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Are winter tires needed with the "D"??

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You have a point but do you know how many people drive on all seasons just fine. Millions. Just drive sensibly. Geez. I've driven a lot in MT, CO, and Northern IL and never had to change to winter tires from all seasons. I guess it makes sense if you are on true summer / performance tires.

I strongly agree. People don't need winter M+S tires unless they're driving in extreme winter/snowy areas. This is from the Bridgestone website:

SNOW TIRES VS. ALL SEASON TIRES: WHICH ARE BEST?

The solution to the winter or snow tires vs. all season tires question will depend on where you live and the conditions in which you drive.
If you only see a few snow flurries each year and slick, icy roads are more of a fluke than an annual ordeal, all season tires are probably the way to go. But if you know there’s a period when icy roads are always an issue, mounting winter tires isn’t an over-the-top precaution – it’s an essential safety measure that could save your life.
When mounting winter tires for the season, always install a full set. Just changing out the front tires increases the likelihood that the rear tires will skid. Likewise, just putting snow tires on the rear wheels could cause the front tires to lose traction and make it impossible to steer your vehicle.
And remember to re-mount those all season tires when spring rolls around. While winter tires are undeniably superior in extreme winter conditions, they’ll wear down faster on warm, dry pavement.

My all-season tires are just fine for the cold temps in the Northeast US. It rarely drops below zero F. But I only use them on dry pavement. But when there's snow or ice on the road, I do use winter M+S tires on a different car for the added and necessary traction.

So what's good for someone in Canada or Minnesota doesn't really apply to everyone. Everyone has to make their own judgement call based on the winter temps and weather conditions in their region.

Side note: My Inventory P85+ came from a Tesla Service center in Maryland -- where it was used as a loaner all winter long (winter of 2013) with the stock 21" wheels and Michelin PS2 tires. I sure as hell wouldn't drive those tires in the winter, but I'm sure a lot of people did -- possibly without even knowing it.
 
Interesting discussion. Here in North Carolina, we have maybe 2-4 snow days a year. Not enough to go full winter, but enough to make a change from the factory 21"s. This week I am changing my

21" rims / Continental DWS summery type tires that came with the car
to
19" aftermarket rims / Pirelli P7 All Season + tires

Since the Pirelli's are supposed to last 70K miles, I am thinking these will be 2.5 season tires and I will run the 21"s (which are good for maybe 15-20k miles) only mid May - mid Sept. to save a few bucks on rubber and get 4 years out of the summer tires. Crossing my fingers that this works well.
 
I strongly agree. People don't need winter M+S tires unless they're driving in extreme winter/snowy areas. This is from the Bridgestone website:

The Bridgestone website quote you cited says, "If you only see a few snow flurries each year and slick, icy roads are more of a fluke than an annual ordeal..." -- so, in other words, in places that don't get ice, except for the very odd year, you don't need winter tires. That certainly makes sense. That's for places where it rarely goes below freezing -- except for the "fluke" year. "But if you know there’s a period when icy roads are always an issue, mounting winter tires isn’t an over-the-top precaution – it’s an essential safety measure that could save your life." So places where every year it does go below freezing you need winter tires. I don't think you can really use this to support your position that "People don't need winter M+S tires unless they're driving in extreme winter/snowy areas".
 
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And my concluding comment was:

. Everyone has to make their own judgement call based on the winter temps and weather conditions in their region.

My point being that all-season tires are fine for driving in the winter in colder temps without much snow in this region. Or in other words, just because it's cold doesn't mean you need M+S tires because of the rubber compound -- unless "cold" to you is well below zero most of the winter.

Particularly with tires, what's good or right for one person in one part of the continent is rarely applicable for someone else in some other part.

I don't claim to know what Canadians should do for winter tires. But I do know what's good for people it the NY area. And all-season tires are sufficient for all temperatures in this part of the country and what I would call "light snow". Anything more than 1" or 2", and I wouldn't use all-season tires, which is why I have an alternate ICE with M+S tires specifically for heavy snow days, which are pretty infrequent.

But I would still drive on my all-season tires on the coldest of dry/no-snow days around here (below zero sometimes) without concern of the rubber composition of the tire.
 
Everyone has been very helpful and I really appreciate all of the input. I'm assuming that the stock tires are all season tires. For the most part they should be fine. That said I do have a 2004 BMW CIC that has a set of winter tires/wheels to change out should I need them. The other issue for me is that I drive from East Hampton, NY to Livingston, NJ and back 3 days later and count on the HOV lane for my morning commute as it saves me 30-60 minutes depending on traffic. The beemer doesn't qualify to drive in the HOV lane unless I have a passenger which is rare. So it's something I seriously need to consider. Tesla charges $2500 for a set of base wheels and winter tires including TPMS I assume. I'm sure other people have commented on the best value so I'll check the thread to see if people use Tesla or Tire Rack:) Thanks again everyone. I'll post when I've received the car in a couple of weeks!!
 
Everyone has been very helpful and I really appreciate all of the input. I'm assuming that the stock tires are all season tires. For the most part they should be fine.
Just bear in mind that there are differences in all-season tires. Many are really three season. I found that the Primacies were barely adequate for Dallas winters when new, I wouldn't trust them in year two. Some are severe service all-seasons (an example of this is Nokian WR-g3, where the tread compound remains flexible when liquid nitrogen is poured on it and has traction that rivals all but the best snow tires, but won't melt on those hot days like we get in Dallas. I use them as my winter tires).
 
Everyone has been very helpful and I really appreciate all of the input. I'm assuming that the stock tires are all season tires. For the most part they should be fine. That said I do have a 2004 BMW CIC that has a set of winter tires/wheels to change out should I need them. The other issue for me is that I drive from East Hampton, NY to Livingston, NJ and back 3 days later and count on the HOV lane for my morning commute as it saves me 30-60 minutes depending on traffic. The beemer doesn't qualify to drive in the HOV lane unless I have a passenger which is rare. So it's something I seriously need to consider. Tesla charges $2500 for a set of base wheels and winter tires including TPMS I assume. I'm sure other people have commented on the best value so I'll check the thread to see if people use Tesla or Tire Rack:) Thanks again everyone. I'll post when I've received the car in a couple of weeks!!

I found the best deal was to buy rims and TPMS from Tesla and tires elsewhere. Last year Discount Tire had pretty good prices on the Nokians, and that is where I went for tires with free installation; at the last minute, Discount gave me a discount from Tesla's price on the TPMS and I went with them for the TPMS as well as the tires.

Good Luck!
 
If you're going to drive in snow/ice I would strongly recommend winter rated tires (look for the little mountain/snowflake logo, not some indication of M+S). I'll echo what other have said, all-season tires in the snow is simply cutting corners. There's just no reason to buy a beautiful, powerful car and then cheap out on the contact point between that car and the road. All the empirical data show that snow tires are far better in terms of road holding and stopping than all-season tires.

As Cottonwood has mentioned, Nokian makes some of the best snow tires available. For lots of snow, go with a studdless Hakkapeliitta R2. For lots of ice near or at freezing temperatures, go with a studded Hakkapeliitta 8. I, for one, encounter a little snow, some ice and lots of rain. I just got the Nokian WR G3. They're a studdless, severe-service rated, tire that isn't going to melt in warmer weather but isn't as good on snow/ice as the Hakkepeliitta.


IMG_4243.jpg
 
I found the best deal was to buy rims and TPMS from Tesla and tires elsewhere. Last year Discount Tire had pretty good prices on the Nokians, and that is where I went for tires with free installation...

Fun fact -- even though the Nokians are probably the best snow tires to put on the car, they are not "officially blessed" by Tesla, they won't mount them on your wheels. You'll have to take them back to Discount Tire in the fall for mounting. This is totally silly, and the Service Adviser at Tesla admitted as such, but she says it's "company policy".
 
Fun fact -- even though the Nokians are probably the best snow tires to put on the car, they are not "officially blessed" by Tesla, they won't mount them on your wheels. You'll have to take them back to Discount Tire in the fall for mounting. This is totally silly, and the Service Adviser at Tesla admitted as such, but she says it's "company policy".

They mounted them for me a year ago but maybe it varies service center to service center.
 
Anyone in a state that can reasonably expect to get some ice or snow and several days of below freezing weather should always get a set of wheels with snow tires. Others have posted the TireRack videos above, but the lesson is that there is no such thing as an "all season tire" that excels in all four seasons. Summer tires do best in hot weather roads and snow tires do best on freezing cold roads. All season tires give average, so-so, performance throughout the year. Think about that when you put your family (or yourself) in your precious Tesla.

If you're new to the concept of swapping wheels/tires, here is a simple checklist:

1. Go to TireRack.com and order a set of winter wheels and tire package for your car. They will walk you through the process using a wizard. Or call them and you'll be stunned by their customer service on the phone
2. TireRack will drop ship a fully mounted set of wheels (including TPMS) that have been balanced to your favorite neighborhood tire shop (Goodyear, or any other)
3. Drive your Tesla to the neighborhood shop, and wait for 1/2 hour while they swap out wheels.
4. Put your summer wheels in the back (after covering them with a large garbage bag or wheel tote) and drive home. Stick 'em in the garage or the utility closet.

Old rule of thumb: Put on Winter wheels by Thanksgiving and put your summer's back on by Easter.

I actually swap out the wheels in my garage myself -- and I'm NOT a car guy (a computer guy actually). But if you don't want to even do that, please spend the money and do all the other steps above. It saddens me to see folks buying near six figure cars and spending gobs of money to wrap them to protect the paint but then try to save money by economizing on where the rubber meets the road (literally!)
 
Another thing to keep in mind is that "M+S" is NOT a winter tire, it's an all-season tire (also known as a 3 season tire as they can't handle winter conditions). I hate that BC bowed to pressure and let those count as "winter" tires on the highways, it costs lives. Winter tires always include the snowflake in the mountain symbol, that should be the minimum for anywhere that the temperature regularly drops below the freezing point of water.
Where I live summer tires are pretty much a no-go ever, people switch between winter tires for 8 months of the year, and all seasons for the remaining 4. well, smart people that is...
 
The problem, as said before, is not so much the amount of snow or ice but the temperature. Winter tires are meant to stay soft at low temperatures. If you drove on them year round, they would wear really fast. But when cold, they stay pliable rather than hard -- and hard rubber is extremely slippery

This.

High performance tires get extremely hard at temperatures around freezing. Their performance in snow is not much different from children's plastic toboggans.
 
If you put non preferred winter or summer tires on your Tesla and you have any issues with your car that Tesla can blame on the tires they will not repair your car for free, you will have to pay out of pocket. I highly suggest sticking with what Tesla recommends until your car is out of warranty.
 
If you put non preferred winter or summer tires on your Tesla and you have any issues with your car that Tesla can blame on the tires they will not repair your car for free, you will have to pay out of pocket. I highly suggest sticking with what Tesla recommends until your car is out of warranty.

No, this is nonsense. Even if that's true, Tesla would have to prove that non-stock tires was the direct cause of the problem. What possible problem could Tesla "blame" on non-stock tires?

What you may be thinking of is some (not all) Tesla service centers refuse to rotate tires/wheels if they are non-stock tires and/or wheels. Nothing to do with the warranty.
 
This.

High performance tires get extremely hard at temperatures around freezing. Their performance in snow is not much different from children's plastic toboggans.

Exactly, if you live somewhere that gets pretty cold, rubber gets hard. The performance tires get VERY hard and slick, and all season due as well, just as hard when very cold around freezing or less.

This is a great reason to get Winter tires, but remember, shouldn't really install them and drive on them until its less than about 45/40 degrees always consistently or you'll wear/ruin them before Winter is here or leaves...

I'm going with the Blizzak LM-32 Bridgestones in a few weeks when (IF) finally gets really cold in Chicago. It makes the world of difference in Winter, much safer, and you can use them for several seasons easily if swap wheels and dedicate 19" to a Winter set, and another 19 or the 21s to a Summer set.

-T
 
Exactly, if you live somewhere that gets pretty cold, rubber gets hard. The performance tires get VERY hard and slick, and all season due as well, just as hard when very cold around freezing or less.

This is a great reason to get Winter tires, but remember, shouldn't really install them and drive on them until its less than about 45/40 degrees always consistently or you'll wear/ruin them before Winter is here or leaves...

I'm going with the Blizzak LM-32 Bridgestones in a few weeks when (IF) finally gets really cold in Chicago. It makes the world of difference in Winter, much safer, and you can use them for several seasons easily if swap wheels and dedicate 19" to a Winter set, and another 19 or the 21s to a Summer set.

-T

Little Known Fact: All Season Tires mean All Florida Seasons or for those of us up North All Seasons....Except for Winter. All Season tires are directly responsible for many accidents and that is why we don't even think of leaving them on once the temperature stays below 50 degrees consistently. All Season Tires are just too Dangerous for Iowa Winters. (Plus only winter tires can make it up our driveway in the winter time).
 
IMHO, there is no correlation between AWD and the need for winter tires. AWD in no way mitigates the need for winter tires in any way, shape or form. If you live in a climate with sub-freezing temperatures, snow and ice, you need winter tires. Period.