This past weekend, South Dakota and much of the midwest received an early snowstorm. While out shopping my son Jacob noted that he was considering getting an additional set of tires for a new car he had just purchased. It might not be a bad idea.

A couple of years ago I had to replace the tires on my 2014 Chevy Impala and for the first time in a long time, I did some research before I made my purchase. Ok, a little research.  We have all heard of people who understand cars? I'm not one of them. 

One of the things I had noticed on the Firestone Firehawks that I had on the car (57,000+ miles) was they were a good summertime tire. But in the wintertime, it was like riding on a sled. I asked the sales guy at Tires, Tires, Tires in Sioux Falls and he suggested I look into an all-season tire by General. The Alta-Max. Turns out it was a good decision.

Ok, if you look at the number of miles I had on the tires, you would say, of course, you felt like you were sledding, but the all-season, instead of the touring tire seems to be the difference-maker. I see it's a softer compound and has additional grooves cut into a different sort of a tread pattern.

I am still having better luck negotiating the streets in Sioux Falls this winter so far. The nitrogen that they put in all their tires at Tires, Tires, Tires seems to cut down on temperature variance here in South Dakota as well, which means less time getting to the gas station and adjusting pressure.

Yes, I would like to drive a pickup full time, but living in Sioux Falls, and only needing a pickup about 2 to three months and year and really needing one about 2 to 3 times a year, I think I'll stick with the car. I like driving it and it gets pretty good mileage.


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