Are winter tires "worth it"?

edyvw said:
When things get serious, you need pick up truck!
Serious “thing:”
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Boy did that guy screw up... probably thought he could power his way out of the way. Probably just like how he powered his way into his initial 180.

I wonder if that semi might have been pushing it a bit too fast though, almost looked like he was going faster than the cars in the beginning of the clip. Still. I see the article says the truck driver is going to get cited.
 
supton said:
Boy did that guy screw up... probably thought he could power his way out of the way. Probably just like how he powered his way into his initial 180.

I wonder if that semi might have been pushing it a bit too fast though, almost looked like he was going faster than the cars in the beginning of the clip. Still. I see the article says the truck driver is going to get cited.
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That pick up truck is an example of too much confidence in relation to intelligence.
Not sure about truck. It was slick that day. I didn’t see any issues with snow tires. On other hand, neighborhood Facebook page was screaming about apocalypse.
 
MrGraybeard said:
The main benefit of ABS is not so much the reduction in stopping distance but the ability to steer while braking. You can slow down and steer away from an obstacle at the same time. I learned that at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School.
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If the tires have no grip though then that doesn't help a lot.

Bridgestone Winter Driving School = ability to show and experience in controlled conditions the "worth it" of winter tires.

Thanksgiving night my FIL across the table asks if he need to get the new tires before it snows for his Renegade as I told him getting low a while back. He has 3PMSF Falken Wildpeak AT Trails at 4-5/32". My answer was no as long you realize that you are 79 years old, retired, don't really need to go anywhere. If you want to go out like you always do and just drive around because it's what he does and says I have a 4WD Jeep, then you might want to.

Wife's cousin sitting next to me says she has PTSD and hates driving in winter now especially. She says don't ever buy a BMW SUV, they are horrible in the snow because they slid off the road on a trip to Iowa in the one they rented on factory whatever it came with. Multiple other people chimed in on same concerns. My kids and wife grinned and looked at me. One person asked me what I drive and if I have problems or concerns in winter. I said Honda Accord and only concerns up to about 5-6 inches is others around me and exit ramps that might get plowed from road as a snow bank. After that depth Pilot or CRV and same concerns.

1 or 2 asked how to make it better and after I explained options most at table said that's too much money and hassle. They are fine because they have AWD and all season tires. I leave it at that with different choices, different values, concerns or priorities for different people. Most of them also chimed in that they had accidents in past winters and many slid into somebody else so now they buy AWD vehicles.
 
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MrGraybeard said:
When I was younger I used to participate regularly in ice autocross on a nearby frozen lake. Some of the guys used dedicated ice-racing tires, but most of us drove on studless winter tires. With the studless tires, FWD was more responsive to turns than AWD. The key was left-foot braking, which would cause the rear wheels to skid while the front wheels maintained power. That and ABS improved turning response in low traction.

The main benefit of ABS is not so much the reduction in stopping distance but the ability to steer while braking. You can slow down and steer away from an obstacle at the same time. I learned that at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School.
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Ice autocrossed and rallied for several seasons in a ‘79 Scirocco with (I think) the original hydrophilic compound winter tire, Conti Contacts. Whopping 175 tread section but those cars were extremely light.

Picked them up during an ice storm and the change was amazing.
 
Ranger83 said:
Ice autocrossed and rallied for several seasons in a ‘79 Scirocco with (I think) the original hydrophilic compound winter tire, Conti Contacts. Whopping 175 tread section but those cars were extremely light.

Picked them up during an ice storm and the change was amazing.
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I didn't have any pictures of my actual car but showed my son the other day during car conversations. First car was a 1975 Scirocco, manual transmission, guy before did some autocrossing with it. He had replaced the stock carb with a Weber carb instead. Great memories. I don't recall getting winter tires for it but it did have BFG Radial T/A's we put on it.
 
IndyIan said:
So how often do you drive on snowy or slushy roads?
In 2019 I picked Xice2's for the Outback as they are a good wet or dry highway tire, and counted on the AWD to make sure I never got stuck, but at 225 width they turned out to be fairly terrible in something like 1" of slush, just hydroplane compared to the more aggressive and open tread snow tires I've had. At -5C and below on hard packed almost icy snow, they work very well, but you will almost never see that.
Continental viking 7's come in a lot of 16 and 17 inch sizes, and some in XL so you could get quite a narrow tire with enough load rating to be legal.
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Tried narrower winter tires on my WRX. Didn’t notice any significant improvement on snow or ice and they were much worse in dry.

A Swedish magazine tested 205 vs 225 and there was some difference, whether it’s worth it is a choice.
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Ranger83 said:
Tried narrower winter tires on my WRX. Didn’t notice any significant improvement on snow or ice and they were much worse in dry.

A Swedish magazine tested 205 vs 225 and there was some difference, whether it’s worth it is a choice.View attachment 252458
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For packed snow and ice, probably narrower tires are probably the same, but in the deep stuff, crossing 3" tall slush piles changing lanes at 50mph, or driving in 6" of unplowed tracked up snow, I think a narrower higher profile tire works much better.
My buddy had a 1998 Echo with 185/50R15 snow tires and tried our 1992 Sentra on 155/80R13's on a cottage road with about 4" of unplowed but tracked up snow, and was astounded by how much better the Sentra was. Probably the sentra was also helped by having a bit softer roll bars and spring rates than the Echo, but they are both very light fwd mtx cars, and If we switched tire sets I don't think the sentra was going to do very well with the wider low profile tires either.
For me, dry grip isn't a concern, but I do like to have decent wet grip as well, but that's mostly compound and a narrower tire does prevent aqua planing a bit better with a tire more optimized for holding snow grip, which is some what reliant on holding snow in the tread.
 
IndyIan said:
For packed snow and ice, probably narrower tires are probably the same, but in the deep stuff, crossing 3" tall slush piles changing lanes at 50mph, or driving in 6" of unplowed tracked up snow, I think a narrower higher profile tire works much better.
My buddy had a 1998 Echo with 185/50R15 snow tires and tried our 1992 Sentra on 155/80R13's on a cottage road with about 4" of unplowed but tracked up snow, and was astounded by how much better the Sentra was. Probably the sentra was also helped by having a bit softer roll bars and spring rates than the Echo, but they are both very light fwd mtx cars, and If we switched tire sets I don't think the sentra was going to do very well with the wider low profile tires either.
For me, dry grip isn't a concern, but I do like to have decent wet grip as well, but that's mostly compound and a narrower tire does prevent aqua planing a bit better with a tire more optimized for holding snow grip, which is some what reliant on holding snow in the tread.
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Toyota Echo? Those weren't sold in North America until the 2000 model year.
 
Ranger83 said:
Ice autocrossed and rallied for several seasons in a ‘79 Scirocco with (I think) the original hydrophilic compound winter tire, Conti Contacts. Whopping 175 tread section but those cars were extremely light.

Picked them up during an ice storm and the change was amazing.
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Wife's xB STILL has Conti WinterContacts on it, on 14" Civic wheels. Not do they still seem to have winter compound showing, they just refuse to wear out! I'm waiting for the first real snow/ice event to see if I need to finally retire them.
 
IndyIan said:
For packed snow and ice, probably narrower tires are probably the same, but in the deep stuff, crossing 3" tall slush piles changing lanes at 50mph, or driving in 6" of unplowed tracked up snow, I think a narrower higher profile tire works much better.
My buddy had a 1998 Echo with 185/50R15 snow tires and tried our 1992 Sentra on 155/80R13's on a cottage road with about 4" of unplowed but tracked up snow, and was astounded by how much better the Sentra was. Probably the sentra was also helped by having a bit softer roll bars and spring rates than the Echo, but they are both very light fwd mtx cars, and If we switched tire sets I don't think the sentra was going to do very well with the wider low profile tires either.
For me, dry grip isn't a concern, but I do like to have decent wet grip as well, but that's mostly compound and a narrower tire does prevent aqua planing a bit better with a tire more optimized for holding snow grip, which is some what reliant on holding snow in the tread.
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For snow, the narrowest tread you can get on there=the best winter traction. Save the fat low profiles for summer!
 
odie said:
Just purchased 4 COOPER Evolution Winter (H) w/ studs . Big difference , especially on icy surfaces . Been using studded tires since the 90s' . Usually last up to 4 years .
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These are NEW 185/65-15 T-rated , not H as as stated above . Start at 12/32s' making for deep sipes that get close to the base of the tire . The studs are a bonus for grip on ice .

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Sequoiasoon said:
Only if that was turning it off, other wise, ANCHORS AWAY.

We had a couple family cars like that. You had to turn the AC off and down shift early if you wanted to maintain any sense of speed up the long hills.
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I had a car where there was a wide-open throttle cutoff switch for the A/C.
 
MrGraybeard said:
When I was younger I used to participate regularly in ice autocross on a nearby frozen lake. Some of the guys used dedicated ice-racing tires, but most of us drove on studless winter tires. With the studless tires, FWD was more responsive to turns than AWD. The key was left-foot braking, which would cause the rear wheels to skid while the front wheels maintained power. That and ABS improved turning response in low traction.
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That was our findings too with our group of ~6 evos and a mix of fwd VWs and nissans; the VW and nissans were generally more stable and faster than the AWD cars (with all of us amateurs). The evo was easy to rotate though so once the driver got a hang of rotating the car before the turn, it was alright. Definitely not something that will work on the street most of the time though.
 
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