Are winter tires necessary??

[rurso01]

I live in Hagerstown MD and travel to Montgomery County about once a week where the snow is suppose to be more severe this year. As we all know, Subaru made the very wise decision... of going with summer tires for an AWD car. While they grip the road well during the warmer months, it doesnt make much sense for what most people use these cars for. That being said..

Are winter tires necessary? I have experience driving in the snow but had All Weathers on my old 05 WRX. I don't want to invest in new tires unless it is truly necessary.

Opinions appreciated

[rage-wrx]

Your car will crash if it is on summer tires & you find yourself in snow. So yes, I would say winter tires are necessary .

[vREx]

Yes, imo it's not safe to drive with summer tires in the winter. Since you already have summer tires, get winter tires and swap them out when summer is approaching.

[rurso01]

I am looking on tirerack.com and finding that blizzak's which i know are highly recommended, are too expensive for me. what is a cheap tire that you would recommend? Also note that although I want to buy some steelies for the winter tires, I would have to stick with the stock rims as thats more money I am not prepared to spend! Damn you subaru and your summer tires.

[rage-wrx]

Check out the General Altimax studless snow tires. Also look for a used set of steelies either on the forums or on CL.

[rurso01]

Thats actually the ones I have in the cart. I have no luck finding any steelies on CL. is $65 per rim a bad price? thats what tirerack has them going for.

[xFalleNx]

Another good affordable snow tire is the Firestone Winterforce.

I had them on my 9c1 and that thing was unstoppable in snow with them.

[jgardiner]

Damn you subaru and your summer tires.

If you really have your heart set on owning a set of All-season tires then just buy those. Just be aware that they will not work nearly as well in summer as dedicated summer tires nor will they work in the winter as well as winter tires. If you have 2 sets of tires you can go twice as long before buying a new set because you are using each set for only half the year. Even all-season tires, which should be called no-season because they don't work well anytime, have trouble in freezing conditions.

[xFalleNx]

Even all-season tires, which should be called no-season because they don't work well anytime, have trouble in freezing conditions.

so much truth ^

[EJ257]

General Altimax Arctics are a great budget snow tire.

[rockstar4l]

I got caught in a snow storm 2 weeks ago with the summers, it was horible. They are totally worthless in the snow, so I wouldnt risk your life man. Get some winters

[Rodman]

Check out the General Altimax studless snow tires. Also look for a used set of steelies either on the forums or on CL.

Yes you need snow tires on a wrx. We got hit hard here in CT 11/7 and I found myself driving home in a blizzard. Ive been driving
on snow for something like 30 some odd years and believe me.. you need something other than stock tires. I run a seperate set of
General Altimax studless snow tires that work fine for me. By the way they are on my car NOW!

[Ikana]

+1 on the general altimax artics. I installed them on a recommendation from this forum and while I have yet to drive them in snow, they were very affordable and perform acceptably when it is dry out. They obviously don't perform like the summer tires do in warm weather, but they are good enough for me in freezing temperatures.

[rockstar4l]

I went with the General Altimaxs too!

[rurso01]

Okay I think I will be buying the altimaxs. who here did steelies over the stock rims? I'm trying not to spend 1100 bucks on rims/tires for 3 months of the year and adding steelies plus the added shipping adds about 300-350 to the price.