Winter Tire for GTA ?

[slgta]

I just bought my first even 4WD vehicle. It is a Toyota RAV4.

My question is .....
do you think it is necessary to put winter tire on a 4WD vehicle which will runs in the GTA (Scarborough, Richmond Hill, Mississauga, etc) ?

The set of winter tire are pretty expensive, I got a quote from Costco for ...
$193.99 per tire
$67.99 per wheel

So, it will be like $1K (plus taxes, I assume).
Is it worth putting winter tire on a 4WD vehicle?

Thanks.

[FerrisB]

Get a set of Viking Snowtechs. They're made by Continental, they're rated highly and they're dirt cheap. I think I paid something like $67 a tire for 16/55/205's, so not small.

Also, 4WD helps for acceleration traction but it'll do nothing to stop you from sliding through a stop sign or off the side of the road. That's all tire grip.

[m4gician]

I just bought my first even 4WD vehicle. It is a Toyota RAV4.

My question is .....
do you think it is necessary to put winter tire on a 4WD vehicle which will runs in the GTA (Scarborough, Richmond Hill, Mississauga, etc) ?

The set of winter tire are pretty expensive, I got a quote from Costco for ...
$193.99 per tire
$67.99 per wheel

So, it will be like $1K (plus taxes, I assume).
Is it worth putting winter tire on a 4WD vehicle?

Thanks.

In Canada, harsh Canadian winters, although we're in the GTA, winter tires are always worth it for that ONE big storm when everyone spins out and you grip the road better. 4 wheel drive is nothing without great tires.

I understand it's expensive, but they'll last you over 3 or 4 winters, so it's like $250 a year.

In terms of winter tires, you can cheap out a bit, but get some quality tires otherwise there is no point. Find them on steel wheels so you can freely remove and reinstall your All season or summer tires.

[stevethewheel]

Have not had winter tires in over 20 years. 40,000+ km per year. No winter accidents. I drive very average front wheel drive cars, some with ABS, most without.

As others have pointed out, you don't put winter tires on for traction to get going, you put them on for traction to stop.

[gherikill]

In the GTA, you will only need winter tires if you drive in Markham.

[Rehan]

Winter tires almost always give you better performance in winter than all seasons. Obviously you can be pretty safe with all season tires, but you can be even safer with winter tires (as long as having those tires doesn't cause you to drive more aggressively). It's a question of whether you want to pay a little more money to get a little more safety. I look at it as a type of insurance. And I do have dedicated winter tires for my car.

In the GTA, icy roads tend to be more of a problem than snow. So I've gone with Michelin X-Ice (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=X-Ice), which are supposed to have great ice traction and good snow traction. In a snow belt area like Ottawa, I'd probably get one more geared towards snow traction.

If you don't want to spend a lot, buy either the Viking Snowtech or the Canadian Tire house brand.

[woodstock827]

In the GTA, you will only need winter tires if you drive in Markham.

May I ask why? I live in Markham and the snow/ice conditions aren't that much worse than Scarborough or Richmond Hill.

I'd say go for winter tires if you can afford it. You're not really paying that much more if you consider that you actually prolong the life of your summer tires. You may be spending extra 30% over the life of both tires.

p.s. it just annoys the heck out of me when people say they don't need winter tires because of 4WD/AWD. Do people just have no concept of how the brakes work?

[gherikill]

May I ask why? I live in Markham and the snow/ice conditions aren't that much worse than Scarborough or Richmond Hill.

I'd say go for winter tires if you can afford it. You're not really paying that much more if you consider that you actually prolong the life of your summer tires. You may be spending extra 30% over the life of both tires.

p.s. it just annoys the heck out of me when people say they don't need winter tires because of 4WD/AWD. Do people just have no concept of how the brakes work?

I find you must make a lot of emergency stops driving in Markham because there is some unpredictable driving behaviour in that neck of the woods.

[BigM]

Any suggestion about where to buy winter tires.

[BartBandy]

Any suggestion about where to buy winter tires.

Any indication about where you live?

[actng]

4WD doesn't do anything but help you go faster in some slippery conditions because you have four friction points for grip. but it's still no match for winter tires.

it certainly doesn't help you stop sooner and it does you absolutely no good on a slippery hill, without winter tires.

last winter i blew by some SUVs who were doing four wheel burnouts on the hill cuz their ****** all seasons couldn't get grip.

[atLANtic]

I find you must make a lot of emergency stops driving in Markham because there is some unpredictable driving behaviour in that neck of the woods.

+1 :lol:

[NefCanuck]

Either buy a set of winters or if you can't have an extra set of wheels kicking around, I can happily suggest the Nokian WR All Season 2's (and their light truck SUV equivalents which IIRC labelled LT All Season 2)

I bought them in October of 06 and if I didn't have them I would have wiped out both going into and coming out of Wiarton over Groundhog Day this year (In fact coming back, I was driving roads that the OPP had closed due to the conditions :eek: )

Add to that the fact that the tires are H speed rated (In my case) *&* severe winter service rated (snowflake) Nirvana, even if they were $180 a pop in my size (205/50R/16)

NefCanuck

[marbss]

Any suggestion about where to buy winter tires.

Steelcase Tires in Markham ON or Costco is good too.

[kleptodathief]

+1 for viking snowtechs...also try tires23.com

[careener]

Dunlop Graspic tires at Sams club are really inexpensive and not a bad winter tire. I always have a set of summer tires and rims.

[robertalan]

So, it will be like $1K (plus taxes, I assume).
Is it worth putting winter tire on a 4WD vehicle?

$1K?! Isn't that the equivalent of five tanks of gas for an SUV?

I love my snows for the rare bad days.

[slgta]

$1K?! Isn't that the equivalent of five tanks of gas for an SUV?

I love my snows for the rare bad days.

RAV4 is not bad on fuel consumption rating.
the spec saids 10.1L per 100KM for local driving.
I usually fuel up for around 45L and it runs for approx 400KM ... and I driving mostly on local ... and do a lot of idling (as I have a 4 mths old baby and needs to keep her & wifey cool in the summer time).
It is not any worse then my wife's 4yrs old Lancer.

I do miss my Mazda5 which can run 500+ KM per tank. >:(

[ggweci]

I understand it's expensive, but they'll last you over 3 or 4 winters, so it's like $250 a year.

And the added benefit is that your all season tires will last that much longer since you're not using them all year round. :)

[slgta]

I find you must make a lot of emergency stops driving in Markham because there is some unpredictable driving behaviour in that neck of the woods.

I found driving in Scarborough more challenging.
People running red light, cutting other's off .... just way too aggressive.... and impolite in a lot of cases.

[afong56]

bad driving exists everywhere--i live in a small-ish town and some of the driving here is right up there with the moves you'd see anywhere in the gta.

as for snows, i found that the old ct nordic ice trac tires (made by bf goodrich) were by far the best value--i don't think they make them anymore, but i'm sure they've brought in something equivalent.