Drove without Snowtires (and wiper) yesterday!

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SwampSurvivor

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Never realized just how much of a difference snow tires made.

Yesterday we took a trip from Syracuse to Albany. When I woke up, I checked the radar and I saw that the lake affect snow was ending just east of Syracuse.

4 hours later when we hopped in the accord to leave, it was a bit different ... it actually extended about 40 miles east of Syracuse.

The Accord has new CS4 Cooper Touring Tires.

I was amazed at HOW LITTLE traction the car has. Just a light dusting on the road and the car wasn't able to stop or start. Turning was fine (as the tires have ribs).

I was able to control the car fine but there were a few cases where if someone decided to pull out in front of us (while we were crawling along at 15MPH), we would have hit them.

I have been driving for 8 years now - call me sheltered, but I have NEVER drove a car without snow tires. I did drive my Jeep for a winter with no snow tires, but it had new A/T tires with a TON of siping and they are rated with the snowflake symbol (apparently that makes them qualify).

Really going to see about getting a set of snow tires on this thing.

In retrospect, we probably should have taken the Focus.
 
I drove on the stock all season tires on my 2006 Chev Cobalt one Winter in Calgary, as everyone said you don't need Winter tires there.

The car went sideways trying to stop at a red light one morning going to work. I remember having NO traction and it was dark outside.

The people in the other lane looked out their side window at me with my headlights blasting them in the face.

Next day I went to Cal Tire and got Michelin X-ices put on. That was an expensive day.
 
Snow tires are well worth it. I have brand new all-seasons on both my Accord and Civic. I drove the Accord through the recent snowstorm and it was... OK. Thanks to ABS and TCS. So icy that i could dump the clutch and the car wouldnt stall, the wheels would just spin ha
 
I have all seasons on my car and they are just fine. Not the greatest but fine. I drove 200 km in 9" of snow in my truck yesterday. 600 pounds of water in the back and 32" mud and snow tires and 4x4. Didnt slip once.
 
I also forgot to mention that the slow kept plugging up the non-winter wipers and they stopped conforming to the windshield. Had to stop and beat the wipers a few times.
 
I ran Cooper CS4's on my wife's Grand Am one yr. They were horrible everywhere except dry pavement. In snow they were ice skates. They wore out in just 12,000 miles. I use to run Cooper winter tires on my old subie all yr long and they lasted 2.5yrs go figure.
 
sounds like some kind of mechanical problem. The vast majority seem very happy with their CS4's
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
sounds like some kind of mechanical problem. The vast majority seem very happy with their CS4's


No mechanical issues and the "vast majority" doesn't drive my local roads. CS4's suck!
 
Originally Posted By: ridgerunner
Originally Posted By: Rand
sounds like some kind of mechanical problem. The vast majority seem very happy with their CS4's


No mechanical issues and the "vast majority" doesn't drive my local roads. CS4's suck!


We had snow and ice covered roads last week and the h/v rated CS4s we have on the car performed great. Do you have the T rated? I've head the h/v has a lot better traction due the 5 rows of tread instead of 4 on the T rated. To wear out in 11k, something sounds amiss. How are your AT3s doing in the bad weather?
 
I was oblivious to snow tires until I started working at a tire dealership in high school and the line of cars showed up in november. I saw how many we swapped on and off and kind of laughed it off thinking they were just for paranoid people. Then I tried a set of Winterforce's on our families MKV TDI Jetta. They changed my impression on snow tires. A couple years later I put a set of WS60 Bridgestones on my MKIV jetta, impressive tire as well. In the most recent blizzard my E-brake was froze up, but those tires just cut through and drug the [censored] end around without any issues.

This year we went in balls deep. Being the Michelin fan that I am I found set of X-Ice xi3's for my Fiance's Mustang. She won't let me go out and play in the deep snow with them, must know me too well, but those things bite. A lightweight rear wheel drive car like that still gets plenty of bite with those tires. They're so soft, you grab the blocks and just fold them over with little effort at the sipes.

Unfortuneatley Michelin's Light Truck offerings outside of high mileage are less than impressive. They have their new LTX Winter but I was a little worried about being one of the first to try it as I was already worried about how well snow tires on a truck would be in general. Ended up putting a set of Bridgestone Blizzak W965's on our 03 Duramax with a Blizzard 8100PP on it and a set of Firestone Winterforce LT's on the 2011 Duramax since the Blizzaks don't come in sizes for 18" rims. The W965's look like a highway tread tire with a soft compound and a lot of siping, I had my doubts about them. The Winterforces had a more agressive stand with the directional tread, but still had the tread arrangement of a highway terrain.

Then the Blizzard of 2012 hit. 18" of snow. Both trucks seemed to have new lives. The 03 with all terrain tires last year couldn't move the wet heavy snow very far before spinning out and you didn't dare lift the plow up to get through it because you would bottom out and be stuck. With the Blizzaks, that thing just kept pushing and once it was slowing down you could just pick the bolade up and power through.

The Winterforces on the other truck were equally impressive.

I'm no engineer but my observations from our most recent blizzard is that snow/ice tires are designed to compact the snow under them, then ride up on top of the snow while getting immense traction on the hard packed layer. The all terrains and mud terrains rely on getting their traction but "digging" through the snow thus bringing the frame closer to bottoming out, if they pack the snow into a hard layer or encounted ice, they are out of traction due to the tread compounds and lack of siping, the snow tires keep going because they have such a large squishy soft footprint.

I went into the snow thinking of the days when I had BFG all terrains, more agressive all terrain than the Dualer AT695s we had on the pickups at the farm and much better snow traction. Thus leading me to believe you wanted a tire that cleaned out, while still true somewhat, in the wet heavy snow we get, the snow tires really shine.

Also have a set of Michelin XDN2s on our KW for hauling milk. They are an M/S rated tire and have a very large footprint with a ton of siping. They faired well in the snow despite being half worn.

The other truck that fought the snow was our field/short haul truck. It has a set of Michelin X-Works XDY's on it which are M/S rated but more of a mud terrain tire with deep directional tread. It did well plowing through the deep stuff, but due to having no siping the ice traction was poorer.


I geek out a little too much over tires maybe, but they're a big investment, and choosing the right tire can make a world of difference in performance and ROI.
 
Originally Posted By: volk06
Originally Posted By: ridgerunner
Originally Posted By: Rand
sounds like some kind of mechanical problem. The vast majority seem very happy with their CS4's


No mechanical issues and the "vast majority" doesn't drive my local roads. CS4's suck!


We had snow and ice covered roads last week and the h/v rated CS4s we have on the car performed great. Do you have the T rated? I've head the h/v has a lot better traction due the 5 rows of tread instead of 4 on the T rated. To wear out in 11k, something sounds amiss. How are your AT3s doing in the bad weather?


Last yr's I ran the AT3's in two snow storms (only ones we had all winter) and they did great. They were on my Dodge 3/4 ton truck. I still have my old Mich LTX A/S on there now and just got over a foot of snow last night. Soon as it gets light out I'll find out how those tires work while plowing (not holding my breath). Not sure exactly what CS4's she had but they were terrible in the wet and snow. Like I said they wore out very quickly.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Rand
did you at least mileage warranty them?


No, wasn't worth the hassle from my local garage.
 
Originally Posted By: durallymax
I was oblivious to snow tires until I started working at a tire dealership in high school and the line of cars showed up in november. I saw how many we swapped on and off and kind of laughed it off thinking they were just for paranoid people. Then I tried a set of Winterforce's on our families MKV TDI Jetta. They changed my impression on snow tires. A couple years later I put a set of WS60 Bridgestones on my MKIV jetta, impressive tire as well. In the most recent blizzard my E-brake was froze up, but those tires just cut through and drug the [censored] end around without any issues.

This year we went in balls deep. Being the Michelin fan that I am I found set of X-Ice xi3's for my Fiance's Mustang. She won't let me go out and play in the deep snow with them, must know me too well, but those things bite. A lightweight rear wheel drive car like that still gets plenty of bite with those tires. They're so soft, you grab the blocks and just fold them over with little effort at the sipes.

Unfortuneatley Michelin's Light Truck offerings outside of high mileage are less than impressive. They have their new LTX Winter but I was a little worried about being one of the first to try it as I was already worried about how well snow tires on a truck would be in general. Ended up putting a set of Bridgestone Blizzak W965's on our 03 Duramax with a Blizzard 8100PP on it and a set of Firestone Winterforce LT's on the 2011 Duramax since the Blizzaks don't come in sizes for 18" rims. The W965's look like a highway tread tire with a soft compound and a lot of siping, I had my doubts about them. The Winterforces had a more agressive stand with the directional tread, but still had the tread arrangement of a highway terrain.

Then the Blizzard of 2012 hit. 18" of snow. Both trucks seemed to have new lives. The 03 with all terrain tires last year couldn't move the wet heavy snow very far before spinning out and you didn't dare lift the plow up to get through it because you would bottom out and be stuck. With the Blizzaks, that thing just kept pushing and once it was slowing down you could just pick the bolade up and power through.

The Winterforces on the other truck were equally impressive.

I'm no engineer but my observations from our most recent blizzard is that snow/ice tires are designed to compact the snow under them, then ride up on top of the snow while getting immense traction on the hard packed layer. The all terrains and mud terrains rely on getting their traction but "digging" through the snow thus bringing the frame closer to bottoming out, if they pack the snow into a hard layer or encounted ice, they are out of traction due to the tread compounds and lack of siping, the snow tires keep going because they have such a large squishy soft footprint.

I went into the snow thinking of the days when I had BFG all terrains, more agressive all terrain than the Dualer AT695s we had on the pickups at the farm and much better snow traction. Thus leading me to believe you wanted a tire that cleaned out, while still true somewhat, in the wet heavy snow we get, the snow tires really shine.

Also have a set of Michelin XDN2s on our KW for hauling milk. They are an M/S rated tire and have a very large footprint with a ton of siping. They faired well in the snow despite being half worn.

The other truck that fought the snow was our field/short haul truck. It has a set of Michelin X-Works XDY's on it which are M/S rated but more of a mud terrain tire with deep directional tread. It did well plowing through the deep stuff, but due to having no siping the ice traction was poorer.


I geek out a little too much over tires maybe, but they're a big investment, and choosing the right tire can make a world of difference in performance and ROI.


If you want a good farm tires for year round use, get the Goodyear wrangler Duratracs. Hands down the best tire we've ever run.
 
I have too much of a bias towards good years. 365 condoms just dont cut it for me.

I wouldnt say my bias is entirely factual, I worked through high school in an ag shop doing auto/truck and ag tires. They were a bridgestone/firestone exclusive dealer yet the most tires we fixed/replaced for major issues were good years and titans. The pickup tires had a lot of tread seperation issues but otherwise were okay. Their ag tires suck.

After years of being a bridgestone junky I became a Michelin fan. Their Ag tires, earthmoving tires and truck tires really sold me. Not to mention the fact that they always seem to be on the leading edge. Theyre pricey but do deliver a good ROI. I was able to set us up as a small fleet through their advantage progrsm which allowsbyou to order tires direct at a set discounted price as well as some other perks.


In the summer weve been having good luck with Bridgestone Dueler AT695s.

Thanks.
 
Originally Posted By: durallymax
I have too much of a bias towards good years. 365 condoms just dont cut it for me.

I wouldnt say my bias is entirely factual, I worked through high school in an ag shop doing auto/truck and ag tires. They were a bridgestone/firestone exclusive dealer yet the most tires we fixed/replaced for major issues were good years and titans. The pickup tires had a lot of tread seperation issues but otherwise were okay. Their ag tires suck.

After years of being a bridgestone junky I became a Michelin fan. Their Ag tires, earthmoving tires and truck tires really sold me. Not to mention the fact that they always seem to be on the leading edge. Theyre pricey but do deliver a good ROI. I was able to set us up as a small fleet through their advantage progrsm which allowsbyou to order tires direct at a set discounted price as well as some other perks.


In the summer weve been having good luck with Bridgestone Dueler AT695s.

Thanks.


Goodyear ag tires are made by Titan btw (in DSM, IA) and I agree they're are junk as we've had some on our equipment. Michelins are great tires but not for off roading and bridgestones get eaten up just as fast from gravel from my experiences. The Duratracs are the only Goodyear tire worth buying.
 
Another comparison. Today , trying to climb the hill in our apartment complex, the focus with snow tires was able to idle up and stop on the hill and keep going. The coopers ... couldn't move at all.

The DuraTracs are GREAT tires! They have enough sipes that they do well on snow and ice!
 
Originally Posted By: volk06
Originally Posted By: durallymax
I have too much of a bias towards good years. 365 condoms just dont cut it for me.

I wouldnt say my bias is entirely factual, I worked through high school in an ag shop doing auto/truck and ag tires. They were a bridgestone/firestone exclusive dealer yet the most tires we fixed/replaced for major issues were good years and titans. The pickup tires had a lot of tread seperation issues but otherwise were okay. Their ag tires suck.

After years of being a bridgestone junky I became a Michelin fan. Their Ag tires, earthmoving tires and truck tires really sold me. Not to mention the fact that they always seem to be on the leading edge. Theyre pricey but do deliver a good ROI. I was able to set us up as a small fleet through their advantage progrsm which allowsbyou to order tires direct at a set discounted price as well as some other perks.


In the summer weve been having good luck with Bridgestone Dueler AT695s.

Thanks.


Goodyear ag tires are made by Titan btw (in DSM, IA) and I agree they're are junk as we've had some on our equipment. Michelins are great tires but not for off roading and bridgestones get eaten up just as fast from gravel from my experiences. The Duratracs are the only Goodyear tire worth buying.


Yeah I thought the whole deal with Titan being the Off road brand was a little odd. Titan doesn't make people think of quality or good reputation. Goodyear is at least in NASCAR so theres plenty of people who recognize the brand and would buy without doing their research.

I give them some credit though. Titan is trying, they aren't just sitting back and watching.
 
I run Dunlop Wintersports on all four wheels on an A4 Audi and a Honda Accord, great traction on ice and packed snow, okay in deep snow, still good on dry and wet pavement. 3rd set on the Audi, couldn't be happier
 
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