I'm planning a potential road trip to either New Orleans or Miami leaving from Toronto, Canada to occurring sometime after Christmas. I was thinking of bringing the 1er but I have one concern (not including the lack of a spare tire and no RFTs of course
. Concern is as follows: by the time we leave winter will be in full force and I will need to have my winter tires on to drive the first leg of the trip. The weather in either U.S. destination is much too warm for winter tires but for most trip itself it would be very unwise (dangerous) to drive my summer tires due to the winter weather.
Has anyone else ever had this dilemna? How would you deal with this situation? The options I can think of are:
1. Drive the winter tires the whole way there and back (how fast will I rip through these tires doing this?)
2. Bring the summer tires down and swap them out with the winter tires once the warm southern climate is reached (logistically not wise; takes up space and adds weight, increases fuel consumption)
3. Keep an extra set of summer or all season tires waiting for you at your destination (expensive; only works for the Florida destination as there is a family home I can stash them at, still have to drive all the way to the house with the winter tires on incurring too much warm weather wear)
4. Buy some all season type tires in Toronto that can do both winter and summer climate driving and use them the entire trip (expensive, now have two sets of tires to store at any given time, compromised performance in both climates)
5. Fly and rent a car (no Bimmer at destination and no road trip!!)
6. Drive my friend's Toyota Echo (no 1er but at least its a 5 spd, is good on gas and has a spare tire)
7. Defer the trip til the spring when I can drive with the summer tires on the whole trip
Anyone else have this challenge? Curious what the snowbirds or other road trippers do when you have the dedicated summer/winter tire thing going.