C&D 5/99: Winter Tires vs. 4WD
 

Just a little fyi for those like me that will encounter snow very soon. Personally, I have snow tires on all of my cars just for safety sake.

Link to old article

I wish they would do this comparo again with some of the newer tires. They did do this comparo however:

Link to recent article

I wish they would have done a review of some of the ultra-high performance all seasons (like the Avon m-tech 550, Toyo Proxes 4, and maybe the new Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS) and compare those to the summer tires and strictly winter tires. That would have been a review.

But why?

Performance tires << all-season tires < snow/ice tires in the cold stuff that usually exists in North America; if you have ice-pack or tundra it probably makes less of a difference between all-season and snow tires. You could probably tell the difference between performance and snow/ice tires yourself without having a magazine do the comparison for you.

Great read ^.^ I miss the snow =(

Well, I live in NY. The first RX-8 I owned when I lived in Virginia had the stock Potenza's and as you might guess, they absolutely sucked with the slightest bit of ice or snow. Now I own a RX-8 with Toyo Proxes 4's, but now that I am in NY (near NYC) I question if they will be good enough to get me thru a winter (even a mild one) or if it's worth it to buy a dedicated set of snows. There is no question in my mind that snow tires are way better in the snow, but will the Proxes 4's I own be good enough? How much better are they in the snow than the stock Potenza's? Would the Avon's or RE960AS's been a better choice for all around performance? These are answers a good magazine comparo could come up with. I would like to see a comparison in both winter and summer performance of the tires mentioned above along with a dedicated summer tire like the Bridgestone Potenza S-03 and a dedicated winter tire like the Blizzak's or something similiar. That's what I need and I am sure there are a # of people that own BMW's, Audi's, 350Z's, etc. that would like to have this $1200+ question answered.

I live in Philadelphia and i opted for the blizzak lm22's. Since it already had good summer tires when i bought the car, I didn't want to get all seasons. If i didn't already have a set of summer tires i might have just got the all seasons.

I got the winter tires on separate rims. I knew the summer tires wouldn't work even on dry pavement when it was lower then 40 degrees F. They would be all over the place until i could warm them up.

Summary:

4wd and snows if you live in a snowbelt is the best.
Snowtires help you stop, go and turn safely.

Never use summer tires in the winter if it gets below 40 degrees. Never use summer tires in the snow, unless you like going 11 mph and sliding off the road.

:) NH -- 28 degrees this morning

Fair enough.

Driving performance tires in the winter is a gamble, either way. However, you have to know that one day, you will be stuck - it's just a matter of time. Switching to an all-season compound that differs from the OEM choices will result in a change in the way a car drives - and since suspension set-ups are set based on OEM tire choices, it might not always be a good thing.

I run the Avon on my car year round in Chicago, they are OK on the snow but not great. Chicago plows pretty well so I can get around. My car did get a little stuck visiting my parents in Michigan, their drive way was ice and then it snowed 2" and my car was spinning away. I think these ultra performance all-seasons are meant to hold the road in the cold rather then being a true all-season tire for the snow and ice.

Well I seem to be doing alright in Michigan so far with my stock tires in 25-40 degF weather. I don't really do much more than commute though, so maybe I just don't notice the difference between cold & warm tires.

Once the first "real" winter snow hits I plan on putting some snow tires on, just not sure right now whether I want to use my stock rims or get some steelies.

I drove in 33 degrees F today and, yes, the stock tires ride noticeably rougher and I can feel traction let go earlier, however once they warm up a little on the highway, it's not terrible.

Praying for no snow this Thanksgiving, so I can hold out putting snows on until after all the holiday driving (600+ miles).