Wheels for the weather; Snow tires make a comeback, but dealers say all-season radials are still the most popular.

PositionLOCAL NEWS

Byline: Shaun Sutner

COLUMN: GETTING AROUND

Whenever they near their house in their cars, Joseph L. Wetton and his wife, Jackie, must climb a steep hill that is often slippery and dangerous in winter.

And beyond his Worcester neighborhood, Mr. Wetton, a salesman, grapples with icy and snowy roads on the job as he plies the back roads of New England.

So when the couple's children grew up and left home a few years ago, Mr. Wetton decided he wanted a real winter-ready rig.

He replaced his big Chevrolet Suburban, which was equipped with all-weather radial tires, with an all-wheel-drive Volvo V70R station wagon. He fitted the new car with a set of Nokian snow tires.

Mr. Wetton, vice president of sales for Allied Machined Products of Auburn, says the snow tires - with their deep, sharp-edged but soft-rubber treads - let him plow safely through all wintry conditions. Plus he gets much better mileage with the smaller vehicle.

"Having four strictly snow tires on there is great," he said. "Handling is not as scary."

Each year about this time, Mr. Wetton heads to his warm garage and becomes a do-it-yourself mechanic. He drags his snow tires from storage, wheels his hydraulic jack into position and swaps his all-season radials for snow tires.

While Mr. Wetton and his wife are devoted fans of snow tires, they are in the minority of a nation of drivers who overwhelmingly favor all-season wheels.

Part of the reason an estimated 90 percent of drivers in regions with severe winters use all-weather radials was the massive shift to front-wheel-drive cars and trucks in the 1980s. That new drive technology provided better winter performance for most vehicles, without snow tires.

More recently, the new all-wheel-drive driving systems have given motorists even better traction, while also avoiding the extra expense of snow tires. They have become an increasingly trendy option for both passenger sedans and the legions of powerful SUVs that now populate roads.

But as modern radials have taken over, winter tires are making something of a comeback: New technology has made them better as well, and brick-and-mortar and Internet-based tire dealers have added sizzle to their efforts to market them.

"There has been a sharp increase in the number of winter tires sold in the U.S.," said Jim Smith, editor of Tire Review, a trade publication based in Akron, Ohio. "Consumers are being exposed to more information about winter tires."

"All in all, that's a good thing. But they...

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