One more thing - the other 'secret' of Colorado is that it doesn't snow down on the front range as much as people think. We have our fair share of snowstorms but with all of the sunshine that we get the roads clear quickly. Growing up in Denver we never had anything other than regular 2wd family cars and managed just fine (without snowtires too).
We used to joke that it only snowed during the Monday Night Bronco games - good publicity for the ski resorts.
I did not know that, good to know!
Thanks for the input. I think the benefit of the center differential is pretty compelling, as well as the X-REAS. There are a few other creature comforts but those aren't really deciding factors.
If we keep the SR5, I'll look into the Blizzaks and keep an eye out for some wheels in the classifieds.
Jtraskell - what you mention is part of the concern. She is a cautious driver already so I'm sure she will heed the tips from whodat, but I have a feeling she will be more apt to leave it in 4WD at the slightest hint of winter weather. Hell, she used to leave the Xterra in 4WD sometimes on accident when going from just some minor offroad (maybe 50 yards) to pavement and continue on her way home.
I wish we had some good info on this topic, leaving part-time 4wd on when your on dry pavement. Long story short, I left the 4wd on driving from texas to iowa, hauling a u-haul, because the crosswinds were making me feel uncomfortable and with the 4wd on I felt like I had more control (don't ask me why I thought of this, maybe it's from the mentality of 4wd in snow equals better control versus rwd?), and my 4R is still going strong, only time will tell when something goes wrong. But as of right now, almost 2 years later after that drive, nothing wrong, no noise, nothing, the next morning I'll probably hear something lol After seeing a topic about this on thie site, I read up more on not driving 4wd on dry roads with part-time systems and understand why it's bad, but honestly, am I the exception?
Now when I was making the drive from TX to IA, the only time I heard something bad was when I had the steering wheel fully locked to turn at the gas station, and it when "clunk clunk clunk" and I felt the wheel skipping (I think that's what they mean by the "gears binding"), but I stopped turning and straightened out the wheel a bit and the noise and wheel skip stopped. I used to drive my dad's T100 and did the same thing to it (I was really clueless about trucks and 4wd systems, a little more knowledgeable, but still clueless lol), and his truck is still going strong, nothing needed to be replaced yet.
From my experience, driving 4wd on dry roads have been ok, but almost everyone I talked to/read online says to NEVER do it. I'm a bit confused, but I will err on the side of caution and just not do it.
