What temp to put winter tires on?

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Originally Posted By: PiperOne
I'd say regularly lower than 40F. I believe Michelin's recommendation is when temps will stay below 7C which is 43F approx.

^ This.

Or when you see a chance of snow, or rain with near-freezing temps.

If you're switching from summer tires, you'll want to avoid 40º F and below for sure. All-season tires are more forgiving.
 
I live in Toronto and I usually go mid-late november. It usually does not get that bad before then, but when I was a boy I remember there being snow on halloween one year. I have all seasons, but if you have summers you should be able to tell when your handling and braking starts falling off. I would imagine it would differ slightly between models of tire and I assume as your tires get older they would start to lose grip at a higher temperature than when they were new.
 
Well, since your not too far away from my sector.... When the roads ice over, or the real snow comes down. Neither of which has happened yet. Now if you have to go to a tire shop to have your tires changed out, you might do it a few days before the snow hits in a week or so. The forcast is still clear for the next week or so for now though.

You must also take into consideration the roads you drive on, nobody knows them on the interweb better than you, some drive on roads that excrete moisture from them and freeze over, or have black ice. If you look at other vehicles, you will see others have had snow's on since it snowed in October. That's why people wear out a set of snow's in a couple years. Mine last 8 to 10 years, but I don't drive everyday. Drive safe, keep the rubber side down=:)
 
I agree with the below 40. I could care less about snow traction. Ill drive in snow with bald all-seasons. Its the ice that Im concerned about. It likes to rain here this time of year and then overnight temps drop below freezing so its a sheet of ice from here to my work.
 
When it will regularly be below 45, when the weather spends more time being under 40 than over 40
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Depends if you have a garage or not
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I have a separate set of rims but I changed mine over on Fri Dec 1st. Here they are mandatorey dec 15-march 15..i tend to do mine as late as possible. Personally, i think if no snow or ice, no need. Earliest id agree with the 7 celsius/43 F idea.
 
In Colorado you need bit earlier then Thanksgiving but it is tricky. Colorado has ridiculous weather. One day it is 0 degrees another 60.
This winter is HORRIBLE! It is so warm and dry, ski season went in dump hole. We still did not get snow in Colorado Springs, but I am glad Birmingham, AL got 5 inches!
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
In Colorado you need bit earlier then Thanksgiving but it is tricky. Colorado has ridiculous weather. One day it is 0 degrees another 60.
This winter is HORRIBLE! It is so warm and dry, ski season went in dump hole. We still did not get snow in Colorado Springs, but I am glad Birmingham, AL got 5 inches!

I have the same problem. Unless I put them on REAL late, like in December, then I will have the random temperature swing into the 60s or something to really make me question my decision to install them....
Then 3 days later the roads are a skating rink and I am glad I have them on.
 
Changed too early this year. Had some freezing rain and days in the teens.
Then 50s. Cooper Ultra CS5 probably could’ve stayed on longer but we get nervous with the kid being in the car.
Then again the truck has Conti LX20 and between that and the light end, she’s no good in the winter.
 
I wound up with my snows on all 4 corners of my FWD car before thanksgiving and its road trip. So I put all seasons back on front (lazy) to save wear and just switched them back again yesterday in anticipation of the first snow.

Figured the rear snows would have kept things from swinging around if I hit black ice over the interim weeks.
 
I would say when snow becomes a common occurrence in the area you live. For me that would be December.
 
I usually wait until snow or steady below 32f.. but I use all-seasons.

if you use summer tires.. change when driving temps will be 32-35f or lower (even at night)

This year I had a cluster of issues so they went on early.. also for break-in being new.

However we have one day of above 40(42f high) in the next 10 days.. so should be fine.

IF I had summer tires I'd have to put winter tires on mid november. With all seasons its usually mid-december unless there is a winter storm earlier.

I get winter tires mainly for ice/packed snow. I dont have many issues on normal fresh snowfalls here.
 
I really only put the blizzaks on when planning trips into the mountains. The roads are never really snow covered here, with all the plowing/chemicals/salt/chinooks they are usually just wet down to -20c and typically bare by the time the deep freeze hits. The pilot sport all seasons do very well in wet and even most snow. If we get a particularly heavy snow storm and the weather looks like its going to stay cold sometimes I will switch over as well just to take Subrina out for some fun... It takes 30 mins in the garage to switch.

I ended up with two sets of winters and a set of all seasons for the echo, I've just been leaving one set of winters on year round to wear them out and get rid of them.
 
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