We get a good amount of snow and alot of harmful road chemicals (sand & salt) here in PA. It's definitely worth the $ to invest in a set of steel rims and decent snows (I use the Blizzaks). + Your expen$ive rims are protected from the road chemicals. I spent about $700 for 16" steel rims & snows from the tirerack. The performance in the winter weather compared to the Dunlop SP2000's I normally run is night & day. Don't get me wrong, the first winter here I tried it without. And with only a dusting, I could hardly keep the car on the road on my 6 mile drive home from work. Hope this helps - good luck!