Winter Is Coming
Any advice from those who switch to winter tires? I've never bothered with switching to winter tires, but I remember white-knuckle driving through a blizzard from K-W after a game at Bristol and doing a 365 degree spin on my way to Casino Rama years ago.
If I'm going to continue playing live poker this winter - such as the LONG drives to WSOP-C Lac-Leamy, WPT Montreal, Casino Rama, grinding the Fallsview Poker Classic high-rake crapshoot satellites, :-\ and possibly grinding the Great Blue Heron tournaments starting in January - then I'm wondering if I should pay for storage of my old tires and switch to winter tires.
If I'm going to continue playing live poker this winter - such as the LONG drives to WSOP-C Lac-Leamy, WPT Montreal, Casino Rama, grinding the Fallsview Poker Classic high-rake crapshoot satellites, :-\ and possibly grinding the Great Blue Heron tournaments starting in January - then I'm wondering if I should pay for storage of my old tires and switch to winter tires.
Comments
That's the one near my place in KW.... pricing seem average, but they'll swap on / off your winters / summer for no cost. Also, I blew out a tire, and they gave me a discount based on wear on the tire (i.e. only 10% of the tire was worn away, so replacement cost 10% of the normal tire).
Storage? Up to you.. my tires don't take up much space so I put them in my utility closet lol.
Mark
Edit: This is for tires on separate rims.
If you are a semi handy fellow, buy new tires and new rims. You could store them yourself and put them on yourself. Otherwise, the tire shops are taking them off the rims every time you change them which does reduce the lifespan of the tires.
Most dedicated tire shops (around here anyways) will store the tires you aren't using at no charge. They will charge you for pulling them and putting the other ones on when the season changes. As well as balancing and installing on the rims if required. Much lower price if you don't have to do that.
I think I pay around $80 as I don't have an extra set of rims. My wife pays slightly less than half of that as she got an extra set of rims for free from someone she worked with. You'll recover the cost in a few years depending on what rims you get.
We're supposed to have a hellish winter this year with lots of snow if you believe those people who come up with that kind of bs.
Thanks for the replies so far.
Ha, local farmers, guy waiting to pour concrete at a job I'm supposed to work on this winter, contractor friend who was a farmer growing up.
They're all saying trees are "heavy" with whatever trees get "heavy" with at this time of year (I didn't ask), squirrels are incredibly active right now, didn't get much snow last two years.
My family mechanic has neglected to give me a price quote, so my better half wants me to get raked at Canadian Tire and use our CT Money. I phoned CT and the quote I got was $695, including:
- Four General Altimax Arctic 185/65R14 86Q ALTARC new tires for $375; it has high ratings for Wet (9.8/10), Snow (9.3) & Ice (9.1).
- Alignment for $100
- Balancing for $68
- "Replacement Advantage" insurance for $32, which seems to be the auto equivalent of the useless "extended warranties" by electronic stores.
- The remaining $120 is for nitrogen, TSF, shop supplies, & HST.
So is ~$700 a reasonable "rake" to pay for switching to four new winter tires? CT doesn't store tires, so I may have to hire pokerJAH to pick up my 4 old all-season tires & store it in his garage.
So pokerJAH will have to store all my old tires and rims together, then I`ll have to play him Heads-Up For Rollz?
BTW, the 14-day forecast shows that it will continue to be well above zero degrees with no snow.
Really hope the government does not mandate them.
Last year about this time I blew a tire on my way to a Cleveland Browns game. I stopped in Erie, PA and the only shop open on Sunday morning that I could find only had a snow tire in stock that fit my van. On it went, for $90 (no sales tax in PA).
Once I got back I decided to just get 3 more snow tires to match it - first time I'd ever gotten snow tires, same situation as the OP - and they were $160 each plus tax.
Might not be the most practical tip every for you guys who aren't right at the border like me, but someone might benefit. Winter is coming.
Winter Testing at the Arctic Circle