quattro digest, Vol 1 #4424 - Snow tire "hardening"

[Larry C Leung]

Doug,

Maybe. I think most of the hardening occurs from
the temp of dry highway driving. Until I had a short
commute (under 30 miles, instead of 120, I never
had a set that was satisfactory after about 2 seasons,
in spite of having at least 5/32 tread depth. Most of my
snows were Euro based (Vredistein, Continental, etc)
and none of them ever made it beyond half tread depth,
which for snowies is at least 6/32s (I think most start
at 12 rather than 10 32nds), so I think age and temp
have a worse effect than tread depth loss of siping.

I DO know that Michelin Artic Alpins are designed to
have greater siping as they wear, a patented process in
which sipes are the base of a "Y" and the sipes eventually
break into two as the tread depth decreases. May help on
ice, (they're great there) but I still think they suck on fresh,
loose or slushy snow.

As for your rather aged Blizzaks, they may still be pliable, but
the real test is how pliable are they at below freezing temps on
snow or ice. Let us know :-)!

LL - NY


On Sun, 5 Jan 2003 18:21:24 -0800 "Doug Johnson" <ur-quattro at msn.com>
writes:
> I've got a set of the original Blizzaks (1996?) that are still
> incredibly
> pliable.
>
> I was expecting them to be hard by now.  Could the rubber still be
> soft
> because they've got only about 1,000 miles on them?
>
>  - Doug
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: quattro-admin at audifans.com
> [mailto:quattro-admin at audifans.com]On
> Behalf Of Larry C Leung
> Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 2:45 PM
> To: quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: quattro digest, Vol 1 #4424 - What I did over
> Christmas
>
>
> Greg Galinsky or Marc Rosenkratz
> could probably correct me on this,
> but snow tires tend to have more
> elastomers or some such to keep their
> durometer soft in cold weather conditions
> (i.e. lower the glassing point so that they
> actually act like rubber when cold, rather
> than like glass), but these additives are
> rather volatile and eventually get driven off
> by high temperatures (generally caused
> by extended highway travel, especially on
> dry pavement). So generally, snow tires
> become "hard" and less capable with age
> MUCH quicker than other types of tires, in
> spite of their tread depth. When I used to
> commute 120/day in the snow belt, I used
> to give up on my snowies on a 2 yr cycle
> religiously, even though most of the time I
> had between 30 - 50% original tread depth.
>
> By the time the 2 yrs were up, the tire rubber
> was so hard that the tires were useless as
> snows by the third season. Now, with a shorter
> commute, I can generally pull about 3 -4 yrs per
> set, and even wear them down to maybe 4 -5 32nds
> tread depth with no problems. The biggest problem
> at that this point of tread depth wear is snow stability
> (not traction), ice capability is less compromised.
>
> LL - NY
>
>
>
>
>
> > Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 11:47:11 -0500
> > From: B Vibert <blur at sympatico.ca>
> > To: Fred Munro <munrof at sympatico.ca>
> > Cc: TM <t44tq at mindspring.com>, 'Robert Myers'
> <robert at s-cars.org>,
> >         s-car-list at audifans.com, 'Quattro list'
> > <quattro at audifans.com>
> > Subject: Re: [s-cars] RE: What I did over Christmas
> >
> > I was playing around in the slushy snow yesterday and noticed my
> > Eagle
> > Ultra-Grips weren't gripping as much as they did the last two
> > years.
> > This will definitely be their last winter.  Good thing we don't
> get
> > much snow in my area or they'd be replaced this year.
> > Probably why I see used snow tires for sale all the time, they
> just
> > don't work once they get worn down a bit.
> >
> > Burl Vibert
> > 1987 5kcstq
> > Kingston, Ontario
> >
> >
> >
> > Fred Munro wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Taka;
> > >
> > > As a rule of thumb, I always replace my snow tires when they
> get
> > down to 50%
> > > remaining tread depth. I find the high speed traction and
> > stability in slush
> > > and snow falls off considerably at this point and they act more
> > like
> > > all-season tires than snow tires. If you spend most of your
> time
> > toodling
> > > around town it probably doesn't matter as much, but 90% of my
> > driving is
> > > highway.
> > >
> > > Fred Munro
> > > '94 S4
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
> > > [mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of TM
> > > Sent: January 3, 2003 10:38 PM
> > > To: 'Robert Myers'; s-car-list at audifans.com; 'Quattro list'
> > > Subject: [s-cars] RE: What I did over Christmas
> > >
> > > Bob-
> > > That sounded pretty much like my Christmas, although it was
> > driving in
> > > heavy rain in the morning and snow at night.
> > >
> > > Is it just me or do Dunlop Wintersport M2s drop off
> dramatically
> > in
> > > terms of traction and directional stability once you use up 1/3
> > to
> > > 1/2 of the original tread?
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --__--__--
> >
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> >
> > End of quattro Digest
> >
> >
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