ex-quattro PETE

No problem, metta. I'm actually jealous of your location and the fact that you don't have to put up with this white crap. It severely cuts into my biking schedule.

I'll be most likely getting the Nokian Hakka R2 for the wife's Q5...

ND40oz

This is incorrect, but it's exactly what happens with summer tires. An all season tire compound is designed to also work well below 40F/7C, that's the whole point of the all season. You compromise some warm weather performance for a compound that works in below freezing temps. Tread design will dictate how well they actually perform in the snow and ice, something like a Conti DWS will do better in the snow then the Pilot Sport A/S 3 because of the tread design.

Correct, with an all season you also compromise some winter performance for a compound that doesn't get too soft in warmer weather. Winter tire compounds combined with things like siping gives you a tire that works extremely well in the winter but feels like you're driving on jello in the summer.

timlocke

Maybe we have different definitions of winter!

Conventional all seasons start to lose their performance below 7 C or 40 F. Certainly some are better than others and there are a new breed of 'all weather' tires with a ice capable tread pattern with lots of sipes but with a rubber that can manage higher temperatures...by all accounts these do work well enough all year around for medium winter use.


Winter Tire Safety Tips | Tire Safety Below 45° | Discount Tire


A study conducted by the Quebec Ministry of Transport showed that a proper winter tire can improve braking up to 25 per cent over an all-season radial tire, and can improve collision avoidance by approximately 38 per cent.

And from General Tire a manufacturer of tires.
http://www.generaltire.ca/pdfs/Benef...interTires.pdf A quote
"The rubber compound used in winter tires is relatively soft. Generally speaking, the rubber in an all-season tire starts to lose elasticity and harden at a temperature of 7ºC, greatly reducing grip.
At -15ºC, this type of tire will have lost all its elasticity, whereas a winter tire
will only harden at around -40ºC; therefore retains its elasticity for much longer."

metta

Siping/sipes. I've now broadened my vocabulary in addition to my understanding of winter versus all-season tires. You guys are a veritable font of knowledge! Seriously, I learn a lot from these forums and all of you . . . Thanks!

ND40oz

LOL, or maybe a different definition of the hardness of hockey pucks :P

Yes, a winter tire will perform much better then all season in sub 7C temps, there's no debating that. If you have 4+ months of weather where it rarely goes above 7C, then winter tires are a must buy. Here in CO, I could leave in the morning with 3 inches of snow on the ground with the temp below freezing and drive home that afternoon with it in the 60s and sunny with all of the snow already melted away. With that type of weather, I prefer to stick to a UHP All Season then worry about burning up winters in one season because the weather fluctuates so much.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/uhpas.jsp

It really depends on what your climate is and what your needs are.

timlocke

@ND40oz. I think we agree. Even in relatively balmy Southwestern Ontario we rarely get weather like that except in spring but we do get a lot of just below zero 'warm' ice and snow which is much more slippery than cold ice and snow and modern tires like Blizzaks and the Xice-3 work their best under those conditions and Hakka Peliitta snows are better in severe cold...it is a complicated business, this winter stuff.

@metta. The sipe thing. They 'pump' away the microthin layer of water that is always on top of ice to let the rubber compound of the tire actually touch ice where it might find some grip. They will also help wet grip above freezing as well.

carfan1111

thanks guys i will get a dedicated tire wheel set

do you guys have recommendations on snow tire? goodyear vs yokohoma vs blizzak?

yokohoma is the cheapest at my local store

Redd

If you mount and unmounts the tires each season, I would expect some expensive wheel damage in short order because most shops wind up damaging alloy wheels. Plus, every time you stretch the bead and reseat the tire, increases the chance it will not be seated cleanly and as a result the tire will have a slow leak. Or the tire bead itself may be damaged.

Four tires on, four off. Twice a year. That's sixteen chances to damage something every year, and the tires may last you four years? Sixty four chances for damage?

Personally, I've always had my snow tires mounted on extra wheels. And if there's a sudden storm or I need a spare spare...I can swap an entire set on the car in under an hour, with no special tools or jacks.

Look for a set of aftermarket wheels, or a set from a junkyard, if you want to save on those.