roughly early-mid dec for vancouver
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca...gion-by-region
they dont sell tires, but they're not car people, take what you will from it
the harder question seems to be when to remove winters in the springtime...late march is probably safe guess

I drive around in Richmond with DWS-06. Honestly, it's pretty damn good last winter dump.

When are you guys gonna swap out to winters? Planning to do mine on the last weekend of November. Would that be pushing it? Mostly city driving

Nov 1st to April 1st

They’re just looking at when the historical average high temperature falls below 7°C, which probably isn’t the best method, IMO.

I would probably use historical average daily temperature at the very least and probably pair that with the current ENSO cycle (earlier for a La Niña year, later for an El Niño year).

Or watch NOAA’s CPC forecast maps, which are generally fairly accurate a week or two out in terms of general temperature and precipitation.

I've already got my studded winters on. It snowed yesterday. It's been -7 to -8 overnight past few nights. Winter is here for me already :(

Heading down to Kamloops this weekend and I debated taking them off for the long drive but fuck it better safe than sorry I guess.

Berz out.

Just ordered my WS90 blizzaks... bring on that winter. :D. Some good deals on there for WS80 closeouts as well.

-Mark

how do you know when it's time to buy a new set of winters?

other than tread wear is there a shelf life for the rubber?

i've had my set since winter of 2011 and have used it for 2-3 months each year since. per those visual inspection sheets during oil changes, tires are marked "good" each time.

Average of 7 years; could start cracking by 4 or 5 years if improperly stored.

i dont see any cracks.

stored in garage - on two 2x4's so tires not directly no ground and wrapped in plastic tire bag.

can i ride out another season?

Rubber can last pretty long when stored in warmish garaged conditions with little sunlight UV to degrade the material. Just make sure you feel good "flexibility" in the rubber and look for rubber rot/cracks in the tread/sidewall. If those check out you'll be good to go. Five to seven years is a good area to be aware of rubber condition especially if they are subjected to harsh sunlight daily but there is no "hard" rule.

If there are signs of minor cracking, your winter tires will still be grippier in snowy/icy conditions than all seasons but just be mindful about what road condition challenges you tackle as they may not get you up a certain hill as they once did one or two seasons ago. You may not stop as fast too so just be on the lookout for tire sales if you can't afford full

Here's a test of what winters vs all seasons are like in very cold "dry" conditions.

You'll see that winter's advantage is when it's everything other than dry. Again if you're forced economically or space-wise to only run A/S tires just pick your battles wisely.

I have PSS on my car and I usually swap them out when snow is in the forecast OR if I know I'll be driving in conditions with any chance of frost/ice, usually at night. I don't drive in places that are ridden with huge potholes or sharp impact bumps so I don't worry much about cracking/damaging my summer rubber from impacts like that. Michelin recommends to not use PSS in low temps but I believe that is advice for the general population who don't think of scenarios like that. In dry conditions, my PSS have far better grip than my Blizzak LM60s, even below freezing, until precipitation is anything other than wet. Just use good calculated common sense on how rubber works and you'll be a step ahead of the weather.

i would think most winter drivers could care less about lap times

if i were to do it again (not caring about warm dry performance as a year-rounder) i'd probably try all-weather like the michelin xclimate+

i keep getting new A/S3+ due to Costco flat warranty :okay:

My friend from Montreal ran 18” Continental DWS06 staggered on his E46 330i 6MT while living here in Vancouver for two years. He said he didn’t have one problem. He went skiing to Whistler, Mount Baker, and the interior without any issues. He might be a special case just knowing how to handle a RWD in eastern winters for six months out of the year and not make it a big deal. Now that he moved back with the car, he’s forced to run separate tires so he’s on Hakkapeliitta 8s now.

While on the opposite scale, a friend here has Michelin AS3+ day on his 1 series and ended up abandoning his car on a downhill while trying to escape a freak snow storm because he felt the tires weren’t biting into the snow/slush and he didn’t want to fully slide down the hill.

The tread pattern on DWS06 seem far better with more siping for snow to stick into compared to AS3+. The AS3+ is a better A/S tire for dry and wet winter temps if you want handling and if you only drive your car in those conditions for winter.

I'm in the same boat. I've had my current winter set for 7 years (20,000 km driven), still 9/11 tread life. No signs of cracking or degrading of the rubber as I store it in plastic bags and in a garage.

Only thing I do notice is, it doesn't grip as superb as when it was new. General Altimax.

Are the DWS06 and the AS3+ M+S?

I'll probably be getting full winters for my E46, but all seasons/weather's for the Civic.


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Winter tire discussion for grown ups thread.
 

Here is DWS06 on our 5 series:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e2bd521f40.jpg

AS3+ on my car:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...726f47cd94.jpg

I'm not up to speed on this thread minus this page but I saw the recent comments on DWS06 and want to give my 2 cents.

I had the DWS06 on my old '02 Lexus IS300 and they were fine in the winter for when i needed to drive (i only drive when necessary with fresh snow on the road) and even made it from Surrey to Richmond when we had that crazy snowstorm on new years eve a couple of years ago. I was impressed.

I had a new set of DWS06 on my '09 Lexus ISF last winter and they were absolutely horrible. I'm not sure if it's because the car is heavier or if they were perhaps over-inflated or if the extra power was contributing to it but i was sliding when coming to a stop and spinning when i got going, so bad that I had to ditch my car on the way home one day when there was about 2 inches of fresh snow during the afternoon commute. I'm not the most experienced with snow driving and generally avoid driving when there is snow on the road but this was something else. I still have the tires on now and going to use them through the winter this year but won't be driving if there's white stuff on the ground.

Winter tire discussion for grown ups thread.
 

Make sure rire pressures are low when you drive in snow. Don’t be running 35psi in the snow or you won’t have much traction especially with a powerful torquey RWD. It doesn’t take much to overwhelm traction and then it’s lost forever until you can get it back.

With RWD, my winters are on their last season and I was having troubles getting up an include last winter and forgot I was at just over 30psi. Once I dumped my pressure down to 22psi in the warming deep snow, I was fine and had no issue going up.

With AWD or FWD, pressure decrease is probably not needed. I didn’t have to when my tires had really thick tread so I pick my battles.

Once I got home and the streets cleared, I brought my pressures back up to what is was before so I didn’t wreck the tires and cause too much heat on a dry/wet surface.

Probably where i went wrong last year. I opted out of getting separate winter dedicated tires this year and continuing to use the DWS06 with plenty of life left so will try this if i absolutely need to go out in the white stuff this year.

Winter tire discussion for grown ups thread.
 

You’ll be fine. Your car is an auto so I think you might be able to take advantage of a winter mode?? which will start your car in second gear, faking a high range of a 4x4 truck, so your torque doesn’t instantly get put down, overwhelming rear traction. If not hopefully you can manually start in second gear when you use manual mode.

what's the speed limit on coq when it snows and what speed do people drive at?

big white in mid-feb on as3+ and carry chains just in case? (fwd)

will check traffic cam beforehand

had no problems with the twisties at baker 2 winters now

80km/hr iirc. But we went 60km/hr hazards on stayed right as much as we could w/o ending up in the bank.

Semi's will go at 90km/hr+ and others 70/80(?). When semi's go by, you won't have visibility for at least 10 seconds.

We didn't get stuck on General Altimax in an E46 325ci. Chains would have been nice and wipers that didn't freeze would have been great too.

I notice the same.
I have the same tires too!

Are you going to buy a new set? group buy LOL?

PM? serious. trying to decide buy or get by this season.

Depends entirely on the conditions, I've been on there doing nearly the old speed limit one way in 2WD and doing about 40 on the way back in 4WD seeing loads of vehicles in the ditch.

I was gonna buy General Altimax .. should I not? I'm in for group buy, if it's cheaper than PMC Tires.

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