Having winter tires installed just got more complicated

If you rely on winter tires and still haven't gotten them installed, don't delay. I'm reminded to make that public service announcement after an obscure government ruling held up my own winter-tire installation this year. Don't let this happen to you.

Four years ago, when my wife and I went to a two-wheel-drive vehicle after years of all-wheel-drive, I sprang for a set of our then highly-rated General Altimax Arctic snow tires, mounted on dedicated steel rims to make semi-annual changeovers easier. At the time, tire-pressure monitoring systems were newly mandated in all new cars, and the in-wheel sensors in our Volkswagen Eos cost $110 apiece. Faced with a $1,000 winter-tire bill, I decided to save the $440 and resolved to check the pressures regularly myself.

Since then I've swapped the tires over twice a year, and regularly checked the pressures. So far, so good.

This year, when it came time to pull the regular tires off the car, I couldn't budge the lug bolts, even after buying a longer lug-wrench for more leverage. After a day and a half of trying, I gave up and decided to take the car back to the tire shop, where they had offered to swap them for me for free. They said I need new lug bolts.