QOTD: When Do You Take Your Winter Tires Off?

That's Pittsburgh, and I've done that. It's not easy. But for those 3 days of the year I'll either struggle through or not go out. I'm not a doula delivering babies.

If I were living in Canada I would see a need for Winter tires. The few times I needed them in Northern Kentucky was about once in ten years but in Southern Arizona I don't need them at all. Just depends on the frequency of snow and how often roads are plowed and treated. I found on paved roads that the traction control and front wheel drive on my wife's former 2000 Ford Taurus was just as good most of the time as the AWD on our Honda CRV and the 4 wheel drive on my prior Isuzu I-370. I did once put snow tires with a more aggressive tread on the rear of my 85 Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup to give it better traction when driving it off road which helped a lot when going through crop fields on the family farm where I lived for 14 years. Of course if the fields were too muddy you would get stuck but most of the time it worked much better than regular tires which would have a tendency to spin on loose dirt.

I certainly do not disagree that there are geographic areas where the need for winter tires is negligible or non-existent. Even in Southern Ontario if I rarely ventured outside of the urban Toronto area, I would probably use 'all weather' tires. I even mounted all weathers on my mother's last vehicle as she would not venture out if the weather or roads were bad. And in the USA south of a certain latitude then 'all seasons' would probably be sufficient.

I did notice when I went to Quebec City a few years ago for New Years literally all the locals had snow tires and sh*t rims. This was new too me. I was impressed with the city's snow removal equipment...certainly better than Boston's.

Here in New England even with our fair share of storms, literally no one bothers. I can honestly say I don't know a single person who actually uses them. On the flip side, no one has summer only tires either. We have bizarre weather here...I have seen days where it starts at 20 degrees in the morning and ends up at 70 in the afternoon.

There has been a decrease in snow amounts over time, particularly over the last 10 years or so. I remember growing up we would routinely have several storms ranging between 1-2 feet. Now that seems to happen once a season, if that.

@Jeff

"my wife's former 2000 Ford Taurus was just as good most of the time"

My first ride was a 2002 Taurus loaded out. I will go to my death bed saying that thing could get through any snow conditions no problem.

I treated that thing like crap (unbeknownst to me, I thought you were supposed to floor it at every green light) and it never once gave me trouble. Having a 6 disc CD changer also made me the coolest kid in school.