What do people think about dedicated winter tires versus All Weather tires such as Michelin Cross Climate 2?
The cross climate 2 have been getting great reviews but enthusiasts seem to recommend dedicated winters.
This is for northern NY, but applies to any areas that have snow.
Note that All Weather tires are different from All Season tires.
If you need to regularly drive in standing snow, you can’t beat proper winter tires, I like Blizzak’s or Sottozero’s.
If you drive in standing snow once in a blue moon, a few times per year, and you have a heavy, AWD vehicle, you’ll probably get away with all seasons.
as IAC says, are you in snow because of vacation or because you live in snow.
If you live in, then get dedicated snow tires.
If you are a Californian who goes to snow during winter once a year, use your M&S tires.
Northern NY gets a ton of snow and is cold. I would use dedicated winter tires instead of tweeners.
It’s more about stopping and turning than it is about getting going
I live in southern NY, so it’s not bad. But twice a year I drive up to Buffalo and the highways can unpredictably get really bad.
So really I’m buying winter tires just for these trips twice a year. I guess it’s the price of safety.
Just don’t store them in your bedroom like my friend did. I walked in and said what’s that smell of rubber! Dude put them on the patio at least!
You can’t put a price on safety.
But if you do, make sure your premiums are paid up and your coverages high.
You should be fine with a set of all weather tires. I lived in southern NYS as well and go up north for snowboarding a handful of times during the season and have been fine with all weather tires. I run a set of Nokian WR G4 SUV tires and one of the best tires i have ever use for its purpose.
All season with three peak symbol should be fine.
Obviously don’t go during a blizzard when nothing can move regardless of tires
Depends on how/ where you drive. When I lived in Germany winter tires were the law, and I can recall one situation on the autobahn where I would likely have been killed if I was running all-seasons: I was running with a group of cars on the autobahn and we rounded a bend to find the road covered with waterlogged snow. In unison all of the cars hydroplaned and shifted exactly one lane over before regaining traction. If I’d been on all-seasons it would have been two lanes, into the next car and a multi-car pileup at near 100 mph. So there is no question real winters buy a margin of safety not available with even the best all-seasons.
Back in the US, on the other hand, I’ve even driven R compounds and summer tires in the snow. R-compounds are impossible regardless of speed. Summers are dangerous as hell, with braking distances multiples of what you think even if you’re going slowly. All seasons halve those braking distances, still longer than you think, while real winters roughly halve them again. In some cases that’s the difference between stopping and hitting a car at 30 mph, in others the difference between threading the needle between spun-out cars after a frozen overpass and not. Only you can decide how much that margin is worth to you and how often you’ll be rolling the dice. If I lived somewhere consistently snowy I’d do summers/ winters swapped once a year, but I live in California.
Make sure the tires are on separate rims so you are just swapping rims and not rubber with each season change. It isn’t good for the tire to be mounted/dismounted over and over again. Plus lube techs can be known to damage rims with tire changes.
U can probably get away with all weather tires for awd or fwd, but u’ll definitely need winter tires for rwd in upstate ny.
Years ago I ran Dunlop Wintersport tires on a rwd coupe and it got me through 2 seasons driving around NE. Eventually ended up running A/S tire. Winter tires have softer compound.
I live in New England and commit to snow tires on all of my vehicles. For the two leases I do seasonal swaps / mounts and for my owned car I have a separate set of rims so I can DIY. If you have a 1k insurance deductible it is close to a wash for 4 snow tires.