when do you put on your snow tires?

[riverc0il]

That's what studless friction tires are for. With a soft compound and lots of siping, you're not going to get the 50K miles you'd see out of all season radials. My snow tire selection is usually based on trying to optimize for black ice. I can get around just fine in the snow. It's ice when the temps are near freezing where I'm concerned about safety and keeping control of the car.... and that's independent of whether I'm driving FWD or AWD.

Different strokes for different folks here. Snow is why I need winter tires, not ice. Never had a problem with ice in all the years I used to drive to the mountains from MA. Getting going in snow, especially on an uphill... now that is why I buy winter tires. I think folks driving up from SoNE would have more need for a tire that performs well in the ice because up north ice is less of an issue compared to down south or driving north through a variety of temperatures in which it could be wet for miles and then flash freeze. Further north you go, the less you need to deal with ice since it stays colder longer and the temp doesn't bounce around between freezing and not freezing quite as much. Just my experiences here. I also have a super light weight sub-compact coupe, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

 

[skijay]

I changed usually the week of Thanksgiving.

If anybody has a 2002 - 2007 Saturn VUE and is interested in a snow tire package, let me know.

 

[Philpug]

12/15-3/15 Is my usual time with snows on.

 

[Johnskiismore]

Hee, hee, I'm glad this thread was started as I just realized that my snow tires are still in my landlords garage! Moved into the house last week.

 

[TheBEast]

I got the tripletreds.

Do you mind if I ask how much you paid all in? I'm getting a $744 quote from Town Fair tire including mounting and alignment. Just not sure if that's a good price or not. Works out to $186 per tire.