do you really have to have two sets of tyres / wheels, or are snow tyres something like snow chains that are put onto existing wheels ?

Recent thread:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=409444

Yes, and yes, well maybe, but, no not like chains (which are largely illegal here anyway) you just swap tires. Softer rubber, often specialy formulated to grip on ice, special tread patterns etc.

Snow Tires...tires for snow, simple really, they do what it says on the box

Thanks iaink. I know it sounded like a dumb question, but it sounds like a pain having to keep a spare set of wheels

Some stores/ car dealers will store them for you, but we mostly all have basements to keep this sort of crap in. Its not really that much of a pain, compared to inadvertently merging with a telephone pole.

Took me less than an hour to switch the wheels around recently anyway. If I was unable to do it Im sure my service center would have done it for a nominal fee. If you dont have spare rims its a bit more of a pain and costs more...plus you run the risk of knackering your alloy wheels with repeated tire mountings/ unmountings.

I live in the very rural North of Ontario and don't even bother with snow tyres! i drive a Jeep Liberty with all-year-round tyres and they're perfectly sufficient.

Until you need to stop in a hurry. Hope you arent driving behind me.

Well I live in Newfoundland where over the last two winters we've averaged something like 3 metres of snow a winter. I also drive a Jeep Liberty and would strongly recommend snow tires. The stock Goodyear ST or SRA's are useless in the wet let alone the snow.

I think it depends on where you are too. If you are driving where there is little traffic on the roads, the chances are you'll have plenty of time to stop/turn etc at your own pace, but driving on busy city highways with folks cutting you up, and all those terrible 4 way stops, it is helpful to be able to stop in a reasonably timely manner.

The problem with Calgary is that we have snow, we have ice, we have slush, we have ice, we have wet roads, we have ice, we have bare dry roads, we have more snow. The conditions are constantly changing, and I'm not sure snow tires quite fit the bill!

To my mind, driving on snow, proper winter tires would seem to be a godsend! If I knew we'd have snowy/icy roads for months or even weeks at a time, I might rethink swopping my "all seasons" for snow tires.

put simply

Snow tires > 4WD

or put another way

I had more control in a Celica with snow tires on

than I currently have in a 4WD Escape with good all seasons

Before I had snow tires on the Jeep I would struggle up an icy/packed snow covered slope even with 4x4 engaged that Mrs AX's FWD car with snow tires would drive up no problem. So I'd tend to agree with you!

Where the 4x4 comes into its own is in deeper snow / rutted snow where the ground clearance and extra traction can come into play. 4x4 does not however make you stop any quicker. A fact that passes a good percentage of 4x4 owners by......................

I'd go one step further and say all the extra weight of the 4x4 means your stopping distance will be about twice a normal car

We live in london, Ontario and have all season tyres as advised by friends, family and the dealership. I wouldn't bother with the extra expense if you don't need to. Just drive carefully!!!

Tracey

I've just stuck with the all-season tires for the two winters that we've been here although admittedly we don't do a lot of miles. Mind you although I'm sure that winter tires must be a good thing I wonder if they encourage some people to drive faster than they should be in winter conditions.

We bought a Liberty this summer as our second car. Compared to our Subaru Outback the Jeep feels like a deathtrap on snow even with Goodyear Nordic tyres. We're going to use the Subaru as much as we can, the Jeep is too heavy and feels like it just wants to plough straight on when you get to the corner and this is when I'm driving at just 10mph. We've got 5km of dirt road to get to our place and it's an absolute nightmare.