Winter tires

[Pascal]

Winter tires are mandatory in Quebec during the winter, but only recommended in all other provinces (except some mountainous areas). My question for you non-Quebecers: do you still buy winter tires for your car?

[Autobotz24]

I have for at least the past ten years. I bought a new car in February and my old 15" winters won't fit on my new car's 19"rims

[SleeplessKnight]

Here in Vancouver no one buys winter tires because it never snows...

... Until it does snow. And that's when everyone panics and crashes their cars all at the same time.

[Xtreme987]

I've never bought winter tires. I believe it's a cash grab. I only buy all-seasons. When rubber meets snow/ice their will be slippage regardless of tread design. The only way to prevent slippage is to put spikes or chains on your tires but that's just not practical or allowed on the roads at least in my area. Just leave early & drive slower when you absolutely must drive. Otherwise stay home.

[TealShark]

I've got a second set of rims with winters on them that go on every single year. The composition of the rubber makes a huge difference when the temperature drops.

[Autobotz24]

Forgot to mention, my sister lives in Kamloops BC and is right by the Okanagan highway where the show Highway to Hell is filmed. Everyone there either has chains or spikes on their winter tires

[pandaprime]

too mild in Vancouver to bother with snow tires unless you are driving to Whistler or Kelowna every weekend.

[Akroyer]

Originally Posted by Xtreme987

I've never bought winter tires. I believe it's a cash grab. I only buy all-seasons. When rubber meets snow/ice their will be slippage regardless of tread design. The only way to prevent slippage is to put spikes or chains on your tires but that's just not practical or allowed on the roads at least in my area. Just leave early & drive slower when you absolutely must drive. Otherwise stay home.

Me either, All Seasons and never had any problems. Just drive slower, slow down and stop sooner. And I don't go out in the crazy freezing rain or blizzards unless its an emergency.


My better half had Winter studded tires for several years and when I did drove her vehicle I can't say I really seen any difference. And this is Winters in NB. Which can get pretty nasty at times.

[big dawg]

Yup. Sk and def make a difference. I always just hit kijiji and look for used ones as people usually keep them when they sell their previous vehicles here- I gotta set of one year old winter tires with steel wheels for $200 (helps if you have cash on hand and buy them in August)

[Chigimus]

Winter tires are legit! Haven't gone through a winter without them in over 10 years but I see a huge difference between my so-called all-seasons and my winter set nearly every year because I procrastinate about swapping sets almost every year. If it's only going to snow for a few days as fall is about to turn to winter but the daytime highs are still going back up to +7 or more in another week or 2, it's not time to put the winters on just yet but during that brief first load of snow we tend to get here in AB before fall is really done for the year, there is a very noticeable difference to me.

From a stopped position at a red light, trying to take off on a green is a crawl out with my all-seasons but little to no problem on my winters. Stopping distance is a huge difference too. On my all-seasons, full bite on the rotors, my ABS kicks in like crazy and the all-seasons give me a slow but enduring slide. My winters shave that down and gets me to a full stop within half that time or even quicker.

All-seasons force you to slow down in the winter because they don't have the traction to allow you to accelerate like normal nor do they allow you to decelerate like normal either. It's bat shit crazy when I'm doing just the speed limit to get around the strugglers.