Icey/slush tires

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

Thanks to all the posters who already reported on their winter tire 
experience. It helped a lot.

Now, I want to hear some more about tires that grab on wet ice at low 
speeds (below 10 mph), and which can be driven on wet or dry pavement 
without squirming or smearing during a fast dry stop. They will be on a 
1987 5kcstq. Because of reports of "like driving on an inch of Jello" I'm 
not looking at Blizzaks or Guardex. Don't know about Yoko Prevue.

My quattro system pulls through snow with any tire, so snow is no problem. 
Any winter tire I buy will give me excellent snow traction with the 
quattro. I don't need snow tires....I need ice tires. Wet ice tires.

Ohio winters give us about 100 days of unpredictable weather, of which 
about 10 days are on local roads covered with  2 inches of traffic-packed 
snow that has a half-inch top layer of wet ice. That wet ice defies any 
traction from all-weather tires.  I can drive slow, but I want a tire that 
offers SOME grip (beyond zero grip) on that rutted wet ice-covered snow. 
Then I can move around town and not slide into curbs or crunch into my 
neighbors fenders and doors.

The above driving conditions are the only motivation I have to fit "winter 
tires" on my quattro.

And once they get me out of town, those winter tires have to take me 60 
miles away on mostly wet and dry roads that have been cleared and salted 
pretty well. Maybe those highways will have patches of that slippery icy 
slush that happens after the salt takes effect, and which infrequently will 
freeze and get pretty nasty when the temps drop down around zero.

Anybody else have experience with winter tires that handled those 
conditions on a quattro?

So far, I'm looking at 205-65-15 Michelin Arctic Alpin (Q)  and Nokian 
Hakka 1's without studs, and I'll even consider the Nokian Q's or NRW's if 
the wet ice performance is close to that of the Hakka 1's.  I don't see any 
need for "H" rated winter tires in Ohio, with a 55 mph limit on most roads, 
and some at 65.

Talk to me about driving on wet ice and slow driving under control. I'm 
pretty sure any of those tires will be OK on the bare wet and dry roads at 
65 mph.

Doyut Echelberger