I'll be driving to the Tahoe area in a couple of weeks. I am wondering what the roads are like over there. I know there is a lot of snow there and I've heard rumors that the OEM tires (I have the 8090s, though, not the traditional OEM tires)) are really bad in snow. Is that something I have to worry about over there? Or do they keep the roads fairly clear (because of tourist traffic)?

 

They are bad. I drove up there with the 8090s too when the road was a bit icy. Luckily I was on the small road leading to Sierra and had some slipping and drifting in the back. Heh, going 10 mph on a 35 zone with 500 cars on your tail horning you was also interesting. (thank you dsc!) But yeah..the roads are usually clear. In 2 weeks hopefully there wont be anymore winter storm warnings in effect for you. Just a lot of mud, dirt, rock chips and crazy SUV drivers after you.

 

I have the standard 16 inch rims... took my car up to the snow the other day... wasnt too difficult to control... except for starting to move from a complete stop >_<

TIP: Keep the car moving at all times. DO NOT STOP ON AN ICY ROAD.

 

Thought I'd bump this topic again. I'm leaving for the Squaw Valley area in a week and I need to know if I should bring my RX8 or my other car (a RWD mini-SUV). Because of traction control, and ABS, the RX8 is probably safer. But I don't want to damage my car, either.

The forecast makes it seem like the roads will be fairly clear. The high every day will be in the 40s or 50s. So I would guess that the roads are in good condition. Can anyone confirm?

 

Go to http://highways.dot.ca.gov to check road conditions on I-80 and side roads as well. Bring whichever car is going to save you on gas as weather is not an issue currently. If you do bring your RX-8 prepare for it to get extremely dirty. Btw, I'm going to Tahoe for a daytrip to Northstar on Saturday so hopefully weather will be fine. A word of caution is dont leave Tahoe on Sunday if you have to. Traffic through the Sacramento - Fairfield stretch of I-80 is horrible. What normally is a 4 hour jaunt across West I-80 becomes a 6 to 7 hour nightmare back to the bay area because of some crazy bottlenecks. (2 lanes becomes 1, then 1 becomes 5, then 5 becomes 4, then 4 becomes 3. Ugh.) If you must leave on Sunday, the earlier the better.