Re: Snows

[a6561TB@gnn.com ()]

Hi, Mark

>First, even though they say "all-season" and are great on dry and wet
> pavement, I'm assuming my 205/50/15 Dunlop D60s won't quite cut it.  

Correct. "All season" means that you have a bad tire all year round.

>can/should I go with a slightly narrower tire -- say a 185/65/14?  The
> 185/65/14 is only .25" taller than stock.

Absolutely. You want the tire to bite in snow, not to glide on it.
In the winter rallies they use tires so narrow, they resemble those of a 
motorcycle.

>Are the Blizzaks that much better?  I might be inclined to go with them, 
>but the winters are not _that_ bad here in the slush belt.

They are good. I personally prefer the Finnish Nokia NRW. I figured the 
flying finns know best about winter driving in their neck of the woods, i.e. 
Lapland. Had them for two years, wow, what a tire!

The fact that they are directional and H-rated makes NRWs absolutely great 
in slush. They are also fairly quit for a winter tire and last a long tin 
even with our type of winter with lots of driving on the asphalt.

They are also the undisputed tire of choice on euro winter rallies.
My Nokias are 195/65/15 (the stock fitment for my car is 205/60/15).
I am running 205/55/16 in the summer time.

Last winter a friend of mine took my advice and installed them on his FWD 
5000s instead of the all season H-rated Yokos 378 he had all along thinking 
that they were good enough. That past winter we had was all it took to make 
him an avid advocat of the "seasonal" tire concept.

You might also want to look at the Swedish Gislaved.

Hope it helps



Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ, chipped and MOMO'd through out,
in Tornado "arrest-me-officer" Red;
'88 Fox, "the FOX machine";
ex '85 5000s, "the EE's nightmare"
Phila PA, USA
a6561TB@gnn.com