When do people in New England put on their winter tires? I'm thinking I may want to in the next couple of weeks. Is that too soon?

 

Depends on the temp for me. I just keep an eye on the weather and make the switch when the highs regularly stay in the 40's.

 

I am waiting a bit, probably near to Thanksgiving. This year I have a second set of wheels and tires, so the switch just needs a nice enough day to work outside for an hour or so.

 

I change mine in January after I get back from Florida

 

Usually around November 1st in MA as a cold evening can come at any time with snow or ice possible. Hate to get stuck out somewhere with my Micheline PS2's.

 

I was told long ago by a tire shop, Halloweeen put on, take off on tax day, April 15. Works out pretty well in the Rockies.

 

Thanksgiving to Easter is a good rule of thumb..

 

I drove home with snow showers and a high today of 44.

I put mine on last weekend.

 

when the mornings get by 35-40, time to change. remember, you are changing not only because snow, but also to prevent the cold temperature from turning your summer tires into rock hard hockey pucks without traction.

 

The forecast is for SNOW tomorrow (10/29/08) in the Boston area, with temps 28/46. So, I guess the correct answer would have been yesterday..... for a daily driver. However, the extended forecast is into the 50's for the next week or so.

For me, the next dry day with a warm afternoon may see the snow tires go on, since I will change rims and tires in my driveway. Looks like this Fall will be 'unsettled' for this area, with snow forecast so soon.

However, the F350 will be getting topped up with fuel this evening.

 

As I look out the window here in Central Jersey today, I see white. And it is slushy on the road especially in the higher elevations. If I still had my car and had driven it to work today, the ride home might not be any fun. I bet there will be a few new owners that find out tonight that summer tires just don't work very well in even these conditions.

 

I'm not in New England, but from the various posts on summer tire performance, the mfg guideline is that the tires begin to lose their traction when the temp falls below 44 degrees F. We're not sure if that means the tire temperature or the ambient temperature, but if you like to err on the side of caution, use the 44 degree mark as a reference. If you have winter tires and your driving weather is getting below 44 degrees, you'd make the change.

Kevin

 

If the cold weather keeps up around here (No VA), I'll be putting my winter tires on in a week or two. If it lets up, I might wait a while. Usually I put them on around mid-December...

 

I'm not in New England but I'll have to concur with Kevin K. ~7degrees Celsius and summer performance tires start resembling hockey pucks. I usually do Halloween on and then put the summers back on for may.
I don't know about elsewhere, but for Alberta, it'll melt, dry off, people put on summer tires and then blizzard again the next week. this can happen several times during spring consistently.

 

changed winter tires on my 3 cars last weekend.
it was snowing this morning in north nj, and in the morning temp is around 35. i would change them now if you commute in the morning.