Any commentary from the "snow tires" folks on the transition band? Eg "south of Chicago" but "north of St Louis" still get snow/rain/ice/slush? Mostly slush. Its snow the first day then its slush the next couple, plus sometimes melt/refreeze ice.
Des Moines, Iowa area count?
If you're going to use them regularly, don't find yourself in loose snow that often, and don't mind a three year service life, the studless tires (Blizzaks, etc) are ideal. They grip loose snow acceptably, grip ice of all forms (glaze ice from frost, packed snow, etc) amazingly. Just be aware that they're really quite limited in service life - by the third year, the magic is leaving.
If you're dealing more with packed snow and ice (such as a rural road that just gets packed down, then melts and glazes), plus some loose snow (say, a rural road before it's been packed down), studded snow tires are the better option. They have a more open tread pattern that clears loose snow far better than the studless tires, and you can rely on the carbide studs to dig in and grip the ice. They're just no good at all on glaze ice - not quite as bad as an all season, but not far from it. They just can't grip.
Basically, if you're in a city that has snow plows, get studless, and if you're not, get studded. That's the handwave advice I have.
I'd rather have FWD and snow tires than AWD and all seasons, but I'd rather have AWD and snow tires than anything else in bad weather, because you can pretty much ignore the snow and ice. Except for other people.
I don't have anything with snow tires now, mostly because I no longer live in a place that gets nearly as much snow, the snow we do get tends to melt by afternoon, and it's rare we have anywhere we absolutely have to be - if the weather is bad, we just stay home. Or I take a Ural out (Russian motorcycle with a sidecar, 2WD option, it's almost as capable as the truck in snow). I walk to work, on the property, and my main annoyance with snow is that I track it into my office and sometimes have to mess with my backup generator in it.
yeah good point, one of my hesitations in owning a second car is where I'd park it, which is city-centric problem. If I lived more rural I fear I'd have a fleet of cars and motrocycles. :D anyway it's good to hear your perspective on this!
No problem. Happy to offer a mostly useless perspective on the forum.
I have a fleet of vehicles, and it really doesn't bother me that much. Yes, I pay a bit more in insurance than I might if I totally optimized, but the annual carrying costs of the extra stuff is fairly low, they're either useful or enjoyable, and it keeps miles off the truck. The Volt is the most efficient vehicle so gets the most miles. If I'm going somewhere and my wife needs to take the kids somewhere, I'll take a Ural typically, though if it's exceedingly bad out, I might take the truck - it gets a few "awful weather" trips a year, which is still cheaper than owning another car. And if I need to haul something big/heavy, or we're going out on gravel/dirt/etc, we take the truck. I can tow up around 14k if I really want to, but I prefer to keep it below 10k, especially with a receiver hitch. It'll handle it fine, but I'd really rather use a 5th wheel for anything bigger. In general, as of right now, I don't have to tow heavier stuff that often because most of the heavy trailers in my circle out here are gooseneck - and I don't have the adapter plate for that, so someone else will tow it.
Given that stuff doesn't really rust out here, and we're not short on space, vehicles with few miles a year on them last about forever. I expect my truck to last most of the rest of my life with decent care.
I'm not MMM-standard "Tow it with an overloaded Honda Fit, it's fine," because I regularly haul stuff that a Fit won't tow. Let me know when it can haul a heavy flatbed and a yard and a half of gravel, which is what I've been hauling lately...
