If you can swap the rims at home, you’ll end up money ahead after a few years. Go to tirerack.com, price out a set of tires+rims for your car, they’ll ship them to you mounted, balanced, and ready to install. They’ll be on steel rims, unless you want to pay extra for alloys. Two advantanges that I found with having the tires on rims: you don’t have to go somewhere and get them mounted in time for upcoming snow, if it snows I would swap them out the night before; and you won’t be risking damage to your regular rims by mounting/dismounting tires twice a year. But yes, it’s cheaper up front just to get the tires.
The BEST way to stop in snow is to PUMP the brakes…That way you’ll be able to steer the vehicle as you’re braking…Far more control in a 4wd vehicle then a fwd or rwd vehicle (as long as the vehicle is in 4wd)…Now if you just PRESS on the brakes…and keep them there…IF there’s no ABS or it doesn’t engage…then there is no difference.
The best way of seeing what rims/winter tires cost is tirerack.com for a given vehicle. The huge benefit there is they are shipped mounted/balanced onto rims. So you only have to pay a garage usually around $20 to swap entire wheels.
Mount/remount tires on your vehicles runs $50-$100/shot. So $100-$200/year. So you quickly make up the purchase price of rims. Also many times you can downsize the winter wheels and end up getting a cheaper tire size than factory sizes. However some tire shops offer “free” changeover of winter tires as long as you own them. They sell tires at a higher price but worth in some cases.
Good luck with whatever you decide on winter tires or not. Remember winter tires are not a requirement for majority of folks in New England but are really nice to have.
There are really a few reasons people get a spare set of rims (steel) for the snow tires, which I always did.
The salt can be murder on alloy rims.
Potholes can be murder on alloy rims.
Changing over with the seasons is far easier and more convenient if the tires don’t have to be pulled off the rims and rebalanced every time.
And the changeovers are free! With no waiting! Hear of a storm coming, change the tires oevr right at home! No need to drive to the garage on poor roads to get your winter tires mounted!
Repeatedly changing the tires on and off different rims can also beat up the beads over time, resulting in slow leaks. It’s a rugged process.
I recommend steel rims for the winter tires also because they’re a whole pile of money cheaper than alloys.
Rims cost about $40-$50 each and are defintiely worth it. Each time to take tires off the rim you risk damage to the tires, as well as incur an additional cost. I bought a good set of wheels and tires (Michelin X-ICE)for my wife’s car for $700. These tires will likely be the last winter tires she will need. In April they come off and the regular wheels and tires go back on. That change (with free rotation) costs on ly $21 at my local garage. Taking 4 tires off the rims and mounting others costs a great deal more.
Look upon winter tires and wheels as a long term investment when you move to a snowy area. Your regular tires will last twice as long this way as well.
Depending on the vehicle though, you might not be able to get a set of steel rims
Yes the wonder of 17"+ rims not being able to acquire steel ones.
[b]"t does however give you better CONTROL while stopping.
Really? How does it do that? "[/b]
Just the answer a question. Everyone agrees that brakes on all 4 four wheels is preferable over just two, front or rear. Anyone who has lived with awd or 4 wd, knows the distinct advantage they have for safer engine braking in slippery conditions. This happens every time you lift your foot off the accelerator and can be make a better balance effect down long snow covered hills. Down shifting intentionally in slippery conditions should often be avoided in two wheel drive becomes just another, safer option with 4wd/awd while maintaining steerage which is much more difficult while engine braking with fwd. So yes…they do help control as all 4 wd owners have known.
I concur with your finding dagosa. Engine braking is significantly better with AWD(full-time)/4wd. With FWD you can lose control easier as you are braking with the front wheels only and setting yourself up for a skid. This is most noticable in severe winter conditions.
Most drivers compensate using the brakes with FWD. However using too much braking is what gets you into trouble winter driving.
That being all said if you can avoid touching the brakes and gas winter driving you will stay on path.
More expensive yes, more convenient yes 
If you will be swapping the tires over yourself, having them on dedicated rims lets you do it when it is convenient for YOU. Otherwise, you make an appointment and drop the car, or sit and wait, potentially several hours at a ‘first come, first served’ place just after the first snowfall when everyone remembers they need snow tires. If you aren’t going to do it yourself, having the single set of rims is probably cheaper in the long run unless you keep your cars a long time. However, it is more wear and tear on the tires and rims.
Also note: If the car has tire pressure monitors, you have 2 choices if you buy rims:
- Buy a second set of 4 in tire units (> $35 EACH for after market) AND you still probably have to take it to the dealer to have the sensors registered to the car every swap.
- Skip the sensors, ignore the light or put a piece of black tape over it. They only warn of of a fairly serious drop in pressure. You should check your pressures fairly regularly anyway to keep them properly inflated.
Regarding tires, yes FOUR winter - meaning SNOW, tires or VERY GOOD All Seasons, rated well for snow (see http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/index.jsp or similar for reviews). Some All Seasons rate better on snow than low end snow tires. Also - NOTHING is GOOD on ice, not even studded tires. Leave a LOT of distance between cars and SLOW DOWN A LOT.
I would suggest you consider seeing if there is a driving school where you move and perhaps you could pay for a ‘driving in snow’ lesson once the white stuff falls. We could write several pages of ‘how to’ but I bet doing it with an instructor will work out better.
And while you have targeted Subaru, Murano and Volvo, consider where you will be driving and how often it will be in unplowed snow on steep hills. AWD is NOT necessary in most snow conditions and costs you MPG 365 days a year. My wife traded a Subaru Legacy wagon with 60K miles for a new '06 Prius after driving my '04 Prius. While Click and Clack rate the Prius as lousy in snow, I have found it to be quite GOOD in snow, even 4-6" with good tires. Maybe they tested it with the lousy OEM tires. Plus, because the engine is started by the BIG electric traction motor through the planetary gear transmission rather than a puny starter motor, it starts NOW winter or summer -20F or +80F. If you have not lived in the cold, you will know what I mean the first time you try to start your car at 10F or below.
BTW, I live in Vermont.
2010 Subaru Legacy’s do not cost you in MPG with their new CVT transmission. It is the same size car as current Camry/Accord and MPG is the same.
I concur though older Subaru’s it did cost you in MPG. However most modern designs of AWD have typically a 1-2MPG loss.
Pertaining to your question about permanent winter tires on rims as opposed to swapping tires on the same rims each season.
This has both pros and cons.
Your initial cash outlay purchasing new STEEL rims and new WINTER tires as opposed to changing over all-season tires to the winter tires on the same rims hinges on the damage to the ALLOY rims that usually come with the vehicle.
The scraping and pressure of the tire shop’s bead breaker while dismounting/mounting the tire causes stress to the alloy rims EVERY time the tire is changed. Plus, the tire bead is weakened.
Eventually, the rim will either become distorted or damaged to the point that the tire bead will not seat air tight and you will have a constant slow leak until you REPLACE the alloy rim. These alloy rims (wheels) are quite expensive.
Attempts at repairing alloy rims seem to be a short term fix.
Permanent tires mounted on STEEL rims (wheels) allow for the vehicle driver (owner) to change over the wheels/tires him or herself instead of always going to a tire shop.
I emphasize STEEL rims for two reasons. One is the steel rims can take (for the most part) more punishment than alloys if sliding into a curb or other solid obstruction and two, IF you drive in a road salted environment (in winter) the salt will create corrosion in the alloys rims but the steel wheels will last MUCH longer.
I can’t give you an accurate estimate as to the difference in cost due to varying styles and sizes of tires and wheels.
You can go to http://www.tirerack.com and investigate their options fit for your vehicle.
Hmmmmm, it seems we all have basically the same perspective on this subject.
Have a safe winter.
Another point to consider if you’re driving often in off road, rough road, and snowy terrain…
Ground clearence.
Of the vehicles you consider, kneel down and look underneath. Is this the vehicle you’d like to take on these excursions ?