Winter tires.

AlphaTroll said:
Allrighty then...I guess you use them in really bad snow.............are they mandatory? How thick must the snow be? Do you get fined for not having them?
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In Arizona, believe it or not, if you drive East or West leaving the state you have to go over mountains. They occasionally will stop you and make you turn back if you don't have chains or four wheel drive and the snow is bad.
 
Just a clarification. I see several mentions of studs. Studded tires aren't the only form of winter tires.


A regular winter tire simply has a softer rubber compound, and a deeper, self clearing tread. The softer rubber is needed in lower temps (-15c) because the rubber of summer or 4 season tires becomes too stiff, and can't form to the texture of the road. Basically, you're not sticking to the road anymore. Imagine the difference between walking on a sidewalk, and a hospital floor.

The deeper tread is needed because 4 season tread clogs up. The tread pattern that's good for channelling water doesn't do dick for snow. You wind up riding up on the snow, instead of biting through to the road surface. In half an inch of snow, that's no big deal. But we're not talking half an inch. Also, new winter tires today have an advanced feature that differienciates them from the old classic off road tire. Thin grooves cut into the lugs, giving up to 20 times the "bite" on ice and snow. Ice tires expand on that technology by making those grooves wavy, adding to the total "edge area". On top of that, ice tires add yet more "bite" by using a foamed rubber compound (Blizzak) or fibers (Toyo).

And for those who want to talk cost, let's talk.

Sure, I have to buy 2 sets of tires for each car. A smart person will even go the added expense of an additional set of rims. But, since the winter tires are only being used in winter, one set will often last the life of the car. And since you're not wearing out your 4 seasons spinning them in winter, they'll last longer too. Total cost of tires ends up the same, over the life of the car. And by paying the cost of the new rims, you save the cost of having to have your tires remounted twice a year. Pays for the rims PDQ. And, it gives you the chance to take those stock rims, and use them for the winters, while you upgrade to a nice shiny set of mags to offset your summer shoes. Something many people are doing anyways. Since noone in their right mind is gonna subject their mags to winter road salt.
 
Spot said:
i have all season performance tires on mine. i've had no problems negotiating the snow covered streets around here.
granted, it has everything to do with the car i'm driving, but if the local powers that be said i had to go out and get a set of snow tires, i think i'd be pretty miffed.
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Consider it this way then. Mandatory seat-belt laws pissed off many people when they came in. Manufacturers had to put them in their new cars, prices went up for those cars, people were pissed that belts were wrinkling up their clothes etc... do sealbelts save lives!!! You damn skippy they do!

Child-seats - expensive and take up space...save lives because they're mandatory...yup, lots of kids survive accidents because of them.

Snow-tires - expensive and ou have to store them in the summer. Save lives because they're about to become mandatory? Sure...they'll save lives and reduce accidents.

I already own snow-tires on rims for my van...they've already saved me damage to my van a few times. I know this becuase I didn't slide through and intersection and the guy in the next lane did. He got himself hit by a 4x4 right in front of me. Same street, same stop-sign, same conditions...the difference? I had new snow-tires on...he had old 4-season...I got a close look at one when I went to check to see if he was OK. It was easy to see...it was sticking out sideways from the car.

Snow-tires around here should be mandatory. They WILL save lives.
 
Save lives? Fuck that. Anyone dumb enough to go around on 4 seasons in Quebec has no right breathing. but it'll help shove down the insurance costs.
 
Professur said:
Save lives? Fuck that. Anyone dumb enough to go around on 4 seasons in Quebec has no right breathing. but it'll help shove down the insurance costs.
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I don't have an issue with idiot-drivers killing themselves off...makes the streets safer. It's just that they are as likely to take out another car (with winter tires on them), or pedestrians when they go sliding through interesections or miss a turn and end up on the sidewalk.

Shoving down insurance costs! By all means...just like having a car-alarm installed, or a kill-switch. I don't hear too many people complaining about that. Perhaps if they reduced the insurance of drivers with snow-tires on all four wheels (proof-show your bill), then more people would comply. :)
 
Well, from the standpoint of someone living in a mild climate like mine in western Washinton state, studs should be illegal being as we get on average 1 week of 3-8 inches of snow all year and some years we get none. In a climate like this, if you are careful and know how to drive in it, and you also consider roads are mostly plowed, you can get around fine on all seasons. I know because I drove in it on my all seasons in a truck with no weight in the bed and I did fine.
 
And if we were talking about studs, you'd be right. Even in Mtl, studs are outlawed. But we're talking winter tires. Not studs.
 
Professur said:
And if we were talking about studs, you'd be right. Even in Mtl, studs are outlawed. But we're talking winter tires. Not studs.
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studs aren't outlawed here, you can have studded tires from Nov. to Apr.

it's in ontario that you can't have any
 
You can have studs here if there is snow on the ground, but not any other time. Kinda makes it a pain in the ass unless you own a tire shop, since most snows only stick around for a week or two at best. Snow tires are pretty well unheard of here, but where i grew up in Iowa it was a Bi-annual event, putting them on and taking them off.
 
Professur said:
Paul, it was my understanding that studs aren't allowed on island.
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I know the old ban was provincial, don't know the municipal laws, but the new studs don't damage teh roads, that is why they lifted the ban
 
I stick with the new japanese fiber impregnated studless designs. Although, the tires I got for the pickup are studdable, just in case I buy a plow.
 
I don't know if anyone noticed but in Minnesota they totally ban them!! I would buy a pair if I could (although I've owned blizzaks which are winter tires w/o studs or chains) because I've seen first hand the difference in both lane changes (quicker and safer response) and stopping distance. Chains on the other hand are the most dangerous things in the world on a vehicles tires. Has anyone ever seen them break while the tire is moving slowly or fast?? It will rip a hole in your wheel-well before you can say MOTHERFUCKING PIECES OF SHIT! And watch your hands, feet, actually your whole damn body if someone is trying to get unstuck with them on cause if they break and your behind, beside or in front of it no telling where the pieces of it and the car will go!
 
Hence why you only use them for emergencies, and only at low speed. I saw one a-hole with them, stuck in a snow bank. Fuckhead thought that since he had chains on, he was unstoppable. Well, asshole, with enough snow jammed up under the body, you're not only stopable, you're stopped. But noooooooo. He tried his usual retarded method. He spun the tires.

It was Be. Ute. EEE. Ful. Shrapnel. That's the only description for it. Shrapnel, right through the fender. Into the engine. Windshield. Fan fucking tanstic.
 
Professur said:
Hence why you only use them for emergencies, and only at low speed. I saw one a-hole with them, stuck in a snow bank. Fuckhead thought that since he had chains on, he was unstoppable. Well, asshole, with enough snow jammed up under the body, you're not only stopable, you're stopped. But noooooooo. He tried his usual retarded method. He spun the tires.

It was Be. Ute. EEE. Ful. Shrapnel. That's the only description for it. Shrapnel, right through the fender. Into the engine. Windshield. Fan fucking tanstic.
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:lol2: :elaugh4: :retard5:

That is what I'm talking about because just like seatbelts it may save lives but used inproperly or in the hands of total morons it can be very dangerous!
 
Well, yeah. If someone's stupid enough to wrap the seatbelt around their neck. But I've always said that stupidity should be a self imposed death penalty offence.
 
Professur said:
Well, yeah. If someone's stupid enough to wrap the seatbelt around their neck. But I've always said that stupidity should be a self imposed death penalty offence.
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Very true.... Now I just wish no one was there to correct them before it happens! :evilcool:
 
*peanut gallery from the South raises her hand again*

So, don't those chains cut your tires or reduce their life-span?
 
AlphaTroll said:
*peanut gallery from the South raises her hand again*

So, don't those chains cut your tires or reduce their life-span?
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yes they do, but it's that or skidding off the road, and reducing your lifespan
 
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