If you drive in Canada, and mostly on the province of Quebec, chances are you have a set of 4 tires somewhere that you replace every 4-5 months with the ones you have on your vehicle right now. Yes, that is Canada, and that is the best way to do it. Although not required by law, except in Québec, it is way safer and will help you get from A to B during the snow/ice season.
All-Season Tires all Year Long
First of all, it is against the law in Quebec. From Dec 15th to March 15th it is mandatory to drive on top of Winter Tires, the ones with the Ice-Snowflake symbol on the side. There is a photo later in this post.
Second, it is unsafe during Winter, compared to the "Winter ones." I've tested them all under the same conditions, and it is clearly noticeable: stopping distance on ice and traction on top more than 3cm of snow.
While All-Season Tires are designed for an acceptable snow and ice behavior, these are just an average solution for all seasons. This means that the same design that is expected to optimize fuel consumption during the summer and traction on wet surfaces compromises the required ones for optimizing grip and snow displacement during winter. On the following image, you can see an All-Season Tire where 60% of the thread (left side) is "winter optimized," and the other one is designed for wet and dry road traction.
All-Season Tires share on average half the thread to be Snow/Ice optimized and the other half for Summer/Rain season.
All-Season Tires are designer to behave better most time of the year and "OK" during the Canadian winter, but actually, are designed for soft winter conditions from the middle-north side of North America and Europe, where these conditions are not as extreme as in Canada.
So, ideally, you should have a set of each kid available during the whole year, and mountain/unmount depending on your needs.
Wearing Winter Tires All Year Long
Not a good idea at all either. First, Winter Tires are more expensive than regular Summer and All-Season ones. Second, the most critical part of these is the thread that is supposed to run on top of ice/snow, not on top of a 25 degrees road. You will destroy the tires. These will wear and eventually, be unsafe even for winter. Fuel consumption will also peak as the tires will attach harder to the ground, something that is only necessary during winter.
The Official Pictogram accepted by the Québec driving regulations for the Winter Driving period.
Ideally, you should only use these when temperatures drop below the 7 Celcius degrees.
Replacement & Installation Costs
I will use the average pricing of a Dealer/Garage in my neighborhood: Le Plateau Mont-Royal in Montreal, QC:
Mounting the new Tires on the same Rims/Mags
When you install new tires, you have to:
- Remove the current tire.
- Mount the new one.
- Balance the tire.
On average, it costs 60-70CAD+tax to install the four tires.
Mounting on an Extra set of Rims/Mags
While it may seem more expensive at the beginning, it is a perfect opportunity to save money and time in the future. In fact, the installation process would be even available for yourself as you could easily replace the tires without much effort.
The first time you do it, it would just be:
- Mounting the new tires on Rims/Mags
- Balance the tires.
- Replace the mounted ones
Mags prices are very variable, but Rims average 39-89CAD+ taxes each, depending on the size. So the initial difference would be buying four rims to have your tires mounted on.
From now on, you would only need to Replace the mounted tires every 5-6 months. On average, a tire replacement costs 35-40CAD+taxes.
So, unless you really need to save the money of the rims/mags for the first couple of changes, it is always better and cheaper to store the tires mounted.
