Winter tires, how long can I hold out?

[Henry Jones]

Most days the temp is up around 8 or 10 c. I would not be surprised if we get days that hit 15 c. I will wait till it get cold or Dec 15 to put on my wellies.

 

[JustBob]

Where's the best place to get cheap rims? Canadian Tire? Costco?

 

[EagerBeaver]

I don't know what the conditions are like in Connecticut, but AWD only helps forward traction. It does not help stopping distance at all, nor does it help steering at all. In fact, it slightly reduces the effectiveness of both.

If you have Continental AWD tires you are all set for the CT winter. Stopping distance only becomes an issue if you are travelling at excessive speed. If you are travelling 94 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone, as was the police car that broadsided the turning vehicle in this video, killing its two 19 year old occupants, then 2/10ths of a second is not sufficient time in which to stop your vehicle before killing those in the other, no matter what kind of tires you have:

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/11/18/news/milford/doc4b0394233e582961926690.txt

 

[EagerBeaver]

I was talking about AWD vehicles on the roads in Connecticut, not Montreal. They are extremely popular here and most people do not use snow tires. Near the coast in Connecticut the temperature mostly hovers near 32 degrees fahrenheit which is 0 degrees celsius. There is not too much snow except for the odd N'oreaster.

As far as stopping distance and braking that becomes an issue depending on your speed but if you are on black ice, you are going to have trouble stopping no matter what.

For the conditions we have, I had two all wheel drive vehicles, first a Subaru and then a BMW, and never had a problem with either one as far as traction or stopping distance and this is also considering I have to travel all through the State for my job.

The only car I had trouble with is the one I had before the Subaru, which was a Honda Prelude. Honda no longer makes them, but I paid cash for a new one in 1997 (the first time I ever paid cash for a car), and it was a great car during spring, summer and fall, but it absolutely could not handle even Connecticut roads in the winter. It had high performance tires built for the racetrack. I was almost killed in Litchfield in a one car accident in about winter of 2001 or 2002, and that's when I decided to trade that fucker in for an AWD Subaru.

 

[GTA refugee]

Where's the best place to get cheap rims? Canadian Tire? Costco?

I bought winter tires and rims for my last car at Canadian Tire, the rims started to rust after the first season. When I traded my car at the end of 5 years mt original rims were still in good shape. On my current car I negociated the rims into the price of the car and have original rims for the all seasona as well as the winter tires. Original dealer rims might run you $20 more than Candian tire aftermarket rims. The center hub hole is universal, so your Canadian Tire rims are just held up by the bolts.