Get a grip... with snow tires.

I had some perfect timing yesterday.  Realizing that it was getting to be that time of year again, and that I was due for an oil change anyway, I made an appointment to have my snow tires mounted on my car….  Just in time for the snowfall that came yesterday evening.  Some of that snow is still sticking around today, but not enough to make the prospect of getting out my cross country skis or Pavlov’s skijoring gear worthwhile -which is a real shame, because I do have the day off, and it would have been fun to go skiing, and I'm sure Pavlov would have loved to go skijoring -at the very least, he loves putting on his skijoring jacket -not so much the boots, and we've all but given up on him wearing his UV goggles in spite of his blown left pupil that is at full dilation at all times (genetic anomaly -he's a homozygous merle Great Dane even though he looks like a mismarked mantle Dane).  Today's post is going to make the case for outfitting your car with snow tires -provided you actually drive in an area where there's snow.  Just like people wear snow boots, and like my pup, Pavlov dons his Ruffwear brand Grip Trex Bark'n Boots for Skijoring, your car needs some winter kicks, too.  If you don't believe me, just ask Pavlov.

Some people buy a cheap, second set of rims that they keep their snow tires mounted on, then they just swap out the rims, which is easy to do at home by yourself, but most of the people I know who do this actually have a tire place handle the work for them.  That’s one way to do it, but I like the rims I have on my car, and to buy a new set just like them would cost me just under a grand per rim.  I could buy cheap, steel rims, but why should my car have to wear ugly rims just because there’s snow on the ground?  I figure that by the time the cost of having tires swapped out,  mounted, and balanced on my rims reaches the point where it would have been cheaper to buy another set of rims, I’d be due for new tires anyway, and would still have to pay to have them mounted and balanced.  I don’t have a set up for mounting and balancing tires myself, so, I have it done for me, and I try to time it so that I can get the oil changed at the same time as I have the tires swapped (I haul my summer tires home and store them until spring).  ….I could just change my own oil, but lately, it is actually more cost effective to have it done by somebody else.  By the time I pay for the oil and filter that my car needs, I’m pretty much within a dollar or two of what it would cost me to have a mechanic do the work, and when I factor in my time, having to get out my tools and crawl under my car, then it becomes a money losing proposition.  I like doing things myself, but not if it’s going to lose me money and time.

So -snow tires….  I can’t emphasize enough how great they are for people living in areas where it gets cold, icy, and snowy.  You might not think they make that much difference, but take it from a gal who drives a Mustang year round (rear wheel drive through the snow and ice), IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE.  When there’s snowfall filling the air with heavy flakes that then pile up on the ground as slippery, slushy mounds that you have to drive over and through, you want as much traction as you can get, or you’re going to find yourself in a ditch or in the path of oncoming traffic.  Snow tires give you all the grip you could possibly have in that situation.  I’ll explain how it works.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while may recall a post about tires in general from this past May 16th that came about during a visit to the tire store when I had to replace a wrecked summer tire after falling victim to the carelessness of a scrapper truck spewing bits of jagged metal all over the roadway just days prior to that.    If you want to read that post, go ahead, because it covers a variety of tires in addition to snow tires.  But, if you want the nitty-gritty on snow tires right here and now, just stay put.

Don’t let some claims of “all-season” tires fool you….  You can leave those on your car year round, but they are not particularly well suited for any type of driving because all-season tires are a compromise of materials and design that makes them sort of passable for most driving conditions, but ideal for none.  It may be that your car came with all season tires from the factory, but if I were you, I’d get snow tires for winter.  You can keep the all seasons for spring, summer and fall, but when it’s time to replace them, go with a summertime performance tire and swap them out with your snow tires in winter.

Summer tires will have bigger, wider tread blocks filling the spaces between the grooves than a winter tire for more contact with the pavement.  They‘re made from rubber that is tougher and stiffer than snow tires. Many summer tires have grooves designed to fling rain away from the treads, and that’s about as much as you can expect from them when dealing with bad weather.  The point of a summer tire is to have a large contact patch with the surface that it’s rolling over, which hopefully most of the time, is dry pavement, so you can get traction to get up and go.  In contrast, snow tires are made of a softer, more malleable rubber formulation that doesn’t get so stiff and hard when exposed to cold weather (as such, they’ll be even softer in hot weather and will wear down super fast if you forget to swap them out and use them during the summer -though you‘ll probably get some nice, sticky traction for driving before they’re shot).  Because they retain some flexibility, snow tires can grab and grip better than a harder tire when temperatures become arctic.  There are more sipes -the little grooves that crisscross the tires on a snow tire than on a summer tire, and the larger tread grooves are designed in a layout that is meant to give the tire the ability to grab and rip its way through snow and slush.

I drove my previous Mustang year round without the benefit of snow tires.  I know the difference between having them and not having them.  There’s a reason I make a point of getting my tires swapped seasonally now, and for those of you living in areas where snow or ice hits the ground in winter, it’s worth the investment.

There are different types of snow tires available.  I run Dunlop WinterSport M3’s on my car.  They’re a directional rotation performance snow tire that’s meant for more aggressive driving.  Directional rotation means that there’s only one way the tires are designed to roll, so it limits tire rotation options, but also means the tires were designed with more precision in mind for how it handles and performs.  There are lots of options available, and it never hurts to shop around for tires, either.  I’m rather fond of Dunlop tires, myself.  My summer tires are also made by Dunlop, though sold under a different name.  I used to buy Michelin tires for my Jeep, and was quite happy with those when I had them, but there are lots and lots of good tires being made.  Find one that suits your car and your driving style.
   

I would suggest to anybody who puts any amount of money into their tires or rims, or both, that you also invest in a set of locking lug nuts.  These help prevent thieves from stealing the rims right off your car because they require a specific key socket to unfasten.  Keep that socket hidden in your car so you have it should you ever need to change a tire and make sure you don’t lose it.  Even if you live in a small town or a suburb where there isn’t a lot of crime, you never know what kind of shiftless assholes are lurking about, just looking for opportunities to do something shitty.  All some people need is a tire iron and the prospect of making a few bucks by unloading your rims and tires on Craigslist or selling them out of the back of a van in some crappy parking lot to motivate them to take something they’ve got no business having in the first place and leaving you holding the bag.  There’s always a chance that you could walk out to your driveway some morning and find your car sitting up on blocks with no wheels.  The prospect of paying out several hundred dollars for an insurance deductible, or a couple grand if you’re going out of pocket to replace rims and tires is much worse than paying out $40-50 for a set of locking lug nuts to help protect your investment.

So, today’s lesson is what?  Snow tires and locking lug nuts, folks.  Get them, use them, and drive safe.