Re: bonehead drivers

[smarinel@Flint.Mines.Colorado.edu (Steve Marinello)]

>I agree with eliot completely. My 1990 80 quattro had 185/70 all season
>tires on it when I bought it. I never once got stuck last winter (and it was 
>severe in New England last year), but I still couldn't drive it as fast as
>I could drive my VW Fox (fwd) with Nokia Hapakapalita NR10's. With four
>of those I could go anywhere, at near wet road speeds.
>
>I have since switched to wider Bridgestone RE-71's and I am hoping for a 
>mild winter. The back end has really become loose in the little snow that
>we've had so far.
>
>While I'm on the subject, European car did a review of the Nokia's a couple
>of
>years ago and they loved them. I sold my Gislavids and bought a set--they are
>amazing! Last year EC did a review of the Bridgestone Blizzak and they raved 
>about them, also. My wife's Volvo needed snows and my distributor for Nokia 
>couldn't be found, so we tried the Blizzak's. Her car never became stuck and 
>straight line performance and braking are pretty good for a Volvo, but
>turning
>was a problem. Don't try any turns above 10-15 mph! The car acted the same
>with all seasons as with the Bridgestones, while turning.
>
>Can't wait to wear them out and buy Nokias again!
>
>Alan


Put Blizzacks on my wifes '93 90S and they have been incvredible in snow
and ice.  Their weakness, howver, is their incredibly soft sidewalls...dry
handling can be surprising...good grip but high slip angles.  Not the tire
I'd put on my '83 TQC if I intended to drive normally (read fast!) when the
roads are dry, which they have been an awful lot in Denver this year.

Also, into the fray re. the quattro handling.  My coupe was amazingly good
in the snow, driven smoothly, with P700Z's (!!!) when they were new.  Of
course, leaving them on a little too long the second winter caused an
altercation with the guard rail at less than 5 mph on ice.  The Dunlop
SP4000's I have on now have been very good in snow and exciting on ice. 
With "old" technology snows (Dunlop Qualifiers) I'd say the coupe handles
worse than my wife's FWD 90S in the real slick stuff, but it all depends on
the temperature and the tire compound.  I find that if I break loose in the
quattro, I was probably going faster than I thought (common in these
beasts) or I put in an abrupt move.  But other cars will do the same thing
at lower speeds.  I have absolutely found that the best response to loosing
traction is to point and power...to try to get grip or at least a littel
control on the slide.

JMHO,

Steve