11-16-2017, 07:00 AM
I've recently spent a lot of time researching and studying tires, so I'll share my conclusions that are for me and not others yet might give others ideas on how to match tire choices that are best for them.
There are tires that provide optimal performance in one use at a steep penalty of compromise of poor performance in the other uses. There are also all-season tires that are designed to provide the best compromise for multiple uses yet with only a fair score in each. There is no such thing as a tire that does everything best.
The most common example of people choosing to have different tires for different seasons is having all-season tires on your wheels for spring, summer and fall and changing them to winter tires for winter and still there are compromises.
My off road vehicle that I bought for fishing has high performance capabilities in multiple categories that are all limited by the tires. I could make do with less performance in these various categories by the typical compromises. I could limit my off road capabilities and my snow and ice traction which will be important for off road trails to ice fishing destinations and I could limit my dry pavement traction and handling on the highway and I could limit my loose beach sand traction for surf fishing by choosing compromises, but I choose to optimize.
I paid for performance in a very capable vehicle, so I chose to have the best tires for each use by having bought extra sets of wheels for the different tires to enjoy that performance.
For snow traction for my ice fishing at hard to get to destinations, I'm getting Bridgestone Blizzaks on Monday. Depending upon the Black Friday sales, I might get sand tires on another set of wheels at the same time. I already have wheels with high performance road tires of a compromise sort yet at the high end of quality and as I said everything about tires are compromises. To get this high traction and handling performance, a much more grippy, softer rubber compound is used at the expense of wearing out very quickly compared to hard rubber that has a long tread life at the expense of lower performance.
They will double as off-road tires for me and though not having the advantages of tread optimized for that, the traction management systems of the car will give me extraordinary capabilities for all but the deepest mud, snow and ice. I've got snow and ice covered and would get mud tires, IF I were caring to push the limits on mud which is a rather odd sport to me.
It might be extravagant to have different wheels for different seasons and uses, but when not pushed to the extreme as I'm doing, it's actually more economical as well as being high performance when just done for snow tires. This is because our winter seasons have lots of warm dry pavement days and that wears out the soft rubber compound of winter tires fast. If you have winter tires put on your one set of wheels in the winter and switch back in spring, you are wearing those tires out fast. It's not practical to have them switched multiple times in a season with the wait and the cost of the service of having them removed and the other set of tires mounted and balanced each time. But, it's quick and no cost to simply change wheels yourself with tires that stay mounted on wheels dedicated to them. That makes the winter tires last much longer and can serve well with near full tread depth (necessary for performance in snow) for multiple seasons. With that concept, I'll be using my all-season tires for most of our winter as the streets will be dry most of the winter (we live in a desert). But, I'll put on the Blizzak wheels for snow days (if I travel far or will be driving in more risky traffic) and my ice fishing.
Extra wheels can really save money.
But, where a LOT of money (TROUBLES AND LIVES, TOO) is saved is when a shorter stopping distance or better control on ice or snow PREVENTS a COLLISION. Sure we can drive within our capabilities and the capabilities of our vehicles as limited by whatever tires, BUT the other drivers will have some among them who do not drive within those limitations by having poor skills or distracted or intoxicated driving or mechanical limitations, disrepair or even bald tires, etcetera.
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There are tires that provide optimal performance in one use at a steep penalty of compromise of poor performance in the other uses. There are also all-season tires that are designed to provide the best compromise for multiple uses yet with only a fair score in each. There is no such thing as a tire that does everything best.
The most common example of people choosing to have different tires for different seasons is having all-season tires on your wheels for spring, summer and fall and changing them to winter tires for winter and still there are compromises.
My off road vehicle that I bought for fishing has high performance capabilities in multiple categories that are all limited by the tires. I could make do with less performance in these various categories by the typical compromises. I could limit my off road capabilities and my snow and ice traction which will be important for off road trails to ice fishing destinations and I could limit my dry pavement traction and handling on the highway and I could limit my loose beach sand traction for surf fishing by choosing compromises, but I choose to optimize.
I paid for performance in a very capable vehicle, so I chose to have the best tires for each use by having bought extra sets of wheels for the different tires to enjoy that performance.
For snow traction for my ice fishing at hard to get to destinations, I'm getting Bridgestone Blizzaks on Monday. Depending upon the Black Friday sales, I might get sand tires on another set of wheels at the same time. I already have wheels with high performance road tires of a compromise sort yet at the high end of quality and as I said everything about tires are compromises. To get this high traction and handling performance, a much more grippy, softer rubber compound is used at the expense of wearing out very quickly compared to hard rubber that has a long tread life at the expense of lower performance.
They will double as off-road tires for me and though not having the advantages of tread optimized for that, the traction management systems of the car will give me extraordinary capabilities for all but the deepest mud, snow and ice. I've got snow and ice covered and would get mud tires, IF I were caring to push the limits on mud which is a rather odd sport to me.
It might be extravagant to have different wheels for different seasons and uses, but when not pushed to the extreme as I'm doing, it's actually more economical as well as being high performance when just done for snow tires. This is because our winter seasons have lots of warm dry pavement days and that wears out the soft rubber compound of winter tires fast. If you have winter tires put on your one set of wheels in the winter and switch back in spring, you are wearing those tires out fast. It's not practical to have them switched multiple times in a season with the wait and the cost of the service of having them removed and the other set of tires mounted and balanced each time. But, it's quick and no cost to simply change wheels yourself with tires that stay mounted on wheels dedicated to them. That makes the winter tires last much longer and can serve well with near full tread depth (necessary for performance in snow) for multiple seasons. With that concept, I'll be using my all-season tires for most of our winter as the streets will be dry most of the winter (we live in a desert). But, I'll put on the Blizzak wheels for snow days (if I travel far or will be driving in more risky traffic) and my ice fishing.
Extra wheels can really save money.
But, where a LOT of money (TROUBLES AND LIVES, TOO) is saved is when a shorter stopping distance or better control on ice or snow PREVENTS a COLLISION. Sure we can drive within our capabilities and the capabilities of our vehicles as limited by whatever tires, BUT the other drivers will have some among them who do not drive within those limitations by having poor skills or distracted or intoxicated driving or mechanical limitations, disrepair or even bald tires, etcetera.
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