I grew up in Canada and Minnesota. We only used chains when on roads in northern Minnesota with zero plowing for long stretches. Never used snow tires. It would be a pain to switch them out each season.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Upstate NY and am a believer in snow tires. They make a big difference, even on AWD vehicles (which both my cars are).
Snow tires have a different rubber compound than all-season tires do. They should not be used in warmer weather as they will wear faster than all-seasons will. Almost as good as a decent set of snow tires, however, are new tires. If you have brand new tires you will do quite well in most conditions, especially with AWD. Maybe one year max is ok with new tires to run thru a winter.
Changing tires over 2X a year is a real pain and a small expense. For that reason I buy an extra set of rims and have the snows mounted on them. Generally I do the sway out myself and save a few bucks as well as save some time. When you sell your vehicle you can list the rims on Craigslist and someone will definitely buy them.

This is what we do as well. My family is from MA and have always had a set of snow tires on separate set of rims.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Upstate NY and am a believer in snow tires. They make a big difference, even on AWD vehicles (which both my cars are).
Snow tires have a different rubber compound than all-season tires do. They should not be used in warmer weather as they will wear faster than all-seasons will. Almost as good as a decent set of snow tires, however, are new tires. If you have brand new tires you will do quite well in most conditions, especially with AWD. Maybe one year max is ok with new tires to run thru a winter.
Changing tires over 2X a year is a real pain and a small expense. For that reason I buy an extra set of rims and have the snows mounted on them. Generally I do the sway out myself and save a few bucks as well as save some time. When you sell your vehicle you can list the rims on Craigslist and someone will definitely buy them.

This is what we do as well. My family is from MA and have always had a set of snow tires on separate set of rims.

Same here, we've mounted our snow tires on cheap steel rims so they're always ready to be mounted. We have a drill-car-jack adapter, so we can lift/lower the car within seconds, I'm normally able to change 4 tires within 20-25 minutes. All-season tires are "all-season" first 5k miles, after the outer layer has worn off, its really a three-season tire. Would have snow tires + 2WD car any day over all-season +4WD car. I grew up in northern Scandinavia, driving on snow 4-5 months of the year and good snow tires (Blizzaks) are amazing on snow, can do controlled skid if you know your cars limits

Anonymous wrote:Snow tires help. PP is right that many people don’t use them, but for a young driver not used to snow they’re a good idea.

A local shop can handle everything, including storage of the all season tires. Just have your son handle it up there in November.

+1. It’s better to do that closer to snow season, because snow tires have more traction so they are noisier and use up more fuel. So it’s waste of resources (and snow tired) to use them when there is no snow/ ice.

Anonymous wrote:Snow tires are usually for rear wheel drive cars

They’re an absolute necessity for rear wheel drive cars. They’re highly recommended for FWD cars. And they’re very helpful on AWD cars.

If you’ve ever driven in snow with snow tires, that will have been all the convincing you will ever need to put them on any type of car you used in snow from that point forward.

The only people who say snow tires aren’t necessary in snowy places, are people who’ve never driven with snow tires in the first place. Total ignorance speaking.

Snow tires are usually for rear wheel drive cars

Agree with post immediately above. If he needs to drive during snow, definitely get snow tires. If he can sit in the dorm for a few days, then probably not needed.

Storage will be the issue, but maybe he can rent a small storage locker for the summer - surely they aren't expensive in upstate NY. Just store the wheels there with tires on.

Op, read this:

Anyone who tells you “modern cars don’t need snow tires” or “all wheel drive cars don’t need them” or “all season tires are good enough” is totally full of crap. They have no idea what they’re talking about. Please ignore them.



Snow tires (I’d recommend Blizzack) are so much better than all season tires that it’s almost indescribable. They can make a 2wd car feel like it’s AWD, and they make AWD cars seem like they’re almost glued to the road. The difference is staggering.

Put them on before the first “real” snowfall, and take them off in the spring. DO NOT USE THEM IN WARM WEATHER! They will quickly wear out in temps over 50 degrees

The best way to run snow tires is on a spare set of wheels, usually cheap steel ones. Store them in the summer, swap them on in the winter.


Snow tires are HUGELY important in cold weather states.

Anonymous wrote:I live in Upstate NY and am a believer in snow tires. They make a big difference, even on AWD vehicles (which both my cars are).
Snow tires have a different rubber compound than all-season tires do. They should not be used in warmer weather as they will wear faster than all-seasons will. Almost as good as a decent set of snow tires, however, are new tires. If you have brand new tires you will do quite well in most conditions, especially with AWD. Maybe one year max is ok with new tires to run thru a winter.
Changing tires over 2X a year is a real pain and a small expense. For that reason I buy an extra set of rims and have the snows mounted on them. Generally I do the sway out myself and save a few bucks as well as save some time. When you sell your vehicle you can list the rims on Craigslist and someone will definitely buy them.

This is what we do as well. My family is from MA and have always had a set of snow tires on separate set of rims.

I got snow tires after a few slips in the snow with my sedan when we lived in Albany. The snow tires made a big difference. If he’s planning on skiiing a lot, they could be worthwhile.

I live in Upstate NY and am a believer in snow tires. They make a big difference, even on AWD vehicles (which both my cars are).
Snow tires have a different rubber compound than all-season tires do. They should not be used in warmer weather as they will wear faster than all-seasons will. Almost as good as a decent set of snow tires, however, are new tires. If you have brand new tires you will do quite well in most conditions, especially with AWD. Maybe one year max is ok with new tires to run thru a winter.
Changing tires over 2X a year is a real pain and a small expense. For that reason I buy an extra set of rims and have the snows mounted on them. Generally I do the sway out myself and save a few bucks as well as save some time. When you sell your vehicle you can list the rims on Craigslist and someone will definitely buy them.

Anonymous wrote:All-weather tires are the worst of both worlds. We use them around here because it doesn't snow that much, so people skate by (literally).

If he'll be skiing a lot, those mountain roads can be treacherous. The tire places there will store your old tires and swap on winter tires, then swap back in spring.

I lived in Scandinavia a couple years ago, and everyone had summer and winter tires for their car. The government would announce when it's time to swap and you had a few weeks to do so.

This. We used to live in Buffalo. I had a RWD old volvo with snow tires. DW had a Subaru with some sort of crappy basic tire.

The Volvo was 5x better in the snow.

Anonymous wrote:I'd just get all weather tires and keep chains in the vehicle in case it gets really dicey.

Are chains allowed in NY state?

This is not California.

All-weather tires are the worst of both worlds. We use them around here because it doesn't snow that much, so people skate by (literally).

If he'll be skiing a lot, those mountain roads can be treacherous. The tire places there will store your old tires and swap on winter tires, then swap back in spring.

I lived in Scandinavia a couple years ago, and everyone had summer and winter tires for their car. The government would announce when it's time to swap and you had a few weeks to do so.