Winter Tires

[ReSTored]

I put Blizzak WS80 winter tires on my AWD Subaru Legacy first winter I had it and it was a mountain goat of a car, fantastic on ice.

Winter tires are like heated gear. People say you don't really need them but once you've experienced an AWD car or SUV on good winter tires in snow, or in particular on glare ice, you realize what you've been missing with all seasons.

 

[Kevcules]

I use winter tires on separate rims for my three vehicles. My 4WD Rav4 doesn't need studs, but I find my cars really do benefit from them. I used to buy big name brand expensive winter tires without studs and wasn't impressed with the performance. I then started buying close to the cheapest winter tires I could find and using studs, they were just as good, if not better. I've never used a winter tire yet that I could say "wow" and I tried a pile of them.

If one doesn't have separate rims and tires, the cost is getting crazy to have them switched twice a year. The tires "bead" does get flexed and stressed a lot every season doing that which isn't good for them.

I wonder if Quebec residents who rent a car in their own province would get resistance by the insurance company in the case of a claim without having had winter tires on the vehicle? The winter tires do make a big difference in handling and braking and that's why they mandate them. Makes sense from their financial point of view.

I would never run all season tires in the winter in this part of the country, we struggle even with winter tires sometimes.

 

[SMSW]

It turns out that the law applies only to vehicles registered in Québec, which only makes sense of course. To avoid the expense of equipping all of their Québec cars with winter tires, and then having to make sure that all of their Québec rental cars made it back here during the winter months, because that is where they have to have the winter tire equipped vehicles, the rental companies were simply registering the cars in Ontario and sending them to Québec with Ontario plates on them.

Good to know Canadians have loopholes in their laws and folks take advantage of them.

And here I thought this thread was about darksiders looking for winter tires....

 

[Kevcules]

And here I thought this thread was about darksiders looking for winter tires....

The words “winter tires” are mentioned and you think Canadians aren’t going to mention our 4 wheeled friends who wear them? Lol

 

[SMSW]

The words “winter tires” are mentioned and you think Canadians aren’t going to mention our 4 wheeled friends who wear them? Lol

Well, this was posted in ST Forums>Technical>Tires Wheels. Had it been posted in Off Topic.....

With our election day coming up next week, I'm disheartened by the candidates for our local City Council and made the comment about loopholes mostly because it seems people are people all over...probably not much different in China, Timbuktu, Ecuador, or the United States, or Canada. I keep having to remind myself this.

 

[Kevcules]

With our election day coming up next week, I'm disheartened by the candidates for our local City Council and made the comment about loopholes mostly because it seems people are people all over...probably not much different in China, Timbuktu, Ecuador, or the United States, or Canada. I keep having to remind myself this.

Usually with politics, you have to choose the "lesser of the two evils". It's rare to have one candidate that is truly standing up for the majority of the people in that one area.
For some reason US politics are the majority of the news events shown on TV in the past years, so we'll all be watching what happens!
Good luck!

 

[CYYJ]

Winter tires (snow tires) are something that is "free of charge" for anyone who plans to keep their car for more than 50,000 miles.

My rationale goes like this: The original set of tires that came on the car is not going to last longer than 40,000 miles. That means that somewhere around the 40,000 mile mark, you are going to have to buy a new set of tires. Rather than doing that, if you buy a set of snow tires when you first get the car, you will get 80,000 miles out of the two sets assuming equal use of both, which is a reasonable assumption for most of Canada. Your total tire expense over the 80,000 mile lifetime of the car is the same, but you get the benefit of having snow tires for the winter season.

The only additional cost is the price of the extra set of rims. It takes me a little over half an hour to change the 4 wheels in my driveway each spring and fall.

Michael

PS: In the Province of Ontario, you will get a discount of a minimum of 5% on your annual insurance premium if you use winter tires. Over the course of 5 or 6 years, that's enough to pay for the rims.

PPS: The only thing I don't like about snow tires is that they often are noisier than summer tires. Last year, I bought a new set of 'Conti Winter Contact' snow tires, and found that they are very quiet, no more noise than the summer tires.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

I wonder if Quebec residents who rent a car in their own province would get resistance by the insurance company in the case of a claim without having had winter tires on the vehicle? The winter tires do make a big difference in handling and braking and that's why they mandate them. Makes sense from their financial point of view.

To the best of my knowledge, and it has been my experience, that insurance companies couldn't care less about the winter tire law or whether or not it is being respected. I have yet to have an insurance company, or hear of an insurance company, ask about winter tires, mandate winter tire use, question whether they are fitted or not, check if they were on the car involved in an accident, offer a discount if they are used, or otherwise seem to care about it. It has never even come up as a topic when talking about coverage with my broker.

As for rental cars, the insurance, adhesion to the law, and meeting all other vehicular legal requirements of the territory that they operate in I would assume is the responsibility of the rental company as they own the vehicle. Since the law only applies to vehicles that are registered in Québec, they were legal by bringing cars in that were registered in Ontario.

 

[Kevcules]

To the best of my knowledge, and it has been my experience, that insurance companies couldn't care less about the winter tire law or whether or not it is being respected. I have yet to have an insurance company, or hear of an insurance company, ask about winter tires, mandate winter tire use, question whether they are fitted or not, check if they were on the car involved in an accident. offer a discount if they are used, or otherwise seem to care about it. It never has never even come up as a topic when talking about coverage with my broker.

As for rental cars, the insurance, adhesion to the law, and meeting all other vehicular legal requirements of the territory that they operate in I would assume is the responsibility of the rental company as they own the vehicle. Since the law only applies to vehicles that are registered in Québec, they were legal by bringing cars in that were registered in Ontario.

Wow.....interesting. It's law to have winter tires on in Quebec which saves accidents/claims and the insurance companies seem uninterested in that subject? You would think that could be one way for them to get out of paying for repairs. It's not like they aren't always looking for ways to do just that?

In NB , we get a discount for having 4 winter tires installed. Not sure what it is, but it is a question that is asked by most companies and if they don't ask, I mention it which they then agree, it helps with the premium.

 

[rwthomas1]

Winter tires (snow tires) are something that is "free of charge" for anyone who plans to keep their car for more than 50,000 miles.

My rationale goes like this: The original set of tires that came on the car is not going to last longer than 40,000 miles. That means that somewhere around the 40,000 mile mark, you are going to have to buy a new set of tires. Rather than doing that, if you buy a set of snow tires when you first get the car, you will get 80,000 miles out of the two sets assuming equal use of both, which is a reasonable assumption for most of Canada. Your total tire expense over the 80,000 mile lifetime of the car is the same, but you get the benefit of having snow tires for the winter season.

The only additional cost is the price of the extra set of rims. It takes me a little over half an hour to change the 4 wheels in my driveway each spring and fall.

Michael

PS: In the Province of Ontario, you will get a discount of a minimum of 5% on your annual insurance premium if you use winter tires. Over the course of 5 or 6 years, that's enough to pay for the rims.

PPS: The only thing I don't like about snow tires is that they often are noisier than summer tires. Last year, I bought a new set of 'Conti Winter Contact' snow tires, and found that they are very quiet, no more noise than the summer tires.

Another data point: AWD/4WD vehicles are more expensive to buy, maintain, repair and insure. A set of good snow tires drastically increase the winter capability of any 2WD vehicle. In my experience, enough so that for normal use there is little reason to pay the freight on a 4WD. Saves money in the long run.

RT

 

[SMSW]

Winter tires (snow tires) are something that is "free of charge" for anyone who plans to keep their car for more than 50,000 miles.

My rationale goes like this: The original set of tires that came on the car is not going to last longer than 40,000 miles. That means that somewhere around the 40,000 mile mark, you are going to have to buy a new set of tires. Rather than doing that, if you buy a set of snow tires when you first get the car, you will get 80,000 miles out of the two sets assuming equal use of both, which is a reasonable assumption for most of Canada. Your total tire expense over the 80,000 mile lifetime of the car is the same, but you get the benefit of having snow tires for the winter season.

I'm going to split hairs, Michael, because I never saw 80K out of those two sets of tires. Years ago, I bought a used set of wheels and had new snows mounted. I changed the wheels towards the end of November myself. Snow tires seem to wear more quickly than regular tires, and unlike you folks, we get snow covered roads for a relatively short period of time. Indeed, three relatively affluent communities here brag about 'wet roads' in winter. That means we rarely see snow for more than a day or two (side roads) and dedicated snow tires have become a thing of the past since all season tires do a 'good enough' job.

Back to those hairy tires. Up where you are, you get snow that hangs around longer, so you would have to run some tests. How many miles will you get out of a snow tire running on snow? I'd bet more than that 40K. Maybe you could ask some of your 'Ice Road' buddies how long their tires last on those big rigs driving up north.

BTW, the wet road policy means your car will rust out before those extended mileage tires die, and rust is NOT covered by insurance.

 

[SMSW]

Another data point: AWD/4WD vehicles are more expensive to buy, maintain, repair and insure. A set of good snow tires drastically increase the winter capability of any 2WD vehicle. In my experience, enough so that for normal use there is little reason to pay the freight on a 4WD. Saves money in the long run.

Unless of course, you like to go up hills (and down). Then an AWD vehicle does the trick and 4WD w/ lockers is not needed.

 

[rwthomas1]

Unless of course, you like to go up hills (and down). Then an AWD vehicle does the trick and 4WD w/ lockers is not needed.

My job requires me to be there. Last winter I had to go to and from work, 84 miles round trip, in blizzards dumping 1+inch an hour. This happened exactly twice, with 4-6" of snow on the roads. Residential, side roads and highway. My crappy old commuter made it easily, confidently, with a good set of snows. Once I get to work I have an '19 AWD Ford Escape with regular tires to drive. Gets the job done, but does slide around more as the regular tires just dont grip like snows. Ill take my crappy, cheap commuter any day, anywhere. And I ain't paying the freight on a note either.

RT