Having never driven a Bonneville in the winter, what are the recommendations for tires?

My previous winter vehicles have been things like full size Chevy Suburbans and other trucks.

Should I go for a good set of all seasons, or get some dedicated snow tires?

And yes, Rochester, New York gets a lot of snow!

If you can afford winter tires and anothe pair for summer tires.. I"d say go for winter tires.. tryin to find the best one and doing some research, but to my knowledge, winter tire is made of softer compound rubber that gets more grip ( thus shouldn't be used in summer as they wear out quicker ) and the threads are taller and designed to disappate snow/slush and such. All season are designed to have road quietness in mind ( and thus less aggressive thread to help move snow/slush ) and is good for dry/ light rain wet condition, but may not work well in heavy downpour ( and puddles that develop all over the road from it ) unless you bought expensive race designed thread tires that pushes more water out ).. I"ve posted a similar topic in lounge askin what people recommend for winter tires.. but no post yet

The two best known winter tires are Bridgestone'* Blizzaks and Michelin'* Artic Alpin Snow Tires. One of the better sites for Winter Tire info is http://www.tirerack.com/winter/index.jsp

I've been driving with Firestone Winterfire Snow Tires the past few winters. The relatively narrow tread width(205/75/14) is a plus for me when I have to drive thru snow. I would recommend a "Q" rated snow tire. They remain more flexible when the temps drop below 32 defreeze F/0 defreeze C. The downside, as you noted, is a "Q" rated tire wears faster because the rubber compound is softer. Normally you wouldn't run these tires during warmer weather anyway so they should give you at least 3 or 4 years of service(depending on mileage) and extend the life of your other set of tires as well. Please Note: You should NOTt run these tires above 99mph. Hell, None of you should be topping triple digits under any circumstance, but I'll save that for another topic.

Uh oh firestone. that turned my cousins car into a flaming stone alright

I just spent 3 years in Germany driving BMW'* and cannot say enough good things about snow tires. THey can make a rear wheel drive BMW feel like it has all wheel drive in the snow and slush. I don't have any first hand experience with snow tires on a front wheel drive vehicle but I imagine they could only help, especially somewhere that gets as much snow as where you are at.

I couldn't help but laugh, the Topic is snow tires vs all seasons, and the thread starter was "Zamboni"...

Personally you'll be fine with all seasons, and siping will help you a lot too.

I prefer going with All Season tires. But I expect that serious winter tires like the blizzaks are the better choice if you dont mind doing the changeover. I just dumped my Bridgestone all season RE950'*, which were fabulous at high speeds in dry (over 100mph) and wet weather. But with only about 20K miles they were lousy in snow last winter. This year I've gone to Michelin XGT H4'* and they have been OK in deep snow with less than 1000 miles on them, but the Bridgestones might have been even better when they were this new.