VW Jetta Snow Tires (Bend: 2013, to buy, live)

[SaraH777]

Hi,

Does anybody put snow tires on their Jetta in the winter? Driving around town after snow is plowed seems to be fine on all weather tires, but what about driving up to Bachelor and outside of town? Would snow tires be enough without AWD?

Thanks!

[delta07]

You don't need AWD. It won't help you in most situations anyhow. Snow tires are your best bet. I know plenty of people who drive cars with snow tires and don't have any issues, save for a very rare storm.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

It depends upon what sort of winter it is. Weather can be variable. Some winters are warm with little snow. Some winters coat the roads with black ice and packed snow.

If there is a lot of black ice, you'll need studs. If the winter is dry and warm, siped all weather tires will do, as long as you don't drive out of town when roads are bad.

AWD helps as long as you understand it will not help you stop on the ice. Most winter wrecks I see involve 4WD. Some drivers don't understand that even with 4WD, you must drive with caution and compensate for ice and snow that can be slippery.

[BendLocal]

What Is Best For Winter Driving: RWD, FWD, AWD or 4WD?

Differences Between 2WD vs AWD vs 4WD - Consumer Reports

[SaraH777]

Thanks for the replies. :-)

Mainly I'm just looking to be able to drive outside of town even if it snowed the day before, etc. Up to Bachelor or to a sno-park. Not during a storm or anything like that. I just don't want to feel trapped in town.

I was here last year but we always went to the mountains in other people's large vehicles with giant tires. :-) Driving around town was fine but I did occasionally go down some roads where I couldn't get much traction and was concerned about getting stuck. But I see so many VW cars around here I figured people are making it work.

[Thom52]

Another possibility to consider, in addition to the most important thing to do for winter driving.... No sudden moves, is to consider the Nokian WRG tires. Especially if you don't want to have a spare set of winter wheels with dedicated snow tires.

The Nokians are Snowflake and mountain rated, yet do well on dry and wet roads, where dedicated winter tires generally do poorly. That is a good thing when driving changing conditions, as described in the other posts.

Caveat: I have only been driving them around the greater Seattle area (and mountains) for years, and only visiting Bend. (Longing to move to Bend.....Arrgh!)

I still haven't decided if I will go with dedicated hakkapeliitta tires or stay with the WRG3's when I finally get to move to Bend.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by SaraH777

...........Mainly I'm just looking to be able to drive outside of town even if it snowed the day before, etc. Up to Bachelor or to a sno-park. Not during a storm or anything like that. I just don't want to feel trapped in town. ...............

If you want to go to Bachelor or up into the mountains during the winter, I suggest you get a set of studded tires. You can have tires changed, mounted and balanced every year, but what is easiest is to buy a set of winter rims and have your studs permanently mounted on winter rims. That makes the switch easy.

I've never had an all wheel drive, so have no opinion about driving one on ice. I use a front wheel drive with studded tires. I also have a 4WD, which actually has an issue with ice. You aren't supposed to drive 4WD on dry pavement. Often we have stretches of dry pavement interspersed with very slippery black ice. Often you can't see the black ice until you are sliding. Switching in and out of 4WD going 55 mph on the highway doesn't work well.

Winters vary a lot in the amount of snowfall. I never put the studs on the cars last winter. I even drove over the cascades several times, all on dry pavement. That doesn't mean there won't be ice in future years.

[BendLocal]

Most people that take advantage of snowsports want to be up in the mountains when there is fresh snow so they are often driving on snowy and icy roads. Even during last winter's mild season there were many snow days. And the warmer afternoon temps may have contributed to more black ice in the morning because the water from the melting snowbanks freezes during the night.

[dirt _farmer]

Driving around town in all weather tires is usually not fine, unless you're on a main arterial like Hwy 97 or Hwy 20. Bend is notorious for taking weeks to plow their residential streets after a big dumping of snow.

[delta07]

I've lived in Bend for over 7 years and I've never once used snow or studded tires. There have been only a handful of times where I felt like I could really use studs, but honestly, for the most part, I've been fine without. I guess it all comes down to how comfortable you are driving in ice and snow. I grew up in Colorado, and learned to drive in the snow. I give myself plenty of time to stop and allow extra time for travel during storms. It's usually the people who've moved here from places that don't get snow that don't know how to drive in it. If they wouldn't follow so closely and wouldn't cut you off (there's a reason you leave a few cars length, duh), it wouldn't be an issue. My 2 cents....