Thinking about winter tires.

[OverVolt]

I drive a Nissan sentra in the mountains of west virginia and I'd rather not die sliding off a mountain into a ditch.

The Sentra in particular has a rather poor differential and power breaks loose easily to just one wheel.

Last Winter in Maryland I got a taste of how the stock compound all-season tires handled where we got 24-36" of snow in my area and I had to be at work. I barely made it out of the road I lived on, going 10 feet at a time before I had to dig myself out and I had superbad control of the car. Obviously.

I've always just slogged through the winter on all-season tires and I do okay. This winter I'm going to actually need good grip for the inclines and such. I'm thinking something like a set of 205/55/R16 (stock wheel size, not particularly a fan of low-profile tires to begin with) Blizzaks or some-such and keep a pair of sedan tires chains in my trunk. Particularly for some of the 7+% grades I might run across.

Will that do? Or should I just buy a Rogue, Subaru or something. I figure AWD is a $1,000+ option and I believe winter tires + FWD is going to be better than AWD on all seasons anyway. I'd really rather not buy a new car. The sentra is a 2015.

Thoughts?

Should I downsize rims?

I kind of want to neglect getting a whole other set of wheels or is that the entirely wrong way to go about it?

 

[jlee]

Snow tires ftw. A cheap set of wheels from Craigslist will let you simply swap wheels with the seasons, but if you really want to get tires dismounted/mounted twice a year, you could keep the same wheels.

 

[Harrod]

I run Blizzacks on my Outback, we probably only get about 7 days worth of ice/snow per year, but it's worth it to toss the keys to my wife so she can get to her job at the hospital on crappy days.

The car does fine without them, but the extra bit of control seems worth it to me.

 

[Jumpem]

I would get Blizzaks. If you did go the Subaru route I would still get snow tires.

 

[Yuriman]

Snow tires make all the difference in the world.

 

[herm0016]

I live in colorado and lived in Wyoming for 5 years. Get snow tires for your sentra. We have 2 sets of wheels/tires for my 4x4 truck and our volt. Snow tires are way better because they help you stop, 4x4 or awd do not.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Man, I'm thinking of stickier summer tires... and possibly some suspension and brake upgrades.

 

[rancherlee]

FWD + snow tires > AWD with all-seasons.............. AWD with snow tires, well ya.

 

[tsupersonic]

I live in upstate NY, and we get a shit ton of snow here. I've driven all my life in all-seasons, but decided to go winter tires last season. What a freaking difference...Totally worth it.

 

[JCH13]

Echoing what JLee suggests... snow tires on a second set of wheels. 16s are a good size, 205/55-16 is an inexpensive tire. You basically can't go wrong with any of the tires in that size available on TireRack.

 

[Torn Mind]

All-seasons are not really all-seasons. Well, they might be better than summer tires in winter, but that is a really low standard to surpass.