Jerry
Dork
4/6/14 7:41 a.m.
Had a thought over morning coffee. One of the biggest reasons I'm trying Stock AWD in the Subaru this year is I'm getting lazier as I get older. The idea of getting up at 530-6am, driving 2hrs, swapping wheels, racing, swapping wheels... makes me tired just typing it. I like the idea of snow tires on the Impreza, drive to the event a little later, race and just go home and realize with Netflix and the fiancee/assorted pets.
What if I took it a step further? Could I leave snow tires on it 24/7 realistically? I drive it to work 1 day a week, maybe 2 if her car isn't in the way in the morning. Winter will probably be more, at least when it snows or looks like snow (don't trust the Abarth and those 17" Pirelli's in snow).
How much would dry pavement trash a set of snow tires?
Yes, warm pavement will run down snow tires quicker but how much of this will you really see? Maybe 2 hrs?
If the Fiat did all the summer commuting the only wrong weather the tires would see is to-from track.
Once we again have "snow tire weather" the Subaru could do all the commuting while the Fiat rests (and stays salt free.)
At worst, you buy another set of snow tires quicker. Sure, that is a cost outlay but in exchange for that outlay you avoid the tire changing.
Of course, you may be in the envious position to shop CL for used snow tires in the spring when people are unloading them cheaply as apposed to the prime season of early winter.
I'd leave the snows on. A couple of thousand miles in the heat won't kill them, and they will just sit around and get hard and useless anyway if you take them off.
The white Quantum lives on snow tires all year round. The tires (not Altimaxes, the Nordic equivalent which name escapes me) are now three seasons old and have 7/32 or tread left. The RX-7 also is living on snow tires because I'm too lazy to dig what's left of the rally/street tires out of the baseent. You'll be fine.
Don't do this with Blizzaks. I tried that with my Golf and you could almost see the tread wear week to week.
I have had this set on my Elantra for 3 seasons, including months last year when we had almost no snow, the pic is the car on the beach at Daytona, that was a 2500 mile trip on the snows. They ran just fine this year when we had mountains of the stuff
I've left my wife's car on snows in the past, she was commuting (very short commute) 5 days a week with the car and they were on for 2 years or so and the tread wear was not bad at all.
I did a 3,000 mile road trip through the south last year on my snow tires(didn't want to wear my star specs). I then drove another few thousand on the snow tires later that summer. 2 of them are still on my car.
They didn't seem to wear much faster than they do in the winter. These were general altimax artics.
I've done this with two different vehicles. They're soft and they will probably wear faster in the middle of summer, but on a car that you only use a couple of days a week and aren't too concerned about nailing apexes in, I'd consider it. For me, the advantage was in not having to deal with storing an extra set of wheels and tires for half the year.
Also, these were Blizzaks, which are pretty soft. I've had summer tires that were noisier on the highway.
Ian F
UltimaDork
4/6/14 10:18 a.m.
Snows full-time is essentially what I did with my Cummins 4x4. The truck needed tires and I figured I'd drive it more during the winter since it was more "expendable" than my TDI (the TDI on snows was better in snow). Otherwise, I drove it a couple of times a month at most. Blizzak W965 tires were also some of the least expensive 265/70-17 E-load range tires I could get. Granted, W965's are a bit harder than typical car snow tires, but they still made that truck seem to defy to laws of physics when the road conditions went to crap.
The only thing I noticed when driving my EK Civic on General Altimax Arctic snow tires in warm summer weather was a distinct lack of lateral grip and a buttery smooth ride. I felt much safer once I put my summer tires on.
I left them on the Cavalier year round and they didn't wear that much faster than all seasons.
clutchsmoke wrote:
The only thing I noticed when driving my EK Civic on General Altimax Arctic snow tires in warm summer weather was a distinct lack of lateral grip and a buttery smooth ride. I felt much safer once I put my summer tires on.
But they make the coolest howly noises when you take interchanges at doorhandle-scraping speeds.
Jerry
Dork
4/6/14 4:48 p.m.
Thank you for enabling my laziness. I knew I could count on you.
I did it with my Miata for a full year, through summer, driving it every day. I still have the tiny zig-zag treads in each of the blocks. I even tried a burnout (quite successfully) in the middle of the summer last year and they were no worse.
Jerry
Dork
4/7/14 8:02 a.m.
Looks like I'll leave the snow's on after the rallycross in a few weeks. Maybe I'll put them on this weekend with nothing else to do.