AWD Doesn't Matter - Your Tires Do (Denver: to buy, law)

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Timmyy

Ha! I have them on both our 4Runner and Tacoma. Do you change out your Blizzaks after winter or they kept on all year? Now I want to drive a car with Blizzaks.

Here is a YouTube video Tire Rack did showing the same make AWD BMW, one with winter tires and one with all season tires. Worth a watch if you've never seen it:

https://youtu.be/JGfvyPtYR0Y

And one more on an ice rink comparing summer to all season to winter: https://youtu.be/GlYEMH10Z4s

[Vision67]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Here is a YouTube video Tire Rack did showing the same make AWD BMW, one with winter tires and one with all season tires. Worth a watch if you've never seen it:

https://youtu.be/JGfvyPtYR0Y

And one more on an ice rink comparing summer to all season to winter: https://youtu.be/GlYEMH10Z4s

That Tire Rack video is a good answer to somebody who says "I know how to drive on snow. My all-season tires work fine."

Physics: It's the law!

[Gorges]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

If you live somewhere that it routinely gets below 40 degrees in the winter with some snow, they are worth it. If not, they aren't. Snow is a consideration, but cold temps are too. Winter tires perform much better in cold temps when other rubber gets very hard.

Is this why I felt like I had no control Thursday afternoon when I went out? Because the temps were so low? I have all-season on my AWD and am a very careful driver in the snow, but I've never felt the lack of control that I had on Thursday. I only went a couple of miles, but couldn't make a single turn that felt safe, and it didn't even want to stay on the road when there was a slight curve. It freaked me out. This is our third winter here with the same cars, and have had no real problems, but this snowfall was different. We're now thinking of putting winter tires on one of the vehicles for hubby to go to work.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Gorges

Is this why I felt like I had no control Thursday afternoon when I went out? Because the temps were so low? I have all-season on my AWD and am a very careful driver in the snow, but I've never felt the lack of control that I had on Thursday. I only went a couple of miles, but couldn't make a single turn that felt safe, and it didn't even want to stay on the road when there was a slight curve. It freaked me out. This is our third winter here with the same cars, and have had no real problems, but this snowfall was different. We're now thinking of putting winter tires on one of the vehicles for hubby to go to work.

Yep. Your rubber turned to essentially a hard plastic and there was a little ice on the roads.

[Scot5]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Yep. Your rubber turned to essentially a hard plastic and there was a little ice on the roads.

That's a bit of an exaggeration. Tires don't just transform turn to hard plastic once it hits 40°. If it's simply cold (or light snow) all-seasons are perfectly fine (even down to 0° or colder) as long as they can still contact pavement. The issue is with ice or snowpack. As you mentioned in the OP, A/S tires lack the siping (biting edges) of a winter tire, which give them far less traction on ice.

Cold alone won't make a car on A/S slide around. Snowfall, and then alternating warm(er) days and cold nights will create slippery conditions that stick around for a week or more.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Scot5

That's a bit of an exaggeration. Tires don't just transform turn to hard plastic once it hits 40°. If it's simply cold (or light snow) all-seasons are perfectly fine (even down to 0° or colder) as long as they can still contact pavement. The issue is with ice or snowpack. As you mentioned in the OP, A/S tires lack the siping (biting edges) of a winter tire, which give them far less traction on ice.

Cold alone won't make a car on A/S slide around. Snowfall, and then alternating warm(er) days and cold nights will create slippery conditions that stick around for a week or more.

It was -5. The tires were essentially plastic compared to real winter tires. Fine is relative. Watch the videos I posted and justify the difference to me.

[Co_guy_94]

Amen! 4th season with my Blizzacks on an AWD T6 Volvo XC60 and I'll never go back. Couple weeks ago I was driving up 285 and hit a pretty bad storm. People were sliding backwards down certain stretches and I had no issues whatsoever.

[Regajohn]

SkyDog ...

+99999999999 on your advise / annual post / rant !! :-)

I was going to post the Tire Rack videos but I see you have just done that. There's also other videos on the net that essentially show the same thing.

Denver is fortunate enough to have companies that will clean and store your off-season wheels & tires and deliver them to you for changing, or I think you can actually go there and they will change them. Belle Tire in Detroit does the same thing ... a great convenience for apartment dwellers or people with too much stuff to store tires (reminds me of George Carlin bit on people and their stuff).

Happy New Year everyone!!

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Regajohn

I was going to post the Tire Rack videos but I see you have just done that. There's also other videos on the net that essentially show the same thing.

Thanks! I think of all the videos, this one that I found from the U.K. might be the best illustration of the traction difference while driving up a hill. It compares the same make vehicle, one in the FWD version and one in the AWD version, with Summer and winter tires on each.

The contrast is stark.

Up a steep hill, the distances achieved are as follows:

FWD with Summer tires: 7 meters traveled
AWD with Summer tires: 13 meters
FWD with Winter tires: 110 meters
AWD with Winter tires: 136 meters (course completed)

https://youtu.be/mfuE00qdhLA

[himain]

I'm in the tire business. Our number one seller is Blizzaks followed by Michelin Xice and followed by Nokian Hakkapalitta's. You can also do well with Artic Claws (studded or non)


Not recommended to keep them on all year. You'll be replacing them every year due to the soft rubber compound that's not meant to be on hot pavement.


I have blizzaks on my Lexus GS. Great move