Consider the possibility of being stranded in the snow or having one of those nasty fender benders.  Winter tires can be a minimal investment that will last over several years.

Change your tires with the seasons with a Preferred Winter Tire & Wheel Package from Tire Rack.

Near the top you can select your vehicle make, year, and model. You will then be given the opportunity to select a “preferred package” (incidentally, for me this was the low cost package – I could upgrade but they did not try to push a high priced package) or you can build your own package. If you choose the preferred package you could be done in about 5 minutes. If you want to be a little more selective it will take a few more minutes.

If you choose to build your own package, you will be given choices of tires that have already been determined to be appropriate for your vehicle along with pricing and tire information. You can simply select a tire or if you like you can do more research on the site of testing and user reviews. After you select a tire, you will be given wheel options again specific to your vehicle. Select a wheel – these are not universal wheels, they are specifically matched to your vehicle. Mounting and balancing is free! Everything is then shipped right to your door including lugs, center caps and everything necessary to put your new tires on.

You can save literally hours from waiting at the tire dealer and hundreds of dollars can be saved on mounting charges over the years. The cost up front will be a bit more – how much depends on what type of wheels you select but the end result can be significant savings over time. Drive safely and see the packages available for your vehicle here:

Change your tires with the seasons with a Preferred Winter Tire & Wheel Package from Tire Rack.

Simply get another set of wheels to mount your snow tires on.  You can then just unbolt your tires when the weather breaks and put your summer tires on.  You can do this in under 30 minutes in your garage or driveway.  No need for remounting, waiting for hours or drinking bad coffee (or is that actually recycled motor oil?).  You can determine how much you want to spend using this method.  Some advise that you buy some old wheels from a salvage yard for your snow tires.  This may be a good idea but by the time you pay for mounting it may not save you much money over what you can get in a package deal.

At least one online tire store will sell you a package of wheels and snow tires with mounting and balancing done free.  Given this you could easily get new wheels that specifically fit your vehicle and all the mounting hardware at a fee as good or better than getting a set of salvage wheels. The salvage wheels may or may not specifically fit your vehicle.  Whatever you do, be sure the wheel fits your vehicle well and be sure that all the mounting hardware is made for your vehicle.  If you want, you can also purchase more expensive wheels especially if you are apt to keep cars for a long time or you tend to buy the same cars.  Regardless, you should be able to sell these wheels with the car at a premium or sell them on Ebay or through a classified ad when you are through with them.  In any case you will not need to remount tires a couple times a year and the wheels will pay for themselves in a few seasons by saving the remounting charges.

Change your tires with the seasons with a Preferred Winter Tire & Wheel Package from Tire Rack.

There are many benefits to this package.  There is no driving and waiting at the tire store, simply log on to your computer, do all the research you want to do to find the best tire for your vehicle.  If you don’t want to do any research you don’t have to.   Just click the link above and enter your vehicle make and model will give you everything you need.  I’ll walk you through the process in the next post but just clicking the “Preferred Package” will give you everything you need.  For me they suggested the least expensive option.  Of course if you want to upgrade you can do that as well.

Until next time drive safely,

Tim

All-Season tires are not enough in winter weather

Winter tires are specifically built to grab snow and ice. Unlike an all-season or summer tire, a snow tire is formed with a softer, more flexible rubber formula more suitable to cold weather.  Using this compound, a winter tire retains its traction capabilities to hold the road better and to grip snow and ice.  A summer or all season tire will be apt to become more brittle and inflexible in cold temperatures and therefore it will slide much easier.  The power to bite into snow and ice and to conform to the road is important in the winter to avert getting stuck, to steer and corner effectively and to stop.  A tire not made specifically for cold weather cannot function effectively in winter stopping and cornering.   Many newer cars are equipped with features like antilock brakes, stability control and even all wheel drive to help with effective maneuvering however, these systems are only as effective as the tires upon which all the systems are dependent.

Consider an emergency room equipped with all the most modern and best equipment ready to take care of any emergency thrust upon it.  However, this ER is staffed by only first year med students.  All the top machinery in the world will not save lives without the key skill of the doctor.  In the same way, all the finest traction systems on a car are useless without proper tires.  All-season tires are built to function in varied but general weather conditions: Dry roads and rain and in warmer temperatures.  They are not made for specific weather conditions and they can not deliver adequate control and safety in winter driving conditions.

Compromising to control costs:

Some may try to mitigate costs by either changing only the drive wheels on their vehicle to snow tires or by possibly leaving winter tires on year round.  Neither are good options.

In an effort to curtail cost, some people try using snow tires only on the drive wheels of their vehicle.  This is an ineffective and possibly risky solution.  This may give you the confidence in a number of situations of having control however this is an illusion and the false confidence may lead to reckless results. Putting snow tires in the front on a front wheel drive may allow better starts and stopping but it places you in danger of fishtailing around turns.  The rear wheels will not have sufficient traction to manage the turns your front wheels initiate.  Similarly and maybe more dangerous, putting snow tires on the rear wheels of a rear wheel drive car will allow better starts but will do nothing for steering or braking.  It is always advised to install snow tires in a complete set of four.

What about leaving winter tires on all year round?  This is not really a good suggestion. As was mentioned above, winter tires are made of a softer rubber compound.  That means they will wear down much more rapidly than a tire designed for warmer driving conditions.  They are built for wet slippery driving.  Warm, dry pavement is not their friend, it is really their enemy.  This is critical for a couple reasons.  First you will end up replacing your tires more frequently simply from wear.  The biggest objective for leaving snow tires on all year would be to mitigate the need for another set of tires but quicker wear will mean you will in fact be buying tires more often.  Secondly, a deep tread is vital for a snow tire to be most helpful.  The tread helps the tire dig into snow and ice and the deep channels help to divert slush from under the tire.  As the tire is worn by summer driving, its effectiveness in the winter is significantly diminished.

Another reason to change tires as soon as the snow clears for good is for a more comfortable ride.  All season tires and summer tires among other things are made for a comfortable ride.  Snow tires are not.  All season and summer tires are made to be quiet on the road, winter tires are apt to be quite loud on the road.  Since you are using a good snow tire, you can put a summer tire on your car for better performance.  In this way you will be using tires specifically designed for the seasons you are driving in.  This way you can get better traction and a smoother and quieter ride in all seasons.

You can find the best snow tire for your vehicle at the following links.  See test results and owner reviews.
Shopping for tires? Read Tire Rack’s tire test results first.

Tire Rack’s Customer Reviews. Begin by selecting your vehicle. Then select a tire.
Change your tires with the seasons with a Preferred Winter Tire & Wheel Package from Tire Rack.