Tire and Ice

Kneale Brownson knotnook at traverse.com
Mon Oct 22 14:28:42 EDT 2001


I'd think you'd want all four tires to perform the same in limited traction 
situations such as winter's slippery conditions.  Bite the bullet and buy 
four of the same tires that best suit the conditions you encounter the 
most.  If you can have them studded, do so because there's no better ice 
biter than a studded tire.

Studs are illegal in most states, so you want to check whether you can run 
them.  If they're allowed where you drive, get four winter tires that can 
be studded and have them studded before mounting them on your car.  Studs 
are inserted into small holes precast in the tire.  There used to be a 
process for drilling tires for studs, but I believe that's less reliable 
than using tires made for studs.   Any wear or any dirt in the bottoms of 
the holes guarantee you'll lose half the studs in the first season of use, 
so that's why you want to begin with unused tires for studding.



At 10:27 AM 10/22/2001 -0400, Swann, Benjamin R.  (BSWANN) wrote:

>Q-Phile,
>
>I have two extra stock type 44 15" wheels that I would like to mount some
>snow/ice tires on.  I'd rather not do all four, since I have Michelin MXV4
>with relatively new tread on two of the wheels.  Tires will go on one of my
>5000 TQ wagons.
>
>My questions are:
>
>Q#1.  Would it be a sane combination for snow and ice driving  to mount the
>two Michelin MXV (M&S rated) on the rear and have the snow/ice tires on the
>front?   Reasoning is that the most traction would be needed on the fronts
>which do the turning as well as support most of the braking.
>
>My objective is to have one set of tires I can put on the car when I
>anticipate a pending snow/Ice storm.  I'm looking for some real BTDT with
>regard to these questions.
>
>Q#2.  I know it has been discussed frequently, but..What are good biting
>tires?  I'd like them to bite on ice as well as snow.  I want to get
>something that doesn't cost too much, of course.
>
>Q#3 - Can studs be applied to normal tires such as the MXV4s?  If so where
>do you get them, how are they applied?  Are there  studs that can be applied
>from the outside, no requireing dismount/remounting?
>
>I'm not talking about ice racing or autocrossing in the snow, but want a
>good safe combo to get around when the conditions are too abominable for the
>average car.  I need to safely get up and down my 45° driveway as well as
>some other local nasty hills, and may need the car for use in emergency
>situations - eg. tranport to hospital, pulling other cars out of ditches
>when the weather is ice and snow.
>
>In the past, I have driven with normal tires on snow and ice, but have found
>the hills can be treacherous - especially coming down my driveway!
>
>TIA for the advice.
>
>Ben


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