Snow Tires

My own experience is snow tires make very little improvement on ice. If you are driving a lot on icy roads, studed tires are your best bet. That is if they are legal where you live. Many areas forbid them because of the damage they do to the roads.

You may be right. I haven't had much experience driving with just "winter" tires in some time. Maybe they are that much better on ice than they use to be. Back when studs were legal in Illinois, I had a set of studed snow tires. They made a huge improvement on ice over the same tires without studs. And the two winters I used them, we had plenty of ice to test them out on. At the time, you could legally use them from December through March. You could be ticketed for having them on your car outside that window of time. Studed tires are no longer allowed at anytime in Illinois.

Studs are legal between November 1 and either March 31 or April 15, depending on what state you go by.

to elaborate on advanced compound tires: the principle behind the advanced compound is that it has a porous semipermeable contact layer that is intended to provide a combination of mechanical grip on any irregularity in the ice, as well as being more optimal for friction on the ice surface, itself.
of course, the trade-off is more rapid wear on asphalt, but that's pretty much a given with any snow tires.

edit: the original was made with walnut hull sawdust in the rubber, which gives sort of the same principle as wearing wool socks over your shoes. when they first went back to it, they still used the walnut hull sawdust, but they may have changed materials, now.

The wreck I got in last year was on my way home from work. It morning was fine and the weather called for the storm to hit later in the day, So I didn't think it would be a problem to leave work when I did. I would have left earlier if I would have known. The drive was okay for the most part but one part is a bridge that's about 1000 ft long, on a good downgrade. When I watch the car in front of me slide sideways, all you can really do is say "oh sh**..." and slow down as much as you safely can before you hit the bridge. I ended up spinning around and bouncing off the guard rail. Damage was actually fairly light. A head and tail light needed replaced and some body work to fix the sheet metal.

I have traction cables in both my vehicles. I have a set of Super Z6 cable chains by Security Chain Company in each car. They are great for getting my cars up the hill to my house.

www.amazon.com/Security-Company-SZ135-Passenger-Pickups/dp/B000HZA2LA

Chains are great, but they only work when they are on the car. I want something that I can keep on full time. My concern is ice. If the snow is deep, I am not going out. The ice locally is what gets people throughout the winter. Additionally, with a baby due in Feburary (the peak of winter weather locally), I need to be able to get out of the house and to a hospital if needed.

Calling local tire shops, two tires that I can easily get and are reasonably priced are the Hankook I-cept IZ W606 and the Goodyear Ultragrip WRZ Ice. Both are a studdable tire. Anyone have any expedience with either?

for me, cables fall into the category of "better than nothing, but not much" but if you like their performance, that's okay. for me, driving with cables on was like driving with 2 flat tires and a bad clutch.

I've run both hankook and goodyear tires, but not those models. the basic design on both look similar to the Toyo Observe, and for me, the deciding factor would be that I think the goodyear will do better in slop, which is a factor to consider in my neck of the woods. I recommend getting a set of cheap aftermarket wheels - unless your tire center can give you a whopping good deal on someone else's old factory wheels - and keeping the snow tires permanently mounted on the wheels - that makes the change much faster, and reduces the possibility that something will get dinged in the changing process.

Get to a scrap merchant, and if they have them in stock, second hand wheels should be about the price of a tyre.
Having a complete set of wheels to mount seasonal tyres on saves an awful lot of mither.
Give them a good check over, but second hand wheels are usually just fine.
Just dont buy Alloys.... mud-pluggers need steel.

Here in UK, I use all-weather tyres all year round, I dont swap.
You get the same mileage out of them as running a summer tyre, so whats the benefit?...Plus having weather like ours, it could only be a month that I would get usefulness of summer tyres anyway before I need the grip again for the wet?.

I have never needed to go full snow deep tread.
I dont drive on those roads in my car...
I may go there in a specially adapted vehicle.
Back when I did mountain rescue, we had Land-rovers on full Mud tyres , as getting on the mud was a requirement, so we had to have the deep tread... they were also fantastic in snow, deep snow, and should we really be out in this?.
But my car these days is Road Only.

I think I got a factory wheel for my spare tire on my car for $10.00. if you give the tire center some advance notice they may be able to find you a very good deal. my old pickup just got basic steel wheels for the snow tires.

Definitions needed for..

"Summer" tyres.
All weather tyres.
Winter tyres.

If by Summer, you mean "black snot" minimum tread soft compound, they are illegal in UK.

If by Winter, you mean studded, again, metal studs are illegal in UK.

Metal studs may be used in deep snow only, as soon as you hit tarmac, they must be removed, the same as tyre chains.

Rubber studs, or heavy tread tyres, come in two categories, heavy tread that is legal, and "Site" tyres, that may be legal on certain vehicles on short distances (between fields for tractors) but is not legal long distance at speed.
Mostly on use on all terrain or soft road vehicles are the normal all-round chunky tread that is legal for off-road use but also legal on normal roads.

"Winter" tyres in UK, are normally just the usual tyre we call "All weather", and run on all year, but get some deep fresh tread on just before winter....

In the pictures I posted above, under the Chains, those are ALL what we would call all-weather tyres in UK, and would be sort of the tread pattern you expect on normal tyres you buy when you need new.
On "Normal" vehicles.
Some "performance" vehicles may vary the result a lot.
But your average "shopping trolley and kids taxi" family car would have them all year round.

So just how do your "Summer weight" tyres differ?.. do they give better grip on dry roads?.. how?..

Performance tyres on "Mid-life crisis" cars are exempt here from the discussion, we dont care what those people want to spend on tyres, this thread is for normal people, with normal "family" and work vehicles, not show-offs with more money than sense....
If you could pay off the mortgage on a 3bed semi in an Urban area for the same price as a set of tyres, please go to your own thread for this.