# Do you have separate winter tires?



## Luberon (Nov 24, 2014)

I am interested whether full time (and part time) drivers buy a different set of winter tires or just use all season tires. 
Will be good to state your city and average Uber mileage per month or year.
I am thinking of setting aside cash for a set of winter tires but I am not sure it is worth spending $120 on a set of rims, tires and installation for part time uberX in PA where the worst winter is about two months.


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## Backdash (Jan 28, 2015)

A good set of all season tires works fine in the north east.


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## Luberon (Nov 24, 2014)

That's comforting.
I don't want to throw one month uber paycheck at a set of tires then realize I overreacted


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## Backdash (Jan 28, 2015)

Luberon said:


> That's comforting.


I'm not really comfortable having you tell me I comforted you.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Luberon said:


> I am interested whether full time (and part time) drivers buy a different set of winter tires or just use all season tires.
> Will be good to state your city and average Uber mileage per month or year.
> I am thinking of setting aside cash for a set of winter tires but I am not sure it is worth spending $120 on a set of rims, tires and installation for part time uberX in PA where the worst winter is about two months.


How many miles are you putting on your car each month?
When I was driving full-time hours during the winter I put around 1,000 mi/wk on my car. That wore out the rears on my all wheel drive pretty quickly. If you're driving full time, you're going to be buying new tires twice a year anyway (maybe every 8 - 10 months if you're wasting money on very expensive tires). he other thing to consider are the road conditions where you drive during winter months: I lost two tires and one wheel to pot-holes this past winter here in Cleveland.

A lot of Uber drivers stay off the road when the weather is bad in the winter, so with my all-wheel-drive car I found it pretty lucrative to drive when the weather was bad. Those conditions make it in your best interest to have tires with great cold weather/snow/ice traction.


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## Luberon (Nov 24, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> How many miles are you putting on your car each month?
> When I was driving full-time hours during the winter I put around 1,000 mi/wk on my car. That wore out the rears on my all wheel drive pretty quickly. If you're driving full time, you're going to be buying new tires twice a year anyway (maybe every 8 - 10 months if you're wasting money on very expensive tires). he other thing to consider are the road conditions where you drive during winter months: I lost two tires and one wheel to pot-holes this past winter here in Cleveland.
> 
> A lot of Uber drivers stay off the road when the weather is bad in the winter, so with my all-wheel-drive car I found it pretty lucrative to drive when the weather was bad. Those conditions make it in your best interest to have tires with great cold weather/snow/ice traction.


I drive part time, put 200-300 Uber miles a week $200-$400. Our roads are pretty bad and the town (Pittsburgh) very hilly. Last year I had a honda civic and I stayed home when it snows.
This year I am weighing the economics of staying home or catching all the big surges that come with bad weather. My car is 2WD.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Luberon said:


> I drive part time, put 200-300 Uber miles a week $200-$400. Our roads are pretty bad and the town (Pittsburgh) very hilly. Last year I had a honda civic and I stayed home when it snows.
> This year I am weighing the economics of staying home or catching all the big surges that come with bad weather. My car is 2WD.


I know diving Pittsburgh well (they way only a sales person or taxi driver can know Pittsburgh - hell, locals can't even tell you how to get from point A to point B!).

Personally, I'm not sure I'd drive Uber in any winter city without an AWD vehicle... 
especially one like Pittsburgh or Cincy where the hills can be treacherously icy in the mornings. 
It's not that a front-wheel-drive car like a Civic can't handle it ok... 
it's just not worth the risk when you're doing rideshare without any collision coverage 
(since neither Uber's policy OR your personal policy will cover damage to your car). 
It's just much too high a risk.

I was actually pretty stupid doing it last winter in Cleveland, even with an awd vehicle... 
but my car is paid for and I had a second car at the time just in case my sedan got laid-up.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

btw... If CLEVELAND is still in "the east"
how in the hell do you consider Pittsburgh as being in the midwest... along with, say Iowa?


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## Luberon (Nov 24, 2014)

Nah.. Midwest was a decoy. Back when I was scared of Uber deactivating my account for what I say on up.net. who cares now?


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## Luberon (Nov 24, 2014)

It seems to make more sense staying home on snow days


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Luberon said:


> Nah.. Midwest was a decoy. Back when I was scared of Uber deactivating my account for what I say on up.net. who cares now?


hehe... I did the same thing when I first registered here.
Quickly figured out that a deactivation would be a blessing.


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## KGB7 (Apr 23, 2015)

Stay at home. Getting hit by some one will ruin your day.


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## KBecks (Sep 13, 2015)

I am brand new, but I will tell you what I think. I live in Wisconsin and for my *personal* driving, I've always had all season tires (maintained) and I can stay home when the weather sucks.

If I wanted to drive Uber specifically in bad weather, I would likely get the snow tires. You have FWD right? I care most about safety and I would want to go out in bad weather with the best setup I could get. Winters can be bad here. 

Or stay home and drink your cocoa and drive on the nicer winter days. It depends on how much driving you will do. Figure out how much winter Uber driving you are going do do.


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## derekbrian (Sep 21, 2015)

I do not understand the meaning of winter set of tires or all season tires. Please explain this in detail.


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## KBecks (Sep 13, 2015)

Here is an article:
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/04/buy-snow-tires/


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## Vampire76 (Aug 16, 2015)

I have separate winter tyres, they are a softer compound so they don't go hard when the temp drops like summer tyres do, because they are soft, they wear out quicker in summer. I wouldn't bother with all season tyres personally as they aren't good at being summer or winter. 

Get some cheap steel wheels and instead of having to change your tyres, you can have them ready to go when the snow hits.


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## Renaldow (Jul 17, 2015)

KGB7 said:


> Stay at home. Getting hit by some one will ruin your day.


This is my plan. I set aside some $$ each payment to cover future days I don't want to drive due to weather. In the NW we mainly have rain and wind which is no big deal. But for the 7 days of snow and ice we get a year, forget that noise. I'm not going to risk my car or bodily injury chasing a few bucks. Not worth it. Better to stay in, watch cars slide on the news, and drink hot toddies.

I'd rather work a little harder now than when I've got a fever, freezing rain or snow/ice on the road. Remember, as a small business owner you are responsible for your own sick days and PTO.


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## Vampire76 (Aug 16, 2015)

Renaldow said:


> This is my plan. I set aside some $$ each payment to cover future days I don't want to drive due to weather. In the NW we mainly have rain and wind which is no big deal. But for the 7 days of snow and ice we get a year, forget that noise. I'm not going to risk my car or bodily injury chasing a few bucks. Not worth it. Better to stay in, watch cars slide on the news, and drink hot toddies.
> 
> I'd rather work a little harder now than when I've got a fever, freezing rain or snow/ice on the road. Remember, as a small business owner you are responsible for your own sick days and PTO.


It's not a bad idea if you only have a few days of snow, where I live it can last over a month.

The problem I find is not that i lose control but it's other road users you have to be wary about as many will risk taking out their car with summer tyres and come unstuck.


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## Renaldow (Jul 17, 2015)

Vampire76 said:


> It's not a bad idea if you only have a few days of snow, where I live it can last over a month.
> 
> The problem I find is not that i lose control but it's other road users you have to be wary about as many will risk taking out their car with summer tyres and come unstuck.


Sure, I agree. I'm just saying people should look at whether or not bad weather driving is something they should be doing if they can help it. All drivers, Uber or not, should have the proper safety equipment. If you can build up a cash reserve you don't have to risk your income. 2 day staying home is better than 2 weeks of no work while the car's in the shop.


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## Fauxknight (Aug 12, 2014)

I picked up new tires just before winter, got all season, but rated highly for winter. Worked out quite well for me. Winters are too variable here to get a dedicated set of winter tires.


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## Chada75 (Aug 16, 2015)

Yes. Winter Tires are a great idea. The main issue with winter weather is the ride height for you car. I have a Crown Vic with Winter tires but if theres 6+ inches of snow on the roads, the cars' frame will catch and get stuck.


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## Bromius Maximus (Feb 28, 2016)

Using dedicated winter tires in the snow will cut 30' off your stopping distance at 40 mph. At 60 mph, winter tires let you stop about 80' sooner.

Summer tires get you a similar advantage when the weather is warm and there is water on the road.


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## zandor (Mar 6, 2015)

Summer tires are all over the place on wet performance. I had a set of Goodyear Eagle GS-D3s years ago that were amazing on wet roads. They were based on a racing rain design, and the tread pattern was designed for wet or dry paved roads only. Tire design is always a trade off, and going for wet/dry paved roads only can get you amazing wet performance. I was never dumb enough to try it, but one of the reviews I read said they got stuck in 1/2" of snow. You can also get summer tires that are tweaked for dry grip above all else and suck on wet roads, and I mean suck badly. Like worse than el-cheapo A/S tires even though they cost $200 a tire.

Depending on what car you have you may have more than one type of winter tires available - "serious" studless snow and ice tires and performance winter tires. If you live in a place that allows them studded tires might also be an option. Here in Chicago I prefer performance winter tires. The roads aren't covered in snow enough to put up with the short life, sloppy handling, and noise of studless snow and ice tires. Performance winter tires are between a serious snow tire and an all-season tire. They do well in cold temperatures, handle snow and ice better than A/S, and last longer than the really serious snow tires since they don't have the super soft and sticky tread compound. I don't feel much difference between them and A/S or summer tires just driving normally. They do come up a bit short of A/S if I drive the car hard though, and also make a little more noise than A/S.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

On my pickup (which is used for rideshare) I run aggressive all-terrain tires, since it's 4wd, I don't worry about snow/ice, the tires are rated 50K, given the way I care for tires, I'll probably get 45K out of them doing this, normal driving and off-roading. On my wife's car, which is only used for commuting and errands, I do run separate tires/wheels. All-seasons for late spring/summer/early fall and studded snows for the winter months. Her current car is FWD, previously when she had her AWD Audi, I had two sets of tires/wheels for it as well. Part of it is having nicer wheels for the nicer months, and then running the factory wheels for the winter. I also don't buy cheap tires, the summers on her car are ContiProContacts (factory all seasons), the winters are Nokian Hakkapallitta 8 (about $250 ea) studded snows.

But, for doing rideshare, with the amount of miles we rack up, I would be somewhat leery of running two sets of tires/wheels, under normal conditions, I can get 5 years out of each set of tires doing it the way I do. If this was ride share driving, at most I'd get two years or less out of each.


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