I live in Central NJ, and we can get some bad snowstorms at times, but the winters aren't overly too harsh. If I were daily driving my s2k to get to work or something, I would get winter tires in a heartbeat, but as it stands right now I live on campus where I take classes and only use the car when I have to go grocery shopping, home, or meets or whatnot. The idea is if it is snowing I don't have any need to go outside, so I can wait until the roads are plowed, which happens pretty quickly usually. I know that the low temperature affects tires, but is it worth it to purchase separate snow tires?

 

Most all season tires can handle cold temperatures and sometimes even light snow, but if you're running summer tires it's a no-go.

 

I live outside of Philly, so I'm in the same boat with winters. I DD my car as well. Last year was "manageable" but I also had a beater when it got real cold or we got snow. This year I will be getting winter tires. I had a couple close calls in the lower temps, with the tires breaking loose on backroads... NOT fun. I also had summer tires. IMO it's just not worth it to run summers in the cold weather. They're like bricks.

Just as the above person stated, if you have summer tires, I'd get a winter setup. If you have all season tires, you should be okay in the colder weather.

 

If you runner summers in winter - 1) Do NOT drive in any amount of snow. 2) Drive like a pussy.

My guess is NJ is similar to Chicago in that snow really only stays on the ground for about a day. Don't drive on that day. Cold summer tires - drive like you would if it were pouring rain. Black ice will end you.

 

if you wouldnt hesitate to buy them, you def should.

when it does snow its super fun to drive in

 

The difference is night and day with winter tires. They are a lot cheaper than an accident. If you are not an aggressive driver you could probably
get by with an all season tire. Keep in mind that all season tires in the summer are just not going to handle as good as the summer tires.
If I can help just let me know.

 

This. My winter tire set cost roughly the same as the deductable on my insurance ($500). And that's just the start of the cost of an accident. Even if snow doesn't stick around, you'll still have to deal with cold temps (under 45* and summer tires are borderline unsafe.) Do yourself a favor, get the snows (even used if you have to, that's what I did the first time around.)

 

Summer tires in the winter are not fun haha. I ran them last year and I plan on going with at least some all seasons for winter.

 

The difference between an all season and a winter tires is traction. Even on a dry day the winter tires will offer 30 percent better traction at 45 degrees or colder.
If I can help with the tires let me know.
We are having a rebate right now through 10/09 on most of the winter tires.