All season tires on the snow?

B

Beefcake

I've been reading a bunch of posts concerning snow tires, and wanted to find
out if anyone out there has experience driving on snow with the factory
all-seasons.

I live in Vancouver, Canada. We don't get much snow here, maybe only one
small dump a year, the rest of the time it's rain. Every year we
contemplate buying snow tires, but I honestly can't see the justification in
the city, because of the lack of snow. Snow tires are great on snow, but
they really suck on pavement, and wear down too fast and cost too much to be
really worth it.

I've had some limited experience with my 02 Impreza wagon on what little
snow we get in the city - a couple of days of wet snow, nothing packed down.
What experience I've had has been good - the AWD, ABS, and general weight of
the car help tremendously. I've never felt out of control or worried about
how the car would do.

What I'm curious about - has anyone out there had any experience in packed
snow/dry snow, or snow at highway speeds, with the all-seasons? We've been
out to Whistler a few times in the winter, but have so far managed to avoid
snow on the road. This luck cannot last forever though, and I'd like to
hear from people that have driven in the snow with the factory installed all
seasons. How do they handle, and is it worth getting snow tires because of
the occasional trip into the hills?

Thanks,
Aaron
 
The all-season Potenzas by Bridgestone are awful on the snow.

June

I've been reading a bunch of posts concerning snow tires, and wanted to find
out if anyone out there has experience driving on snow with the factory
all-seasons.

I live in Vancouver, Canada. We don't get much snow here, maybe only one
small dump a year, the rest of the time it's rain. Every year we
contemplate buying snow tires, but I honestly can't see the justification in
the city, because of the lack of snow. Snow tires are great on snow, but
they really suck on pavement, and wear down too fast and cost too much to be
really worth it.

I've had some limited experience with my 02 Impreza wagon on what little
snow we get in the city - a couple of days of wet snow, nothing packed down.
What experience I've had has been good - the AWD, ABS, and general weight of
the car help tremendously. I've never felt out of control or worried about
how the car would do.

What I'm curious about - has anyone out there had any experience in packed
snow/dry snow, or snow at highway speeds, with the all-seasons? We've been
out to Whistler a few times in the winter, but have so far managed to avoid
snow on the road. This luck cannot last forever though, and I'd like to
hear from people that have driven in the snow with the factory installed all
seasons. How do they handle, and is it worth getting snow tires because of
the occasional trip into the hills?

Thanks,
Aaron
 
Beefcake said:
This luck cannot last forever though, and I'd like to
hear from people that have driven in the snow with the factory installed all
seasons. How do they handle, and is it worth getting snow tires because of
the occasional trip into the hills?

I wouldn't bother.

My 95 Legacy has spent its life in Ottawa (snow from mid-December to March,
typically) and never had snow tires on it.

If you are worried about getting stuck, AWD with all seasons is still better
than 2WD and winter tires. Stopping is another issue, however, snow tires
will definately help. That does not sound like that enough reason for you -
if you do hit a nasty snow squall just drive slower. Test your brakes (when
it is safe to do so) occationally just to get a feel for how much stopping
traction you really have.
 
I live in Vancouver, Canada. We don't get much snow here, maybe only one
small dump a year, the rest of the time it's rain. Every year we
contemplate buying snow tires, but I honestly can't see the justification in
the city, because of the lack of snow. Snow tires are great on snow, but

I drive an '02 Impreza in the Vancouver area. I've done a
few trips up to ski hills, and driven to Vernon through
conditions that caused the Coquihalla to be closed.

I found that the all-seasons + AWD were about equivalent to
my old car's front wheel drive and high quality snows. The
stock all seasons ARE lousy, and I'm looking forward to
replacing them. The biggest drawback I've found was in
braking. Snows make a huge difference here in deep snow.
But if you drive appropriately for traction, the all-
seasons are more than adequate for winter in Vancouver with
occasional Whistler trips. Once treadlife starts to
expire, think about a new pair for winter though. All
seasons that are worn are lousy in snow.

For previous cars I always bought steel rims and snows for
winter, and summer tires for summer. I'm considering just
going all-season with my Subaru though.
 
Diva said:
The all-season Potenzas by Bridgestone are awful on the snow.

June

i'll second that. the oem subaru tires suck, of course all oem tires
suck, that's where the car companies can cut costs without anyone
noticing. i have goodyear eagle hp's on my 99 legacy and it does
great in the snow.

mike
 
I think it depends on what you are used to. I live in the Philadelphia area,
but go cross-country skiing in New York when there isn't enough snow around
here. We usually get enough snow over the winter to be annoying but not
useful (for "play"). So, for driving, almost no one with FWD or AWD bothers
with snow tires at all. My previous car was a '99 Camry with the usual
all-weather tires. It was okay on the main roads, but terrible on hills. We
sometimes couldn't even get up our shoveled-out driveway without throwing
down some cat litter for traction. Going to the XC centers was an adventure.
OTOH, I know I can drive in the snow with FWD and crappy tires, so I should
do extremely well with AWD and crappy tires. Plus, these tires (Potenzas)
aren't nearly as crappy as the Camry tires (Michelin MXV4). At least they
appear to have better tread. I'll find out once we get some snow.

Here's an analogy- It's kind of like the folks in the west who like to ski.
They have great powder and wonderful conditions. We ski on what is
essentially ice, so for us, skiing in powder is a snap. The westerners would
be falling on their butts in the east, as they are not used to skiing on
ice. SO, the folks who complain about the crappy tires live in very snowy
places and really need and are used to the capabilities of the snow tires.
Put them on lesser tires, and they'd be all over the place. Hope that made
sense.
 
Beefcake said:
I've been reading a bunch of posts concerning snow tires, and wanted to find
out if anyone out there has experience driving on snow with the factory
all-seasons.

I live in Vancouver, Canada. We don't get much snow here, maybe only one
small dump a year, the rest of the time it's rain. Every year we
contemplate buying snow tires, but I honestly can't see the justification in
the city, because of the lack of snow. Snow tires are great on snow, but
they really suck on pavement, and wear down too fast and cost too much to be
really worth it.

I've had some limited experience with my 02 Impreza wagon on what little
snow we get in the city - a couple of days of wet snow, nothing packed down.
What experience I've had has been good - the AWD, ABS, and general weight of
the car help tremendously. I've never felt out of control or worried about
how the car would do.

What I'm curious about - has anyone out there had any experience in packed
snow/dry snow, or snow at highway speeds, with the all-seasons? We've been
out to Whistler a few times in the winter, but have so far managed to avoid
snow on the road. This luck cannot last forever though, and I'd like to
hear from people that have driven in the snow with the factory installed all
seasons. How do they handle, and is it worth getting snow tires because of
the occasional trip into the hills?

Thanks,
Aaron
Unless you are an avid skier and journey to Whistler on a regular basis, I
wouldn't bother.

Ron
 
I have a 2000 OBS wagon and am in Toronto, and am not impressed with winter
driving on the all-seasons. Like you, I'm driving in fairly temperate city
conditions (but not as warm as vcr), but with a fair amount of snow on the
highways outside the city, especially in cottage/ski country.

The first time I drove my wagon in a fresh dump of snow, I went out of
control making a left-turn at low speed on a city street. My previous car
was front-wheel drive with snows, and I simply and stupidly failed to adjust
for the difference. I did kind of assume that AWD would approximate 2WD
with snows - not so. Over the course of that winter, I decided that the AWD
with factory tires was fine for straight-line driving and packed-snow, and
crawling over and through snow banks and ice at low-speeds, but remained
cautious about making turns, and driving in fresh snow. Over the past few
years, I've noticed similar comments from other owners on this newsgroup.

I think it comes down to peace of mind and whether you want to spend the
money. In my case, I miss the feeling of control I had with my winter tires
on my previous car, and have ordered snows after three winters of doing
without. The drive to Whistler is kind of infamous for getting nasty
during a storm, and if you happen to be on the road when stuff happens, you
may find that those one or two heavy snowfalls you encounter make it
worthwhile having the snows.

I'm not an expert on tires, but I've done some searching over the past week
or so, and there are some opinions out there that some of the lower-cost
brands/models of winter tires may be average performers in snow (but still
much better than all-seasons), but they're ok to drive in more temperate
conditions as well, without wearing out so much. You may be able to find a
"compromise" winter tire.

I'm trying out the Kumho KW11s, which are pretty cheap. People seem to love
them or hate them. We'll see.

Cheers,
dave.
 
I live in Calgary and I had the re92 for 4 years and 77000km on them.
People are right, those tires aren't great in snow, but it's all depands on
how you drive.
If you use some common sense, you should get by with your all season
alright.

I am on my second set of all season (dunlop af sport 2), I find them are
much better the RE92 in rain.
In the snow I can't really tell the difference.

The problem with snow tires is that they dont perform quite well when it's
dry, and since Vancouver doesnt exactly
snow that often, I wouldnt bother with snow tires.
 
77k on RE92s huh!? That's pretty amazing. Mine are at the wear bars at
30k. Anyways, I wouldn't bother with the snow tires. My RE92's were
great in heay snow, city, highway, and ice. Braking is pretty poor at
stoplights, so be careful as it will slide some. The second winter,
the traction was much worse. I took it much more slowly. And I just
replaced them with snow tires (Artic Alpins) this winter because we
get snow from November through April here. As for highway driving, I
don't think you'll have much trouble. It's been my experience that
heavily traveled highways are the driest and clearest of them all in
winter. It's the stoplights you have to worry about because the
exhaust from cars stopped there will melt any snow there, which
refreezes into ice. Just an opinion.
 
sweet everyone, thanks for the comments - as expected, some good and some
bad. I think I'm going to stick with the all seasons thru the winter (hard
to really call it "winter", more like a fierce autumn). I would have to
agree that as long as you drive for the conditions, you should never really
have a problem with snow, and it's so infrequent here, I just can't justify
the cost.

I'm personally happy with the bridgestone potenza factory tires - my last
car was a Dodge Neon, and they came with Eagle GT factory, and then I
switched to Dunlop D-series. The Potenzas beat both for driveability, road
noise, and handling - I'd consider getting them again when they wear out.

Thanks,
Aaron
 
Beefcake said:
I've been reading a bunch of posts concerning snow tires, and wanted to find
out if anyone out there has experience driving on snow with the factory
all-seasons.

I live in Vancouver, Canada. We don't get much snow here, maybe only one
small dump a year, the rest of the time it's rain. Every year we
contemplate buying snow tires, but I honestly can't see the justification in
the city, because of the lack of snow. Snow tires are great on snow, but
they really suck on pavement, and wear down too fast and cost too much to be
really worth it.

Not in Vancouver, definitely. But out here in Ottawa, well maybe you can
make a case for them, but I'm still driving with all-seasons. There's
nothing wrong with all-seasons per se, but it does depend on which ones
you're talking about. The stock Bridgestones or Firestones, as others have
noted, are horrible. However, if you go with slightly more aggressive
all-seasons, you should be okay. I recommend the Nokian Hakkapellita WR
series, they describe them as "all weather plus", meaning that they are snow
tire treads with slightly harder compounds. We've already had a couple of
good dumps out here in Ottawa, and these Nokians have done well so far. Snow
tires are best for braking in the snow.

Yousuf Khan
 
Beefcake said:
sweet everyone, thanks for the comments - as expected, some good and some
bad. I think I'm going to stick with the all seasons thru the winter (hard
to really call it "winter", more like a fierce autumn). I would have to
agree that as long as you drive for the conditions, you should never really
have a problem with snow, and it's so infrequent here, I just can't justify
the cost.

As Yousuf said, check out the Nokian WR, they might be just the thing for
your situation. I'm also from Ottawa (hey Ottawa guys, have a gander over
here: http://www.ottawasubaru.com/), but I ski a lot and prefer to drive
too fast on snow, so I have winter tires (Ice tires as opposed to snow
tires). I've been quite happy with the CT IceTracs, especially at $75 a
tire for 16". I figure that during the time I'm using the winter tires I'm
saving the summers, so over the long term I'll come out about even.

I can also run better summers, which would otherwise be no fun at all on
cold pavement. Softer rubber is a good thing on cold pavement, wet or dry.
I'm personally happy with the bridgestone potenza factory tires - my last
car was a Dodge Neon, and they came with Eagle GT factory, and then I
switched to Dunlop D-series. The Potenzas beat both for driveability, road
noise, and handling - I'd consider getting them again when they wear out.

I'm afraid I can't identify with you then. I was thrilled to bits to wear
mine out.

Andy.
 
I ment to type 3 years..not 4 years..
foxmon said:
I live in Calgary and I had the re92 for 4 years and 77000km on them.
People are right, those tires aren't great in snow, but it's all depands on
how you drive.
If you use some common sense, you should get by with your all season
alright.

I am on my second set of all season (dunlop af sport 2), I find them are
much better the RE92 in rain.
In the snow I can't really tell the difference.

The problem with snow tires is that they dont perform quite well when it's
dry, and since Vancouver doesnt exactly
snow that often, I wouldnt bother with snow tires.



justification to weight
 
On another Subaru site, a lot of people like the continental
contiextremecontact. I have them but haven't had them on snow yet, but
people say they are good. I can say they a very good for rain.
 
The Yokohama Geolander (OEMs) on my Forrester are excellent in New England
snow. The AWD and good all-seasons are good enough for all but the worst
conditions (or drivers). In your case, I'd stick with high-end all seasons.
Note on the Yokohamas---excellent tires (my second set), but wear fast,
about 32k.
 
In the UK where we get such mixed weather the factory fit Bridgestones are not good (interestingly only fitted on 18 inch wheels - the 17' appear to get Yokahoma). As soon as I bought my XV (which had only done 19,000 mile) I swapped the tyres for a set of Michelin Cross Climate + all season tyres.
I had them on a previous 2015 Lexus RX450H and my wife has them on a Fiat 500. Great in all conditions and excellent in the sort of snow we get in the Cotswolds. My last car a Lexus RX450h 2017 had 20'' wheels and I couldn't get Michelins in that size. I went for The Yokahoma Geolander CV G058 that was introduced last year as an all season tyre. Better than the Factory fit Bridgestones (much quieter and grippier), but not as good as the Michelin Cross Climate in my opinion.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
13,889
Messages
67,365
Members
7,364
Latest member
Cimarron49

Latest Threads

Back
Top