Are winter tires "worth it"?
- Thread starter Ws6
- Start date
Studs are illegal in Wisconsin.
I had a 40-mile commute into Milwaukee for many years. My favorite snow car was a '95 Taurus with Hakka Qs. I could pass semis with confidence -- if the buffeting from the truck unsettled the car on a snowy road, I'd step down the throttle. FWD and the tires would pull me through.
what? first time hearing that studs can be illegal in such a big area.
There are a few exceptions, like for emergency vehicles. But verboten for the general public.
Siri: Do you want the Tacoma typical accident or the Subaru typical accident?
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
Based on my experience:
1. Subaru
2. JEEP Wrangler's
3. Trucks (put the name).
4. Full size SUV's.
They are illegal where I am….whatever.
I miss the 90s-- my Cutlass Ciera rocked through snowstorms as well. Skinny tires and probably 65% of the weight in the front. All iron V6.
The Tacoma leads the truck category by a long shot. I swear Fred's towing on Ute Pass should have a Tacoma Towing division. Extra points for roof top tents and recovery boards.
Yep, we had a 1992 Sentra and then a 1995 Neon with the iron block on 155/80R13's. I guess I was younger and dumber, but both could go 55mph in tracked up snow on a deserted highway pretty much until the bottom of the car would drag, with lots of course corrections, but it seemed easy to feel through the steering, what was going on. The tires didn't work that well on ice developed in the normal tracks, so I would just drive in the snow beside it.
In comparison the 225/65R17 Xice2's on the Outback are pretty bad at finding grip in the dense slush or snow, and it only feels like it weighs 1400lbs more when it starts to slide, as it takes much longer to recover. Hopefully the new snow tires work better in the deeper stuff.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
Lol. True. I can’t pin point trucks, but considering the amount of “Taco Bros” around, not surprising.
I still think Subaru leads by wide margin.
Colorado has the second largest number of Subarus on the road of any state. When my daughter moved out of Colorado Springs, six of the ten cars in the parking lot were Subarus. 4Runners were also extremely popular as well as RAV4’s and Tacomas.
https://kdvr.com/news/local/what-are-the-most-popular-cars-in-colorado/
You learn quickly to give cars with CA or TX plates a wide berth. Rode my motorcycle over the CO mountain passes a couple summers ago, and encountered some eye-opening road blocks.
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Good point, I recall telling them that I did this, and encouraged them to do so--actually made them do it on our first forays into snow--but didn't think to tell them to do this routinely.
I'm currently serving a mission in Alberta, Canada, for the Church of Jesus Christ, and they have Subaru crosstreks with nokian wrg5 tires for most of the missionaries. I can see how AWD can get you in trouble, because it's not that hard to get going fast in bad conditions but it is hard to stop quick.
the Subarus are just the base 2.0 but they can still spin all four tires if you give it the beans, and it's not that hard to drift around corners (so far I've only done it intentionally) I've never driven a car with winters, so I have nothing to compare to. with the wrg5s you can get where you're going fine, you just have to be careful in the corners.
drifting is fun
the Subarus are just the base 2.0 but they can still spin all four tires if you give it the beans, and it's not that hard to drift around corners (so far I've only done it intentionally) I've never driven a car with winters, so I have nothing to compare to. with the wrg5s you can get where you're going fine, you just have to be careful in the corners.
drifting is fun
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
When things get serious, you need pick up truck!
Serious “thing:”
Serious “thing:”
Just drive the AWD car on tough days and while driveway is or untreated. Or leave at top.
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.
