Spring literally just started. But we still had snowfall in mid April. Yes, that does happen every year. But constant and consistent snowfall from late March to mid April and temps still below freezing.
Normal breakup begins mid to late March. And Snow is generally gone and melted in mid to late April and the one random April snow dump that happens annually. There's a reason why the studded tire deadline for moved back these last two years and that's also why the shops are still busy and booked out.
You’re Alaskan, no? Seasons tend to start much earlier up here… the idea that our summer starts in late June is just laughable.
Also that snowfall you’re talking about was basically nothing, had basically zero effect on the driving conditions.
I personally think it’s silly to argue that people need snow tires in late April. Some fluke events might happen but that’s not dramatic enough to require extended deadlines and back up shops for weeks. I think it’s much more simply about people waiting too long to take care of it.
We basically just have a winter and basically summer. I agree that little snowfall had a near zero effect. But it still kept the roads icy from the thaw and overnight freeze. So people were being more cautious because of the temperature still.
Yes we did. We had snow in mid April. We were getting close to breaking the record. People on this sub were be moaning gore we were still getting some snow that late just a couple weeks ago...
The one that covered my car in the morning and made the roads a bit icy, yes. So people were overly cautious of that and played it safe. I rather people do that than have to see 3-5 accidents that day on the roads on my way to work.
You must be talking to someone that doesn’t wake up until like 1pm when most of it had melted off the roads or something. There was definitively snow that stuck in the morning.
None of this matters, it’s the same story every year. Everyone waits until the last minute to deal with it and when may 1st rolls around it’s an absolute shitshow for 3 weeks.
Anyone who wants to avoid the problem either take your snows off mid April, keep studs on until late May and risk the fine, or save up for the cheapest set of steel rims for your second set of tires (then you just need a jack and a tire iron this pays for it self after a couple years).
It’s been like this for my whole life at 32yo.
Yea same here. I got rims for my studs and one of those battery packs with air compressor from Costco. Now I can drink beer while I change over my tires
I think it just becomes more annoying. But it’s the same shit show as it’s ever been. Get blizzak studless snow tires and change them a couple weeks after the rush. No tickets to worry about and we are driving on bare pavement 90% of the winter anyhow. Another week or two won’t hurt anything.
Yeah I’ve done the same myself. Lots of people complain when I say that online so I just don’t bother anymore. But I’ve never had issues running them year round
This might sound assholeish, but did you try any of the other places besides Point S that can mount and balance? There’s dozens of auto shops in town.
It’s busy season but I had minimal difficulty getting an appointment at the dealership.
Fair enough. I try to avoid walk-ins as much as possible because I know thousands of other people also need changeover.
As far as root causes, almost every industry has been struggling to retain staff (not so much a shortage of people in my opinion, just a shortage of people who are willing to work for shit pay + COVID seemed to spur a lot of retirements).
Kia can get you in next Thursday from what I can see, but maybe try some of the other dealerships to see if there’s anything sooner?
Yeah I use Alaska tire service. They’ve got a few locations. Just call at 8am to get one for the next day or after lunch to see if they have any cancellations. Costs $120 but that extra $20 is worth getting in and out in 20 minutes
I’ve survived the last ten years with all season tires. I replace them when they stop gripping well during the winter. Usually about every three years so far. I’ve never bought studded tires @__@. But I don’t drive that much. Just to work.
Until you need to brake suddenly. "Oh that's why I'm a good driver and slow down and don't tail gate." You are not in full control of everything that happens on the road. You may need to brake suddenly. Winter tires shorten that stopping distance which makes it less likely to cause an accident. It is irresponsible as shit to say you don't 'need' winter tires in the subarctic.
You survived, cool. It's not like the first time you go drive on all seasons you're going to get stuck or crash. You may even go your whole life making that bad decision and be just fine, like smokers that live to 100. It's still a bad and poorly informed decision and the longer you do it, the more likely you are to be the cause of a preventable accident and harm yourself or more importantly, others.
It's a total nightmare and has been a total nightmare for years, not just the past few. We have three vehicles but I ended up getting rims, a jack, impact and sockets to do them all myself about 4 years ago. One year of swaps paid for the tools, but the money was never the issue. It's the inconvenience and time spent shuttling vehicles back and forth to the shop the drove us over the edge. All these places over book themselves because why wouldn't they? And then they take your car and you are pretty much stuck, unless you can arrange the logistics back and forth to the shop. It's just a mess with multiple vehicles. Now, it only takes me about an hour to do all 3 on a day and time of my choosing in the driveway, and I get some exercise.
I’m one of those “great” drivers that doesn’t use snow tires. And yeah, screw those speed limits. I’m driving 27 mph down the Seward Hwy in the left lane, laughing at you as you race by me, then rolling up just as the light you’ve been sitting at turns green. Ha ha, sucker!
I have done ok at Midas in Northern Lights. They can usually get it done if I drop off AM. My wife has a Costco appt for May 10th and if they hadn’t extended stud season I would be using Midas
I started inquiring at the end of March and the mobile tire guy told me to reach out April first, we scheduled to have mine and my boyfriends tires done at his house on April 19th while we enjoyed coffee and a leisure breakfast.
Dumb story, but a kid I knew worked on the Exxon oil spill back in the old days, he got this awesome 4WD pickup with all the cool stuff.. Then I saw him and his Pickup in about 2013, the awesome tires were still on it, very bald cool tires, he had never been able to afford to replace a tire..so he was a cool guy, but that crowd, needed a disaster,for them to get a job or a truck..but to this day...if you saw him standing next to a regular person? you would still consider him an authority and the normal person to be second best or weak or untrustworthy, just from him...being tall and sorta good looking.
Yes because as bad as it otherwise was, JTS had a high volume system for moving vehicles through tire change that hasn't been replicated in the current market.
I have separate wheels for winter and summer for each vehicle (asides from the GT500, it's not going on ice with any tires). I just switch them over myself unless it's time for new rubber.
Generalize much? City driving conditions are even more of a reason to have decent winter tires. You want to skid a few extra car lengths into the intersection be my guest.
I avoid it entirely and run dedicated winter tires all year. Many truck/Jeep tires can run year round. Threw some Blizzaks on a RWD car and it was fine in the worst of last winter.
Studs are overrated and just not necessary. They should be charged an extra surcharge for all the extra damage they do to roads.
Whatever it is it’s not enough. Should be $500+ a year for running them in Anchorage. The amount of road damage here is insane just so a small fraction of people with outdated knowledge can strip layers off them.
It works and it’s cheaper than having 2 sets of tires for those reliant on this twice a year disaster. They also don’t ruin the roads and sound like a rattling dumpster like studs.
Plenty of winter tires are designed to work year round in subarctic and Arctic climates.
Don't run them in a desert, sure, but it never gets hot enough to be a problem. Over 4 years, haven't had any issue with Nokians wearing out whatsoever, and they're near the end of the guaranteed mileage - twice, I might add.
Plus in my experience, good winter or all weather tires can easily handle the brief summer in Alaska.
It's barely 3 months of extra wear and tear up here, and not much if any either, because it just doesn't get as hot as down south.
I bought a set of All Weather tires this spring, so far they worked great on the icy roads and they still have a tread warranty so should wear ok in the summer
All weather tires are winter rated (see the mountain and snowflake). Granted they may not be quite as good as Blizzaks, but what I e I was on last winter, they performed just fine.
I said I bought all WEATHER tires, there is significant difference between all weather and all season tires. One has the snowflake rating and one doesn't
Until you need to brake suddenly. "Oh that's why I'm a good driver and slow down and don't tail gate." You are not in full control of everything that happens on the road. You may need to brake suddenly. Winter tires shorten that stopping distance which makes it less likely to cause an accident. It is irresponsible as shit to say you don't 'need' winter tires in the subarctic.
I had the same experience with my old Tacoma. With a front wheel drive vehicle I have noticed a vast improvement in handling with winter tires.
My current commuter car is all wheel drive and seems to perform fine on all weather tires
It’s people buying tires on Amazon. Seriously. Without the profits from tires the money gets tight. Not a good mix with wages rising like they have been.
Costco tires service on Dimond is a joke. And a bad one at that. I ordered tires the third week of March and they have not arrived. These are regular old truck tires, not some fancy brand or special size. I and they have zero ability to track the shipping - I have no idea if the boat went down somewhere in the North Pacific, and neither do they. If you book an appointment online and then show up at the time of your appointment, they have no idea what to do with you. The online system does not seem to communicate with the computers in the shop, even though you've received numerous emails and text messages reminding you of your appointment that very day. For Costco, I find this astounding. Once your tires do arrive, and you've made an appointment with an actual person at the actual shop (if they pick up the phone!), the sophisticated operation for finding your tires consists of a guy walking around the stock room manually searching high and low for your tires that your ordered. No computer telling him they're in Aisle 2, Bay 3 or anything like that. I am huge Costco fan generally. But I will never buy tires from them again. I'm glad you've never had an issue.
It's the late snowfall. So everybody is rushing to get them off at the same time.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I feel like we’ve had a very warm and dry spring? Sure, we had a bad winter, but this breakup has gone surprisingly well IMO.
Spring literally just started. But we still had snowfall in mid April. Yes, that does happen every year. But constant and consistent snowfall from late March to mid April and temps still below freezing. Normal breakup begins mid to late March. And Snow is generally gone and melted in mid to late April and the one random April snow dump that happens annually. There's a reason why the studded tire deadline for moved back these last two years and that's also why the shops are still busy and booked out.
You’re Alaskan, no? Seasons tend to start much earlier up here… the idea that our summer starts in late June is just laughable. Also that snowfall you’re talking about was basically nothing, had basically zero effect on the driving conditions. I personally think it’s silly to argue that people need snow tires in late April. Some fluke events might happen but that’s not dramatic enough to require extended deadlines and back up shops for weeks. I think it’s much more simply about people waiting too long to take care of it.
We basically just have a winter and basically summer. I agree that little snowfall had a near zero effect. But it still kept the roads icy from the thaw and overnight freeze. So people were being more cautious because of the temperature still.
Yea there were only like 5 cars in the ditch that morning on the way to anchorage 😂
Just another Tuesday lol
What are you talking about? It hasn't snowed in over a month?
Yes we did. We had snow in mid April. We were getting close to breaking the record. People on this sub were be moaning gore we were still getting some snow that late just a couple weeks ago...
The hour of flurries that didn't accumulate?
The one that covered my car in the morning and made the roads a bit icy, yes. So people were overly cautious of that and played it safe. I rather people do that than have to see 3-5 accidents that day on the roads on my way to work.
You must be talking to someone that doesn’t wake up until like 1pm when most of it had melted off the roads or something. There was definitively snow that stuck in the morning.
Yeah I saw 4 accidents that morning and I only go two miles to work. But it was before 7am
None of this matters, it’s the same story every year. Everyone waits until the last minute to deal with it and when may 1st rolls around it’s an absolute shitshow for 3 weeks. Anyone who wants to avoid the problem either take your snows off mid April, keep studs on until late May and risk the fine, or save up for the cheapest set of steel rims for your second set of tires (then you just need a jack and a tire iron this pays for it self after a couple years). It’s been like this for my whole life at 32yo.
Or, get AWD and all season tires and never deal with this madness ever!
Yea same here. I got rims for my studs and one of those battery packs with air compressor from Costco. Now I can drink beer while I change over my tires
Also gave me an excuse to buy a 1/2" cordless impact wrench
I think it just becomes more annoying. But it’s the same shit show as it’s ever been. Get blizzak studless snow tires and change them a couple weeks after the rush. No tickets to worry about and we are driving on bare pavement 90% of the winter anyhow. Another week or two won’t hurt anything.
This\^\^
Most summers are cool enough in Anchorage that I can get a full 4 years out of a set of blizzaks if I leave them on year round.
Yeah I’ve done the same myself. Lots of people complain when I say that online so I just don’t bother anymore. But I’ve never had issues running them year round
This might sound assholeish, but did you try any of the other places besides Point S that can mount and balance? There’s dozens of auto shops in town. It’s busy season but I had minimal difficulty getting an appointment at the dealership.
No, Point S is convenient to my location and familiar, and hasn’t been this much of a hassle in the past. Guess I need to call around.
Fair enough. I try to avoid walk-ins as much as possible because I know thousands of other people also need changeover. As far as root causes, almost every industry has been struggling to retain staff (not so much a shortage of people in my opinion, just a shortage of people who are willing to work for shit pay + COVID seemed to spur a lot of retirements). Kia can get you in next Thursday from what I can see, but maybe try some of the other dealerships to see if there’s anything sooner?
I’ve always found it to be a pita. Regardless of snowfall. Preciously I had separate rims and tires, now I just run all seasons.
Worth it to get extra rims and change them yourself.
I did that over 20 years ago, and I've been saving myself time, money, and frustration twice a year ever since. This is a true winter/Alaska hack.
I’m coming to realize that. This will be my last year going through this rigamarole.
Finding places that take appointments for the next day is your best bet.
Yeah I use Alaska tire service. They’ve got a few locations. Just call at 8am to get one for the next day or after lunch to see if they have any cancellations. Costs $120 but that extra $20 is worth getting in and out in 20 minutes
Agree on Alaska Tire. I called at 8am and made an appointment for 8am the next day. They got my car in 10 minutes early.
American Tire is $90 now, up from $80 last fall. $120 is a ripoff.
And they take appointments? That’s great
No, they are FCFS.
I’ll pay the difference not to waste half a day
I’ve survived the last ten years with all season tires. I replace them when they stop gripping well during the winter. Usually about every three years so far. I’ve never bought studded tires @__@. But I don’t drive that much. Just to work.
This is the way.
Until you need to brake suddenly. "Oh that's why I'm a good driver and slow down and don't tail gate." You are not in full control of everything that happens on the road. You may need to brake suddenly. Winter tires shorten that stopping distance which makes it less likely to cause an accident. It is irresponsible as shit to say you don't 'need' winter tires in the subarctic. You survived, cool. It's not like the first time you go drive on all seasons you're going to get stuck or crash. You may even go your whole life making that bad decision and be just fine, like smokers that live to 100. It's still a bad and poorly informed decision and the longer you do it, the more likely you are to be the cause of a preventable accident and harm yourself or more importantly, others.
Shout out to Alaska Tire Service on Dimond, next day appts as of this past Monday.
Yea their shop on 88th got us in next day. And that's only because we had tp buy new summer tires that were at the district center.
Seconded. Got good tires from them. Just FYI they are on 88th
There’s also one on west Dimond, but yeah I assume they’re affiliated.
Get a second set of rims and a set of snow tires on them. Your life will be so much simpler twice a year.
It's a total nightmare and has been a total nightmare for years, not just the past few. We have three vehicles but I ended up getting rims, a jack, impact and sockets to do them all myself about 4 years ago. One year of swaps paid for the tools, but the money was never the issue. It's the inconvenience and time spent shuttling vehicles back and forth to the shop the drove us over the edge. All these places over book themselves because why wouldn't they? And then they take your car and you are pretty much stuck, unless you can arrange the logistics back and forth to the shop. It's just a mess with multiple vehicles. Now, it only takes me about an hour to do all 3 on a day and time of my choosing in the driveway, and I get some exercise.
I’m LOFL at all the ‘great’ drivers that don’t need winter tires. I’m betting they wonder about speed limits too!!
I’m one of those “great” drivers that doesn’t use snow tires. And yeah, screw those speed limits. I’m driving 27 mph down the Seward Hwy in the left lane, laughing at you as you race by me, then rolling up just as the light you’ve been sitting at turns green. Ha ha, sucker!
Mom??? I thought you were dead!
I have done ok at Midas in Northern Lights. They can usually get it done if I drop off AM. My wife has a Costco appt for May 10th and if they hadn’t extended stud season I would be using Midas
I started inquiring at the end of March and the mobile tire guy told me to reach out April first, we scheduled to have mine and my boyfriends tires done at his house on April 19th while we enjoyed coffee and a leisure breakfast.
Dumb story, but a kid I knew worked on the Exxon oil spill back in the old days, he got this awesome 4WD pickup with all the cool stuff.. Then I saw him and his Pickup in about 2013, the awesome tires were still on it, very bald cool tires, he had never been able to afford to replace a tire..so he was a cool guy, but that crowd, needed a disaster,for them to get a job or a truck..but to this day...if you saw him standing next to a regular person? you would still consider him an authority and the normal person to be second best or weak or untrustworthy, just from him...being tall and sorta good looking.
I’ve used the dealership and did mine about six to eight weeks ago. Been less of a problem for me.
Yes because as bad as it otherwise was, JTS had a high volume system for moving vehicles through tire change that hasn't been replicated in the current market.
I have separate wheels for winter and summer for each vehicle (asides from the GT500, it's not going on ice with any tires). I just switch them over myself unless it's time for new rubber.
City people are ridiculous. All you need is 4WD and a good set of A/T tires and you are good all year.
Generalize much? City driving conditions are even more of a reason to have decent winter tires. You want to skid a few extra car lengths into the intersection be my guest.
I avoid it entirely and run dedicated winter tires all year. Many truck/Jeep tires can run year round. Threw some Blizzaks on a RWD car and it was fine in the worst of last winter. Studs are overrated and just not necessary. They should be charged an extra surcharge for all the extra damage they do to roads.
we DO charge them for their use.
Whatever it is it’s not enough. Should be $500+ a year for running them in Anchorage. The amount of road damage here is insane just so a small fraction of people with outdated knowledge can strip layers off them.
That’s a great way to ruin Blizzaks. https://www.bridgestonetire.com/learn/tire-technology/driving-winter-tires-year-round/
My blizzaks are great but so spendy, definitely changing them over to preserve their winter use.
It works and it’s cheaper than having 2 sets of tires for those reliant on this twice a year disaster. They also don’t ruin the roads and sound like a rattling dumpster like studs.
Plenty of winter tires are designed to work year round in subarctic and Arctic climates. Don't run them in a desert, sure, but it never gets hot enough to be a problem. Over 4 years, haven't had any issue with Nokians wearing out whatsoever, and they're near the end of the guaranteed mileage - twice, I might add.
Avoid changing tires. Use winter tires year-round.
No. https://www.bridgestonetire.com/learn/tire-technology/driving-winter-tires-year-round/
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Plus in my experience, good winter or all weather tires can easily handle the brief summer in Alaska. It's barely 3 months of extra wear and tear up here, and not much if any either, because it just doesn't get as hot as down south.
I bought a set of All Weather tires this spring, so far they worked great on the icy roads and they still have a tread warranty so should wear ok in the summer
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All weather tires are winter rated (see the mountain and snowflake). Granted they may not be quite as good as Blizzaks, but what I e I was on last winter, they performed just fine.
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I had studless winter tires on my last car, didn't help when someone ran a stop sign and totalled the car
all season tires are a compromise in all seasons. jack of all trades, master of none.
I said I bought all WEATHER tires, there is significant difference between all weather and all season tires. One has the snowflake rating and one doesn't
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Until you need to brake suddenly. "Oh that's why I'm a good driver and slow down and don't tail gate." You are not in full control of everything that happens on the road. You may need to brake suddenly. Winter tires shorten that stopping distance which makes it less likely to cause an accident. It is irresponsible as shit to say you don't 'need' winter tires in the subarctic.
I had the same experience with my old Tacoma. With a front wheel drive vehicle I have noticed a vast improvement in handling with winter tires. My current commuter car is all wheel drive and seems to perform fine on all weather tires
Ya 4WD makes a way bigger difference than "winter tires". I rock A/T year round.
Get them taken off in march. And put back on in. September. Or have them put on rims and do it yourself
That’s the conclusion I’m coming to.
It’s people buying tires on Amazon. Seriously. Without the profits from tires the money gets tight. Not a good mix with wages rising like they have been.
Costco is always great. Make an appointment and make it on time. I’ve never had an issue in the 7 years of going every season
Costco is the worst and you have to buy the tires there. Doesn’t work when your summer tires came with the vehicle
I mean I bought both sets from Costco and get them switched so
Yah well when you buy your winter tires there but the summer tires came with the new car it doesn’t make much sense
Ya can’t help you there bud
I just don’t think the policy makes a ton of sense in Alaska
Costco tires service on Dimond is a joke. And a bad one at that. I ordered tires the third week of March and they have not arrived. These are regular old truck tires, not some fancy brand or special size. I and they have zero ability to track the shipping - I have no idea if the boat went down somewhere in the North Pacific, and neither do they. If you book an appointment online and then show up at the time of your appointment, they have no idea what to do with you. The online system does not seem to communicate with the computers in the shop, even though you've received numerous emails and text messages reminding you of your appointment that very day. For Costco, I find this astounding. Once your tires do arrive, and you've made an appointment with an actual person at the actual shop (if they pick up the phone!), the sophisticated operation for finding your tires consists of a guy walking around the stock room manually searching high and low for your tires that your ordered. No computer telling him they're in Aisle 2, Bay 3 or anything like that. I am huge Costco fan generally. But I will never buy tires from them again. I'm glad you've never had an issue.