how important are winter tires in Chicago with AWD?

[argon2018]

Thanks everyone for their response. All this time, I thought AWD was key. I guess I'll switch out the tires. Any recommendations? are there any shops that would trade in? I have had 900 mileage on stock 18 inch tires. If I knew performance rims had winter tires I would have got it.

 

[mswlogo]

Thanks everyone for their response. All this time, I thought AWD was key. I guess I'll switch out the tires. Any recommendations? are there any shops that would trade in? I have had 900 mileage on stock 18 inch tires. If I knew performance rims had winter tires I would have got it.

Buy an extra set of RIMs and keep the snow tires on those RIM's and your OEM's as is.

You can get a whole package from Tire Rack but a lot of folks still wish to run Aero's in winter to get all the range you can get because you WILL take a hit on range in cold weather.

Lot's of folks selling Aero's with OEM's tires on Ebay and Forums. Around $1200-ish
Watch out for folks removing original TPMS (that cost money to replace).

I created a Poll on what folks chose. It's Neck and Neck between Nokian R3 and Michelin Xi3.

I bought a set of Aero "Take Offs" for $1200 and put the tires that came with them away (they are worth $1100 to replace !!)
So effectively I got the 4 RIM's for $100.00

Or you could buy the package from Tesla. But there seems to be a long wait time.

 

[electracity]

Thanks everyone for their response. All this time, I thought AWD was key. I guess I'll switch out the tires. Any recommendations? are there any shops that would trade in? I have had 900 mileage on stock 18 inch tires. If I knew performance rims had winter tires I would have got it.

Did your old car have snow tires? I bet not. What doesn't work is running summer tires in winter. All season tires are fine all year in Chicago. The vast majority of residents do not run snow tires. I literally don't know a single person who changes from all season tires to snow tires in winter.

The only use I see for snow tires in Chicago is for people who did not learn to drive in winter conditions.

 

[j5555]

Last night was the worst driving conditions I've seen in Chicago since early in the year.

Drove the M3 AWD with std all season 18's. They were a little sloppy turning--but otherwise no issues in 1-2" slush with breaking or starting up. I did have car in chill mode and low regen breaking.

I'll stick with the all seasons for now. It seems only 3-4 days per year that I could envision snow tires.

 

[mswlogo]

Last night was the worst driving conditions I've seen in Chicago since early in the year.

Maybe it wouldn’t seem like worst driving conditions if you had snows.

Winter is just getting going here.

We’ve had about a foot of snow and it’s not even worth mentioning snow tire performance just yet.

Couple inches of slush is your worst conditions ever in Chicago?

 

[j5555]

Couple inches of slush is your worst conditions ever in Chicago?

Of course not but you did not read what I said--"worst conditions since early in the year." In actuality we had close to a foot of snow here yesterday--and car handled OK. Can't say i drove in a 12" of snow as I was home and garaged perhaps when only 4" or so were on the ground. My point was there are perhaps only 3-4 per year when you actually have to drive in deep snow. Either way 18 all seasons on the AWD seemed to be ok.

 

[TheLocNar]

Winter tires aren’t just about driving in the snow. At temps below 40 even on dry roads, they’ll perform better than all seasons.

 

[SageBrush]

It’s cheaper for me to runs snows than not to.

And more. How much personal injury is acceptable ?

For me, not much. Just the loss of one work day more than pays for the winter set-up -- and that is presuming no lasting injury.

OP is asking if he should be penny-wise and pound foolish. A large part of the Tesla purchase argument is safety. I cannot imagine turning that advantage into mush.

 

[SageBrush]

Drove the M3 AWD with std all season 18's. They were a little sloppy turning--but otherwise no issues in 1-2" slush with breaking or starting up.

I buy winter tyres for the ice. Slush is not a problem.

 

[PJFW8]

Get it out of your mind that having AWD or not factors into this equation. AWD doesn't help you brake. AWD just means you have the ability to get yourself stuck further into the snowbank.

AWD and winter tires are great. AWD alone was ok at best. Winter tires were so dramatically better that I decided to save money somewhere else. Saved my butt too many times to count. I live in the mountains of North Carolina and travel to the midwest during the holidays. The performance enhancement is really cool. My car did so well over the last 6 years that I ordered my 3 with RWD. Put my winter tires on last week. Why suffer?

 

[mswlogo]

Of course not but you did not read what I said--"worst conditions since early in the year." In actuality we had close to a foot of snow here yesterday--and car handled OK. Can't say i drove in a 12" of snow as I was home and garaged perhaps when only 4" or so were on the ground. My point was there are perhaps only 3-4 per year when you actually have to drive in deep snow. Either way 18 all seasons on the AWD seemed to be ok.

Missed that. Strangely worded. Of course it's worse than earlier in the year, winter is just getting started.

All it takes is one fender (or body) bender on one of those 3-4 per year for snows to make a lot of sense.

 

[dhanson865]

Winter tires aren’t just about driving in the snow. At temps below 40 even on dry roads, they’ll perform better than all seasons.

Change that to 30F or 35F and I'd agree. "Cold" on the image below is 3c which is about 37F and All season tires still have better traction at that temp than either summer or winter tires if it's wet and better than winter tires when dry. It's a small band of victory for all seasons as you can see in the second image which unfortunately doesn't have the temperature axis labeled.

Personally I don't find driving in the "warm and dry" an issue so I focus on the wet performance and thus avoid summer tires entirely. But those summer bias all seasons will pull me to a more summer like tire when I replace my next set of old school all seasons. They'd make for a decent "faux summer" tire for people in the extreme north who used dedicated winter tires. Less of an issue to get caught in a surprise snow with All Season as your summer tire than if you have a truly summer only tire.

 

[Ciditad]

If you live in the city I think A/S tires will do as they city is pretty good with plowing. Had a WRX with Michelin Pilot A/S and it was fine - except the 2010 (or 2011?) snow storm that obliterated Lakeshore Drive, my buddy and many others had to abandon their cars.

 

[IgorS]

Winter tires are a safety measure to protect yourself and your family. Spend 1k now and be safe, rather than risk your life and even more money when an accident occurs.

 

[hd-2]

My winter wheels are supposed to ship this week from TSportline, but I rented a car in the meantime. I tried the P3D in the snow this morning, and the performance on the summers was on par for the course. It was in a warm garage, and I drove for about 10 minutes, and the standard regen caused slipping while stopping, and in the snow it could barely get going up my driveway. PSI dropped form 43 in the garage to 41 when I got back, and they basically felt like plastic upon arrival. It'll sit in the garage until the winters arrive.