Maybe, just maybe, more people could start buying winter tires. I wish our local governments would require them during the winter.
Source: 3 decades living in Canada, with winter tires on my car 4-5 months per year.
Kind of sensible to require cars have proper tires; also from an insurance point of view.
The amount of snow we get is never anywhere close to those American phenomena I see sometimes in the news, where snow gets half way up your front doors nearly overnight. Seeing that, I'm surprised to read that most people don't use snow tyres in such places : it feels like going against common sense even on an purely individual level.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/atlanta-other-parts-of-south-pa...
This doesn't apply everywhere though, and people are require to use common sense and use the tires (and chains) that are best for where they live.
[1] - https://www.stavanger.kommune.no/en/waste-and-environment/mi...
a) more particulate pollution from tire residual (which can be massively worse than pollution from exhaust in cities)
b) more exhaust pollution from worse car mileage
That said, I didn't buy them until I had a long commute after graduating from college, since I could get around well enough in the college town only needing to go a few miles to the grocery store and such.
Now, mid and post pandemic, I'll probably only maintain a set for one vehicle since that's all I'll be driving in ugly weather, since I'll be staying home whenever the weather is even vaguely questionable.
...and I wasn’t even the most broke of my friends, all of whom drove every day (because how else do you get to work?).
In general owning a car in Canada is significantly more expensive than my experience in the states. Gas is currently $4.82USD. My insurance is close to double what it was in the US. And there is 12% sales tax on vehicles in BC.
The flip side is that in the cities, transit is much better. A lot of my Canadian friends (mostly Vancouver and Toronto) didn't get their first cars until their mid twenties because it is faster and cheaper to use transit for a lot of purposes.
But, when I had a Miata (small RWD sports car), I did use them and they made the car one of the best snow vehicles I've owned. Better than the AWD Lexus SUV we owned at the time for sure.
Drivers panic on the D.C. beltway the second a snowflake hits the pavement.
Good all-weather tires probably give you better average traction than winter tires in D.C., even in Winter.
[0] https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/cuot-swt1001...
[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110105121137.h...
Honestly. It makes a lot of sense.
If you live around mountains, the high roads will be icy while the low roads have no snow.
I run winter tires until lows in my area are mostly above freezing, regardless of whether there's any snow on the ground.
Yeah of course this doesn't exist in the US, but if they made winter tyres mandatory surely someone will start this business.
Where did you get this impression? This absolutely exists in the US.
https://www.belletire.com/tires-and-wheels/off-season-storag...
Winter tires are worth it if it snows regularly where you live, you'll probably save money in the long run by not crashing and your insurance might even give you a discount for putting winter tires on.
I don't put on winter tires nowadays because it only snows 0-2 times a year here so I simply don't drive in the snow instead. When I lived in a very snowy area I got winter tires put on every winter.
Of course, you could buy used, but I would wager most of the things that make winter tires good in the winter tend to wear out by the time they make it to a used tire shop.
probably not. the main thing that makes a winter tire good in the winter is the rubber compound. as long as the tire has enough tread and is less than about six years old, it will outperform all-seasons in cold weather. every rubber compound has a temperature window where it performs optimally. too cold and the tire is like a rock; it doesn't grip well even on dry pavement. too warm, and the tire is too supple and will wear out much faster. if you expect to do a lot of driving in ambient temperatures much below 40F, you need winter tires. you might get away with all-seasons for a long time, but you probably don't realize how close you are to the tire's limits.
sometimes safety isn't free.
but seriously, there is an observation to be made here about social norms around vehicle safety. all-season tires are not safe for winter use in large swathes of north america. why do we scoff at people who prepare appropriately?
most people i know who drive in the northeast don't have any qualms with having a 2nd wheelset and storing it.
i think there's a rather NA quirk to GP's comment -- they live in a small urban apartment, with no storage space available, but still have to own a car.
Winter tires are no help, for instance, when you're on what amounts to a sheet of ice.
They're also no help when you're in 2 feet of snow.
They're a big help at the margins, and it's definitely worth the investment in many, many cases, but they're absolutely no substitute for sufficient road treatment.
And again, yes, they help substantially in 2 feet of snow.
I agree that properly treated roads are necessary, but we treat roads for the lowest common denominator. If we as a population properly prepared (say that three times fast) for poor road conditions, we and our environment would be way better off.
Did the experience suck hard? It really did. I happened to get really lucky, and there was no one around, and I just ended up spinning around and pointing the wrong way, so I very carefully turned back around and went on my way.
But however much they may help, trying to claim that winter tires are good enough that we can use them instead of proper road treatments is irresponsible and dangerous. And I say this as someone who is extremely upset at the environmental toll standard road salt takes every winter.