Its april in the great white north and I had to put my summer tires on. The dry pavement was raising hell with my soft compound winter rubber and I couldn't take it anymore. Probbly will snow in july or something stupid. Just sayin

Been sunny here for 2 weeks straight ,too weird.

Even tho we're supposed to have winter tires out on the 'Wet Coast', I never change over from the M&S types.

If it snows heavily here, I just don't go anywhere even with my AWD CUV. The heavy wet snow that we get here is incredibly difficult to negotiate especially when hills are involved - nasty...

TAM

If I ever have enough money to spare I'll pick up another set of wheels, and some strictly summer tires. Then I'll put some winters on my factory wheels. But for now I just run all-season tires. As long as I'm not plowing snow with my bumper, my car can go in anything I've tried. I did have to turn off the (normally great) traction control when I pulled onto a sheet of ice and couldn't get the car to move again.

It is really convenient to have both sets mounted on their own rims, but a bit pricey initially.

The latest trend with tire dealers up here is that they store the set of tires/wheels that your not using then swap them out when the seasons change. Great idea although I don't know what it costs...

TAM

Normally we get -20 or colder and all seasons just don't cut it( to hard). I have 225/40 -18's for summer and super soft blizzaks for winter. I have tried 3 different tires for winter these are the best so far. What works in cold temps get pulverized on dry pavement. Tests have shown that a soft winter tire is better for cold weather wet or dry braking than an all season or summer tire under the same conditions. I take safety super serious,we have lots of poor drivers here and avoiding them is tantamount.

Too funny, ice is ice better in my drink than on the road.

My Toyota Venza AWD has rather huge 20" wheels & tires. They make the CUV look kinda like a Tonka toy, ha!

I can't imagine what another full set of 20" wheels plus tires would cost. Best that I just stay home when it snows...

TAM

You guys are making me angry again.
Here is picture #2 from this weeks driveway adventures.
Snow should be all but melted here by now!!!!
.

Man, that's some serious snow.

We're full into spring here with temps around 20C lately. I hope to get into D.C. this weekend to see the cherry blossoms.

I don't know what you guys back east did to deserve that weather but that is just brutal. But at least now I know where all our snow went.

M&S can be pretty good at getting going in snow. Remaining in control of your vehicle while turning and stopping in snow is where snow tires excel far above M&S.

Tires are critical for steering suspension braking and fuel economy and they are are often overlooked and ignored.

Socketdude. My understanding is that snow tires are OK up until around 12 to 15 degrees before they start to wear prematurely.

Murph. Sorry, but that picture gave me a good laugh. I still don't feel sorry for you though. I'd happily put up with a few measly snowbanks to live where you do.

Chris teaches full-time at an auto mechanic training school. If there's a manual out there that says, "Do this, "or, "Do that," he's read 'em all and knows for real what to believe. So please, don't ever question him again on such matters.

(I LOL whenever I type commands!)

I am not honestly not sure about when they start to wear prematurely but I know how soft they are and I am cheap cheap cheap so I chose to take them off. I also drive like an Ahole so that was factored in. Plus 40 series tires are much more fun than the pillow top winter tire. The main point was its super way too early to be taking them off , like 6 weeks or more. The Harleys are out and about already. Oh and if it does snow ,which is possible I can always drive my old truck .

I was about to say it depends on how many donuts he does in the neighbors drive under warmer conditions, but he sort of beat me to it.

Our winter tires remain ON as yes, we also got snow again today.
And it is official, Winnipeg has had the coldest winter on record since 1898.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/i...-1898-1.2598530

Congratulations Chess!

LOL ya, thanks.
Thanks a whole lot.

At least we didn't get the amount of snow as Murph. I don't need to buy a front end loader to clear the driveway and we didn't turn our house into a quinzhee for the winter.

I can't see down our local streets anymore because the cherry blossoms are so thick...

TAM

I'll take a pile of snow over temperatures that cold any day. I can dress for the snow but that would require Arctic survival gear to go play outside.

Is it really that hard to fit into a kayak in arctic gear?

We got snow again this morning. I'll probably put the summers on next week.

We had a skiff Monday morning for about 2 hours then it stopped and melted right away. Our mild winter has been rough on a lot of business' here.

Actually, I've done that. Kinda. I have a drysuit that I can bulk up the layers underneath and have used it to paddle around the last of the ice chunks during many a spring.

We are normally never too adventurous in the freezing waters although about 7-8 years ago two friends and I paddled about 2 miles offshore in the still freezing waters of late April to go see an unusually big ice burg that had made the news. The big ones don't normally come down our way because the natural flow of the Labrador current keeps them far east of the inner gulf.

I also inherited my Dad's survival suit when he retired from his career of working on a dredge. I've tried that for fun in the kayak but it is just way too bulky.