just made the switch to the stock wheels with blizzaks. and yes, the stockers look like poo.

 

It's well worth it for daily driving. The tires are quite good for aggressive driving but are able to handle cold temps and bad weather. I wouldn't drive them in heavy snow, but they'll be fine for those times when there's only an inch or two on the ground. If it's really bad out, it's a good idea to have another car to drive until the roads clear. The all seasons are good for another reason: longer tread life. I don't use all the performance summer tires have in my daily driving, yet I get all the tread wear. Didn't make sense to me to keep using summer tires when I only use at most 75% of their capability. I probably won't even push the all seasons to the limit. (Keep in mind I got Ultra High Performance All Seasons so they're probably on par with High Performance summers.) The only other all seasons I considered were the Pirelli P-Zero nero M+S tires. I opted for the Goodyears based on there being a goodyear shop in my town. After rebates, they were cheaper than tire rack installed.

 

I got mine for $790 installed with a $50 mail in rebate so overall it'll be $740. Tire rack would have run $775 with shipping and installation. $740 vs. $775 isn't much difference, and I would have gone with tire rack if I were getting anything other than the Goodyears. Originally Goodyear wanted $900+ but I gave them the tire rack price and they came down substantially.

 

it's usually around $20-30/tire from what i've seen (also depends on if you plan to put TPMS). you can go to tirerack and click the installation link at the top (http://www.tirerack.com/installer/index.jsp) to find one in your area and prices are on there. the easiest thing to do is just get some crappy wheels, throw some winter tires on there, and call it a day. come spring and each winter it's just some elbow grease and a few minutes to put them on and off.

 

Excellent logic which I think I'll follow next year. Thanks.

 

Yes, all-seasons are a sensible replacement for the original summer performance tires if you're not taking advantage of the extra performance the OEM tires afford. (What some owners do—that is silly—is keep their OEM summer tires and buy a set of all-seasons—instead of winter tires—for the winter. All-seasons, with their compromise in performance, only make sense if they're your only tires, and you don't have to bother switching 'em twice a year.)

 

Agreed. I don't track or autocross my car. The all seasons I settled on still enable me to drive the car as hard as I did with summer tires and feel confident the car will stay on the road and go in the direction I want. I haven't noticed any decline in cornering or road handling on the very twisty road near my house that I've used as a benchmark. I can run it up to the same speeds as I could with the stock tires. Granted the absolute limit that I could run the car on that road has probably gone down a bit, but I wouldn't drive it that to that level anyway. 2.5 times the speed limit in hard turns is good enough for me.

 

Switched October 1 - but not by choice. Picked up a giant screw in Cape Cod in the OEM tires. They were almost toast anyway, so I opted to swap to winters instead of spending the $$$ for new rubber that would be pulled in a month anyway.

Why carry all that extra weight up and down the stairs for winter storage, right?

 

Hmmm... some sporadic very light flurries as I gaze out my office window. And me with Summer tires. Oh well, the roads aren't frozen. Two more days ....

 

Town fair tire in New england charges $50.00 for the change-over.

 

I charge $0 for anyone who wants it.

 

We have like two inches here right now, looks like I'm taking the s10 today.

 

except for the fact that they will destroy your rims because they just don't care. They are cheap, but after what they did to my s10 rims I'm never going back.

 

Darn stupid of me to drive my Summer-tired '8 today, although I didn't know of the impeding inclemecy until I got to work. Should be an 'interesting' evening commute! Fortunately the roads are relatively warm in SE'n MA. Jeep from this point forward.

 

If you have them purchase the tires (they price match any online price - though they don't advertise it) they do the swap & rotations for free.

But they are pretty sloppy with their work, and in general can't seem to get their **** staight. I get different answers from every employee, so I have no faith in them. One guy told me they wouldn't do an alignment on my car b/c I swapped them myself (well - my mechanic did them for me at n/c). ??? morons. The store manager wasn't too happy when I told him that one.

 

They did an alignment on my truck and didn't tighten half the stuff back up because its hard to get at. Then All the shims fell out on my ride home.

I had a friend of a friend go there and they messed up the rims on his z so he went in and complained. The manager went out and got the kid who did them and he kind of mouthed off to the guy for messing up. The kid just clocked him in the head. Town fair ended up settling the case before it went to court for over a $100 g's.

 

Riverside Tire (Belleville, NJ) charged me $20 to take off the OEM wheels/tires and put on the already-mounted winter wheels/tires.

By the way, never again will I do this if it's raining. Carrying the 4 mounted wheel/tires (there's no garage to park the car in while loading) and then carefully squeezing them into the back seat (without scratching up the interior) is bad enough, but then having to load 4 very wet, very dirty wheels/tires back into the car at the tire store after the changeover was really the pits. What a mess. I was not a happy man.

 

Wishing I'd gotten on the ball quicker with getting snow tires. Got about an inch probably around here in the late morning/early afternoon, and driving back roads was a bit scary. I guess I'm going to have to give up on getting a deal on used and just spend the $ on new rims/tires.

 

Just buy winters for the stock rims. Then in the spring it's time for a whole new set of rims & tires - b/c it's "easier to have a dedicated set for each application."

 

Close call today but I am starting to believe I'm pushing my luck. Snow fell but thankfully no accumilatoin bwahahah... but yeah I'm thinking this weekend i'm going to get my tires switched at Townfair since I bought my tires from them and they do the free swap since I bought all four tires there.

 

Yeah, I'm finally giving in and making the switch to the ugly wheels this weekend. We got a couple inches of snoe while I was at work today, but the roads were cleared off for my drive home. Just dodged that bullet!!!

 

Where in southeast NH are you? I'm in Nashua.

 

I'd rather be on narrow 17's for the winter. Cheaper rims, they'll work better, and be less prone to road rash.

I live in South Hampton, but the nasty snow was between Durham (school) and Salem (work.)

 

My snow's went on last Saturday, the 17th. My summer's were BALD so we made the switch as soon as snow was in the forecast.

Tire Warehouse charges about $12 each tire for mounting/balancing.

 

Just put mine on....they look funny! My car got to see/feel snow for the first time last week.

Man, I didn't realize my summer tires were as bad as they are. Looks like when my good rims go back on in the spring, they'll be wrapped in new rubber!