Boise, it’s not too late to get snow tires. What to know about driving in winter
The road up to Bogus Basin is a tricky one — 16 miles of tight twists and turns through the Boise Mountains with little room for error.
The drive can become even trickier in winter, as a constant stream of snowstorms over the Boise Foothills and mountains often create dangerous driving conditions. Sometimes those storms extend into Boise, too, turning the downtown area into a slippery and slushy mess.
With snow expected to stick throughout the weekend, there are steps you can take to prepare yourself and your car. One of the simplest ways is to get winter tires.
Why switch to winter tires?
The average person will only ever deal with three types of tires: all-season, all-terrain and winter. Pickup trucks, SUVs and larger vehicles typically employ all-terrain tires, while most other cars come with all-season tires.
While all-season tires can offer some traction through the colder months, winter tires are designed to work when temperatures drop below 45 degrees.
“When temperatures drop below 45 degrees, (tires) start to harden,” Eli Roberts, store manager at Discount Tire in Boise, told the Idaho Statesman. “And that’s the same with any of your tires; they’re going to get hard when it gets cold outside. And that’s where a winter tire, or as people call them, a snow tire, is going to differ.”
The rubber compound that winter tires are made of differs from all-season tires, allowing them to remain softer in colder temperatures and conform easier to the road, Roberts said. The tread on the tires is also explicitly designed to have better traction on snow and ice and to evacuate slush from under the tires more easily.
And it’s not just snow and ice for which winter tires are helpful; they’re effective even when the roads are dry but temperatures are bitterly cold.
“If it’s low temperatures and you hit your brakes on an all-season tire, it’s going to take you a lot longer to stop because the rubber can’t grab the road like it would a winter tire,” Roberts said. “A winter tire would stop a lot faster. So that’s the big difference between them, just how they operate in certain temperatures.”
When should you change to winter tires?
If you haven’t switched to winter tires, you’re already late to the party. Fortunately, it’s never too late to make the switch.
Roberts recommends changing to winter tires when temperatures are consistently below 45 degrees, which in Boise happens around mid- to late October. The opposite applies for taking off the winter tires: when temperatures are consistently above 45 degrees, which is typically around late March and early April.
Are you considering just keeping the winter tires on year-round? That’s also not recommended.
The more flexible rubber compound on winter tires will wear down more quickly in warmer temperatures, according to Bridgestone, which means having to replace them more often. The softer tire compound will also offer slower response times for turning and breaking in warm weather than summer or all-season tires.
Winter tires are slightly more expensive than all-season tires, Roberts said. You can purchase winter tires for about $100 per tire on the low end, while all-season tires cost approximately $70.
Winter tires can be purchased at multiple locations throughout the Treasure Valley, including Discount Tire, Big O Tires and Les Schwab Tire Center.
This story was originally published December 23, 2022 at 1:47 PM.
