[s-cars] Winter Tires??

[Scott Justusson]

 My passion is teaching awd chassis dynamics in low cf conditions.  All tire tests are compared to the standard = Blizzack.  This better than that is the 'hyperbole myth', as 90 percent of the winter compounds that are rated highest are the silica type.  Play with the 10% to tread pattern/depth, it might pass 'a' test better than another tire, but the driver skillset is a larger variable, it's that simple.

I get into winter tire discussions for months prior to Steamboat every year, and I've become very numb to claims of 'better' ice/winter tires.  Get any silica compound tire, bolt it on, and come on out to Steamboat.  There's no 'winner' tire, they are all good, the real question:  How good are you?  IME, it's not a tire differential problem, it's really that most drivers think they are better than they really are.

Winter tire test reports are much tougher to apply than the summer versions.  Because in the real world in winter driving, we have ice, snow, deep snow, slush, select-low rear abs, stiff suspensions, mixed mu events, and very little awd chassis dynamics training.  

Quattro already will get you places fwd/rwd can't, most can pass the 30% winter grade test on bone stock summer tires.  Me, I can look at any quattro with the top rated winter tires, and not care where he's from, where he drives, or in what.  He's properly equipped for winter driving.  Without the skillsets however, the driver is no more safe than running on summer tires.  BTTowedT

My Landcruiser sports 100ft of 12k winch cable for just such occasions.  

SUMMARY:  The best winter tire?  The ones you bought and installed to replace the summer tires you took off for winter.  The rest is hyperbole (tm -Taka)

Cheers, and my .02 arbitraged thru the snow packed silica valleys

Scott J




 

-----Original Message-----
From: Taka Mizutani <t44tqtro at gmail.com>
To: s-car-list <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Wed, Oct 17, 2012 9:28 am
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Winter Tires??


Now you're getting into hyperbole, Scott. While your point about driving
skill is definitely a good one and valid.

That said, there is a reason why some of the European car mags do tire
testing on winter tires- some tires simply do better on certain types of
surfaces than others. With that information, it makes it a lot easier to
match a tire to your particular driving conditions.

>...

Tala