Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

I've had my snow tires on for a week now, and I've noticed a ~11% hit from 45mpg to 40mpg on my regular commute with dry roads and temps in the 40-50s. Of course, the hit was a lot more (down to 32mpg) on the day we had 4" of heavy snow.

I went pretty aggressive with the tires and got Kuhmo KW 22s with studs. They have a deep tread pattern that is heavily siped, and I thought the snow traction was great! I was able to make it down my driveway without the ABS kicking in, and I made it back up without any slipage. The snow melted pretty quickly so I didn't get a chance to drive on hardpacked snow/ice to test out the studs, but I think they'll work just fine.

On one hand, it really sucks to have my mileage drop down that low, but it beats still beats the crap out of the mileage I would have gotten in the MMH (~30mpg dry, ~25mpg snow). The Civic is a little more suceptible to float when I hit drifts but I'll give it a hearty thumbs up for the first snow storm. If we get more than 8", I'll probably still drive the Mariner, but it's nice to not be forced to drive it if the forecast hints snow.

Re: Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

I put ours on last weekend, and spent half the day cleaning up the brake pads as well, knowing they're almost due. We've had nothing but wet on the west coast to date, but I wanted to get it out of the way: it's no fun doing tire changes in near freezing conditions. As soon as the temperature starts dropping winter tires stay more pliable, I've read, so even snow-free they're a good idea. Ours are Nokian WRG2, a good fit for mostly wet, occasional snowy BC winters.

We've seen a bit of mileage hit as well, and the last tankful seemed to have depressed mileage, maybe due to switch over to "winter" gas? Anyway, worth it for the extra traction, just have to grit your teeth till spring, regarding mileage hit ;)

BTW, with our WRG2's at least, I find the worst hit is with stop-and-go, and they're actually pretty close to the OEM's for highway mileage. Of course we're mostly stop-and-go.

Re: Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

I experienced about a 10% decrease in MPG on my Ford Explorer with studded Nokian Hakkas when I lived up north. The studs made all the difference on the New England ice and slush.

My seasonal MPG hit is from the air con that is basically mandatory on hot days in the summer.

Re: Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

I was planning on putting my Blizzaks on, but it was 70 in Omaha this weekend. Weird.


nf

Re: Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

It won't be long before I put the snow tires on, but with the decent temps around here now, I'm putting it off for as long as possible. Winter decrease in mpgs has been around 15-20% over the last 3 years.

Re: Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

We got another 6" of snow Saturday night, and I made it down and back up my un-plowed driveway. It took two attempts to get up the driveway, but I made it on the second go around. I'm impressed with these tires :).

Re: Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

The thing that ticks me: a few more inches of snow on the ground and it doesn't matter what you've got for tires: the HCHII only has around 4" clearance between underside and the ground in some places.

Re: Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

Yeah, I was definitely "plowing" an HCH width track in the driveway. It helps that I can go downhill when cutting the first tracks so I don't have to plow on the way back up (as long as I stay in the track).

Re: Snow Tire MPG Hit
 

Temps are in the 40s and I have my Blizzaks on. Maybe lost 1mpg. Blizzaks are pretty LRR.

Cheers, nf