George, obviously your winters and our winters are not the same........summer tires in Montreal are good up to about..mmmmmm. this week.....then the snow falls and it stays with us for 4 months minimum.
Trust me, if I could run my RA-1s all year, I would........but anything short of a full winter tire in Montreal would lead to 1 of 2 things.........slow driving....like real slow...4 way flashers.....or a quick visit into the armco or otherwise stationary objects.....again, I know....I have seen it.

 

Is the original poster a Canadian?

 

4 winters in the ITR and with snow tires the car does exceptionally well. There were several days of 6+ inches of snow where I was able to get around very easily in the R. Only problem is you tend to plow snow with the spoiler and undercarriage if the snow gets too deep.

By comparison, the RE010's or Azenis even with a lite snow (<1 inch) render the car almost undriveable. I sat stopped on a snow covered overpass trying to enter the highway and the oscillations through the structure made the car slide (all four wheels) while stopped. Scary!! That's how bad the OEM tires do in snow. That same day it took me 55 minutes to get home on a normal 15 minute drive in only inch of snow. Other traffic moved reasonably well, I just couldn't get any traction any where!!!

 

yep 8)