According to an article “Motor Mouth” written by David Booth, Nov. 22 2018, on www.driving.ca, “…all-weathers offer 80 per cent of the winter traction of full snows and 80 per cent of the treadmileage of all-seasons. In braking tests, all-weather tires stopped almost as quickly from 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) as full snows and were a marked 12 feet (almost four metres) better than all-seasons. Perhaps more importantly, the very best – in CR’s testing, Michelin’s new Cross Climate − are truly great all-around tires, offering excellent wet- and dry-road braking and handling, excellent winter traction and, for the cost-conscious buyer, a tread life CR rates at a more than respectable 75,000 miles (120,000 kilometres).” If optimizing winter performance is of greater priority, the Nokian WGR4 offers superior winter performance and decent treadmileage (96,000 kilometres) at the expense of a little wet-weather handling. Which you choose is much less important than choosing any of these new formulations over trying tomanage summer tires on winter roads. In Canada, at least, all-weathers are the true all-season tires.” In Canada, “Kal Tire” has the exclusive rights to sell Nokian Tires and I believe that Canadian Tire has the rights to the Hankook all-weather tires. However, “10 10 Tires” and other tire retailers sell many other brands of all-weather tires. I hope this will be helpful to others like me, who are not comfortable going without snow tires, even for a short period. Othello Jones Ed.: I learn something new every day and this is just in time for the post-Christmas journey. Luc Grenon said much the same thing and this sounds like a brilliant solution to our annual trek and the trips through the mountains. BirdTalk Featuring the letters & concerns of our members SEND YOUR LETTERS TO Bird Talk, c/o CSANews 180 Lesmill Road Toronto, Ontario M3B 2T5 or by e-mail: csawriteus@snowbirds.org Bird Talk Dear Bird Talk, I’m very pleased to see the association working for us to obtain the Snowbird Visa. After reading the last update, I sent a message to the senior senator on Maui to solicit his support to approve the visa. I was surprised at how easy it was to find and contact senators, and I even received a reply. It made me want to share this with all of our members and solicit you to message senators in states where you travel. The more they hear from us, the more likely it is that we’ll succeed. Tim Calibaba Burlington, ON Ed.: Excellent advice, and they do seem to respond in most cases. Everyone should write a note to their senators and to their congresspersons as well. Dear Bird Talk, When exactly do you file and mail this form − in the New Year? Or when you are heading south? We will leave first week of November. Guy Schmidt Armstrong, BC Ed.: The rules say that you should file by June 15th of the following year. This year, the 15th is on a Saturday, so the filing date is extended to June 17th. Dear Bird Talk, Do we have to fill this form out if we are visitors to the U.S. for fewer than the 182 days? Guy Schmidt Armstrong, BC Ed.: If you spend more than three months in the U.S., I would highly recommend that you file the 8840. Better safe than sorry applies here. Dear Bird Talk, First-time snowbirds heading to Florida in January. We have a cat to bring with us. Driving fromToronto to Largo, Florida. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Harvey Bates Innisfil, ON Ed.: This is not a big deal. Simply go to your veterinarian and ask him or her to fill out the vaccination forms for travel to the U.S. Present these at the border and your cat is in. I recommend a cage when crossing the border, to show that proper care is being taken of your little friend. Dear Bird Talk, In the fall 2019 issue of Snowbird magazine, I saw a query about snow tires for snowbirds from Harvey Bates. I shared Harvey’s dilemma, and solved it, by switching to a new class of tires called, “all-weather tires,” not to be confused with all-season tires. “All-season tires” lose their effectiveness below plus 7 degrees Celsius. All-weather tires are winter tires that are designed to be used year-round. They may not be as good as a dedicated snow tire, but they are definitely superior to all-season tires in winter conditions. I have been using the NokianWRG3 SUV tires for numerous years; first on a Lincoln Navigator with both 4x4 and AWD; now on a Toyota Highlander with AWD. My personal experience has been that the all-weather tires are far superior to the all-season tires in winter conditions. Some all-weathers may cost a bit more than dedicated snow tires, but you don’t have to own two sets of tires. Having one set of tires that can be used year-round more than compensates for the price difference and hassle of two sets of tires. CSANews | WINTER 2019 | 11
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