We never used them on our vehicles, until we put them on the Vibe last year. My wife drives the Vibe and she noticed that the car was sliding a bit on the snow. It has Goodyear RS-A radials (same as on many Crown Vic Police Interceptors) which are great on dry pavement, but in snow and ice, possibly the light weight of the Vibe (same car as a Toyota Matrix) there's a bit of slip and slide.

So last January we got some Goodyear winter tires mounted on steel wheels and I tell the car is pretty good on the snow/ice now.

The Buick sedan...so far, going into my third winter with the regular 225/60-16 tires and it's not too bad in the white stuff. It's a heavy car with traction control and a good amount of tire surface area ...so I figure that's why it seems OK in winter roads.

Anybody use winter tires on any of their vehicles including pickups ?

I understand that in Quebec it's the law now that you have to have winter tires on your vehicle (I think only cars and light trucks) during the winter months.

I'm not sure that I would recommend a blanket law requiring all cars and light trucks to have winter tires in the winter. So far, my experience seems to indicate that some cars are more in need of winter tires than others.

 

I find that good all weather radials do the trick for me. We`re right next to the pavement and I keep our yard cleared of any snow so if anything I mostly need traction on ice more than plowing snow.
If anything I could throw a sand bag or two in the back of the Ranger and the 89 Lincoln already has nice weight to it, no problem there.......

 

i used brigstone blizzac's on my miata. worked great in rain and icy roads. i don't like studded tires.

 

I dont use them on my pickup, and dont have them on the civic.

I can tell you firsthand that a vehicle is a different vehicle with winter tires on it over all seasons. The winter tires come with softer rubber and they make a huge traction gain with that.

Now I dont use them because they are expensive, and a good set of all season tires will definatly be adequate if your a decent driver.

I have a set of those directional goodyear triple treads on the honda, and they are pretty good in the winter. Good enough that a set of winter tires arent really needed. (although they would make a difference!)

My PSD has a set of silent armours on it (bout half tread or so) and they do fine under there too. Plus I know goodyear doesnt make a set of winter tires for a truck (or at least they never used too) in 17 inch.

 

I don't have winter tires on anything right now, but have used them in the past and they do make a huge difference.

 

Dunlop winter tires on the wifes Fusion and they are very good. The all season Goodyear wranglers on the F-150.

 

I should have put them on our old focus, the tires they had on it where very bad in winter. The BF goodrich on my truck are good in winter and if it get slippery I just click it in 4X4. The Escape has michelin tires on it and it's AWD so won't be putting winter tires on it.

 

I have them on one of my daily drivers, i found they made a real big differance

 

if there's a decent amount of lug left on the tires, i don't bother with my trucks. on a small car, studs would be the only way to go for me as there's not a pile of weight there to keep the car on the road. my suzuki swift, when i still lived at home, got 4 studded winter tires and it sure helped. on my '08 F150, the tires only have 8000k on them, so they'll be just fine.

 

What kinda tires did you get with your truck?

Usually they put pretty crappy ones on just to warn ya. (dont matter which manufacturer, they usually put on the cheapies)

 

Mine came with BFgoodrich rugged trail TA's, not sure how long lasting they are but they have good winter traction.

 

I had put winter tires on the escort. Nokians, With no snow yet I notice the car rides smoother. ???
Anyways I grew up where we always put winter grips on our vehicles and change back to regular tires in the summer.
I did just go with all season radials, But not all season tires are all season tires. W5 caught a bunch of the tire company's saying this when the tires were not of that standard to be all seasons. The tire company's got away with this at that tiome because the government had no regulations on tire ratings for the seasons. They do now watch more.
My trucks I usually try and get Wranglers, for they work in all seasons for me. Right the tires on my truck are wore almost to the wear bars. So I will be putting on some other tires for the winter.
I usually keep a set of tires for winter and a set for the warm weathers.

 

I had an 84 Mustang hatch, V6 with automatic that I bought in Texas and while it had good summer tires it had very little traction on ice or snow. I somehow blamed the car.........
Later a when a friend bought it first off he had winter tires installed and then it had excellent winter traction.

 

I had a similar experience when renting a Mustang back in '82. Think it had the 3.8 V6 (would that be right ?) and automatic. I rented it in March and as we all know, in Manitoba, March is still the dead of winter.

I recall it would spin the rear tires like an AA/Fuel dragster, just starting from a dead start on snow or ice and I wasn't hitting the gas.

 

I`m not sure what Mustangs had back in 1982. My 84 had the 3.8 and it would spin the tires as soon as I put it in gear without any throttle applied.
So bad was the lack of any tire gripe on ice or snow meant I had to put it in neutral to in order to come to a complete stop...........