Is the Winter Tire message finally getting out to the masses?

Just saw this article on a non-car magazines website: https://www.outsideonline.com/2144166/awd-doesnt-matter-winter-tires-do

Is all of our (as car guys) winter tire evangelizing starting to spread?

I saw some on Craigslist for my daily a bit ago. Should have bought them.

And I'll take my E92 w/ General Arctics X four.

Funny that when I was searching 335xi's I found two E92's w/ crash damage listed in the CarFax. Both were a front wheel into curb in winter months... one did it twice!

Bet my beer money they were both on all seasons or runflats. That stuck w/ me when I decided to order the Arctics.

First real drive in snow accumulation last night. Brake check, throttle check.

If so, we should now tell those people to not run them in August. I can't believe how many snow tires I see on cars through the summer.

Given how many people I saw completely fail to drive in maybe 1/2" of snow yesterday, No.

DrBoost wrote: If so, we should now tell those people to not run them in August. I can't believe how many snow tires I see on cars through the summer.

The winter tire makers would do well to mold into the sidewalls "DO NOT DRIVE IN TEMPERATURES ABOVE 40* F" in font big enough to noticed.

WildScotsRacing wrote:

DrBoost wrote: If so, we should now tell those people to not run them in August. I can't believe how many snow tires I see on cars through the summer.

The winter tire makers would do well to mold into the sidewalls "DO NOT DRIVE IN TEMPERATURES ABOVE 40* F" in font big enough to noticed.

A big chunk of the east coats that gets a lot of snow is also very often above 40*F. Nobody is going to swap their tires out every 2 days.

I'd rather see people on winter tires in August than summer tires in January

On some of my cars I use winter tires all year. They are going to age out in a couple years anyway and driving in the summer doesn't seem to kill them much faster.

WildScotsRacing wrote:

DrBoost wrote: If so, we should now tell those people to not run them in August. I can't believe how many snow tires I see on cars through the summer.

The winter tire makers would do well to mold into the sidewalls "DO NOT DRIVE IN TEMPERATURES ABOVE 40* F" in font big enough to noticed.

No offense, but I can't think of a worse idea. First, there's nothing wrong with using winter tires above 40°. But more importantly, we don't need to dissuade people from using winter tires by pretending they are dangerous above 40°. It's hard enough to get them to see the light in the first place!

EvanB wrote: On some of my cars I use winter tires all year. They are going to age out in a couple years anyway and driving in the summer doesn't seem to kill them much faster.

I'm sure it depends on the car and the use (city, highway, track days?), but I've left our Michelin Latitude X-ices on way too long (May) before, and hardly noticed a difference compared to garden variety all-seasons. In terms of wear, noise, and grip.

EvanB wrote: On some of my cars I use winter tires all year. They are going to age out in a couple years anyway and driving in the summer doesn't seem to kill them much faster.

I left the Blizzaks on my truck all year. I drive maybe 6000 miles/year, and most of that is in winter. Summer, I ride my motorcycle.

ShadowSix wrote:

EvanB wrote: On some of my cars I use winter tires all year. They are going to age out in a couple years anyway and driving in the summer doesn't seem to kill them much faster.

I'm sure it depends on the car and the use (city, highway, track days?), but I've left our Michelin Latitude X-ices on way too long (May) before, and hardly noticed a difference compared to garden variety all-seasons. In terms of wear, noise, and grip.

Part of me wonders if all all-season tires were just eliminated and replaced with snow tires, how many people would notice and/or care in spring/summer/fall?

Beer Baron wrote: Given how many people I saw completely fail to drive in *maybe* 1/2" of snow yesterday, No.

This.

Seriously, we're having our annual first snow right now and the entire region has forgotten how to drive.

It probably doesn't help matters that Kentucky is a "no inspections" state and there is some truly, shockingly bad cars on the road here.

we had our first snowfall last night.. nothing stuck to the roads, and people were still driving around like they were going to die at any moment -or they were doing 80mph like they didn't care

WildScotsRacing wrote:

DrBoost wrote: If so, we should now tell those people to not run them in August. I can't believe how many snow tires I see on cars through the summer.

The winter tire makers would do well to mold into the sidewalls "DO NOT DRIVE IN TEMPERATURES ABOVE 40* F" in font big enough to noticed.

I've run both the General's and XIce year-round on 6-different vehicles for 2 full years or more each, and never had a problem. I know Blizzaks & some other winter tires deteriorate quickly above freezing temps, but both these tires have not only survived, but they also perform well in rain & on dry pavement...and I'm brutal on tires(and vehicles in general).

My wife told me she did some snow tire evangelizing on FB recently (BTW - she thought I was full of poo about snow tires till I put some on our minivan - "this thing drives better in the snow than my dad's old suburban!!" - not like I have been TELLING you that all along or anything).

Apparently someone asked on FB what 4wd car she needed for the winter in Wisconsin, and my wife was the first responder saying "don't do it - its a waste! get snow tires instead!". Got more than 50 likes.

Weird.

p.s. also, how did people end up thinking that old suburbans were some sort of benchmark of good-in-the-snow anyway? Sure ground clearance and 4x4, but WEIGHT, and TOP HEAVY. They might be good at getting out of a ditch, but they are near the top for best at going into them.

In reply to Robbie:

Because 4x4 and weight. It really shows when driving in a foot or more of fresh powder, pushing the fluffy crap with your front bumper and still motoring along. Yes, in a slick road it's not any better than a snow tire clad minivan. But when you have to be truly unstoppable and blaze your own way, the heavy 4x4 will win that one.

They're still a rarity around me. I don't know anyone who has any. I've had them before but not for years.

For the most part, people aren't open to the idea that you might need to change your tires depending on season. For that matter, based on incidental glimpses of tires in the work parking lot, people think they should be as cheap as possible and last forever.

In reply to Robbie:

A friend of mine just got a G35x. She wants to get some snappy "rims" for it. I told her to get winter tires for the stock wheels and go from there. "I don't need snow tires. It's AWD."

"Sorry honey, AWD just gets you in the ditch faster. AWD does berk-all for stopping."

She saw the light.

KyAllroad wrote: In reply to Robbie: Because 4x4 and weight. It really shows when driving in a foot or more of fresh powder, pushing the fluffy crap with your front bumper and still motoring along. Yes, in a slick road it's not any better than a snow tire clad minivan. But when you have to be truly unstoppable and blaze your own way, the heavy 4x4 will win that one.

This. When the snow drifts reach 4' tall, my 4'tall car ain't getting through it not matter how much I want it to. Then, the height, the weight and the extra wheels pushing/pulling make the difference. As it is now, when the snow drifts hit us, we are just stuck. 4-6' tall drifts that are 30' deep we just wait for the V-plow.

In reply to RealMiniParker:

I wish I had your success. I've had more luck talking people into switching political parties than switching to winter tires.

In reply to ShadowSix:

My success is about 50/50, convincing people to switch to winter tires. I'm still working on Son-in-law (he's not a believer, even after driving my daughter's car with Dunlop winter tires) and fiancee.

I still find a decent all terrain does just fine.

In reply to RealMiniParker:

I've convinced exactly one person, and he's literally my life long best friend. To make matters worse, I'm an assistant Prosecutor, so I should be good at this sort of thing.

kyAlroad and Bobzilla - where do you guys drive?!?

I've lived in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Illinois my whole life and never had to drive through a 4 FOOT tall drift. Much less driven through 30 FEET tall of snow (what? is that what you really meant?). Unless you mean 4 inches and 30 inches, then ok. 4 inches is no big deal for most cars with snow tires, 30 inches is time to pick another method of transportation. And don't try to tell me a suburban would drive through 30 inches of heavy wet snow.

I guess, sure, if you work for the forest service and need to get somewhere, the suburban is good, but a freaking snowmobile is much much better in that case.