When to run the new snow tires...

[PortlandZinMan]

First a disclaimer… I spent the 1st 45 years of my life in Southern California. Snow is not something I have a lot of experience with. We moved to Portland, OR 3 years ago and my FX is the first AWD car I have owned.

I found really good deals on a set of 18” OEM rims and a put a set of Blizzaks Z3’s on them. I currently have 20” tires and wheels on the car. Winter will be here soon and I am wondering how to best utilize them. We only get snow about 3-4 times in the winter and normally this is a 6” to 12” affair. However, we regularly have icy roads and I live on a hill which can be challenging.

My question…when do I put these tires on? Do I just put them on when it is icy or we have snow on the ground (and take them off otherwise), or is it OK to run them all winter? I do a lot of freeway driving and it rains A LOT here in the winter.

I am not so concerned with wear (these tires only cost me $120 each with mounting)… I am more concerned with how these tires will handle in conditions that are either dry or rain soaked.

Advice would be welcome.

 

[GEE50FX]

Generally, I put my winter tires on when the weather gets consistently below 50F (10C). If you are running straight summer performance tires they will start to lose their traction capabilities below these temps (the summer compounds are not made for this) If you are running all season tires you can wait a bit longer.

 

[turbocad6]

yea, agreed, if your running summer tires then you should swap at the time when it will get consistantly below ~that 50deg mark... if your running all seasons then you can hold out as long as you like & swap back & forth all you like.... snow tires are great in the snow but will be a little less than great in everything else... good enough to use for several months straight though each winter if that's what your situation warrants...


if you have all season regular wheels & don't mind swapping out each & every time it's just a lot of snow then you can certainly do that too...

 

[jbaker1121]

when you know it will start to snow alot

 

[PortlandZinMan]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Will mount them at the first snow/ice event and leave them on for the winter.

 

[MTN FX]

I plan on changing mine at the end of October.BTW my son lives in Portland too.

 

[jbaker1121]

i'm throwing mine on at the beginning of winter break.... (NY/PA)

 

[Qwikhas]

i did a schedule of Nov 1 to about sometime in March depending on what was going on weather wise.

 

[koolaid]

50F seems to be the magic number. Winter tires aren't all about snow, but also about cold weather. They remain soft, even in colder weather.

 

[EG3]

From what I've read, when it's below 42F, a general tire compound starts to harden, reducing grip in cold. All season tires fare better compared to stockers or summer tires. Like others say, I tend to switch to snows when it's below 50F consistently & <= to 40F at nights..