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Old 10-28-2009, 04:38 PM
 
Location: Eastern Washington
17,140 posts, read 56,841,082 times
Reputation: 18420

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In my experience all season tires are very dependent on having nearly full new tread depth to work well in snow. Snow tires don't work all that well when they are down near 2, 3, or even 4/32 tread, but they don't seem to "fall flat" in terms of snow grip as quickly as the all-seasons do. Set of Continentals on the old Impala, when new they had extra-deep 12/32 tread, was really surprised how they would climb our driveway in packed snow. By the time half that tread was gone, they were not anywhere near as competent on snow.

The Subaru Legacy does do well with all-season tires. In some ways I think an advantage of AWD is that you *can* avoid having to change over to true winter tires.
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Old 10-28-2009, 06:53 PM
 
9,846 posts, read 22,615,230 times
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A good AWD system like Subaru's can help but it does squat when it's time to hit the brakes.

I have participated in several of these tests as part of my work and I can say in pure winter conditions nothing beats a good winter tire.

A lot of these developments in automotive technology can assist the average driver, but still when it comes down to it, it's the tire that meets the road. I'd rather pay a little extra for optimized tires and save that extra feet in stopping distance that end up in the hospital with a cracked up car.

Right now I use Continental extremecontacts and have been happy but my Bridgestone Blizzaks will go on Nov 15 until Mar 15 or 30th.
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Old 10-28-2009, 08:13 PM
 
Location: Eastern Washington
17,140 posts, read 56,841,082 times
Reputation: 18420
Quote:
Originally Posted by wanneroo View Post
A good AWD system like Subaru's can help but it does squat when it's time to hit the brakes.

I have participated in several of these tests as part of my work and I can say in pure winter conditions nothing beats a good winter tire.

A lot of these developments in automotive technology can assist the average driver, but still when it comes down to it, it's the tire that meets the road. I'd rather pay a little extra for optimized tires and save that extra feet in stopping distance that end up in the hospital with a cracked up car.

Right now I use Continental extremecontacts and have been happy but my Bridgestone Blizzaks will go on Nov 15 until Mar 15 or 30th.
That's true, if you are in traffic, on snow or ice, and the guy in front of you gets on the brakes hard, and has snow tires, if you don't have them, it's going to take some talented driving to avoid rear-ending the car in front.

I generally do put on dedicated snows here in winter, particularly on DW's car.
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Old 10-28-2009, 10:14 PM
 
9,846 posts, read 22,615,230 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch View Post
That's true, if you are in traffic, on snow or ice, and the guy in front of you gets on the brakes hard, and has snow tires, if you don't have them, it's going to take some talented driving to avoid rear-ending the car in front.

I generally do put on dedicated snows here in winter, particularly on DW's car.
Well that is a scenario that can happen wet or dry or icy. You could be in a suburban and a guy in a Porsche doing a panic stop and the same thing happen. That's why it's always good to keep good spacing both for visibility and stopping.

And if practiced a few times, "swerve to avoid" is easy to do IF done properly. Basically what I get people to do is slow as much as possible, then gently take an exit from that lane(if available) to the left or right and then bring the vehicle to a stop. And yes I have set up those exercises on a solid ice track for various clients and scenarios.

The main key with all that and winter driving in general is situational awareness and smooth inputs on the gas, brakes and steering.
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