The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I think studded tires in Calgary (city limits) is a bit overkill

Depends if you have specific hills on your regular commute that get pretty gross on a regular basis.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Got mine swapped over today. Good timing (I booked the appointment six weeks ago).

[lazypucker]

People are so paranoid about the first snow and scared if their cars on all-seaons can handle the roads. Like today, the snow is not even sticking on the roads, but people freak out like they lived in Africa their whole life and never even seen a snowfall before...

And then a week later, everyone is flying through Stoney doing 140 clicks...

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

People are so paranoid about the first snow and scared if their cars on all-seaons can handle the roads. Like today, the snow is not even sticking on the roads, but people freak out like they lived in Africa their whole life and never even seen a snowfall before...

And then a week later, everyone is flying through Stoney doing 140 clicks...

I think most of us are not paranoid for ourselves. We're paranoid for the strugglers out there who behave unpredictably. We want to know we can continue doing evasive maneuvers like the roads are dry, when someone does something really stupid.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I think studded tires in Calgary (city limits) is a bit overkill

It depends. Studs work really well on ice - regular ice and black ice. Both are very common in the city with all the freezing and thawing, especially around intersections where people spin their wheels and buff everything up.

They do make some noise though. But they do give an extra bite, especially on semi-bare or hard-packed roads - more so than on fluffy snow.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

People are so paranoid about the first snow and scared if their cars on all-seaons can handle the roads. Like today, the snow is not even sticking on the roads, but people freak out like they lived in Africa their whole life and never even seen a snowfall before...

And then a week later, everyone is flying through Stoney doing 140 clicks...

Cold but not freezing pavement + frozen precipitate results in layering what is basically shaved ice on top of very, very cold water, and the result is snow that hits the pavement melts, then freezes as more and more snow piles on top. It's a great way to develop a slick road surface that is visually deceiving in that it just looks wet, which is why first snowfalls are so bad.

But this is hardly a proper 'first snowfall'.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

People are so paranoid about the first snow and scared if their cars on all-seaons can handle the roads. Like today, the snow is not even sticking on the roads, but people freak out like they lived in Africa their whole life and never even seen a snowfall before...

And then a week later, everyone is flying through Stoney doing 140 clicks...

You say 'paranoid', but when the first real snowfall generally creates 300+ traffic accidents, I'd say it's smart to wary of any unneeded driving at all for that.


I am not worried about MY driving any time of the year...but I am not the only person out on the roads.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Depends if you have specific hills on your regular commute that get pretty gross on a regular basis.

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

It depends. Studs work really well on ice - regular ice and black ice. Both are very common in the city with all the freezing and thawing, especially around intersections where people spin their wheels and buff everything up.

They do make some noise though. But they do give an extra bite, especially on semi-bare or hard-packed roads - more so than on fluffy snow.

Both valid comments, but I have yet to have an issue with winters and common sense.

That being said I do not have any big hills where i live in the city.

[Shazam]

Wow, those Alpins are awesome. Great traction but also great handling and quiet. Well worth the extra cost.

[MegaErtz]

Which ones did you get and how much were they? Just looked them up on Canadian Tire's website and they are over $600 a pop!

[Ryan Coke]

Also a big fan of the Alpins on my “performance” car. I generally buy from PMC tire, almost always have the best price after I shop around. It’s getting to where I don’t bother shopping around as much because almost always their price is as low or lower than anywhere else.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Both valid comments, but I have yet to have an issue with winters and common sense.

That being said I do not have any big hills where i live in the city.

That's fair too. I used to be like that, in considering that strugglers with all seasons or all weathers were basically due to lack of skill.

Then I realized that with them I could do speed limit with impunity. I'm not going back to all weathers. It's so much fun to be able to easily take advantage of smaller gaps and just leave everyone else behind to enjoy festive red lights.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

That's fair too. I used to be like that, in considering that strugglers with all seasons or all weathers were basically due to lack of skill.

Then I realized that with them I could do speed limit with impunity. I'm not going back to all weathers. It's so much fun to be able to easily take advantage of smaller gaps and just leave everyone else behind to enjoy festive red lights.

It’s a world of difference. Didn’t get mine back on in time for this snowfall, and the all seasons are just weak. The lack of control today is demoralizing (thankfully most of the main roads are fine). I honestly don’t know how people drive all winter like this.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

That's fair too. I used to be like that, in considering that strugglers with all seasons or all weathers were basically due to lack of skill.

Then I realized that with them I could do speed limit with impunity. I'm not going back to all weathers. It's so much fun to be able to easily take advantage of smaller gaps and just leave everyone else behind to enjoy festive red lights.

Sorry I wasn't clear I run Winter tires no all season/weather.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by MegaErtz

Which ones did you get and how much were they? Just looked them up on Canadian Tire's website and they are over $600 a pop!

Pilot Alpin 5 SUV - $512.49 each for 255/45R20. Also got sexy rims because nothing turns on women like an old guy with hot winter rims.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Sorry I wasn't clear I run Winter tires no all season/weather.

I misread. My bad.

I'm giving the studs a try to see if it makes a difference in extending the life of the tire in the later years.

I just replaced a set. It felt OK to me, but noticeably not as good as other vehicle with winters I was driving. My wife was complaining they felt sketchy to her in the last two years (4th and 5th winter season). I'm not sure if that's truly a tire issue, or if it's an AWD difference from the vehicle we used to own. These studded tires should answer that question.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I just rolled up to Prince Tires on MacLeod with my winter wheels in the trunk at noon yesterday and it was done in a couple hours. 50 bucks, no fuss no muss no appointment necessary.

I don't know why everyone overcomplicates this; Costco is booked solid for like a month on tire swaps. Why? If you don't want to do it yourself that's fine (my weirdo custom brake setup is annoying to deal with so I am happy to pay someone else) but it isn't that hard to get this done.

[Shazam]

People are fixated on Costco for some reason. You barely save any money buying wheels there and the hassle is ridiculous.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Shazam

People are fixated on Costco for some reason. You barely save any money buying wheels there and the hassle is ridiculous.

I blame YYC Costco lovers and all those other similar groups. Those people are like the new era of elderly people trapped in voicemail.

Some of their ideas and concepts are so clueless/cult like with a "Costco is best for everything" mentality. IMO Costco had great standards, but standards sorta went to #### after a bunch of those groups popped up during the pandemic.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Shazam

People are fixated on Costco for some reason. You barely save any money buying wheels there and the hassle is ridiculous.

Wait, you're telling me the same people who drive all the way to the Costco gas station and idle in line for 20 minutes to save $5 might not understand the value of both time and money?