winter, snow tires, can be used year-round???

Hi Gents, & experts,

Can any one of you advise me what is the drawback if I use "Winter Snow Tires" all year-round apart from the noise which I can tolerate ????
Please let me know as I don't like the idea of changing them twice a year,
and I have to drive off-road very frequently and will snow tires help?
Many thanks,
Bob :shakehead :confused: :confused:

There's a reason they call them "winter tires" - they're designed for cold weather and snow.

The rubber inwinter tires is soft so they can grip the road when the temperatures are low. But when the temperatures are high, the rubber won't grip the road, plus the rubber wears away faster. (Hint!! The government doesn't force the manufacturers to put UTQG rating on winter tires - the tread wear is very low!)

Plus, heat is the tire killer, and operating winter tires at high temerpatures is the same as overloading or underinflating tires - the operating temperature of the rubber is exceeded and a tread separation could result. These sometimes have tragic consequences.

:iagree: Plus you should have the tires at least rotated according to the tire manufactures' recommendations. Not having to change them twice a year can invite a dangerous situation to develop. When changing or rotating your tires, it's a good opportunity to inspect the brake system, and other components in and near the tire, (such as front end parts.) By not changing them ,you aren't doing periodic inspections to see if a problem is just starting and can be taken care of while it's small and less costly.

Well you live in Canadia and your Jeep is a 4x4 so you can just get All-season tires that are rated good in snow by checking tirerack.com user reviews.
However, for your FWD Lumina you'll need snow tires in canada probably. You can drive with "performance" snow tires on dry road but it will wear quickly making you change them again anyways.

P.S You only need them for the front wheels if you have FWD. As far as rotating tires, it's not done for checking your brakes, it's done to even out wear. If your tires are wearing fine you don't need to rotate them, makes no sense. If you want to check your brakes, you can just take your wheel off (takes 5 minutes), or just wait untill the wear indicator starts making noise. Also, you can go highway speed and press the brakes from light to firm when no one is behind you to see if they vibrate, if they do it means your brakes are warped (uneven surface).

.
P.S You only need them for the front wheels if you have FWD. As far as rotating tires, it's not done for checking your brakes, it's done to even out wear. If your tires are wearing fine you don't need to rotate them, makes no sense. If you want to check your brakes, you can just take your wheel off (takes 5 minutes), or just wait untill the wear indicator starts making noise. Also, you can go highway speed and press the brakes from light to firm when no one is behind you to see if they vibrate, if they do it means your brakes are warped (uneven surface).
I think you might have misunderstood my post. I KNOW that rotating tires is not done to check your brakes! I'm saying that while you are rotating your tires and they are off the vehicle it is a good opportunity to check your brakes and MAYBE catch a problem that could be just starting. I worked in shops for years and you would not believe how many people came in and had never bothered to rotate their tires, and how many of them were in poor shape, and some , once the wheels were off was found to have brake issues just starting to happen, and the owners weren't even aware there was a problem starting. It is more critical to do something like this in areas where salt is used on the roads in the winter as corrosion can cause a lot of problems, especially if the vehicle is not driven often in the winter. I'm from the "old school" that believes in "preventative maintenance" and checking your brakes while the tires are off only takes a few minutes and can save you a lot of money in the long run by catching a problem before it gets worse.
And even if they are "wearing fine' as you state it is still a good idea to rotate them and at least do a visual check for any "unseen" damage to the tire from potholes, hitting the curb, vandalism, etc. Once again chalk it up to "preventative maintenance".

Well you can assume most people who don't take care of one aspect of their car will probably neglect another aspect too. I do valet parking p/t and I see this with worn out tires, shitty brakes, and .
But you don't need to rotate your tire to check for vandalism, or sidewall damage caused by hitting curbs or heat/high pressure ripping a chunk out of it.
I personally check my brakes by feeling, smelling, and hearing my car carefully, and also looking at or feeling the disks when I change my tires.
I do live in NYC and get some rust around the boundary (circumference) of the disk..but eh not important.
Hey, I asked my mechanic before if I needed to grease parts of my car, he said that's mostly for American cars; What do ya think?

But you don't need to rotate your tire to check for vandalism, or sidewall damage caused by hitting curbs or heat/high pressure ripping a chunk out of it.

I do live in NYC and get some rust around the boundary (circumference) of the disk..but eh not important.

Hey, I asked my mechanic before if I needed to grease parts of my car, he said that's mostly for American cars; What do ya think?
I did not infer that you had to rotate your tires to check for all that. I said while the tires are off the vehicle, and/or the vehicle is up on a lift having it's tires rotated would be an opportune time to check over things that you normally cannot do at other times. Over the years I've seen damage done to the inner sidewalls of tires on customer's cars that you really could only see when the tire was off the car or on the lift.

I live farther upstate in NY where salt is heavily used on the roads and couiple that with the high moisture and humidity we also get at other times of the year, our rotors tend to deteriorate quicker due to rusting, especially if the vehicle is not driven enough to remove any small surface rust on a regular basis.

The older cars tended to need grease and lubrication more than newer cars. Many components that once had a grease fitting now are sealed from the factory and don't require further lubrication. The best thing to do is to consult your owner's manual for a list of items on your vehicle that need to be lubricated on a regular basis. I always lubricate my door and hood hinges, and locks and latches because of the high moisture and corrosive environment present where I live.

For a jeep it wouldnt really matter they will where out faster. Ive always ran all season tires personally and Ive never really had any problems except a few broken belts whena u joint starting going bad , but ive mainly had 4 wheel drive fullsize trucks too.