I am astounded the tires on some four-wheel drives.
People spend thousands of extra dollars but yet they have ?FLORIDA TIRES? on their vehicles.
I use mud/snow tires on front and back on my two-wheel drive PU. Use mud/snow on your front wheel drive. People forget you must stop too.
It depends one 1)How the roads where you live are maintained 2)What your current All Season tires are and 3)How you drive.
If your community considers letting the snow melt in May their idea of snow clearing: You need winter tires.
If you have tires like the Michelin Energy MXV4 (which shouldn’t be sold anywhere there is a chance of snow falling, as they are like racing slicks on it): You need winter tires
If you drive like the “Duke Boys” in the General Lee: You need snow tires.
If you are a cautious driver, who rarely ventures away from urban areas, and know to slow down as conditions deteriorate, you can live will All Seasons. Just take things a bit slower, and leave more room for following distance.
And I live in Ontario, Canada, where we know about snow.
Aside from those living in regions requiring snow tires, I approach buying snow tires the same way I buy insurance.
No one can predict what kind of snow emergency I’ll find myself in. However, if a good set of snow tires makes the difference between:
-
my wife getting stuck or getting home,
-
or if they make the difference between being able to
stop or not for that little kid sled riding out into
the street in front of me,
then for me the snow tires were worth it.
Chances are you’ll never need aggressive snow tires for the extreme situations, however, if you ever do, you’ll be glad you had them.
- my wife getting stuck or getting home
But if you live in a area like Boston…any decent all-season tires will get you home. A few times last year wife had to commute home from work in a good snow storm. The all season tires on her Lexus did fine.
- or if they make the difference between being able to
stop or not for that little kid sled riding out into
the street in front of me,
You can easily stop fine with all-season tires. You just have to slow down. Snow tires for people who don’t know how to drive in the snow are like people who drive SUV’s who don’t know how to drive them. They think once the snow tires are on the car they can drive as fast as they want without any worry. Drive slower no matter what tires you have on during a snow storm. When I drive down my residential street during a snow storm in my 4-runner I’m going about 20.
Biggest tip for anyone driving in snow…SLOW DOWN.
I live in the Boston area. I travel the north shore area and up to the NH border. I never owned a set of winter tires until I moved here. This area gets much less snow than where I lived in the past. What it does have is ICE. I don’t know about your area of NH but there are a lot of drinking water reserviors around here. They can’t use any salt and the sand use is minimal, if at all. The roads get packed down with snow and turn to ice. Much of the roads are shaded by densly packed, large trees that they let grow right up to the side of the roads. There is no shoulder and it’s barely wide enough for two cars. It’s a WHITE KNUCKLER driving these roads around curves, that are canted toward the trees, at almost any speed. I bought my first set of dedicated winter tires last year. What a relief. I can drive without sliding around these corners and nearly kissing 120’ tall oak trees. Better yet, I don’t worry about my wife driving in those conditions either. You’re right, it’s a luxury but one that I will probably never live without again.
I live in Boston and I say if you have the ~$500-600, and need to drive in the snow, then do it.
I had a dedicated set that I bought w/ their own steel wheels. They are much better in the snow then all-season tires, even all seasons with a good winter rating. I parked on the street so being able to get into and out of snow banks was very important to me and with dedicated winter tires my FWD Jetta, with snow tires that were in their 3rd season, was able to get in and out of places that my girlfriend’s awd subaru w/ all seasons was struggling with
Also, your all season tires last longer because you don’t use them for 3-5 months out of the year
It also forces you to rotate your tires at least once a year 
“You can easily stop fine with all-season tires.”
For your sake, I certainly hope so. However, the fact remains that it is possible to stop a vehicle in a substantially shorter distance on winter roadways with the use of winter tires, as compared to all-season tires.
I also slow down considerably when driving on snow and ice, despite using a set of Michelin X-Ice tires. Despite driving more slowly, it is not possible for me to predict when someone will decide to pull out in front of me, it is not possible to predict when the car in front of me may go into a skid, and it is not possible to predict when a child or an animal may run in front of my car. Are these events relatively rare? Sure they are, but the fact remains that they can, and do, occur.
Having the ability to stop in a shorter distance may enable me to avoid a situation that has the potential to cause an accident or to take a life. I consider a few hundred dollars (amortized over a period of 5 or 6 years) to be a very reasonable cost for this extra margin of safety. The use of winter tires does not make me or my car invulnerable to problems, but when used in conjunction with slower, cautious driving, the tires definitely give me a safety advantage. You may differ, as is your right.
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