Winter is Coming - when do you install your winter tires?

[wayner]

You might be surprised by how low they are.

Sensor says 2.8 bars which is 41 psi. I think 3.1/45 is recommended level. These are Michelin 245/45R19s.

Why bars used for tire pressure rather than kiloPascals (1 bar = 100,000 kPa)? I know that bar approximates atmospheric pressure, but it is kind of getting away from the Metric system.

 

[Doug_G]

1 Tesla is 10,000 Gauss. You’re just lucky your garage isn’t chock full of non-SI cars.

 

[dmd2005]

Should I bother putting in some air? Go tire is coming on Wednesday to put on the Winters.

I would put in a few PSI. You’ll notice an improvement in your range/energy usage with properly inflated tires.

 

[Canuck]

Do you wait until December? Late November?
Location is Greater Toronto Area.

Wow that's late. I have to have mine on by Oct 1 for our mountain passes, at least according to the signs out here. It's not uncommon to have snow on the mountain passes in October. I want through a blizzard on the Coquihalla connector in mid-Oct last year and I was sure glad I had my x-ice tires on.

 

[wayner]

Wow that's late. I have to have mine on by Oct 1 for our mountain passes, at least according to the signs out here. It's not uncommon to have snow on the mountain passes in October. I want through a blizzard on the Coquihalla connector in mid-Oct last year and I was sure glad I had my x-ice tires on.

Not a lot of mountain passes within 1000km or so of Toronto. We were at 20C as late as Oct 22 this year and we just saw freezing temps and snow a couple of days ago and that was unusually early.

 

[mknox]

Why bars used for tire pressure rather than kiloPascals (1 bar = 100,000 kPa)? I know that bar approximates atmospheric pressure, but it is kind of getting away from the Metric system.

1 bar = 100 kPa, but yes, why not use kPa like everyone else?

 

[TrevTremaine]

Not a lot of mountain passes within 1000km or so of Toronto. We were at 20C as late as Oct 22 this year and we just saw freezing temps and snow a couple of days ago and that was unusually early.

Doesn't Blue Mountain apply?

 

[wayner]

Doesn't Blue Mountain apply?

Blue Mountain seems to have 490 ft of vertical. If you go by the 1000' requirement for a mountain then it doesn't even make it half-way.

 

[Canuck]

The Coquihalla summit is 1,244 m or over 4,000 feet and Sunday Summit on the Crow's Nest (#3) is el. 1,284 m or 4,213 ft. They're basically off limits for my Tesla this time of year. Even if I had AWD the rocks thrown by the semi's make me cringe in my nearly 10 year old Tahoe hybrid that's full of rock chips. I got the snow tires for my Tesla for the shoulder seasons and that's over now. Here's just last week when I went from my cabin in Tulameen to Kamloops on Coalmont Road to join the Coq. connector:

There's no cell phone coverage and as you can see the temperature reads -22 C and it got down to -25. But that's unusually cold for this time of year and it has since warmed up above zero. The Tahoe got so full of mud, salt and rocks that they plaster the highways with -- but much needed since otherwise there'd be no traction. Then there's the semi's and others that throw up the rocks used on the roads like shrapnel. Every year it seems the road crews use bigger gravel. You need a lot of washer fluid to keep the windshields clear -- front and back. I've replaced the windshield on my Tahoe twice now and lived with a lot of chips between changes. I've got two small chips injected in my Tesla that I got during the shoulder seasons.

 

[sakimano]

personally I put my winters on when I hear the tires start to sort of crunch at low speed turns. Or basically whenever it gets down below 5 degrees celsius.

That was mid november this year. Brilliant fall in Ontario. I just traded my car in and drove home friday on 21" Michelin PSS on turbines and was fingers crossed the whole way for no snow. It was plenty cold but they did ok. Switched to 19" classic wheels with Pirelli Sottozeros this afternoon and am all set for the first snowstorm, tomorrow/tuesday.

 

[Drone Flyer]

Run all weather tires and you don’t need to worry about changing them over every 6 months

All weather, uh, no weather tires wouldn't work in colder climates. You need proper snow tires in snow and ice, period!
In Quebec, snow tires are mandatory. I just wish all provides made it so, even BC.

 

[dmd2005]

All weather, uh, no weather tires wouldn't work in colder climates. You need proper snow tires in snow and ice, period!
In Quebec, snow tires are mandatory. I just wish all provides made it so, even BC.

All weather are snow rated...you’re thinking of all seasons which are no seasons tires.

 

[Drone Flyer]

All weather are snow rated...you’re thinking of all seasons which are no seasons tires.

Yes, I believe you are right. However, I wouldn't want to put snow rated tires on my car in the hot summer months either.
Its not a big deal to change over twice a year.

 

[sakimano]

Yes, I believe you are right. However, I wouldn't want to put snow rated tires on my car in the hot summer months either.
Its not a big deal to change over twice a year.

Why not?

 

[dmd2005]

Why not?

Winter tires and all weather tires will wear faster in dry and warm conditions. The winter rubber compound is quite soft compared to all seasons and summer tires.

I like to change over from summer to winters tires around November and back to summer tires in March/April. I’m fortunate enough to own several sets of tires/wheels and I’m still on my wet weather setup with Pirelli Sottozeroes on both Teslas. The Nokians (R2’s and studded Hakka 9’s) are going on soon when we plan to go to Whistler and to the Interior of BC in the upcoming weeks.

 

[sakimano]

Winter tires and all weather tires will wear faster in dry and warm conditions. The winter rubber compound is quite soft compared to all seasons and summer tires.

The wear difference is minimal. What are we talking about 20% less tire life at most? Assuming 1500/set that's 300 bucks every 3-4 years.

Considering the labour and time/energy cost of swapping wheels every 6 months I doubt it's any different financially.

 

[dmd2005]

I swap out my own wheel sets so it costs me about 30mins of time. I’ve chewed up a set of Blizzaks with blocks of tread missing on highway speeds going into spring thinking it wasn’t a big deal...now I swap out my Nokans when I know it warms up and conditions get dry. I guess 120-130 km/h highway speeds don’t help either.

Also, it’s not a choice to run all seasons all year long in Quebec or if you travel the Sea to Sky or BC highways north and east of Hope BC. Snow rated or M+S tires are required by law between Oct and April in these areas.

 

[Hugh Mannity]

I have WRG3 with 35000 klicks on them. There is still plenty of “meat” considering they’ve been through two summers so far including a very warm July to San Francisco and back.

I actually expected to see a lot more wear then I have.

 

[dmd2005]

Northern Cali is warm, but Palm Desert is smoking hot. I thought my Conti tires were going to melt. The hottest surface temp was 63 degrees C when I was driving, but I got a pic at the Indio Supercharger saying it was 59 degrees C that day.

Braking distance would suck with winter tires in the summer as well and vice versa with summers or all seasons in winter conditions.

 

[Yoona]

Nokian Hakkas are the best! My RWD recently had to climb a pretty steep ramp curving upwards to the right instead of straight line (starting from a full stop with no forward momentum) on wet slippery slushy snow, and the tires didn't slip or struggle even once. Expensive, but peace of mind was totally worth it.