jimho

I've been running Summer/Winter tires on my sports cars (Audi's and BMWs) for 20+ years, and all seasons on the SUVs.

Winter or All Season is going to be subjective depending on where you plan on going, how frequently, and how you drive .... With either, you will want to drop down to 20" wheels. IF you have a place to keep the summer shoes, and don't mind swapping out 2x a year you are better off putting winter tires on- however be warned the winter tires (even the ones that say you can drive them in warmer weather) will wear very quickly once the temps are above 45 or 50. Also, once you wear the winter tires down to a certain point, they aren't any better than all season tires. Do not get studded tires for Boston (they may even be illegal)..

The All Season tires are less of a hassle and you might find them to be more comfortable year round- If you aren't pushing the car to its limits or driving on rural roads that aren't well plowed frequently during storms (in other words staying in the metropolitan areas and main highways) , you aren't really giving up that much with all season tires. YMMV. -

Also, if you plan on driving back to Florida at any point during the winter, with all season tires you will be fine, but with winter tires, you will need to swap them out before you leave Boston and you'll be on summer tires taking a big risk till you get to Georgia.

Last but not least, If you are along I-95, for the most part, and even up into VT, you're going to be more concerned with Ice and slush than unplowed snow - read the reviews and choose your winter tires with that in mind....

Last winter was a bit light on the snow in the northeast but since you had no problems with all seasons, I would lean that way -

SLLAuWo

Consider fitting all-weather tires, not all-season tires, Michelin, Goodyear, Nokian, and other makers offer all-weather tires, which are superior to all-season tires, but not as good in snow or ice, as winter tires.

Instead of 21-inch wheels, consider 18-inch or 19-inch wheels for winter driving.

Wires

Summer tires have no siping (the slits in the tire block face) that allows the tire to gain traction on ice. Using summer tires in winter is 100% suicide. The Michelin Pilot Sports my BMW came with at 0 traction in 1/4 of slush.

All seasons work, winters are a lot better. And as Spindwood said, any summer tire I have ever bought had a disclaimer that they voided warranty on them at low temperatures.

Advice from an old boss: "Best case scenario when you slide into a curb is a $500 Insurance deductible. How much REALLY does a winter set of tires cost in the end?"

KevinGary

I am a big fan of season dedicated tires. Winter tires transform Quattro into a snowmobile when being driven in snow.

rhe

Both my wife and I work at home, so its rare that we would have to get out, no matter how bad the winter weather. For this reason I go with all season tires. Now, my SQ5 came with Contis, which I have really come to distrust, so I bought a new set of tires from TireRack. I chose 255/45R-20 VREDESTEIN QUATRAC 5 XL based on their price, much less than Michelins, my second choice, and their rave reviews. They have a special snow rating as well. I'll get them installed Tuesday, and we're due a storm, so I'll report back.

augerpro

Definitely let us know. I don't know if I'll go with the Pirelli Winters next time around (though I like them a lot)

rhe

Well, I have to say the Vredesteins are a light-year's improvement over the OEM Contis, which I had come to distrust in anything other than totally dry pavement.

I had a doctor's appointment down in the valley yesterday and decided to get the new tires installed at the same time. We got hit by our first winter storm, so the drive back to the mountains and home about sixty miles away presented a variety of challenges: dry, wet, snow, ice. The new tires worked great. Now, this is only 60 miles and I'll have to see how they do long-term, but I can tell you that they felt sure-footed no matter what was happening on the pavement. So, I'm initially very pleased, since they rated slightly ahead of the Michelins that were my second choice and were something like $350 cheaper for a set.

Zeus69

I swapped my 21s for 18 inch Pirelli Scorpion Performance Winter tires.
I've had Bridgestone Blizzak Studless Winter tires on other cars before, and they are definitely the best for the nasty stuff.
But the driving/handling characteristics have been better on the Scorpions, without a dramatic drop-off dealing with snow/ice.

CW3SF

I just went with Continental DWS06 in stock 245/45/20 size. Huge improvement over the stock summer tires that came on my SQ5.