winter tires

[sharp edge]

Mountian&snowflack on sidewall. The only place i can get them here is on the web, wish more people would use them. My 2x4 passes alot of 4x4 on ice and snow.  8)Think the tires are the bestest,
SE

[slowzuki]

In our city if you are in an accident in the winter and your car doesn't have winter tires on you are fined.
Ken

[Murf]

Yup, a personal pet peeve of mine fer sher!!!

All-season radials are only that if you live in Florida ........   

Couldn't begin to think how many cars I see that never get snows put on, and I live in da country!! 

Dat's ok tho', people like dat make da world safer by stayin'in da ditch where dey belong when it snows. 

[logwalker]

Could you give a little more information on the tires. Joe

[SPIKER]

thats OK I run mostly all season and or sport radials, all winter here in OHIO where the land of ICE & SNOW was invented    

I was out in Texas one winter they had a piddly little 1/2" snow/ with some ice  mix.  they closed the AF base, and I was board.  so I went to da movies.   dang TX state trooper decided to pull me over for being out on the roads in such a nasty day.   then the idiot proceeded to attempt to ram me with his car sideways, I actually had to let off brake and pull about 10~15' ahead to prevent being rear ended by this fool.   He came up to my car acting all high & mighty and told me roads were closed and wanted to know WHY I was out & that he wanted to know if I was gonna try and run from him.  Seems he saw me start to pull away as he was skidding towards me.   Not wanting to get shot for being a wise arse and or a trouble maker I decided I better not say a lot more.)   after about 10 min of him telling me that it wasn't fit for man nor beast out there I handed him my OHIO drivers license  smiled some more and said I thought it was quite lovely out.   I told him I  learned to drive in that type of weather and that I had to pull away a bit cause I didn't feel like getting hit by him as he skidded up at me...   Well before I said much more I kind of noticed this guy was practically shaking.   (I wasn't sure if he was cold or just too poed at me or what.)  He tool my drivers license and walked to back side of my car saw the OHIO car tags, and turned about came back up to the car & gave me my DL back, said I was free to go and that he was sort of glad I didn't just sit there and let him hit me!  .     I think that would have been a bit more embarrassing for him to explain how & why he rear ended me! 

I still look back and laugh about that moment.   I bet that guy hasn't repeated the story to ANYONE though!   (I think I'm making up for him today though!

Mark M

[bitternut]

I have been running all-season radials ever since they came out and have been very satisfied with their winter performance. I drove 50 miles of country roads a day to work and back for a lot of years with no problems ( except for the white outs ). Only tires that ever gave me a problem were those Firestone ones that had the slipping belts and they gave me new ones twice. How about giving us some info on those tires you mentioned sharp edge.

[jon12345]

I believe they are called Winterforce, and they are awesome, a ton of people around here have em.

[isawlogs]

 I also am a firm beleiver in all seasons on cars for spring summer and fall   I have four snow tires on all of my cars and pick-up for winter . 

[Paschale]

When I had a rear-wheel drive car, I bought four Blizzacks.  Those were GREAT!  I could blaze through the snow, passing pokey-joes driving front wheel drive cars with all-seasons on it, and feel completely safe.  I remember many times blazing a trail on the highway on snow that was piling up, and no tracks could be seen in the middle of the night, and feeling completely safe.

Well worth it if you drive a lot of miles and you live in a very snowy area.

[sharp edge]

Been watching tv news about the ice storms and see all the cars spinning around in circles. Think 90% of that could be prevented with winter tires. I see the drivers in Canada know what they are. Bridgestone invented them, most brands have them now.You have to have another set of rims and switch fall & spring, seems like alot of trouble.     Taking the scenic route and seeing all the weeds is a lot trouble too.    Can't bring up web pages and put them here yet. If you do the google thing theirs 4-5 places with lots of info. Tire rack is one of them. The wife really likes the W/T she can drive in the winter now.

[breederman]

I run 35000 miles a year in every kind of weather. Very little of it on "main" roads and all of it is in the hills and mountains and unplowed driveways.  I run Cooper weathermasters,  put them on new in late October and leave them on all summer as by then they would be no good to me the next winter anyway.
  They are a great snow tire that I have used for many years, probably 250-300,000 miles total and they are also on all of our other cars as well.
  If you can get started an all season tire will get you where you want to go most of the time but often you need a snow tire to get you moving.

[Dana]

I have four wheel drive with radial tires and haven't gotten stuck in the snow with out deserving it. When I had two wheel drive Ford Ranger I had to have a few hundred lbs. of weight in the back to get around.

[Snag]

I grew up in a little town right on the Canadian border, lived out in Buffalo for a couple years, and now reside in the Adirondacks.  I guess I have seen a bit of snow and driven in some terrible weather (including the huge ice storm we had in 98.  My father and I spent all day every day driving to peoples houses to hook up generators for them).  Until this year, I have never owned a snow tire.  I have always used all season and had no problems what-so-ever.  This year I bought a new car and the tires that came on it were "cheap summer only".  These tires are bad on anything but hot, clean, dry pavement.  Right now I drive 1.5hr each way to work over mountains and windy roads to a town next to Lake Placid.  Because of the commute I was convinced to get studded snow tires.  When the is a thin layer of crap on the road they work pretty good.  Any other time, they are the worst *DanG thing to have on the car.  I cant tell you how many times I have almost gone in the ditch or the car got squirrly on me on dry pavement on the winding roads because of those metal studs.  I know i'm talking about studded and not just winter.  Just saying, sometimes I wish I had my all season......

The main thing to do in the winter, drive according to the conditions.  How many times has someone with 4wd blown by you and 2 miles down the road they are in the ditch.  Sometimes people just dont know how or forget how to drive appropriately.

[sawguy21]

Like breederman, I like the Weathermaster, best light truck tire I have seen for ice and snow although they are noisy on pavement and don't wear well. And here is the key. A soft flexible rubber compound works a lot better on ice than a hard long wearing tire. The Hankooks the tire shop recommended to me look like a good winter pattern and have been wearing very well but are not worth a pinch of coon poop on the ice. Without 4wd I would not be going anywhere.
For heavier pickups, the Toyo M606 Open Country mud and snow work extremely well.

[Murf]

Yup, the Blizzaks are top drawer stuff, no doubt.

I had a chuckle at my Dad a few years back, when I was a kid, Thanksgiving meant the snows came out of the back of the garage and went on the car, period. Now he has a good set of all-seasons that came with his new car, and he hasn't bothered to get new rims and snows for it, but then being retired he can wait out the ugly stuff and stay by the fire too.

He came up to my place for a visit and we were getting some lake effect snow, nasty blowing stuff, drifts everywhere. Sure enough, 10 minutes into the visit somebody realizes we're out of something, so it's off to the store for me! 

Dad volunteers to ride shotgun, so off we go, but when I opened the door to the car, not the truck he was a little confused. The car had Finnish winter tires on it made by Nokia, Haakapalitta's all 4 corners. They know what snow is up there!

As I pulled out Dad just sat queitly watching the world go by. But as we rolled past the 3rd car in the ditch he commented on how he had not realized what a difference snow tires made, he said he had no problem driving with the all-seasons, but the car did spin a little on acceleration, and the ABS worked more than he liked.

In 10 miles of driving into town and back, I never spun a wheel, had the ABS kick in, or a front slide in a corner. When we got home he wrote down what kind of tires they were and put a set on his car.

I can crawl through drifts so dep the snow comes up over the hood without spinning with them on. 

[Ron Wenrich]

The last snow tires I had were for a Toyota 2 wheel drive truck.  I used to put firewood in the back, then fill the spaces up with snow.  It still didn't do much good.  My wife would break open our lane with her front wheel drive car.  Then I could get through with my truck.

Since then, I have gone 4WD.  My wife will only drive front wheel drive cars.  I've had all weathers on all my vehicles and haven't had any problems.

Sometimes its the driver and not the tires.   Those folks you see in the ditch are probably guys that would be in there no matter what kind of tires they had on.   

[Bill Johnson]

I run all season radials on my Geo Metro, just drive to the conditions still average 44 mpg and no worries.  The 4 x 4 trucks at work all have all seasons on them as well the only time I seem to have any difficulty is when I try and drive that 100' further than any sane person would go .

The best thing for winter driving is attitude.  If you have the right one you be okay 99.99% of the time, if its the wrong one you'll soon find out.

[Murf]

My problem up here doesn't seem to be my attitude, or my driving habits, slow and easy is still faster than waiting for a pull out of the ditch.

My big problem is having enough traction to be able to steer, acelerate or brake when some other fool in front of me realizes a smidge too late that they just crossed that subtle line between in control and "OH S*&$#!!!!"   

[Bill Johnson]

I hear you Murf.  Fortunately up here is a fairly rare occassion when I have to share the road with anyone, if I see more than 10 cars while driving to and fro to work then I think its rush hour

Its always the fool in front that gets us into trouble.

[Murf]

Down here we refer to that as "mechanical issues" with da vehicle. 

Da "loose nut" behind the wheel causes issues for everyone else on da road!!!   

[solodan]

I used to run BFG AT's on everything. Now I run BFG MT's on my F-350 long bed. A long truck like that, is just too light in the rear end, and I need a more agressive tread. In my neck of the woods you really can't get by real well with a 2 wheel drive. Just too many hills. My local highway is closed over Sonora Pass for 6-7 months due to snow, Around 9000' elevation the road is at 26% grade and some of the 20' snow markers are still completely buried when the road opens in june. I drive the roads all winter in the 4000' to 7000' elevations. Some steep stuff, sometimes more than a foot on the roads. Most folks from out of state wonder why we use chains out here. Well one trip with 18" of snow on a steep narrow heavily traveled highway, and you see how useful chains can be. If conditions call for an R-3 that is 4 wheel drive with all four chained up, it is interesting. Funny thing is most of the poulation in California lives in snowless areas, but in the mountains we can get a ton of it, sometimes over 1000" during a winter. The problem with driving on the snowy icy roads here is that you are sharing the road with those "other" Californians.

[rebocardo]

> your car doesn't have winter tires on you are fined.

Kind of funny, but, when crossing into Ontario for a trade show they made me take OFF my snow tires. I guess STUDDED snow tires are against the law. Luckily I always carry two full sized spares on long trips. 

[isawlogs]

 I had a pair of studded tires once , wont happen again .. they are way to noisy on the road . I do beleive Ontario has a law for studded tires . Here in Québec , studded tires may be used between October 15 and May 1.

[Don_Papenburg]

I saw an add for retreaded tires that had carbide bits (small chunks) imbedded in the retread mix . Suposed to give super traction on ice/snow  and not have the drawbacks of studded tires.

[sawguy21]

Studded tires only work for one season. They get too worn to be of much use after that and the tires cannot be re studded. Run 'em one season, pull the studs and go till they drop.

[bitternut]

> your car doesn't have winter tires on you are fined.

Kind of funny, but, when crossing into Ontario for a trade show they made me take OFF my snow tires. I guess STUDDED snow tires are against the law. Luckily I always carry two full sized spares on long trips. 

What the heck does a guy in Atlanta Georgia have studded snow tires for?

[solodan]

 Here in Québec , studded tires may be used between October 15 and May 1.

Marcel, law is the same for us, but I think it may vary county to county here.

[Quartlow]

I run an aggressive tread on the rear all year round, mainly because you don't drive in and out of fields pulling wagons with all season radials.
That and I have yet to find one that can get out of the driveway when it snows bad. The ones on the Suburban and the wifes caprice whee made in Canada. Can't tell you the name right now but they where what was cheap  I think I paid $110 bucks for the ones on the back of the wifes Caprice.
The 16's for the Suburban where about $200 for the pair. I can drive the Suburban right around to the backside of the shop and its a mud hole pulling the trailer and not get stuck. As for the noise, if its too loud your too old       

[snowman]

Years ago I was going to work up ap a logging rd in Montana. Overnight it had got warm then froze up solid, a sheet of ice. My falling partner slid into the cutbank and I stopped behind him. He was holding onto my mirror talking to me when my pickup started sliding backwards. Nothing I could do. Ended up going off the road tailgate 1st,headlights shiing up into the sky. Came down on the roof very hard then rolled 2 times into a tree, it was the end of my new pickup with 24 k on it and nearly the end of me. Then the crummy showed up which was running studs. They all got out and looked, then cruised on up the road.I now run studs.

[slowzuki]

I'll admit I'm a bad person.  I always have snows but this winter my snows are shot so I'm riding on all-seasons.  I drive a rear wheel drive 2 door tracker, the 4wd helps but you can't leave it in 4wd on the highway etc.  Hope to get some snows for next year.

Best winter vehicle I have ever comuted in a was an AWD subaru with 4 winters on it.  What a great rig for traveling in snow.