Most people start thinking about winter tires the morning they find snow on the car. By then every tire shop in the city is booked up, and the tires on the car stopped gripping properly a few weeks earlier.
Go by temperature, not snow
Winter tires aren't only for snow. The rubber in an all-season or summer tire starts to stiffen once the air drops below about 7 °C. A stiffer tire doesn't conform to the road surface as well, so it loses grip on cold, dry pavement too, and stopping distances get longer.
Winter tires use a softer compound that stays flexible well below freezing. They also have deeper tread and many more sipes, the thin slits cut into the tread blocks that give the tire extra edges to bite into snow and ice. That's where the tire industry's rule of thumb comes from: put winter tires on once the temperature stays below 7 °C.
"Stays below" is the part that matters. One cold morning in October doesn't count. Look at the forecast highs for the next week or two. When most days are sitting at 7 °C or lower, it's time.
What that looks like in Toronto
In a typical year, Toronto crosses that line some time in early to mid November. Some years it's late October, some years closer to the end of November. North York and the rest of the north end often run a degree or two colder than downtown by the lake, so up here it makes sense to lean early.
If you drive north for work or weekends, plan earlier still. Barrie and cottage country often see real snow weeks before the city does, and conditions on the 400 can change quickly once you're past the city limits.
Book before the first snow
Every fall goes the same way. Snow shows up in the forecast, and within a day the phones at every tire shop in Toronto are ringing nonstop. That first week, waits of a week or more for a booked changeover are common, and walk-in line-ups get long.
The fix is to book in October or the first days of November for a date in your window. A week or two early does a winter tire very little harm. A week or two late means commuting on the wrong tires through the first slushy mornings, which is exactly when a lot of fender benders happen.
Check them before they go on
- Tread depth. Winter tires lose a lot of their snow grip as they wear. Many tire makers suggest replacing them at about 4 mm (5/32"), even though there's still tread left.
- Age. Rubber hardens over time, and older winter tires lose some of their cold-weather grip. The DOT code on the sidewall ends in four digits: the week and year the tire was made. If your set is getting on in years, have it looked at.
- Damage from last season: cracks in the sidewall, bulges, nails or screws in the tread.
- The wheel lock key, if your car has locking wheel nuts. Know where it is before the car goes in.
After the changeover
Have the wheel nuts re-checked after the first 50 to 100 km, or check them yourself with a torque wrench set to the spec in your owner's manual. Then check the pressures once the weather turns properly cold. Pressure drops roughly 7 kPa (1 psi) for every 5 to 6 °C the temperature falls, so tires set on a mild afternoon in October will be low by January. Use the pressure on the sticker in the driver's door jamb, not the maximum printed on the sidewall.
When to take them off
Spring runs the same rule in reverse. Once daily temperatures are staying above 7 °C, the soft winter compound wears quickly on warm pavement and the car feels less settled in corners. In Toronto that's usually some time in April.
Don't swap because of one warm week in March. Snow in late March and April is common enough here, and winter tires handle a late storm a lot better than all-seasons do. Just don't leave them on into June either. A summer on winter tires takes a real bite out of the tread, and you'll be buying the next set sooner than you planned.
If you get the winter tire discount on your car insurance, check your insurer's dates before taking them off early. Some set a period the tires have to stay on.
Where the other set lives
Whatever comes off the car needs somewhere to spend the next five or six months. Store tires somewhere cool, dry and out of direct sunlight, away from furnaces and electric motors, which give off ozone that cracks rubber. Tires on rims can be stacked flat; tires off rims are better standing upright.
If you don't have the room, we store tires at the shop. You can book a changeover online any day of the week, and we'll call you back to confirm the time.
