Who runs summer/snow tires in new england?

[Deer Killer]

When do you swap them out? Is all the trouble worth it? What about all the dry salty roads in the winter, noisy/low traction/lots of wear?

[inthedeck]

I was curious about the same exact thing. I know that the NYC area, for one, doesn't see THAT much snow (unless it's a blizzard) every year. We get our fair share, but nothing that comes down further upstate, and other states that border. Heck, sometimes, NJ gets more snow than we here near the city obtain.

Therefore, I myself am not sure what to do...! I know that the RE-92's gotta go, and of course, they will take up to 2-4 inches, as long as one is REALLY cautious. So, I don't know what to tell ya. I have NEVER run snows here in NY/Mass (when I lived there) and have gotten by JUST fine.

But, 17's are a different story...so, not really sure what to tell ya here...maybe might have to get another set of rims for the winters...but where the heck am I gonna store them??? Man, I wish I could afford a nice house.

Well, good luck with your decision, should you decide to go a different route. For me, I think I will stick with the stockers, for now, and then switch them when/if feasible.

Later,
i.

[aldog1330]

I also ran all-seasons on my old FWD Bonneville, and I live up near Albany, and never had a problem. If it was bad enough, I simply just didn't go out. I'm still up in the air what to do as well with the Legacy, but I'm leaning towards getting a set of Pzero Nereos or Proxo 4's and run them all year around.

[scubie02]

If you don't get THAT much snow, you can probably get by with all seasons ok. When I lived near Boston and in southern NH I found the winters MUCH milder than in upstate NY where I am--no where near the snow. If you live someplace like where I am, snow's are just much safer--the handling is night and day. Can you get by with all seasons...well, yeah, if you go slow enough probably. But snows are still the way to go if you can afford it. The only down side is that if you get straight summers too there's always the risk of getting caught in an early or late storm.

[jk]

i ran summers and snows on my wrx in southern connecticut. my driveway is very steep and has some sharp turns that can get pretty hairy when slippery. the other thing is that we get ice storms here (never had 'em in nyc or philadelphia), so it can get quite slippery. i ran dunlop winter sport m2's, which were great- fine on snow, fine on dry or wet. i notice that dunlop makes a winter sport m3 in 215/45/17, but for some reason tirerack doesn't stock that size. i'm planning to call them to see if they'll special order them for me.

[aldog1330]

What do you consider upstate NY to be scubie02? The term is thrown around loosely at times. I live near Albany, and while we may get a few pretty bad storms here and there, most of the winter is not bad.

[chibisak]

i use AZENIS ST-115 215/45 17 in boston which is fine for summer and winter, of cos super snow day like 20" then whatever will be a problem

[scubie02]

What do you consider upstate NY to be scubie02? The term is thrown around loosely at times. I live near Albany, and while we may get a few pretty bad storms here and there, most of the winter is not bad.

The thing about NY is that as a state its so varied. I grew up between Oneonta and Binghamton, and lived for years in Albany, and I do think you get different types of storms in the two areas. Albany probably is a bit milder except they do get the occasional Nor'Easter off the coast as one of the area's bigger types of storm which the more central/farther southeast areas don't tend to catch as much (I'd guess its a mountain thing--the albany area is flatter and allows these storms to hit perhaps). I was living up there in the late 80's when we got a surprise nor'easter in early October that dumped a fair amount of snow and broke alot of trees that still has the leaves on and couldn't take the weight. NY has lots of valleys and "zones" I guess is the way I think of it. For awhile I was teaching in a couple small towns north of Oneonta while also working at suny albany and doing grad work, and commuted up 88 every day. There are definitely "snow belts". I don't know how many times I'd start out on 88, get to the area between, oh, Worcester and Cobleskill etc and it would be white out conditions. Then you'd get to Albany and there'd be nothing. I remember once calling into work and saying I'd be late because the snow was so bad and they sounded kind of funny. WHen I got up there I saw why--no snow! It was pretty funny though when I'd pull into the parking lot with 6-12" of snow crusted on the top of the car and there was no snow up there--I'd get some pretty funny looks.

Where I live now is sort of hard to explain since its all smaller towns so its hard to describe to someone if they don't know the area. Suffice it to say that the valley I am in is somewhat of a "crossroads" for the different snow zones, so we can get hammered from all directions by the different kinds of storms--lake effect from the Great Lakes, plus all the normal storms.

To get an idea of the kind of storms we get...this is my 4wd truck on Christmas night last year...

We were also snowed in for almost a week after that blizzard back in 93 I think it was--somewhere I have pics of that with the snow all the way up to the porch roof!

[aldog1330]

Holy crap, that's a lot of snow! I remember the blizzard of '93. I was only 13 at the time, and school was closed for 2 days in a row. Took myself and my father those two days to try to dig the house/cars out. I know we couldn't get out the side door of the house, so I think he had to either go out a garage door or a window. I also remember jumping off our back deck (which is 15' up) into a pile of snow!! What a mess that blizzard was.

There was another one too in either '99 or '00 where my S-10 Blazer was completely covered with snow - it was up to the hood. Same thing happened a year or two later with my Bonneville again.

Last winter we did get a decent amount of snow, but I was out in Utica at the time. In the Albany area, it was a milder winter. I'd tell my father we got 8" of snow today, and he'd laugh and say they didn't get anything. Utica is on the edge of the snow belt that Syracuse is in, which got more snow than Buffalo last winter. On top of that, my college canceled classes half a dozen times, and my school NEVER would close.

I've driven on 88 in the winter to visit a friend going to SUNY Oneonta, and I know exactly what you mean. It would be clear up near Schenectady, then 3 feet of snow on the ground by the time you get to Oneonta. Plus the snow drifts were horrible on it.

I guess when it really comes down to it, I will just have to see what my budget is, and decide if I can afford snows. I might even just get snows for the winter, then put the RE92's back on in the spring and run them into the ground, then get summer tires. Decisions, decisions!

[skibud2]

I found that boston has been bad the last two winters. Here is a picture of my old WRX after 4 hours of digging. I think I might get snow tires for my Legacy.

http://www.mikeandjules.com/mikescar.jpg

[Legacy05GT]

Thank god i have a garage!

[D-2.5-GT]

I agree the RE-92's aren't good at all...however, i can't justify buying brand new tires when these will be fine for now. As far as snow tires, never used them...

I am sure they would help a good deal sometimes, but when it comes to driving in bad snowy weather, i drive like a snail. There is no need to try and get there faster as that is usually what causes an accident. If the weather is bad, leave yourself plenty of time to get where ever you are going.

That being said i have seen some bad storms myself....i remember the one we got maybe 4-5 years ago which was just over 3 feet of snow in one shot...talk about a lot of shoveling. With a storm such as that size, nothing is going to be great, and you really should just stay home if at all possible. Most of the time, with up to a foot of snow even, the roads are usually cleared by sometime the following morning. That to me defeats the purpose of having the snow tires.

If you are in a very mountainous location or are constantly driving over snow covered roads, then i can see the tires as a necessit. However, having lived in NH all my life, i would only consider Northern NH, VT, ME, and parts of upstate NY as places where you need the tires...everywhere else, get them if you want, but i'm saving my money, as i will just wait till the roads get better to go out, if they are that bad...

Certainly the snow in those photos is quite a bit, i remeber storms like that, but i love snow, so bring it on. Trying to drive in that weather is foolish anyway, even the best studded snows aren't going to save you if you aren't careful.

[scubie02]

Its certainly true that you need to drive to conditions and thats the most important thing, even with snows. And it IS possible to get by with just all seasons, even in snowy areas, especially with a subaru, if you take it easy. But here its not a matter of "just not going out if its snowy"--you'd have to stay home most of the winter because there's a decent chance every time you go to work or anywhere else that you can come out later and find 6" of snow.

Since there don't seem to be any steel or cheap alloy wheels out there yet, though, and money is tight this year for me anyway, I may be trying to get by with just the all seasons this first season myself. But I can always watch the forcast and drive the truck if it looks like it might get bad.

[SnarlyMarley]

In SW CT I ran Semperit snows on my 97 Outback and it made a huge improvement. AWD adds traction to accelerate but the snow add tons of traction for braking and turning. I just ordered Semperit Sport Grip snows in 205/50-17 which is just a bit bigger ( less than 1/2") in diameter than the 215/45-17. The best part: only $88/tire. Pretty good for 17s. These will live on the stock wheels with new summer wheels and tires to come. Wanna buy some gently used RE92s in December?

James

[jaycee]

For my previous car I bought an extra set of steel rims and put snow tires on them (Gislavid Nordfrosts). I live in the Boston area and go up to ski country often. Even with a brand new set of all seasons on the Saab it could get pretty hairy driving up in the teeth of a snow storm to catch fresh tracks in the fluffy new snow. The extra rims were great 'cause I could do the changeover myself if I had to.

The snows did change the way the car rode (narrower tread, bigger sidewalls) but it turned out to be a good reminder that I should adjust my driving for the crappy weather months.

I generally put the snows on around Thanksgiving and took them off in early April. I figure they saved me at least once so with a $500 deductable on my insurance they already payed for themselves.

I'd like to get some for my new '05 Leg GT but I haven't figured out what to do about rims yet and I figure the RE92's may be OK through the first winter while they have new tread.

[VVG]

I put the snows on December 1 unless a blizzard is forecast previously.

I take them off mid-March unless the winter has been unseasonably warm (like last year) or unseasonably cold (year before).

[rjundi]

Do you have to absolutely get out in the height of a storm? Also how often does this really happen? All-seasons cover all bases just not the extremes well meaning extreme dry traction or extreme winter traction. However 95% of drive time is between those two markers.

I own a used set(beat WRX oem rims/5k used Nokian NRW's) on my WRX and they are better than stock RE92's but they rarely got used in southern NH. Even with absolute traction of AWD coupled to snows it is slow going. Your drive time doubles :( Lastly you have another set to store and deal with if that matters to you.

I enjoy sitting back at fireplace and waiting it out personally. If travelling I apply the cost to a nice B & B vs dropping that near $1000 on rims/tires on our LGT.

[NHLEG]

Not me.

[Aczwild]

I run High Performance all seasons in way upstate NY and in Vermont and I havent had too much of a problem (ie nothing I cant control)

[franklin]

I live north of Philly Pa. I bought 4 winter tires for the stock wheels and 17" Rota tarmac II's and mounted the stock tires on them. When the stock tires ware out I plan to mount some summer tires on the Rota's.
To gain the full advantage of AWD you need the right tires. With two sets of rims I dont need to keep mounting tires.
I change them out after Thanksgiving and take them off again around mid March.