I’ve had nothing but all-season radials for my 22 year driving career in western Canada. I slip a little sometimes, but not enough to make it worth my while to buy and store and change out twice a year two whole sets of tires. People swear by snow tires; maybe I’ll try them someday.
Snow tires make a huge difference, much more then AWD. If I lived up north I’d certainly get them since it’s often the difference between making it home and parking your car 2 miles down the road at the last hill. I go skiing nearly every weekend and may finally make the plunge this year and get snows.
All Season tires vary somewhat, but they’re not snow tires. They don’t even come close. Performance tires are much worse then all seasons for the snow.
Agreed, I’m a firm believer in snow tires, I’ve been running them for the past 10+ years, and would never drive in winter without them
No, they don’t give you the ability to break the laws of physics, and they’d be useless in the video in the OP, but they give you far better traction than the so-called “all season” tires, stopping is more controllable, as is starting
this 6 part series from Transport Canada is a great series, and really drives home the effectiveness of winter tires
Part 1; intro (skippable)
Part 2; Honda Ridgeline 4WD trucks (one with snows, one with all seasons)
Part 3; Ford Crown Vic RWD and Mercedes RWD sedan (again one with snows, one with all seasons)
Part 4; Ford Crown Vic Vs. Chevy C1500 full-size truck (2WD)
Part 5; Toyota Yaris Vs Mitsubishi station wagon (this one’s fun to watch!)
Part 6; conclusion (skippable)
All-season tires are designed to at least not become rocks in freezing temperatures and light snow. “Summer tires” give improved performance in warm weather, at the expense of horrific snow/ice traction.
In my experience, most folks in warm-weather climes just get all-seasons unless they’re really concerned with maximizing performance. I think they also tend to be the least expensive option if you’re just looking for a safe general-purpose tire.
Tirerack.com’s breakdown of the types of tires they sell may be found here.
[QUOTE=featherlou]
I’ve had nothing but all-season radials for my 22 year driving career in western Canada. I slip a little sometimes, but not enough to make it worth my while to buy and store and change out twice a year two whole sets of tires. People swear by snow tires; maybe I’ll try them someday.
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I’m just the oposite. Run snow tires (or off road) year round. 'Course where I live winter is a good six months out of the year. Not worth changing over.
[QUOTE=brad_d]
All-season tires are designed to at least not become rocks in freezing temperatures and light snow. “Summer tires” give improved performance in warm weather, at the expense of horrific snow/ice traction.
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So there really are summer tires. I call my all-seasons “summer tires” and the snows the winter tires.
[QUOTE=lieu]
Delivery truck.
I looked at it a number of times and never could make sense of it either. All of a sudden it’s just there. Weird.
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I think the first truck is actually pushing the other truck backwards at that point, probably from an earlier incident. The second truck gets caught on a part of the tunnel and both trucks flip out.
[QUOTE=Telemark]
I’ve lived in New England all my life. Some days the conditions are just right that the world becomes a skating rink and there’s nothing you can do about it. In the mountains in particular, the combination of elevation and exposure can mean that you go from wet road to sheer ice in a matter of 100 yards.
I remember once going over Jay in northern VT after a day of skiing. It was snowing lightly at the ski area and the pass, then about 300’ vertical below the pass all I saw was brake and headlights in all directions in front of me; cars were spinning (slowly) like tops. I slowed down then at around 2 MPH all 4 wheels locked up and I slowly, ever so slowly, continued drifting down the hill until I bumped another car and stopped in the snow bank. With some wheel spin and luck I got two wheels in the snow on the soft shoulder and managed to slowly drive down to Montgomery Center without further incident.
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Hey! I’ve been there! I stayed at the the Phineas Swann Inn.