Living in Montana, driving to SoCal -- in winter: what tires?
November 7, 2022 3:52 PM   Subscribe

I recently moved to western Montana and we just had our first major snowfall, so it's time for winter snow tires. But... we also have a two-week roadtrip down to Southern California planned for the holidays, and expect to be making a similar trip at some point every winter. What kind of tires should I put on my car for the winter?

Specifically, I'm wondering:
- Am I supposed to drive on snow tires when it's 65F and sunny in Palm Springs? It's a 20-hour drive and about half of that will be winter, the other half will be desert.
- Can I get by on all-season tires for the next 5 months of winter, including (say) monthly ski trips?

The car is a 2021 RAV4 hybrid with factory (aka summer) tires. I'd rather not have to buy TWO brand-new sets of tires this month and deal with swapping them 4 times, which would be the obvious solution (all-seasons for the roadtrip and winter tires for the rest of winter... but I've got one-year-old summer tires already). If that's the only reasonable solution though, tell me and I'll try to resign myself to the expense/hassle.
posted by serelliya to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)
 
Best answer: In a pinch, a trip to SoCal on winter tires isn’t the worst thing in the world. Certainly not nearly as bad as driving on summer tires in the Montana winter.

That said, there has been recent progress in all-season tires that are genuinely good on snow. I suggest taking a look at Michelin CrossClimates, for instance.
posted by kickingtheground at 4:05 PM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]


I have lived in this region for many decades and driven a lot of different kinds of vehicles, some way less suited to the climate than my current Outback, and have only ever had all-season tires. It’s been totally fine.
posted by HotToddy at 4:10 PM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Get real snow tires, use them all winter. It's not ideal to use snow tires in summer conditions because they wear a little faster than regular tires and can wear even faster in hot conditions, but for two weeks it's totally fine. Worst case, you have to replace your snow tires slightly earlier.
posted by ssg at 4:11 PM on November 7, 2022 [5 favorites]


Best answer: What ssg said. The only problem with driving on snow tires in the summer is that they wear a little faster. It’s not dangerous or catastrophic. You may need to replace your winter tires very slightly sooner as a result, but the marginal cost of that is certainly less than the cost of getting your tires swapped twice.
posted by mekily at 4:30 PM on November 7, 2022 [2 favorites]


Or getting towed out of a ditch...
posted by Windopaene at 5:07 PM on November 7, 2022 [3 favorites]


You may hit snow and such coming into the LA area. Depending on the route you take... you might end up traversing snow-chain territory pretty close to LA. Los Angeles is in a basin and there's high desert and mountains around that in 'winter' can be snow and shit.

But you didn't mention where you're coming from exactly and what part of SoCal you're going to, or your general path of travel. You might hit snowy/icy mountains along your journey before you make it to the low lying coast with the summer weather. Even the desert gets cold at night, and if there's rain, there may be ice or slippery.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:53 PM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]


Bridgestone Blizzacks. The best snow tires. They will do OK in socal in cool season. In Montana you need snow for the winter, and all weather for the summer.
posted by Oyéah at 6:03 PM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]


Possibilities:
- Get all seasons and have some chains in the rig for just the passes, *if* the snow isn't down low.
- Use the current summer tires you have for the trip, have chains in the rig for the passes, and get snow tires for the winter.
- Get snow tires now, use them for the trip & winter. Biggest problem there, is if by "snow tires" you mean studs, will be the extra noise and reduced gas mileage on the trip. (If you meant siped, you probably would have said so... but if you do, the price would be more, but the noise and mileage impacts would be less.)
- You've presumably already got decent wheels on the vehicle. Get the snow tires, get a cheap/used set of wheels for the snow tires, and have them ready to quickly swap out without needing the tire place to do it. (This is my preferred solution for a vehicle I know I'm going to have long term.)

Chains or snow socks require the ability to install them on the side of the road in bad weather; it's not for everyone, obviously, so take that into consideration. Snow socks are, imo, far easier and quicker than chains, but may not work quite as well. Also, for chains or snow socks, your max speed shouldn't be above about 30, while studs or siped tires or all seasons can run faster, DEPENDING ON ROAD CONDITIONS.

The most go-anywhere vehicle I've ever experience was a mid-size truck with 4WD, with studs AND chains on.
However... I'd much rather have a decent sedan with AWD than a rig with 4WD, if the tires on both are all seasons.
posted by stormyteal at 6:24 PM on November 7, 2022


Best answer: One option to consider is the Michelin CrrossClimate2, which is rated as a winter tire with hand waving nanotechnology That makes the rubber softer when it’s cold and harder when it’s hot such that you can drive on them all year. I have them on my rav4 sized SUV, they seem to work fine based on a summer and a winter in Wisconsin.
posted by rockindata at 3:38 AM on November 8, 2022


Best answer: Oh, and in case a personal anecdote is helpful, I left winter tires on my car for all of last summer due to extenuating life circumstances, and it was absolutely fine -- the car didn't handle any noticeably different than with summer / all-season tires.

(I'm talking about the kind of winter tires that are just rubber tires with a special rubber blend and tread construction designed for winter. If by "winter tires" you mean studded tires, the answer is different and I wouldn't drive on those for a whole road trip. But I'm assuming you're talking about the former kind.)
posted by mekily at 7:28 AM on November 8, 2022


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