Well, I have the studded tires now. In the final analysis, given I have 18" wheels there was no immediate price savings to buying rims. I did the math, made the phone calls, shopped around, used websites, junk yards etc etc.
The studs are great, so are the tires they are on. No further problems with winter driving and I can now keep up with the traffic and not worry about getting stuck in my driveway.
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Royal.....
I don't approve of studded tires.
Or do you just have a thing for "studs"?
LOL! Good one! heheh
Nope, I prefer the straight and narrow.
I must admit I was opposed to the idea of studs in the past but seeing how well these tires perform and how crappy of a job they do clearing my driveway and the streets studs or at least winter tires are pretty much a must here. I'll be taking them off in March though, as soon as the heavy snow and ice are behind us for the season.
18" rims on Cdn winter roads.. Is it a Hummer?
When everyone thinks the same they don't think at all
No idea...
Just chiming in because I'll be getting winter tires installed on monday for the first time. I have questions about whether it's worth the investment since I've driven in Southern Ontario for 15-odd years without them....so this is a test to see.
I've done a lot of driving in southern Ont both with and without winter tires. Winter tires are a MAJOR improvement. You get a lot of freezing rain in the winter or warm days where things melt and then the following morning you step out your door and fall, due to the sheets of ice everywhere, frozen from the previous day's melt. You will notice a huge difference in stopping distance at 4-way stops and traffic lights in the city and the tires will also help when you get snowfall and before the roads are properly cleared.
Just make sure you've accounted for tire storage.
This is actually the first year I've purchased winter tires. I went with the Hankook W409s. I thought it was a good price ($800 taxes and installation all in with rims for 215 60R16).
I finally decided to go with the winter tires this year since everyone seems to be calling for a bad winter. Besides, I'll be moving to Calgary in the New Year (from Richmond Hill), so I'll probably need them.
To date, I'm fairly happy with these tires, although I've only really driven them in dry conditions. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to test them out.
So does anyone have any updated stories on winter tires? Perhaps atrp and some of the others in this thread who also got winter tires want to chim in with some comments?
For my part, I just traded in the car that I bought those tires for, so now I have a set for sale. One of them is pretty well used now so I'll just sell these tires next November at a cheap price to get them off my balcony. The place I was going to to change my tires every 6 months told me at the last change that they would start charging me $65 (or $130 per year) to store the tires. That made the whole thing quite economically disadvantageous. Tire storage is always an issue.
High Performance All seasons, saves time and money and they don't wear out as fast.
Over the last 15 yrs, I have had cheaper quality studded tires on a minivan (almost a waste of money), highway quality snow tires on an all-wheel drive sport-ute (fabulous in all conditions), but have not put snows on my current all-wheel drive sedan in the last two years (running new high performance Pirellie tires), not nearly as good (stopping/hills) as the Subaru Wagon (again with all-wheel drive) with snow tires. Depends on where you live and where you drive. I would not run studded tires if it was mostly highway driving (loud!). Snow tires are mandatory in Quebec, and a way of life in Atlantic Canada.
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