Driving down in January - snow tires and auto train?

Camilo

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Aug 12, 2006
Folks,
After flying down from Buffalo to Florida for the last 10 years to go to Disney, we decided to drive this time.

Even though January prices are not released by Southwest yet, we did some simulations on different sites (including southwest) with the prices for November/early December and it would cost us close to CAN 2400.00 for the 5 of us from Toronto or around CAN 2300.00 from Buffalo for the dates we wanted.

We're leaving in January, spending 7 days in Orlando and driving to Miami for a cruise (unfortunately, not Disney this time) coming back to Canada 2 weeks after leaving home.

I've decided to go via I-75 due to the weather and mountains (already borrowed the "Along i-75" book by Dave Hunter). It seems a waste to drive 3 hours to Detroit border but people say it's the safest for winter time.

I do have 2 questions for fellow Canadians who did the drive down before:

1) Do you keep your all-season tires or switch to snow tires? I read a few other threads of some folks leaving all season on but I'm afraid if insurance would give us a hard time in case of an accident (knocking on wood) since we DO have the discount for having snow tires in our policy.

2) Has anyone taken the auto train from Sanford, Florida to Washington, DC (https://www.amtrak.com/auto-train)? I think driving down will be fun and the kids will be excited, but we were thinking about boarding the train (with the car) on the way back. It would cost U$ 580.00 for the 5 of us, so it would definitely NOT save us money, but we would "save" 1000 km on the minivan, plus 2 meals are included and we wouldn't have to pay the U$ 100.00 for that night in a hotel. I would like to hear feedback from others who have done it.

Any other tips/bits of advice are appreciated.

Thanks, Camilo
 
You might want to do some checking about the tires, I know some states don't allow spiked snow tires. They aren't allowed here in Georgia for residents but I'm not sure about just passing through. We don't have snow that often, thus don't have the infrastructure to be constantly having to update the roads from the damage.
 
I am the manager of a tire shop in Ontario and I have driven down and back every time with winter tires on (4 times now). To me, its not worth the risk of taking them off because we have seen some pretty bad weather on the way down and back. A few years ago we even ran into snow in north Florida. I also always take the I-75 route in the winter months for the same reason you have mentioned. The extra wear on the winter tires (which really isn't that much) to me is worth the risk incase you run into a blizzard in Michigan or Ohio. And as you say, with the new insurance discounts, if you got into an accident without winter tires, that would be an easy way for the insurance company to deny you coverage.
 
You might want to do some checking about the tires, I know some states don't allow spiked snow tires. They aren't allowed here in Georgia for residents but I'm not sure about just passing through. We don't have snow that often, thus don't have the infrastructure to be constantly having to update the roads from the damage.

Don't want you to continue with the misconception that our winter tires are spiked. They just have a more rugged tread design. Probably similar to what you would see on an offroad vehicle. The rubber is different than all season tires and it wears out more quickly in warmer temperatures.
 


We are booked for the train for December! We plan on putting our winter tires on in November and don't plan on taking them off when we are there in Florida. The way we see it, a few days in warmer weather won't hurt the tires. I don't think December temps are overly hot so *fingers crossed* it should be fine.

LOL, spiked winter tires. Do these still exist? I know in Cali, people who want to go to Utah for skiing put on chains at some point on the highway.
 
Don't want you to continue with the misconception that our winter tires are spiked. They just have a more rugged tread design. Probably similar to what you would see on an offroad vehicle. The rubber is different than all season tires and it wears out more quickly in warmer temperatures.

LOL, sorry I meant chains. Been a long time since I lived out of the south.
 
Thank you for the feedback received so far...
Interesting to see the 2 opinions here are to have the snow tires on. This goes against an old thread here in the forum.

Marizabuzz, would love to hear from you on the auto train but it will be to close to our trip for us to make a decision.

By the way, the price I quoted (U$ 508.00) is for sleeping in the coach seats, which seems more comfortable than airplanes one (way more space for the legs and they recline more) but they don't turn into a bed nor have the privacy of one.

If we went with a mini bedroom on the train, it would erase even more the savings versus flying. I would love to hear more from Canucks (or our American friends) who have taken the train.
Thanks...
 


For the snow tires, we always make our decision last minute but we are traveling the first week of March when the weather tends to get better as the month goes vs getting more snow when coming back. Our last two trips we changed them to all-season the morning we left. If they had forecasted any snow storm on our way down or in the 1 week forecast, we would have kept them. For a Dec-Jan trip, I would be more tempted to keep them on, especially if you can be in trouble with your insurance if something happens...

For the auto train, check the transportation forum where it is discussed at length...
 
We leave our snow tires on for our March trips. My current set of Blizzaks have taken 4 trips down south now with no adverse effects. 2 years ago the entire week had temps in the high 80's and 90's in Florida. The snow tires feel quite sticky in that weather, but they showed no ill effects. As a matter of fact, my winter tires have many more kilometres on them than the OEM summer tires that I just replaced. Safety first over a bit of extra wear and tear.

As far as your calculation goes, that auto-train is pretty close to a wash. My SUV has an overall operating cost of about $0.54/km (fuel, maintenance, 5 yr depreciation), so including the hotel and meals it would be cheaper than me driving those km.
 
Marizabuzz, would love to hear from you on the auto train but it will be to close to our trip for us to make a decision.

Will definitely update this thread and the main auto train thread with our experiences. I want to get some vids too of the rooms because there weren't very many recent videos to look at.

But to your point, the cost of the train down plus the cost to drive home from Florida will definitely not be saving us money *sigh*. Flying from YYZ is definitely the cheaper option for this trip, however, we wouldn't have a car to drive around in (we are also seeing family in Florida when we're down). It's more expensive to fly out of Buffalo or from anywhere nearby on SW. Driving without the train was the utmost cheapest way to travel there at the cost of time to drive. So we chalked these expenses up to having an experience (first time on an overnight train, first time driving from Florida, etc). I'm regretting not choosing to drive down and do the train up though. We're crazy for doing that drive after having a vacation in Florida.
 
I'm regretting not choosing to drive down and do the train up though. We're crazy for doing that drive after having a vacation in Florida.

LOL, this was my logic in selecting the return for the train trip. We also wanted to stop at World of Coca Cola in Atlanta on our way down there. From what I see, it's only a 10 minute detour from I-75.

isabellea, thanks for the tip in checking the transportation forum for auto train tips. I'll check there as well.

Thanks folks...
 
We also wanted to stop at World of Coca Cola in Atlanta on our way down there. From what I see, it's only a 10 minute detour from I-75.

OOOH! I think I'm going to have to suggest we detour here as well. :)
isabellea, thanks for the tip in checking the transportation forum for auto train tips. I'll check there as well.

That's where I got a lot of info and tips re: the auto train.
 
Most of the posts about taking the snows off are for trips in March. We have done all our trips in March and keep the tires on for the two weeks we are there. No issues with more wear and tear. Would rather that then take the chance.
But I have never heard of the train, I will be looking into this, something for the kids, surprise style. We always drive straight and it works out to be around $250US for food and gas for the drive there and back. But for a train ride to cut down and try something new, will look into it for this upcoming March. Thanks
 
Don't want you to continue with the misconception that our winter tires are spiked.

Studded tires are legal in certain areas (eg. Northern Ontario) but they chew up the roads.

I would not risk the safety of your family by switching to all-seasons. If your winter tires are close to needing replacement, consider Nokian all weather ones. Nokian arguably makes the best winter tires and they now have an all weather tire that is so good in the snow that it carries a winter rating on it, but it is an all season tire.

I was not aware of this auto train! We've never driven and don't have any plans to do so, but if we do ever consider driving, this auto train would definitely be something I would seriously consider.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that while winter tires are safer below 7C, all-season and summer tires are safer above 7C ... If you are driving in Florida (or anywhere else above 7C) with winter tires, your braking distances are increased, your traction decreases, etc so it's not only a matter of wear. It's important to consider the temperature range - if it's unlikely to get below freezing, there's probably very little performance difference between the winters and the all-seasons but as the day warms up, the winters will perform much worse.

Here's an article doing a comparaison :
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Winter+tires+dangerous+warmer+weather/9809396/story.html

Personally, I think in March, you are safer driving with all-seasons than with winter tires
 
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As far as the AutoTrain, check the prices but I believe it is quite costly. Also IIMO, it's a good option for someone spending the winter in Florida who doesn't want to drive but I believe it's much more expensive than flying and renting a car (or flying and taking Uber or, if you are worried about your snow tires, I suspect it's more expensive than driving and then buying a set of summer tires once you hit warmer temperatures ...)

Also, keep in mind that the AutoTrain starts near Washington so you still have to drive to Washington which is likely the only part you'll have winter weather ... The drive from Washington down isn't particularly exciting but it's not a hard drive.
 
Hi Michelb,

in our case, we're going in January, not March. Regardless, this is why I posted the question. I understand we can potentially get to lower 30s in Florida but from what I am reading, it's safer to have them than not having them.

And yes, I understand the autotrain will not save money. We want to use it (on the way back from Florida to Canada) for the experience more than anything.

thanks...
 
One thing to keep in mind is that while winter tires are safer below 7C, all-season and summer tires are safer about 7C ... If you are driving in Florida (or anywhere else about 7C) with winter tires, your braking distances are increased, your traction decreases, etc so it's not only a matter of wear. It's important to consider the temperature range - if it's unlikely to get below freezing, there's probably very little performance difference between the winters and the all-seasons but as the day warms up, the winters will perform much worse.

Here's an article doing a comparaison :
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Winter+tires+dangerous+warmer+weather/9809396/story.html

Personally, I think in March, you are safer driving with all-seasons than with winter tires

I think this article isn't really a good look at the Florida winter vacation situation. I agree that in warm weather, a winter tire will be outperformed by all-season or single-season tires. But the text of the article represents that these are "at the limit" performance (hard braking and cornering). I don't corner at speed on my vacation, and I don't drive very fast in Florida. Even on the I-4. I challenge anyone to drive fast on the I-4 in Orlando. ;)

So on a March trip most of my high speed (i.e. high danger) driving is done on interstates in weather that is appropriate for winter tires. I don't really worry about my low speed driving in Florida, as the impacts from any low-speed accident are generally less severe. And we, as Canadians, all know that it is a lot easier to get sideways on frozen or snowy pavement than on hot dry or even hot wet pavement when driving normally.
 
I've done the drive from Ottawa down - always with my snow tires on. You can still get lots of snow at that time of year and before you get to the autotrain you have lots of snow-prone territory. Plus there is the coming back. You won't ruin your tires in sunshine land weather. I have heard lots of good things about the autotrain - I know its insanely expensive last minute but reasonable if booked out ahead. Too bad it wasn't for the snowey northern part of the drive! We plan to try it someday....Amtrack is in cost-cutting mode due to fed funding being greatly chopped back and there is rumour the autotrain could be eliminated as it has never made money. Enjoy while its still there perhaps!
 

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