Hooniverse Asks- Do you use dedicated winter tires?
Growing up in Buffalo, New York in the ’60s and ’70s, I thought the annual rite of dragging the “snow tires” out of the back of the garage to have them mounted on the Chrysler Newport or the Vista Cruiser was as unquestioned, natural and universal an Autumnal occurrence as the equinox. Nowadays, dedicated winter tires have lost much of their popularity since the advent of modern radials.
After sliding and spinning the Town Cow through the Heart of America’s especially snowy winter last year, I promised myself I would not go through another year on so-called “all-season” M+S tires. Yesterday, I made good on that promise and bought a pair of real snow tires — the first pair I have ever purchased. Picking up the car after work, I was nearly giddy to see a new pair of General Altimax Artic winter tires mounted to the rear of my car.
Do you use winter tires? If so, where do you live and how necessary do you think they are in your area? What sort of car do you drive — FWD, RWD, AWD — and do you put them on all four wheels, or just the drive wheels?
Related posts:
This is my "snow"
<img src="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/IMG_1179.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket">
All seasons and summer tires all year. Hata'z gonna hate.
This is also my snow.
I weep for the future!
<img src="http://sbqsam.com/maitred.jpg" width=400>
Nothing to do with Global Warming or any of that nonsense, it's just that I live in Texas.
The plan is to move to Ft. Collins, Colorado within the next few years. At that time, snow tires may be on the list of upgrades. Also on the list is a engine block heater and posi rear end.
Or just get a Raptor for snowploitation.
Just get the Raptor! I tried talking Mrs. engineerd into letting me get a Raptor instead of the snow tires. Unfortunately, she's a CPA and I couldn't make the numbers work to her satisfaction.
Note to self: Never marry an accountant.
Stupid numbers! I can never, ever get them to work.
As an aside about Raptors, if I may, what color Raptor do you personally like? And what about graphics, yay or nay?
I know that was a reply to Engineerd, I'm just going to ignore that and answer for my self. If I could have a Raptor it would be a 6.2L reg cab in Blue Flame and with graphics. There's one running around town here and every time I see it I get that James May fizzy sensation.
I have always liked Ford's blue's. My dad has a '04 Lightning in Sonic Blue, and I really dig the Blue Flame. I have always wondered if you could get inverse graphics. Like, get a black Raptor with white graphics…
There's a black Raptor running around my town which looks good, but I saw a white one being trailered down from Dearborn and it just looks mean as ****.
On a side note, they are quite scary to see on a car hauler. The widened track with the 35" tires barely fits on the trailer. There's got to be at least 2" of tire hanging off the trailer on each side.
I talked to one of the SVT engineers about it last year before they hit production. He told me they had to make some accommodations to the F150 assembly lines because of the extra width, and it has something like 1/4" of clearance on either side of the entry to the paint booth.
Molten Orange. I can go either way with the graphics. In some ways I like them (might as well go all the way) and in other ways it's a bit more sleeperish without them (not that an offroader benefits much from being a sleeper).
Demmer Ford used to have 4 (4!) sitting in front of it, but they all seem to have been sold. Village Ford has one now sitting in front of it, and every time I pass by there I start nursing a chubby.
Its very bizarre here in Austin. I have yet to see one at a dealership. It could be that they sell them as soon as they get them; no one in pinko-commie Austin wants a gas guzzler (sans yours truly); or I simply have not been looking hard enough.
Oh, what about Molten Orange graphics over black? Perfect for Halloween.
My wife gets annoyed with me when we're driving around. There are quite a few Raptors running around, some with manufacturer plates and some that are owned. Every time I see one I say, "Raptor!" She asked me the other day if I had to do that every time. I said yes.
I am so pleased I am not the only Raptor-nerd that does that.
Also, you are at 100p! Radical!
The Engineerd Singularity has been achieved!
He has achieved Hoonirvana!
Murilee be praised!
Yay! Neither the Internetz nor my head asploded. I can't vouch for engineerd. Either way……
Praise be to Murilee!
Just remind her that there's room for a car seat that Maggie doesn't have. Or you need it for Home Depot runs. Or those bastards at InGen haven't given up their cloning research, and you want to be prepared to welcome our new paeleolithic overlords.
Yup. The FWD Regal liked its Uniroyal Tiger paws so much it wore them all Summer too!
The hearse gets less service in the winter and the long wheelbase is usually enough to keep it from getting too squirrely. Its heavy enough that traction isn't a huge issue but it snow-plows [understeers] like nobody's business.
We moved away from Minnesota before I was old enough to drive.
No snow = no snow tires.
If you can call these winter tires
<img src="http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/attachments/want-sell-fj-related-items/31580d1246672344-brand-new-5-nitto-terra-grappler-265-70-17-terra-grappler.jpg">
<img src="http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/ssurfer321/Truck/Picture007.jpg?t=1286464110" ,="" width="600/">
33" x 12.5" they tend to float if the snow is deep enough. Rarely do I actually need to utilize the 4WD in the winter.
*first photo courtesy of fjcruiserforums.com
*second photo courtesy of my digicam
We don't have a dedicated winter here…
Oh, come now. There must be at least a day where the ladies at Ipanema forego thongs for a one-piece bathing suit.
Nope. From thong to nothing in Carnaval, and back to thong.
I use the same tire all year round, but here is the clincher there are 2 different sets.
Copper Trendsetter SE 225/65/16 on my SHO slicers (summer)
Cooper Trendsetter SE 185/75/14 on my Steelies (winter)
I live in North Eastern Pennsylvania and I drive a FWD car
I never used to. I grew up in SoCal and if you lived up in teh mountains, or needed to get up there when the powder was fresh, you had to use chains. When I moved to Michigan I had my '87 Crown Vic wagon with all-weathers, a Ranger with all-weathers (that only could have benefitted from snow tires once in the 2 years I had it, a 2002 Explorer with all-weathers and 4WD, a 2005 F150 with all-weathers and 4WD, and now my Mustang. I never had a set of winter tires until last week.
The Pirelli P-Zero Neros on the Mustang are supposedly all-weathers, but they have worn just enough that anything more than a light dusting gets a bit hairy. With cutbacks in plowing here in the Greater Detroit Metropolis it was an interesting winter last year with one or two unintended 180s. I don't like that.
So, last week I get an email from TireRack that they have Blizzaks on sale. I called some local tire shops to see if they had a better deal and nobody did. So, a new set of Blizzaks with rims, TPMS sensors and a TPMS reset tool were ordered and sitting by my back door the next day. It was expensive, but much less time consuming than loading the tires into my wife's Escape, driving both cars to the tire shop, swapping the tires on the rims, and bringing the Pirellis home just to repeat the process every spring and winter from here to eternity.
Depending on how well this works out, I'd be willing to spend the dough on future vehicles.
Nothing makes me laugh around here as much as people who think that 4×4 or AWD is an acceptable alternative to winter tires. No, it's a supplement to winters. If you've got all-seasons mounted, that just means you have four wheels that will be spinning whenever you try and go anywhere, rather than just two.
(My comment apparently got eaten by Hoonibbles…)
All-seasons, with only one exception, are good until about -5C. If it gets any colder than that, you need winters. All-seasons just become too stiff to grip anything, and you might as well be running on slicks. I imagine you get a touch of cold weather in Detwah, so you absolutely made the right choice. I've run RWD vehicles in both -45C winters, and in -10C winters when I lived on a ski hill, and it was not uncommon to see a meter and a half of snow in a single night. With a good set of winter tires (and in the case of the Ranger, every time I shoveled the driveway, I just shoveled the snow into the back of the truck to give me extra traction) I don't think I've gotten truly stuck in years, other than circumstances that had nothing to do with the car or tires.
We usually run borderline on the temperature, and not switching tires here is very common. In fact, I got a ribbing from some friends when I said I bought snow tires. I didn't care, I know that driving a RWD sportsish car in the winter is already beyond their capabilities, never mind driving it on the same all seasons that came on it. I figure I can get at least 2 seasons out of these tires then sell the rims with the car.
The M+S tires and the 4WD worked well as long as I wasn't stupid. I see plenty of people that think the 4WD button (or switch or locking hubs) gives them magical powers. 4WD certainly helped with the Explorer and F150, and made stability in the snow much better, particularly on the truck.
What gets me is the folks who think 4-low is the winter gear.
One day this past winter I was hanging around at the Ford dealer playing with the interiors of the showroom cars. I overheard a fellow customer advise another guy to use 4-low in winter; the guy getting the advice wasn't happy with how his F-150 was spinning the tires on the icy streets, and apparently didn't know he had a choice between 2wd and 4wd.
I was torn between going somewhere to facepalm till I bled, or asking the advice giver if he was going to pay for the inevitable transfer-case replacement.
In California, there's no snow except in the mountains, and most of us don't live in the mountains but rather drive up there 1-4 weekends/month. Depending on your latitude, it rains 1-5 days/month during the winter and never during the summer.
Which is to say, buying a second set of tires (and/or wheels and/or dealing with mounting) is a ridiculous proposition for the 10 days/year that someone might drive on snow. Meanwhile, 4×4 or AWD has benefits beyond snow, and all-seasons work decently well enough across the board.
Yeah, there are dumb people out there rocking $89 Costco tires who think they're a vehicular sherpa because their Lexus RX has awd, but there are plenty of us that can be found making due in the snow with our "3 season" tires.
I go up to Bear Mountain a lot – never needed more than the all seasons on our fwd beater. We do keep a set of chains in the trunk, just cause "it's the law!" I moved here from NY a couple years ago. Used to go up to VT a lot and the weather gets a lot colder and hairier than here and I still rocked all seasons on my cars with no problems. Now if I lived in VT or another northern state I would probably splurge for the winters. But yeah, when its only a couple weeks out of the year, I think just get some chains if you're really worried about it. Even more important than tires, when you know you are driving in a remote area, pack some blankets. A breakdown or crash can be fatal without them.
As with some of the earlier comments, this is Seattle. We don't get much snow.
<img src="http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr214/mharrell_photos/carnage.jpg" width="450">
Do they even make snow tires for some of your mini-cars?
DOT-approved 4.00 x 8 snow tires? Not a chance. KV offered a snow kit in the form of scrapers which keep ice from accumulating on the drive rollers but I've never seen a set. When necessary I just put chains on the MG, Plymouth, or one of the SAABs. No snow tires.
Wow! Wow again. I know it's a long shot, but do you know anything about these sellers? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V… I'm looking for an old Volvo, but this one is a WAYS away from me. Thanks
Funny, I know another guy who is looking for one of these but his initials are MZS. What are the odds?
Something tells me that MZS fellow is an upstanding guy with a great head of hair, and everywhere he walks there is the fragrance of lilies of the valley and roses that remains behind for three days. Also I think that I heard he once stood on one leg for seven hours, but I don't believe that for a second.
Nope, never heard of him.
Thanks, it was worth a shot. Your cars there, I really dig them, thanks for sharing that picture.
My Volvo 145 came from Seattle with mounted studded snows and if that shot is from a couple of winters ago, he said he was one of the few that even tried to drive, the rest of Seattle just shut down.
I got to pull two F-150's out this last winter here in Flagstaff when this storm hit:
<img src="http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp308/rexjenney/P1210968.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket">
We put snows on all 4 corners of our 01 Focus for the "harsh" Toronto winter. I find it makes a world of difference over the all-seasons. Do we really need them? Maybe not if we only ever stayed in the city and if I was happy to stay home every now and again. I find it's worth the money and effort.
If the car had a little more ummm… car to it, I would probably go for true summer tires in the summer and scrap the all-seasons altogether. All-seasons are like making a compromise, and I don't like doin' that.
I didn't until I did, and now I do.
Winter tires are like [generic sexual inuendo]: Once you try it, you'll never go back and you'll wish you had done it sooner.
On those days when the QEW is down to one single-tracked lane, I'm the guy bombing through the fresh powder in a Protege5.
San Diego. Winter tires are an entirely foreign concept to me.
Winter is an entirely foreign concept to me.
There, I fixed that for ya.
Came here to say words to this very affect. Leaving satisfied.
/another San Diegan
Good to meet you a few weekends ago. How's the BMW going?
Likewise! The car's coming along. We had the cage installed this week and it just came back from the muffler shop today. The last bit 'o mechanical work we have to do is the prophylactic clutch/guibo job this weekend. After that we have to install the kill switch and a few other minor things and we'll be set. I STILL need to come by a see Prickstine … maybe this weekend?
Ah, a clutch job. How I look back at that job without much fondness. Hopefully your extraction of the starter goes better than ours. What a pain.
If your car has a crank position sensor tab on the flywheel (as ours does), make sure you weld that sucker on. We lost it twice and I've become a little too good at pulling the trans on our car.
I should be around this weekend and I'll be doing some work on the car. Shoot me an email and I can give you my number.
ltdscott AT gmail DAWT com
Although mdharrell is mostly correct (we don't get much snow in Seattle) we do have a lot of mountains nearby and I like to frequent them. I spent seven years in the eastern part of Washington where dedicated snow tires are much more common. A few winter trips to Dearthair's hometown and several trips over the passes to western Washington made me a two sets of tires type of guy. I picked up a set of used wheels to mount the Nokian Hakkapeliittas on my A4 quattro. That car can go pretty much anywhere I need to go no matter how much it snows. I make the swap in the garage every November and every March.
I eased into the snow tires one year and only purchased two. I put them on the front of the FWD Jetta I had at the time. I had good traction in a straight line but the rear would drift out on any off camber corner. It was less than ideal.
MOSTLY correct?!? Okay, you're right, you caught me. Actually my house is in Shoreline, not Seattle. Good eye!
That aside, why go into the mountains in winter, when all the interesting geology is obscured by snow?
I go to school in central pennsylvania and big snow storms will crash through here from time to time, and a camaro on summer tires isn't the best for getting to class if there are any changes in elevation to conquer. I picked up a nearly new set of snow tires last year for $80, from someone who wrecked their camaro, in the snow. Ran them on a miata too and the difference was night and day.
My brother runs snow tires on his 01 Camaro (v6) and passes SUVs in the snow.
My Taurus gets all four corners cladded in winter rubber when the snow flies. I also have a dedicated set of winter rims so I just run out, jack the car up and swap the whole wheel. It makes it super easy and when you're traveling into the mountans often as I am it's pretty crucial to have good rubber under you.
The Porsche on the other hand doesn't get driven in winter so it's a non-issue.
I'm from Rochester, NY and I drive an S2000 year-round. Throw a set of Blizzaks on it and it will run circles around a quattro Audi on all-seasons (a not-so-scientific experiment was done to prove this). It will batter its way through up to a foot of snow, although the splitter will suffer in the process. The limited-slip diff is critical here- an open-diff 3-series on the same tires is nowhere near as unstoppable.
There's a guy in my area that runs an S2000 all year, too. I though he was crazy, but with the right equipment, a RWD car is good in the snow.
The best piece of equipment sits between the steering wheel and the driver's seat.
I said that to my wife and she slapped me.
Was that you in those videos?
Unfortunately, no. I tend to do my hooning late at night to avoid attracting unwanted attention… I've found that certain individuals in blue are not amused by sideways cornering, parking-lot drift sessions, or driving topdown in below-freezing weather.
I attend RIT and saw a white first-gen Miata driving all year round last year
No. It snows here maybe one week a year. Sometimes not even that.
while i have known winter in the past… and i'm sure some of us commenters do now… i live in Indiana… so we apparently have a little bit of spring…. lots of summer, a little bit of fall.. and then E-BRAKE season…
i grew up in NE… my dad always had an extra set of wheel/tires (or at least two spares (he only drove RWD cars then)) and rotated them in/out based on season… it makes a difference like one wouldn't believe… it's always fun to be a "cold-weather-person" at a college and watch the people spin and flounder around with no clue why…..
also— it's awesome to run around town in a 2 door subaru (2.5 RS) in 8 inches of snow… while passing every single truck/suv out on the road…. and seeing their hazard lights in the rear-view!)
Where in Indiana do you see trucks/SUVs going slowly with hazard lights on? I don't think anyone around here knows how to use them or what they mean when they see them.
Yes. Always. Even (especially!) on our two AWD cars. Being able to "GO" on snow is not the same as being able to "WHOA" on snow. It was a running joke for the 25 years that I lived on the Front Range of Colorado; 90% of the vehicles in the ditch after a good snowfall were SUV's and 4WD pickups. Folks that live in snow country and have never used modern dedicated snow tires don't know what they are missing. You not only have more traction on snow or ice, but you also have more temperature appropriate rubber even when the roads are clear. You save wear on your summer tires (which can now be NON-all season tires) so they last twice as long. All it takes is being able to stop a little shorter ONCE or not run into a curb ONCE and they have paid for themselves.
I have those Altimax on two cars now. They are a great value!
Of course I run them on all four tires. The tough thing is keeping an eye on them and rotating as necessary so that they wear evenly. What you DON'T want to do, especially on a FWD car, is put the tires significantly more tread than the others, on the FRONT of the car. You want your rear to have better braking than the front. Yes, the front wheels do more braking than the rear but all it takes is one time going into a slick corner a little hot and on the brakes…bingo…instant 180*…or worse. Ask me. I know.
Having driven a FWD for the last 7 years in some of the most brutal winters I can find, I have to disagree with that. Your front tires do the vast, vast majority of your braking, as well as your steering and acceleration, and provide you with most of your control. The best tread should always go to the front. Talk to any tire shop, they'll tell you the same thing. If you're finding your car is too light in the rear, add some weight to the back seat (NOT behind the axle!) like some portly friends or something. If that still doesn't help, it's just time to replace those tires.
That's why I said significantly better tread. If the difference is big, you're better off replacing them. Just like any tire shop will (should) tell you not to put snow tires only on the front.
You are of course right most of the time, but when traction for all 4 wheels gets really hard to come by sometimes it's nice to know that the fronts will slip first.
Directional stability is important. If you don't have enough tread on the rears to prevent them from going sideways, they will. If you have tread on the front, they'll stay put. What happens next can be bad. Stepping on the throttle to keep the front in front only works until you run out of room.
I live in Georgia. The two or three days out of the year that we do get snow or more likely ice, I just leave the Z3 parked and drive the old 1988 F-150. I might throw some concrete blocks or something heavy in the bed. Things bounce off the truck much better than any other vehicle I have. I probably should put some mud and snow tires on the back of the truck, but when you are buying used tires from the Mexican tire store you can't be too picky. This truck only gets driven a couple of thousand miles a year and is purely a weekend/work truck/backup vehicle.
I grew up in Atlanta and I also had an '88 F150 XLT with the 5.0. Because they are always completely unprepared for winter, it was hell trying to drive around in that truck. The worst part is when it snows, melts during the day, rains, and then freezes overnight.
The upside was, my dad teaching me how to drive on the ice in an empty parking lot with his Astro Van. Chevy's on ice, FTW.
Last year I managed to take out a mailbox during the one patch of bad weather we had. The nice thing about the F-150 is I couldn't see any damage to the truck.. That would not have been the case with my Z3 or the wife's Trailblazer. I love real bumpers. State Farm took care of the mailbox for the guy. My F-150 has the 4.9L with 5MT, long bed, extended cab.
I had a set of 30" light duty tires on it, also had the extended bed and king cab, which would sleep four people. Medians and curbs were just a suggestion to me, although my friends didn't like it when I parked in their lawn.
I drive a Saab 9-2x Aero (yeah, a Saabaru), and it's AWD (obviously). I run Nordman 2's on all 4 corners for snows, on the OE 16" wheels. I have a dedicated set of Falken Ziex ZE-912's on 17" Legacy GT rims that I run in the summer.
I live in Vermont, and it is nearly a requirement to have snow tires from mid-November through mid-April. Like stated above, the snows are for stopping and turning – the AWD is for getting moving (and sno-rally hooning).
I've never had snow tires, because i know the minute i click the buy button on tire rack, the next 5 years we will get nothing more than a light dusting of snow where they would hardly get put to use. Thats usually how the weather goes around the DC metro area.
We got hammered pretty good with a few feet last year, but once the cars were dug out they seemed to get around ok. I did have the grand marquis out the day the snow started coming down, it sometimes needed a little momentum and clever braking in order to to get through some corners before the neighborhood roads were plowed (maybe 6-8 inches on the ground)
My '98 Skylark with all seasons was better in the snow than was my MR2 with Blizzaks. In southeast Michigan, there are a handful of days when snow tires would come in real handy, but I haven't had dedicated winter tires on any of my vehicles for several years.
We had crazy snow this year, for about two weeks, and everyone fell off the road through lack of grip / skill.
Seriously, in the UK, first few flakes and everyone forgets how to drive, the roads snarl up, factories close and everyone hibernates for a fortnight. Snow tyres are virtually unheard of, I mean, you don't actually want to get to work, do you?
"fortnight" is my very favorite British English word. Many Americans don't know what the word means, and never do anything on a 14-day schedule anyway. I am thinking of starting to do updates to tanshanomi.com on a bi-weekly basis just so I can rename it "Tanshanomi Fortnightly."
My favourite is "Betwixt". I try to use is as often as I can get away with, e.g. in a car review describing a yawning chasm 'twixt second and third.
My favourite is munter. As in, "I woke up with a right munter…"
One of my co-workers also has a Challenger R/T, which he just supercharged. I asked him how he was going to handle winter, since his wife drives their more winter-capable car. We concluded that if a 500 HP RWD car on all-season tires can't get through, then no one really should be going to work that day anyway.
Lost grip? Power into it!
I live in Miami.
That may partially explain why you know so much about old cars. Those of us in the rustic north rarely get to see anything older than ten years.
I have 4wd with all seasons on it.
Snow? is that stuff some people sniff? The M+S tires usually do only M in Brazil.
Same for Australia. Hence the greater popularity of RWD utes in those countries.
Nothing does unintended snoughnuts like an El Camino.
Oh yes. I run some Hankook snow tires on all four corners of my 240. It may have an open diff, but it is an absolute blast to drive in the snow. My Volvo has never left me stranded!
I needed a tug twice last winter in my four-Firestone-Winterforce-shod 244 – once after trying to turn around in a steep driveway, and once after parking myself quite firmly in a snowbank. Outside of that, I had no trouble whatsoever.
I'd like to, but as it stands my car is lowered enough that the oil pan starts leaving tracks in the snow before it gets deep enough to overwhelm a set of a all-seasons with decent tread, so I haven't bothered yet.
You'd think I would, since I can get them at cost but I don't. Right now the TrailBlazer is rocking Cooper Discoverer H/T's and the wifes Impala Goodyear Integrity's.
My Coopers are about worn down. I've got til snowfall before they'll need replacing. So another thousand miles or so. Then I'll likely rock some Wrangler's I have laying out back. Someone didn't like them so I did a deal for them on a different set.
I was hoping tire prices would drop a little but they haven't or I would get something really aggressive for the TB just for the mud. Which the SUV sees on a very regular basis.
Much the same boat. The BFG KOs need to be replaced, I either need to wait until I really can't go anywhere and use the internet to get to work or bite the bullet… Ugh… that bill won't be fun.
The KO's are a hell of a nice tire but a hell of a high price. $700 is what I can buy them for through the shop. No way I'll spend that much for tires even if I put just as much miles off road as on. I can get Kelly Trail Mark's for $400. That $300 savings buys a lot of Brefass Scotch and parts.
Agreed. I need to shop around again. If I'm honest with myself, I don't need quite as an aggressive tire. (I know an all-terrain = agressive?) but they are great tires that last a long time and have good traction. How do your Kelly's do in places Jeeps find themselves… say mud and snow?
I'd say the Kelly's are "ok". They don't stack up to BFG's sidewall strength or grip, IMO. I've always like the BFG's ability to run such low pressures and not be torn up. The Kelly Tire, they are on par for the Cooper Discoverer H/T's I have right now. I don't go very aggressive since the TrailBlazer is at stock ride hieght, which makes it just about perfect for driving across a Soccer Field. Which was its intended use when GM built them. My off-road adventurers with it has bent up the drivers running board, both front fenders, front bumper and wheel well plastic. It is not a great off roader in stock trim as I have it now. Once lifted and de-bumpered it does much, much better.
This is what I'd like to do with mine
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk196/JohnTaho…
but unfortunately mine is like this
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Roa2FoSgix4/SyjjYypFrqI…
stuck very easy
I've got winter tires because:
a) I live next to the Rockies and I ski
ii) Winter here is often -30C
c) They don't really clear the roads here and two years ago there was ice on everything from November til April
4) The Continental all-seasons on my car are banana peels on anything but hot asphalt
V) I've been sitting at traffic lights and had my car literally blown across the road because it was icy and I was on all-seasons
f) You need all the agility you can get when everyone around you is completely out of control in their Escalades and X5s on summer tires. I can't count the number of times I've had to get out of the way of asshats in 5,000lb douchemobiles doing way over the speed limit and discovering they can't slow down or turn
Where I grew up we got a lot of snow. And I mean a LOT of snow. 9 feet was the most I had ever seen in my area, but nearby in the Donner region it wasn't unusual to see as much as 15-20 feet. In the summer I loved to take visitors past cabins that had snowmobiles parked on the second floor balconies. Only takes a few minutes to figure out how they got up there.
Everyone I knew had old school Bias Ply mud and snows mounted around late October on everything from the family Hornet wagons to VW bugs. You carried a set of chains, knew your altitude, and listened to the local station for the "snow level" forecast. Failure to do all of this usually meant someone had to come save your ass.
Around December you would find groups of cars parked at lower elevations while snow-cats, Bombardiers and tracked vehicles took over for the winter. The coolest of those was an orange Chevy Luv with tracks and what appeared to be a 4-71 Detroit Diesel.
These days I only see snow in pictures. Thus, 12 month radials…
<img src="http://kipmail.com/images/kelly-side.jpg" width = "500" />
-45C and the first snow came a couple of weeks ago. Studded snow tires on all four, FWD and RWD. Also, it's the law to have them on from the beginning of December to April. The snow doesn't melt until late May though. Yep, this is above the arctic circle in Sweden.
I never have, and I've lived my whole life in the eastern Dakotas.
The '05 Dakota wore Firestone Destination A/T's for the last three winters and I never had traction issues. Most of the time I could even run around in 2wd, even during last February when the city of Fargo needed 3 weeks to get the ice scraped off the major surface streets after a brief late-January thaw that was followed by a blizzard and a week of below-zero temperatures. The tires are down to the wear bars now so I'll be shopping for a new set this month.
I was always going to get winter tires for the T-bird, but never got around to it. Usually I got along fine with my Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's, and the last 5 years if the roads were iffy I drove the pickup anyway.
I should probably get a set of winter tires + wheels for the Challenger but there's no rush since I can always use the pickup instead. I might let it wait out the winter.
My old dakota had some agressive Dunlop A/Ts on it(can't remember the model name) and I got around pretty well in the winter, only had to use 4wd two or three times. My new Dakota is rwd and is a bit more powerful than the old one, so I plan on picking up a set of used stock Dakota rims (6×114.3 bolt spacing = lack of rim availability) and some snow tires. anyone got any recomendations on snow tire for the Boston area?
I've never felt the need for snow tires in a fwd car. I go snowboarding a lot, so I'm driving in the worst blizzards when everybody else is off the road. I love driving in the snow and sliding around. I did drive my 300zx, rwd no traction control with all weathers through a couple blizzards as well. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but I had great fun. I've seen more SUVs crash or roll in the snow than any other vehicle. 4wd does give a lot of people a false sense of security.
In LA "winter tires" means that you finally replace your balding summer or all-seasons after the first rain.
I'm actually debating what to replace my P-Zero neros with on the WRX. Given that 90-something-% of the time it sees hot, dry pavement I'm thinking the stickiest, summeriest tires that aren't downright hazardous in the rain.
Also, apparently "summeriest" is a word.
You could get Hoosier R-comps grooved for rain. Or, if you like tires to last more than a month, I hear a lot of good things about the Hankook RS-3.
Dunlop Z1 Star Specs. They stick like glue, shed water like a duck… and were just discontinued, so get 'em from the Tire Rack asap.
Thinking about it them, actually.
We run them on the Uberbird, and they work pretty well.
shit, they are discontinued!!!?? i have to fill my newly acquired garage now.
you sir, are invalid. http://www.dunloptires.com/catalog/performance.ht…
still listed as new on their site.
cite your sources…
I run the same tires year round on my '94 Ranger. They're a narrow 215-75/R15 Firestone Destination A/T mounted on the stock steel wheels. They go great snow, sleet, and other nasty weather even without my 4WD engauged or any extra weight in the bed.
Winter tires on the winter car, summer tires on the summer car. No chance on snow with an old Benz on summer tires, it´s too light on the rear wheels. Last winter I even put some weight in the trunk. I can still let the tail hang out, but it does when I want it.
BTW, over here it´s an early Christmas for tire manufacturers, winter tires will be mandatory from this season on.
Shameless plug. I wrote this impromptu snow tire review [truthfully just an excuse to mess around in the snow with our cars] with a friend after the nor'easter early last March.
The College Driver – Snow Tires
This is an excellent thread for me, as I just moved from the SF Bay Area, where there is no snow, to Bend, OR, where it's fraking snowing and cold most of the year.
I was looking at snow tires before we moved. Right now I'm leaning toward some Blizzaks. But here in Oregon, studded tires are legal. Studded tires. Oh yeah. Bring it on.
But I'll likely stick with non-studded winter tires as the snow plow fleet is top notch here.
FWD Audi and I got 3 winter tires waiting for first snow…..3, you ask?
Well, yes because I destroyed one in April and then changed to summer tires and as this is fantastically rare tire model
(Blizzak Nordic WN-01, 225/45 R17 XL 94R), I can't find a single tire. Damn. I don't know what to do now, maybe use something with similar thread on one wheel at the back, or pair? Help me with Ideas. *Hooniverse asks: what would you use to replace single missing tire on your car when other 3 tires are fine?*
I had a similar situation with some Michelin Arctic Alpines. I had bought them from Tirerack and I had one get destroyed (pothole?) while there was still a lot of life left in the others. Meanwhile, they had quit making that exact model. I got Tire Rack to confirm with Michelin on a suitable replacement and they sold me that (a newer version of the Michelin Arctic series). Yes, it was still not quite the same but it was good enough to get another two seasons out of the rest of the tires as I recall.
Yeah, I'd get two new ones and either keep that third around as a spare or try to sell it off.
Correct. I forgot to mention that I got TWO new tires. Yes, you end up with one left over but it's still better than having to buy a full set.
you guys suck
Yeah I was thinking the other day, since I need to get some tires soon, that a set of Direzza's would be nice for the Jetta.
But then I would be killed during the winter
the 3 seasons of direzzas would be worth your premature death.
The warm weather is very short here and the snow is effing relentless.
Maybe some day when I move back down south.
I do have snow tires, I drive a 2005 Ford Mustang and it turns it into a tank in the winter. The only thing that will stop if is when the snow gets high enough to get to the bottom of the chassis. This will be my 6th winter and I am on my second set of snow tires. I run them on all four corners, they live on a dedicated set of rims as well. I live in Central Illinois and although it doesn't snow a large amount but it does snow enough that I feel the snow tires are worth it.
My car came with the ContiProContact's, which are cheap all weather tires that VW gives you, but it is soon getting time to get a new set. So I have to decide just to get another set of all weather or do the two-set swap. I do come across some CL ads every now and then with people selling wheels with a set of blizzak's or other winter tires, kida like this: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/pts/1980442955.h…. Cheap and gently used. Then get a new set for the warm (fun) weather.
I was surprised how much of a difference a set of tires and trac control makes. My mother-in-law has a new-ish Sentra with a set of generic tires on it, which is completely useless during the winter.
Interesting how many people still go with the "all-seasons have always worked for me" thing. Can't really fault people on it, especially if you only ever see a dusting of snow. Everyone has their comfort level. But like many, I probably would have been saying that right up until I tried my first set of snows (which I guess was when I first drove since my folks were always believers).
I often envy people who live in more tropical climes, but when it comes right down to it, I envy the people more who get harsher winters than I do. I love winter and I love driving in the snow. And snow is like the great horsepower equalizer. The snow tires make the difference between white knuckling it in the line of cars in the one tracked lane or laughing hysterically while chasing Feds_II in the fresh powder on the QEW.
I go to school in the michigan UP so i should have a set of snows. Instead, I have a set of "new" all seasons (they've been barely used but are 6ish years old) on a second set of rims that are ready to go when the snow because I don't have the cash for real snows. They have lots of tread so they're doing better than the junk that's currently on the car.
But don't look at what I do as smart – i gonna try to drive a 2 ton, rwd, 270 lb-ft, car that doesn't have anti-lock brakes in a place where most of the north-south roads are at a 20-30 degree angle – including the two blocks leading down to the main highway (aka logging trucks and other misc. semis) right by my house. Oh, and the "new" tires slightly rub on the top wishbone in the front. Yes, I probably am insane – thanks for asking.
I live in SoCal. Remind what winter tires are?
*leans back with S.E grin on face*
Last winter, I bought snow tires for the first time in my life (I'm 29, and until a month ago lived around Buffalo). Money well spent.
Now, I live in a place that sort of gets snow maybe once a decade, so I gave my practically new snows and steel wheels to my sister for her Saturn.
For sure, just got some on order. After seeing my buddy's suped-up MS3 cruising through blizzard conditions at 70mph while 4WD trucks were stuck spinning their tires, I've got to have some on my WRX.
From Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. No snow yet, but picked up my Gislaved studded tires today, ready for when things get icy. No powder here really, just hard packed snow on the roads. Can't wait to see how the Impreza handles this winter!
No winter tires just all seasons, it just isn't winter if my mx5 isn't fishtailing in the snow.
I've got a set of winters to compliment my summers. Previously I had a set of all seasons mounted on my E30. Fishtailing and lack of traction abounded.
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