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Sarah,
I just moved from Arizona to Minnesota for a job. This will be my first time experiencing winter driving and I'm a little nervous. I have some fairly new all season tires (about 10,000 miles) but do you think I should buy snow tires? What's the difference anyways? Do you have any recommendations for tires? Thanks!
Jay F.
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I love my Bridgestone Blizzaks and can't even break the (winter beater) Infiniti G20 loose in powder snow if I try. Of course the front wheel drive and limited slip diff help a little, but they handle the road like it's dry though they tend to be a little expensive. Most snow rated tires will be fine since the properties of snow tires are all very similar. I'm from SoCal originally so I know what it's like to relocate somewhere with a real winter. Good tires and smart driving will get you through the season. (photo courtesy of Bridgestone)
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You're pretty much smack dab in the middle of blizzard country. If you have no experience driving in the snow, I'd definitely recommend investing in some snow tires. The block tread patterns on snow (winter) tires enable the tire to dig down into snow and ice. Some snow tires have cleats or studs in their tread lugs, sharp metal edges that bite into ice. They are also made from a softer rubber compound and use siping, little slits carved on the sides of the tread blocks, that help the tire flex as the tire drives down the road. This makes it easier for the tire to channel water and conform to the harder (frozen) ground surface. All season tires may get brittle or become too hard to grip frozen roads and won't provide good traction in snowy or icy conditions. Your best bet is to find some stock wheels at a junkyard and have snow tires mounted on those, so you can just swap them out when the weather is nice in spring. Otherwise, the softer compound snow tires will wear quickly and the noisy tread pattern would get annoying when cruising around all year long.
Got a difficult tech question? Email Sarah at asksarah@motoiq.com
