Originally Posted By: dja4260
My daily commute round trip is 40 miles. Only 10 miles are not highway. You think the winter tires are abslolutely necessary? I managed driving my civic with old tires with not much trouble.
Once you try a set (all 4) of Blizzaks you will never want to drive in the winter without them.
I only takes a few seconds of sliding on ice to bang up any vehicle. If you have the Blizzkaks, you can watch the other vehicles bend their fenders and rims and remain in complete control of your vehicle.
Over the years here in Pittsburgh I have had several times during the winter that other vehicles were sliding on ice and hitting guardrails or curbs and busting up fenders, and or rims. Ice is a whole nother ball game when it comes to winter driving, and you never know when you might end up driving on ice.
Studded tires are better on ice than Blizzaks, but studded tires make too much noise, and usually they start to throw off the studs during the second winter of use.
Blizzaks have about half the traction of a studded tire on ice, but compared to plain rubber snow tires that can have no traction on ice, the Blizzaks have a whole lot of traction.
As an example of how little traction regular snow tires can have on ice, years ago I had a car that was a manual transmission, and while attending college away from home, one weekend I realized that the fresh new snow would be perfect for doing some fun winter driving in the parking lots of the local mall in the middle of the night. So I went to the local mall and did a few doughnuts. Then I realized that the clouds had completely cleared and the view of the stars was great, so I stopped the car and got out to look. Then I got back in the car and tried to get going again. On flat level ground (asphalt) I let the clutch out and gave it a little gas. That car was not a posi-traction rear end, so as soon as one tire slipped I was not going anywhere. The tire broke loose and spun. I pushed the clutch in and tried again with less gas, same story. So I pushed the clutch in and tried with less gas, and it still spun the tire. So I pushed the clutch in and then let it out very slowly not touching the gas, just on idle, and it still spun the tire. I though I got to see this, so I got out of the car with it still in gear spinning the tire about four seconds per revolution. I left the door open and figured I could push the back bumper and get the car moving and then run and get in. When I pushed the back bumper the car stayed where it was and I slid backwards. Then a old pickup truck with some teenagers came by and said they would get me some salt, they came back in a few minutes with salt and I got going.
Another time I ended up sliding down a hill only going 5 MPH but could not stop. I ended up going side-ways, and then backwards, and then off the road and my back bumper plowed up snow that stopped the car.
Years later when I had Blizzaks I went to a friends house for a family gathering in the winter, vehicles were going very slow because the road was ice. Several vehicles were stuck with their sides all messed up because of hitting the guardrail. I was able to go around them with complete control because of the good ice traction of the Blizzaks.
One winter two men were standing at the top of long road stopping all traffic. They said do not go down that hill, it is all ice and vehicles are sliding off the road and busting up their tires on the curb. I said I have a set of Blizzaks on, I will take it easy and I will be all-right. I slowly went down the hill and two vehicles were changing their tires. One was a van with a bent rim from hitting the curb, the other a car that had a flat from hitting the curb. I went around them with no problem.
Another winter vehicles were spinning their tires and could not go up the hill to exit the mall. I had a vehicle with rear wheel drive without posi-traction. If one of the back tires slipped I would not be able to go. Because all my tires were Blizzaks I was able to drive around the front wheel drive vehicles that were spinning their wheels and going no where.
My brother and his wife put 4 Blizzaks on their car and one winter they were going down-town to see a show. They exited the fort pit tunnel onto the lower level of the fort pit bridge. There is a slight turn and the bridge was icy. They were able to turn. The same size vehicle behind them could not turn and slammed into a cement barrier. Those Blizzak tires more than paid for them-self right then.
The only down side of having Blizzaks is you can stop faster on ice than the car behind you. You have to put them on all 4 regardless of if the vehicle is front wheel drive or rear wheel drive.
And with Blizzaks you can not do doughnuts in the snow for fun. The darn things will not slide enough to allow that.
My brothers wife who is the worlds best penny pincher, tried them, and realizes the advantage of using Blizzaks, and uses them on the vehicle she drives.
As for you question of “do you really need a set of Blizzaks”, YES you do.
