Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

Hi Guys,

My wife and i have just moved to Calgary and have picked up a Dodge SX sedan and a Ford F150 2wd truck.

The truck has all season tires on it, the car just has standard tires.

We will put winter tires on the dodge but would they be needed for the truck?

The all season tires are quite new and have loads of grip left.

Also where can you get cheap winter tires and rims in Calgary?

Thanks

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

Hubby had a 2wd Ford F150 the 1st winter we were here, it was an older one and a long box, it was also a mild winter and I know the winters are different in Calgary and Red Deer, he had all seasons and he used to get stuck at the bottom of the road on the way to work - if he had to stop and wait for traffic and once or twice he had to be pushed out of the road when doing a U to park up out the front. So I'm thnking winter tyres might be the way to go here.

This year is the 1st year I will have winter tyres on my vehicle - only because they came with the SUV, I've always had all seasons, so seeing as I can't comment on the differences I won't.

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

Winter tires for trucks are not all that easy to find

My boss has Goodyear Fortera, which are winter rated.

"Cheap" and "winter tires and rims" sadly dont often get seen in the same sentence.

The best deal I've found was through mail ordering from www.tiretrends.com in BC, but then I would get dinged for the PST buying locally where I am, which is not an issue in AB.

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

I used to have a Mazda B4000 2 wd pickup. In the winter, both in Ontario and NS, I put four 100lb bags of rock salt in the bed. It gave me the traction that I needed. In some 32 winters here I have never had winter tires. All season tires and common sense worked fine. For the last eight winters I haven't needed them at all 'cos there's no snow in Yuma, AZ. !! LOL

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

I have been told to put bags of sand in the back of the truck as it will help the traction. I think it will be a case of trial and hopefully not too many errors.

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

To be fair, Ontario and NS dont get nearly as cold as Alberta, and its in the extreme cold that regular rubber hardens and looses its ability to grip well...

In Ontario its probably the deeper more aggressive tread that makes what difference it does, but in Alberta the softer rubber compounds would be more of a factor more of the time.

I would bow to local experience, but common sense is telling me that adding weight to push the wheels down wont make as much difference if the rubber is rock hard. Still, the sand or salt will be handy for treating the road surface when you get stuck, although carrying the extra weight around for a few months is going to hurt your fuel economy to some extent, and it will be bad enough in the cold months without the extra weight anyway...

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

We went to winter tyres for both of our vehicles last year. The difference is like night and day. I would never drive without them now.

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

This is where Kijiji comes in handy IF you know what your looking for BUT it is probably the wrong time of year now, people quite often sell their winter tyres and rims seperately to when they sell their vehicle (and they sell them after winter because they don't want to store them all summer), I'm sorry to say there are people out there that don't realise there are different stud patterns to different makes of vehicles, a friend called us over to help change her rims - different sized wheels completely:ohmy:

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

I've driven several vehicles on both all seasons and winter tires on the snow and ice
If you think you just as safe with all seasons, your part of the reason why insurance is so high here

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

I was thinking more in terms of just general availability. Its not like they make Blizzaks in truck sizes, or that canadian tire has them either. The Goodyear Fortera is the only winter rated truck tire I know off....there are lots of "Mud and Snow" rated ones, but very few with the http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/safev...s/snowtire.gif rating as far as I know...

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

255 x 70 17's are available in Blizzaks. I've got them on my F150.

Many manufacturers produce truck sized winter tires.

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

I was just indicating that you can pick up nearly new/part used tyres/rims on kijiji for cheap - BUT only if you know what your looking for, I for instance wouldn't have a scooby, luckily I know someone who does and there are many guys and gals out there that would know a good tyre from a rough one. The winter tyres I have are for a Navigator, I believe that's the same size as an F150.

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

The cheapest winter tyres are much better than the most expensive all seasons.

I would suggest these though if you only want one set.

http://www.nokiantires.com/tyre?id=1...okian+WRG2+SUV

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

Totally agree. We had winter tires on our Rav 4 this past winter (two previous years winter driving without) and the difference was amazing. We got quotes from all the usual suspects but in the end got some Michelin X-Ice from Toyota as (and we couldn't really believe this) they were so much cheaper than the others - even Costco.

We bought tires and rims so that hubby could change them at season end and I think they were around $1000 for four (wheels, tires and all the nutty things!). Definitely worth it ...

J :)

Re: Winter tires or All season for Calgary???
 

Trucks with 2wd on the rear wheels are next to useless in snow and ice without the concrete blocks or whatever in the back. Mine spins the rear wheels on dry tarmac if i try but there is no effort needed on loose gravel or slippery conditions.